The majority of children in the school have English as an additional language and/or are from overseas. It's possible that English literature doesn't feel as accessible or relevant to them as other subjects (and the GCSE is so much rote learning that kids get put off).
She's not sure yet whether it's running - hopefully she'll find out tomorrow.
She's clear that if it's not, she'll choose another subject rather than move as she's just too frightened. It's heartbreaking to see. She was the only one from her primary to go to her secondary school and she coped really well, and had all that quite self-confidence knocked out of her by her previous school.
She has no idea what other subject she wants to do. She's been dead set on Eng Lit since the get go, and it's so sad that she doesn't feel able to move to one of the many sixth forms that run it, not least the one that she loved when we went to the open evening and she enrolled at last week.
GodessofThunder for my dd being 'managed out' of a school meant the school refusing to address the bullying that she was being subjected to (other than a 'mediation meeting' where the child bullying was verbally abusive to my daughter while the safeguarding lead laughed and told her she needed to 'ride it through'. I shit you not.)
It meant the school not contacting her parents once about the bullying she was being subjected to, not keeping any written record of any interventions (there weren't any interventions to make a note of tbf).
It meant refusing to address the bullying because they 'were trying to avoid a permanent exclusion' of the child who was bullying (direct quote from the HoY).
It mean the HoY talking to my dd about the bullying policy then emailing me saying that he hadn't called it bullying,.
It meant that when I went into a meeting to try to work out a way to get her back to school, the outcome was an email telling me that the bullying had been addressed and that they strongly supported me moving my child to another school. Then letting her be on unauthorised absence for three weeks without any contact at all.
It meant that when a senior member of staff emailed the person who had met with us and advised her to move the other child out of the tutor group and put my dd in the appropriate sets, that that information was never passed on to us, or my dd would have gone back (found out through a SARs request).
Yes, I did write to the governors who ignored my letter (possibly because the head had already sent me a fully written apology by then, but so fucking what, it's still been me picking up the pieces for the last two years)
Yes, I did write to Ofsted who went in and said the school was great and that bullying was dealt with effectively.
Yes, it does break my heart every time someone says their child likes/is doing well/is supported at that school. That was all I wanted , wasn't asking for special treatment, just an ordinary school experience.
And this last year of stress about sixth forms has been pretty unbearable and isn't even over yet.