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Secondary education

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Original poster

Withdrawing from a GCSE

45 replies

Imnoonesfool · 25/03/2025 12:40

hi
can someone help. My child has just sat her second set of mocks and has failed her long course RS for the second time. She had worked really hard in the lead up to this mock and felt it went really well so was obviously really disappointed to fail again. She was forecast a 6. She is sitting 10 GCSEs and struggling with the work load. She is currently looking at 4/5/6s in all her subject and this is with her working extremely hard. The feedback from the first mock was non existent from the teacher, she had to do her own feedback using the mark scheme. After this mock the feedback is she doesn’t have the knowledge to pass so needs to revise all the content more.

so we have discussed it with her and we agreed it will be more beneficial for her to drop RS and concentrate the final 6 weeks on her remaining 9 GCSES

the school have refused and said she has to continue with it. Basically tough.

exam board is AQA - can anybody advise if I am able to go back and insist she be withdrawn ?

for context the course she wants to do at college requires either 5 GCSEs grade 4 and above or 5 GCSEs grade 5 and above depending on if she takes A Level or BTEC. Also for further context she has manage to increase her chemistry grade from a 5 in Nov mocks to grade 7 this mocks which is 2 grades higher than her forecast, same in geography .

i don’t want to cause a fuss but I know my daughter and we have had a tough year with school based anxiety. She has made real progress with CBT and external help and is now receiving Educational Mental Wellbeing sessions on the school. I just want to keep her on track and support her to get the end of school in one piece and feel continuing with RS is an unnecessary stress that can be avoided

OP posts:
LetItGoToRuin · 25/03/2025 13:21

I guess the school won't let her drop RS because they won't have anyone to supervise her if she doesn't attend the RS lessons.

Could she just deprioritise it in her mind, accept she is likely to fail it, attend the lessons but focus all her efforts on her other subjects?

Original poster
Imnoonesfool · 25/03/2025 13:27

LetItGoToRuin · 25/03/2025 13:21

I guess the school won't let her drop RS because they won't have anyone to supervise her if she doesn't attend the RS lessons.

Could she just deprioritise it in her mind, accept she is likely to fail it, attend the lessons but focus all her efforts on her other subjects?

If that was the case then I could understand but there is SEN support and Supervised independent study rooms available as there are quite a few students on reduced timetables and a number of her peers have dropped subjects. She only has 2 timetables lessons per week both at the end of the day so I am prepared to collect her

OP posts:
Foxesandsquirrels · 25/03/2025 15:09

Drop it if possible. 10 is far too many.

DataColour · 25/03/2025 15:16

We are in the same position. DS got a 3 in his mocks for RE. He hates it and does not want to do it, but it is compulsory in his school.
Including RE, it's 10 GCSEs plus further maths. No revision for it going on at home, and I don't know whether he ever will. I don't want him to fail a GCSE but I can't see any other way now.
Watching replies with interest.

samlovesdilys · 25/03/2025 15:20

Can you involve counsellor or gp to say that dropping it would benefit her mental health? That may give the school a clear reason and show your commitment. We are right on the deadline for dropping at no cost to the school so I would push she needs to drop it, btw 4hrs a fortnight (if over 2yrs) is not enough to thoroughly teach a gcse…

MrsAvocet · 25/03/2025 15:41

I sympathise OP but I don't think you can force the school to withdraw her. Why they are insisting though is quite beyond me. Is it a Church school? RS is isn't a compulsory GCSE, it's not even an EBacc qualifying subject so I can't see any value to a non denominational school in insisting it's done. And nobody needs 10 GCSEs. None of the sought after schools in my area have a core offer of more than 9 these days. It's much better to get better grades across slightly fewer subjects than to spread yourself too thin. I really don't understand your DC's school's attitude, but I suspect you can't change it.
Personally, unless RS is a subject she wants to take further which presumably it isn't, I think I would probably advise her to check out of RS mentally and put all her energy into ensuring she is secure in maths and English language and aims for the best grades she can achieve in any subjects she wants to do A levels in. Even if the college will allow her to start an A level course with a 5 at GCSE in the subjects she's likely to be at a significant disadvantage with that as a starting point so encourage her to aim high in the subjects that really matter. If she has to do the RS exam anyway then she should go in, give it her best shot and you never know, she may do better than she expects. But I wouldn't risk lower grades in maths, English or her intended A level subjects in an attempt to pass RS.

Octavia64 · 25/03/2025 15:46

It’s the school who makes entry decisions. It’s not a parental decision. Sorry.

you can’t force the school to let her drop it.

she can stop studying and revising for it which pretty much has the same effect.

moanafan · 25/03/2025 15:47

The school will not want students dropping subjects now because there is literally weeks to go until exams and all the students have been entered for them. It will cost money to pull them out. The schools data will also be affected, it is better if she scraps a 1 or a 2 than doesn’t complete the course fully. I would encourage her to spend her final few weeks putting her focus onto her other subjects instead. It’s a shame her teacher clearly isn’t invested in her to help - is it worth an email explaining that she could do with some support to improve her understanding and knowledge? Sounds like the teacher is potentially not doing enough (and I say this as a secondary teacher myself!). There should be feedback from mocks, otherwise what is the point? How do you move forward?
I would contact her teacher asap. The other option of course is that she doesn’t physically turn up for her RS exams - not ideal!! But there are always a few who do this!! One year we had one girl miss her final exam because parents had decided to go on holiday instead..

