DD not being allowed to do Triple Science, really wants to, anything we can do?

[avidhorizon]

We moved to York this year and DD (year 10) got a place in a school that we wanted that's supposed to be really good. She has a flight path 7 in her old school, and we were assuming stupidly I suppose she could do triple science, like she wants to.

The school is saying only flight paths 8 and 9 can do triple science. I dont see this rule written down, and other kids at the school are surprised she's not doing triple with a 7, but the school is adamant. She's gutted and we're really cross because of the effect it has on her, and because we generally think this school (which is well regarded by veeeerrrryyyyy traditional) doesn't like doing science for girls (hardly any girls doing A level science there, we now realize).

Is there anything we can try, before we look at letting her apply to another school, with all the disruption that'll involve?

Why can’t she do 8?

The 7 refers to her grade. She's not projected an 8 so she can't do triple.

Utter nonsense. Complain long and loud.

It is very lonely and difficult doing triple science with mainly boys. I know from experience.

I would move schools.

But it's also very hard work, is her maths good enough? Mine wasn't.

The only thing you can do is follow the conplaints procedure, it will be on the school website. My sure in your complaint to the head you’re explicit that it’s a formal complaint.

Edited for typo

There is a very serious shortage of science teachers.
This may well be a factor.

Triple science is much more challenging. If she’s not excelling currently then there’s no
point her doing triple.
It’s got nothing to do with being a girl. Most schools operate like this.

But a 7 is a A in old money!

An A grade student should be able to handle triple science.

Agree with complaining. We were told DC1 couldn't do triple. He ended up getting A*AA in maths & two science subjects.

Challenge the decision, challenge it again and keep on.

Why wouldn't all students be able to do separate science regardless of predicted grade? There are foundation and higher papers so everyone should be able to do it. It definitely isn't 'much harder' than double award IMO, most of what they learn is the same. Shocked that only the top students get to choose what they want to do and everyone else's choices are limited.

Why does she want to do triple science

Do they give the same time to combined and triple?
What are their requirements for A level courses?

Why does she want to do triple? If she is seriously thinking about at least one A level science, I think that she should.

OTOH, double science has the same rigour, just less content and, if she isn’t looking at science A levels, two great grades looks a lot better than three ok ones.

Absolutely complain to the school. They cannot exclude her from triple science on the basis that she got a 'predicted' grade of a 7 at her old school because they do not know what that prediction was based on, and it could easily put her at a disadvantage compared to their own pupils.

They cannot be based on KS2 SATs results which would be the normal method of prediction because her year group didn't sit them.

I would want a thorough explanation of the assumption that she wouldn't be capable of triple science.

Most schools would allow anyone predicted a 7 to do triple science (unless there were time tabling issues or some other reason). A predicted 7 is perfectly acceptable and could easily be turned into a 8 with some hard work.

The only issue in this case would be if it was being carried out during the same number of lessons as combined science and not timetabled as an option. That way, one person predicted a 7 may well find it hard to keep up if everyone else is predicted 8/9s.

Is there space in a triple science class or is the"7" just an excuse?

I would wager a shortage of science teachers is the main reason.

I would definitely challenge that. My DD got a grade 4,6,7 in her end of year 10 exams, and she’s just got 9,9,9 in the real things. If a child is motivate they can do well.

Surely triple science is not harder- its just more work? As GCSEs are meant to be comparable in difficulty.

A good line of argument here would be that her old school predicted the grade not knowing it would impact her options . So they probably erred on the safe side. Her predicted grade is not comparable to others at the new school.

I must say I find this approach stupid. The economy is crying out for scientists and we are telling kids not to bother unless they are top of the class.

Insane, 7 is an excellent grade!!

I would wager a shortage of science teachers is the main reason

Given there is a triple class already, she should be able to join it - she's not asking for an extra teacher so that's not an excuse.

Awful attitude of the school.

I would raise this with the school and explain how your daughter is really desperate to do triple. If it is the speed at which they cover the syllabus that they are worried about, would you be able to get a tutor to give some extra support.

But is that class full? I guess that’s the decider. If there’s no room for her because she joined late, that might be tricky to challenge.
If she’s set on wanting to do triple, and they won’t budge, then I would be looking elsewhere. Do it quickly if so, and make sure to check the whole range of options that she wants. But it may also affect other option choices. DD is doing triple but could only choose 3 ‘options’ as a result. She’s doing what she wanted but for other kids, that could be an issue.
I don’t know about the harder/easier thing, as all kids bar those predicted very low grades get entered for triple and are divided into foundation and higher sets. A child predicted 7s would be a strong candidate here though.

Is this a requirement for a future career she’s aiming for.

It would be interesting to know whether there are any boys with a 7 doing triple science.

Have they already started the course? In Dd1's school triple science is compulsory and they start in year 9 to ensure they cover it all by year 11.

Another local school does triple science in the same time the rest do double, so they really have to work hard to get to grips with it all. The triple science kids get 10 GCSEs and the rest get 9.