Sixth form withdrawing subjects

[DecisionYesOrNo]

Need your advice. My child got admission in one of the sixth forms for her choice of subjects. They never informed us it was conditional offer based on baseline testing neither verbally not written. Last week they have taken away her 2 subject choices since she dint clear her baseline testing. She can't do those subjects at all. They are very firm. We left admissions for so many schools because of this school and now this. Is this even legal. Please suggest

Is there a reason she wants to take Chemistry when she has such a bad grade at GCSE? I wouldn’t expect students to take on subjects where they got less than an 8

@DecisionYesOrNo - one of mine self taught all sciences on Seneca to 9s and I think beyond that and I recommend Dr Frost for Maths. You can sadly no longer rely on schools.

She wants to study medicine, chemistry is pretty essential.

She won’t get medicine with those GCSE grades

She won’t get medicine with those GCSE grades

I think I would push for biology, maths and one other. Then assume she will have a year out after Y13 doing as much relevant work experience as she can while going to college to get her chemistry a level. She can then apply for uni a bit later with grades in hand. I hope it all works out for her. She has plenty of time.

The Olaves ruling doesn't apply here. She hasn't been permanently excluded. She has been told (quite rightly on at least 1 subject) that she can't take those 2 subjects. But can take others. So she is not being excluded.

Thanks for your suggestion.

I find this thread really sad! Writing off a child at 16 who may make a wonderful doctor because it is a vocation! Just because they may have had a crap Chemistry teacher.
OP - I would insist and try and do a deal with the school. Let her at least try and stay on the Chemistry A level for now and drop by the end of the year if she does not get it up.
With Psychology, Biology and Maths she could still do a Psychology degree at a good university.
I would be going in all guns blazing.

I agree with this.

No university would accept her with a '5' on Chemistry - even with extenuating circumstances. She'll be competing against students with solid 9s across the board and it'll wreck her confidence when she doesn't get in.

Better that she does three subjects now, takes a gap year to just do her Chemistry A-level and get a job etc, and then apply once she has all her grades.

"She won’t get medicine with those GCSE grades"

I think it would be pretty tricky, I'm not sure what her other GCSE grades were apart from the ones which the OP posted but she's definitely going to be mainly up against kids who got 9s in all their sciences and probably in most of their other GCSEs as well. Medicine is a brutal competitive business.

I say this with kindness, it is very unlikely she will get onto a medicine degree with those gcses. It’s just too competitive with students who got 8s across the board.

Family friend was only offered one place with straight as at level and much higher gcses.

She could resit her gcses or aim for something different at university or a foundation degree. I know two people who did biomedical science as a first degree and ultimately became doctors and one person who dropped out of medicine, studied biology and is now a leading biological science who is arguably saving more lives that they would have ever done as a doctor.

The St Olave's case doesn't help, because (a) it related to permanent exclusion and (b) the case was settled without a binding decision being made. The law on permanent exclusion is very clear; the law about admission to individual courses is much less so.

It sounds as if your strongest argument is the fact that the school actually wrote to you and said your daughter would be admitted onto the courses she chose. It could be argued that they created a legitimate expectation, based on which your daughter rejected other options, and therefore should not be allowed to depart from their agreement. However, you really need to look at ALL the small print. If there is anything that says words to the effect of "We will make an initial decision about courses based on A level results but we will then be doing our own assessments and reserve the right to move pupils to different courses based on those assessments" then you are probably stuffed.

You might like to contact the lawyer who dealt with the St Olave's case - https://www.simpsonmillar.co.uk/our-people/dan-rosenberg/ - but I suggest you make sure you have checked all the documentation first.

If she’s really passionate about studying medicine she needs to go to see someone at her school and show them her passion and need for chemistry and maybe ask for a few more weeks to prove that she can catch up and is really motivated. At the moment, for whatever reason, she doesn’t have the background for Chemistry A level it’s not about potential or ‘being bright’ it’s about not having learnt enough chemistry so far to understand the advanced level.

It can’t all come from you, much as it is tempting to try to make the world perfect for them, she needs to live and learn, help her don’t try to rescue her. hope it works out one way or another!

Thanks so much.

"All guns blazing" really would not be the best approach. A calm request for a constructive meeting would go much better.

I agree she will struggle to be accepted at another 6th form to do Chemistry with a 5 at GCSE even though you explain there is a backstory. How sure and how realistic is her wish to do medicine? Would she consider related subjects?

I would pushback on their refusal to let her study Biology as she got a 7 at GCSE and continue with Maths, Biology and Psychology.

Maybe she retakes GCSE alongside and she could pick that up as a 4th A-level in a year out? She would have to achieve stellar A-levels and explain how she overcame the setbacks with Chemistry and how that shows her to be resilient etc.

Please be very careful about advising that she does three other A-levels, then takes a year out and studies the chemistry separately. Most (maybe all?) medical schools will only accept A-levels taken in one sitting.

Graduate entry medicine is also a consideration, just takes longer to reach the end goal.I know a couple of drs who did this.

Honestly, my kid self taught themselves to a 9 level on Seneca in a couple of months. It really is perfectly doable for a bright kid. I do not know what all this fuss is about. GCSE are literally about answering the question in a set manner and learning the material.

Thanks for understanding. She had a crappy teacher who bullied her and the teacher was rusticated by then it was too late . I am glad you understood. I don't want her to give up on something she wants because of 1 GCSE result. I am sure won't go to Oxford or Cambridge with these GCSEs but she can try for other universities in UK or outside UK.

True. Perhaps exploring alternative medical allied degree which may still leave graduate entry as an option may be more realistic (the cost though!)

Agree she needs to retake the GCSE if she's got her heart set on medicine.

There were many medical students I was in halls with who saw themselves as really lucky to get onto a medicine degree even with the best results, it's so fiercely competitive.

If she wouldn't get a better grade in Chemistry perhaps an NHS training programme would be better, not sure if there are any around currently but surely Labour will be bringing them back in.

of course they can? What makes you think they can’t?

Was there a reason she did so few GCSEs?
I think the lack of other subjects makes the lower chemistry grade look worse unfortunately, because she would surely have had a fair amount of free time, only doing 5 different subjects.
If she is really keen on medicine I think she’ll need to re-do chemistry GCSE, and a couple of other subjects too. When I applied many years ago, you needed at least 8 GCSEs (well they were actually O levels back then) just to apply.