GCSEs - can DD practically do one independently?

[ItsJustMe88]

Hi all,

I'm after a bit of constructive advice. My daughter (Y8) is in a rubbish secondary school (gone downhill rapidly - it seemed very promising when we chose it). She absolutely does not want to move schools as she is very anxious about making new friends. She is reasonably clever, self-motivated and wants to do well at GCSEs, but DH and I worry that her school is making it very hard for her - e.g. they barely get any homework so she's not used to studying, she's had maybe one or two tests she had to revise for in her ENTIRE time at the school, so she has no practice in revising whatsoever, she often has subs who don't teach at all (no kidding, they are regularly given colouring in sheets by subs!).

Other than making her move school (still an option), we were wondering if it would be worth for her to maybe do one or two GCSEs independently, starting to work on them now and aiming to do them e.g. year 10. The benefits would be that she would learn to work independently and get some practice doing tests, plus if they go well there wouldn't be so much pressure on the GCSEs in year 11 at school so she can focus on the ones that really matter. We would put the effort into ensuring she has whatever she needs in terms of support (e.g. tutor, online platform, local classes etc).

However, I have no idea if this is even a viable option. Has anybody done this successfully? Are there any GCSE subjects better suited to this than others? Things she's interested in (beyond English, Science & Maths, which I would hope she would do at her school) are e.g. art, astronomy, psychology, an MFL...

Thank you for any practical experience or insight you are able to share with me :)

She’s in Y8. I wouldn’t worry about test experience just yet. If you think she should do more homework (although it’s not proven to have a beneficial effect in lower years) then maybe look at BBC Bitesize or Oak Academy stuff to do your own with her.
Don’t blame the supply teachers (not subs, thats a US thing) - they will only deliver what has been provided by the school.
if you trust the school so little though, move her. They’ll never please you.

Have you spokrm to the school about her progress and achievement so far?What were the GCSE results last year?
I would start by getting her a tutor for maths/English + Sciences to support her in these areas if you feel that the school is lacking.
You would have to pay for her to sit GCSEs privately and find out where the closest assessment center would be but in theory yes she could sit any GCSE privately.
However ultimately it will be cheaper for her to change schools.

Thanks for rapid first replies :)

The school are very happy with her, as she is motivated and tries hard. We haven't seen any kind of progress report this year yet - last year seemed good (though hard to know, as they are using qualitative descriptions and if you have no comparison they aren't very meaningful - I'm sure they are meaningful to the teachers though). Unfortunately we've learned that most attempts to contact anyone at school go ignored so we're just waiting for parents consultations.

I've been considering regular tutors as well as she's asked for that herself, so also a good option... just thought it might be a bit early for that, as I would like her to keep enjoying her learning and hence perhaps following her interests might be a good way to go.

I fully understand the impossible task supply teachers face (my daughter calls them subs, hence I do) - as you say cardibach, it's more of a sign of the level of organisation of the school than the quality of the supply teachers. I also recognise the extreme difficulty for schools to find new teachers currently!

Last year's GCSE results (from .gov website):
Grade 5 or above in Maths & English: 31% (national 45%, local authority 60%)
Progress 8 score: -0.35

When we chose the school, GCSE results were in line with national average and progress 8 score around 0 (which is 'par for the course').

Rereading my previous post, I know it sounds like we're incredibly pushy parents. Weirdly we've always been quite the opposite compared to our peer group - we were all very optimistic and keen to engage at the start of year 7. My enquiry is actually to take some of the pressure off my daughter rather than add, ironically.

@ItsJustMe88 with those GCSE results I would reiterate my advice about getting her tutor for maths/English + Sciences now and then wait until her GCSE choices to supplement for any other areas.
Or move her to a different school but I would say it is better that your child be happy + settled in an underperforming school (because you can supplement with tutors) than unhappy in a high achieving school.

I don't think no/little homework and no practice in revision is particularly odd in Year 8.

Rather than expecting your DC to study an entire GCSE on their own, I'd think it would be better for you to make sure that they are on top of everything that is covered in class - do they understand all the concepts (particularly in maths/science where they will build on them)? If they will have Year 8 exams at any point, they can also get in the habit of making revision notes as they go along/working out which revision techniques work for them.

Do you know any parents with older children at the school? You may well find that the school devote more of their limited resources to those in GCSE years.

The only times I've known students study GCSE on their own is when it was a MFL in their native language. And even then, they've generally had very clued up parents to support them.

We have had a very bright, very motivated student do this with Japanese. She did take lessons outside of school to cover the speaking + writing.

We frequently have students sit "home language" exams - this works best if their mother tongue is spoken at home, but they still have to make sure they can do the reading/writing bit too!