What happens if a child doesn't complete practical for GCSE PE?

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Just that, really. It's a loooooong story, but it's looking like dd is going to refuse to do her GCSE practical.

Anyone any idea whether she'll automatically fail?

And is only getting eight GCSEs disastrous, or one of those things that no-one will care about in a few years?

Her sixth form offer is 'six GCSEs grade 6 or above' btw.

TIA

8 GCSEs is plenty and unless she plans to go into a sports/fitness related industry I doubt any will care about GCSE PE.

Might be worth asking if they can withdraw her from the qualification rather than her failing it. Save the stress of her doing the written exam.

She’ll receive a mark of 0 for that part of the assessment I imagine. So it depends on the weightings for your exam board and how well she’s done on the other parts as to her overall grade but it’s likely to be 4 or below I guess. 8 GCSEs is fine and whilst it’s a shame she’s spent 2 years on something she now won’t engage with, I’d be inclined to just leave it off her CV in future rather than attract questions about why she got
such a low grade in comparison to her other subjects.

Why can’t she do it? If it’s anxiety she should get gp note.

How many marks is the practical? Is a zero score going to affect her weighted score overall? Is there a written component and will she complete that. 8 is enough but is it worth throwing this one away if she could do well.

Thanks all. The practical component is 40%, about 10% of which is course work (that the school still hasn't submitted,...), so about 30%.

I wish she would just get it over with even if she gets a low score, but it's not me that has to do it.

Tbh, that's my sense as well. I won't go into details, but the last couple of years have been extremely stressful for dd and in all honesty, her going into school and doing 8 GCSEs is a heck of a lot better than it could have been.

It'll be fine, particularly as it's PE as it's such a different subject to the rest. At worst she will put it on her UCAS form and then the admissions people will look at it and think she should probably have picked a different GCSE option, and move on to looking at her actual relevant grades. For pretty much every other purpose she never needs to mention it again.

Can she be assessed from submitted footage? Dd is doing pe and has already submitted footage which was assessed and graded by her teachers (including coursework) and she has been told the grades. She has also been examiner assessed in one sport(luckily her weakest) so she keeps her high scores from her two main sports. Am surprised none of this has happened already as it is quite late in the process.

Has she done any of the practical stuff? Has she been involved in any of the allowed sports? If yes can you pull some of it together for her?

If you can persuade her to show up and do a bit she'd score more than zero, save wasting any work she has already done? Extreme bribery?

If she had a physical injury (e.g. broken ankle) and couldn't do her sports, there are two options available.

1. Being assessed on prior video footage of her sports. The video footage has to meet certain criteria, but the PE department at her school should be able to help with this.

2. If no video footage exists, then it's possible to apply to the exam board for special consideration. There are various outcomes available from this but hopefully as a minimum she'd get some uplift in her grade. Even if she doesn't get this, she won't automatically fail.

You'll likely need some medical evidence, saying she can't do the practical, though.

I'd also liaise with her school, if her class teacher is unsure, ask to speak to the head of PE?

Thanks all. Yes, it's all quite late in the process. The whole GCSE has been a bit of a mess in all honesty. No, the PE dept hasn't videoed any of their work, no they haven't submitted the course work yet.

The head of PE is already involved (she had dd in tears at parent evening) and the HOY got involved in a supportive way last week.

I'm strongly encouraging dd to do it and at least get some marks (not least because we can stop bloody talking about it) but we'll see.

If it’s causing huge drama and likely to affect her other GCSEs is it worth her withdrawing and simply not having a PE grade at all? Therefore focusing on her other subjects.
For Ucas all grades need to be submitted even ‘fails’. As others have said though, no one will care about one anomaly. I’m wondering if the stress is worth it?

This makes no sense to me. My DD is doing GCSE PE and does have a “practical” test coming up. 40% of the total grade comes from assessment of physical skills in the three sports they have done. She needed to submit video footage to PE staff for assessment and there was sn element of assessment or moderation by external assessors. But this all happened before Easter.

Sorry, that should say does NOT have any practical test coming up.

That is our experience too. Practical all done and dusted including moderation. Even coursework marked. We have all DD’s scores (each sport is marked out of 25 as is the coursework) so you get an overall mark out of 100.

If none of this has been done already the fault really lies with the school and I would be having serious words with them.

I’d let her withdraw, tbh. Whatever has happened, it’s unlikely it can be salvaged if she’s not going to put her best into it and it’s 40% of the mark, so then - as you say - you can stop talking about it. If 8 GCSEs is an achievement over the last couple of years, if she only needs 6 at 6+ to go on to sixth form and you & she feel that’s achievable then just let her withdraw.

If she’s likely to fail it anyway, why push?

Thanks all. Yes, the school has messed up.

DD now refusing to go in. After trying to persuade her, I've agreed to email HOY and ask the school to withdraw her from this GCSE.

DD has now said that she isn't going into school to do any GCSEs, as she's scared of bumping into the PE teacher who will shout at her.

I am desperate for both of us to stop talking and thinking about this, but I do want her to do her other exams, which she has been revising for.

If none of this has been done already the fault really lies with the school and I would be having serious words with them

Im not defending the school. But grades don’t need to be at the exam boards until about 10th May

I taught a practical based subject, and we aimed to get coursework done before Easter. But the school can choose when to do it. I wouldn’t ever have left it so late though.

Definitely - thats only 8 days away with another bank holiday weekend thrown in too. Definitely too close for comfort is there no time then for external moderation of teacher assessed grades?

I am very revleived this one is in the bag already so DD can just concentrate on the science side of the topic.

DD has now said that she isn't going into school to do any GCSEs, as she's scared of bumping into the PE teacher who will shout at her.m

Then school urgently need to give reassurances that this won’t happen. Focus on that. Don’t be drawn on any more conversations, persuasions etc. Tell them she is withdrawing from PE GCSE, there can be no more discussion on that, and that she is threatening not to come in for any exams and how can they alleviate her concerns and make sure she is not prevented from completing her education with them?

Thanks, that's useful to know. The course work element was due to be handed in in February. DD handed it in, then redid it in response to feedback and handed it in again. Found out last week that what she had been told to alter was the wrong thing, and that she has to redo it again.

It's been very disorganised, which hasn't helped.

Dd much calmer now. I've asked both head of PE and HOY that she be withdrawn from this exam. Head of PE has acknowledged my email, so we'll see.

Hersetta427 yes dd is very good at the theory - it's a shame that she couldn't overcome whatever her blocks are about the practical moderation.

Yes, if they receive a low grade don't include it on a CV. As a person on an interview panel at best we don't care, at worse it clutters up your CV and makes it harder for us to spot your actual qualifications. Anything below a C grade (or numerical equivalent) don't include it.