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?

My DS wasn’t allowed to do triple science.
He was gutted, he did double, then a BTEC now is studying Biomedical Science at university.

Only the top 20 students in the end of year 9 science assessment were offered triple at my son's school.

I know it’s not the point of the thread but this whole triple science malarkey sounds like such a bizarre way to arrange things. I did Scottish standard grades and physics, biology and chemistry were three distinct subjects with different teachers and timetables the same as any other subjects.

That’s what triple science is.

Double is the same subjects (sometimes with separate teachers) but covering less content so you get 2 GCSEs. Sometimes triple is an option, sometimes it’s covered in the same sessions as double (which everyone does) but faster, hence needing a certain ability level.

Wish double had existed for me as I had to drop physics to do the other things I wanted to do (so I just took bio and chem) and I am very aware of my lack of basic knowledge.

Could her old school / teachers write a reference on her expected grade at actual A level - I assume the 7 was given earlier in the year and low to encourage hard work.

I echo many other posters . Challenge why she can’t join. An A / grade 7 student is more than capable of studying triple science. If the class is full that might be more tricky but the reason you have been given doesn’t seem fair.

There is some outrageous snobbery going on in this thread. Yes a 7 is equivalent to an a. I'm sorry if that upsets some people ( that their precious little darling 9-grade students really aren't as special as they think). It's pathetic. Triple science is not just for the elite. It's bog standard in our schools here.

Flight paths are absolute nonsense.

Send them this and ask how do they justify using such outdated bullshit that most good schools have moved on from?

learningspy.co.uk/assessment/how-do-we-know-pupils-are-marking-progress-part-1-the-problem-with-flightpaths/

A 7 is a high B to low A in old money. An 8 is an A to A* star in the old system. A 9 is top of A star to sort of A *. The letters and numbers don't exactly align as the government wanted a grade to be even higher than A star to combat grade inflation.

Urgh my text accidentally bolded but hopefully point was understandable. Basically a 7 is a v good grade and she also might do way better than her target, which the utter madness of flight paths fails to take account of.

Stand your ground if you can.

Couldn’t agree more.

All kids should be encouraged to do Science, especially if they are enthusiastic!

As I have stated before, we put no restrictions on who does the Triple course. If they’re keen, they can do it. If they need some extra support, we provide it.

Is she really, really sure she wants to do triple? Does she have an older friend or sibling who has done it under the 2017 exam specs so she knows how demanding it is? The workload is immense. At my school there’s always a number of students who love the idea of triple in Year 10 but the reality has broken a fair few and they end up moving to combined in Year 11 to save their mental health. Chemistry especially seems to be a real shocker.

This science gatekeeping makes me so cross and it seems so many schools do it. I have 33 students in my triple class with predictions between 4 and 8. It's entirely possible.

Absolutely fight for it, flight paths are shit nonsense and have been dropped by most schools, I am pretty sure I know which York school it might be as one of their slt was a flightpath lover,( not sure if they are still there but the type whose legacy would run on) bloody coloured stickers on every kids book.
They shouldn’t be basing it on prediction grades anyway, her current performance would be a much better discriminator.

I think it's always been like this tbh. In my school, many moons ago, only top set did triple.

OP needs to clarify whether triple science is covered in the same time as allocated for combined, or whether it counts as an extra option, so allows for more time.

In the second scenario, there is no additional workload over any other GCSE. For a student that "gets" science, it may even be less.

It's always been the case in "some" schools.
Personally these are the ones that I would avoid if I had a science oriented DC.

It's because it would be too hard for her. I know it seems unfair but the physics element is difficult. That's why they're for 8/9s. Better to pass a general.science gcse than to fail a separate science that's worth 2 gcses.

It should be said that, although a 7 is a low A in old terms, it is only medium strong at best.

If you go on to take a Physics A level (a subject I taught) after achieving a 7 at GCSE, the correlation with A level grades suggests a 13% of A* or A, A 23% chance of a B, a 30% chance of a C and 34% chance of D or worse.

I honestly don’t think there is any point in studying triple award just because you can. You should either be genuinely passionate about science or want to study if at A level.

The double award is a much fairer challenge given the teaching time allocated and is plenty rigorous and deep enough for most students. Unfortunately for Science teachers most schools don’t allocate us enough time, with Maths, English and (maybe strangely) French gobbling up the most time (it isn’t hard to give great added value if you get lots of time).

My daughter did triple science at gcse and in her school it was only offered to children over a certain grade . A few of her friends started it and then was removed by the teachers after a few weeks . My sons was given the option to do triple science and he did got 6s in them all but didn’t really like it.
You need to complain to the school if she’s expected good grades then don’t see the problem.

sal

At DS's school one third of the students start triple science. They are re-assessed after their Christmas mocks in Year 11. Students who achieve 7,7,6 are allowed to continue, those who do not are "encouraged" to swap to the trilogy. I think this is a sensible approach.

I would challenge

DD’s school suggested to us that they dropped to combined science after his y11 mocks. Theu decided not to (and got three 7s in the end) but, crucially, they’d been taught throughout on the assumption that they would do triple.

OP, you could suggest to the school that she starts off doing triple and then opts to do combined if it’s not going so well at certain stages?

I was actually thinking it was the number of seats in the classroom. It can be something like that.

OP Why does she want to do triple? You can go on to A Levels with double.

I wound challenge this. My son is on for 7s and we fully expect him to do triple science