OhCrumbsWhereNow · 25/03/2025 16:21

moanafan · 25/03/2025 15:47

The school will not want students dropping subjects now because there is literally weeks to go until exams and all the students have been entered for them. It will cost money to pull them out. The schools data will also be affected, it is better if she scraps a 1 or a 2 than doesn’t complete the course fully. I would encourage her to spend her final few weeks putting her focus onto her other subjects instead. It’s a shame her teacher clearly isn’t invested in her to help - is it worth an email explaining that she could do with some support to improve her understanding and knowledge? Sounds like the teacher is potentially not doing enough (and I say this as a secondary teacher myself!). There should be feedback from mocks, otherwise what is the point? How do you move forward?
I would contact her teacher asap. The other option of course is that she doesn’t physically turn up for her RS exams - not ideal!! But there are always a few who do this!! One year we had one girl miss her final exam because parents had decided to go on holiday instead..

The deadline for withdrawal without penalty is the 21st April.

If you do not attend the exams, or attend but do not answer any questions then you get an X which is on results slips but not certificates.

It may be good for schools to have a 1 or a 2 for a subject but I can't see that it serves any good purpose for a pupil whose other results are expected to be considerably higher.

OxfordInkling · 25/03/2025 16:24

Tell her to stop all work in the class and that she does not have to do the exam. Then don’t show for the exam. At all.

the school will not be flexible, so you’ll have to simply not comply.

moanafan · 25/03/2025 16:33

@OhCrumbsWhereNowThat is a late deadline and can’t be true of all subjects as some have already had some exams (Food & Nutrition, PE, Art). My school has an internal deadline of end of Feb for exam entries. After that point, no wiggle room.
Agree about 1s or 2s not serving a purpose for students like the OPs daughter. The system doesn’t suit all. 10 GCSEs is a huge commitment from the start, most state schools will not encourage this number for the entire cohort.

OhCrumbsWhereNow · 25/03/2025 16:36

moanafan · 25/03/2025 16:33

@OhCrumbsWhereNowThat is a late deadline and can’t be true of all subjects as some have already had some exams (Food & Nutrition, PE, Art). My school has an internal deadline of end of Feb for exam entries. After that point, no wiggle room.
Agree about 1s or 2s not serving a purpose for students like the OPs daughter. The system doesn’t suit all. 10 GCSEs is a huge commitment from the start, most state schools will not encourage this number for the entire cohort.

I rang AQA last week to find out exactly that information... so this is straight from the horse's mouth.

21st Feb was deadline for entries.

21st of April for all withdrawals and alterations without penalty. Up to day of exam with a penalty.

FrippEnos · 25/03/2025 16:50

OxfordInkling · 25/03/2025 16:24

Tell her to stop all work in the class and that she does not have to do the exam. Then don’t show for the exam. At all.

the school will not be flexible, so you’ll have to simply not comply.

Hopefully the OP will have the decency to tell the school that this is happening so that the teacher/s involved don't get shit on by the SLT/HT.

minnienono · 25/03/2025 16:55

All depends on the last date for withdrawing, if it’s past that it will be recorded as a U

RatedDoingMagic · 25/03/2025 17:01

It's a crap school if they don't agree. If you think that it might help, try being more assertive and insisting that it is in neither DDs best interests nor the school's to have her get lower grades across 10 subjects rather than highe grades across a smaller number.

If they really won't listen to reason, tell your dd to "quiet quit" RE. She can simply stop working on it. She can even just not turn up for the RE exam. They have no power to make her.

PotteringAlonggotkickedoutandhadtoreregister · 25/03/2025 17:08

The nuclear option is to exercise your legal right to withdraw from RE lessons…

The humanists have templates.

As a head of RE, if you’re going to just go down the not bothering route, please put that in writing to the school. It will mean much less of a backside kicking about the poor result in September for the teacher.

Starlightstarbright4 · 25/03/2025 17:14

I asked for my Ds to be withdrew from a subject - basically he was disruptive to those wanting to learn- he had an issue with teacher . He is ND..

The process was it had to go to a panel .. in the end he was just withdrawn from the lesson - he had to sit the exam which he didn’t really participate in. .

you can get her to focus her revision on the more important subjects to her - but a 4 is still a pass

MissJeanBrodiesmother · 25/03/2025 17:20

If the school allowed your dd to do this then lots of other kids would be wanting to drop subjects at this late stage too. She chose it. She needs to finish the course as best she can and take her exam. She can of course not prioritise it for revision purposes but she needs to attend class and do her best whilst there. The school enters students not parents so you will not be able to do anything with aqa yourself.

BeaLola · 25/03/2025 17:27

I would withdraw her and tell school that.

We were advised by DS grammar school that no child could drop a GCSE ... cue the very brainy one predicted all grade 9s who wanted to drop RS as he was rubbish at it - his parents wrote a letter and wi and behold he was allowed to drop it - apparently didn't want anything less than a 9 on his certificates

Never found out what he got overall but I think his parents were mad - that said they made him revise constantly in year 10&11 - he doesn't have a "normal life"

theresnolimits · 25/03/2025 17:29

It’s the domino effect and the supervision situation. Where will she go in those free periods as she needs to be supervised? How many others will then want to reduce the number of GCSEs they’re doing and where do they all go? Packs of ‘freed up’ year 11s wandering around the site helps no one.

It’s not financial - the money has already been allocated. So whilst there may be a penalty for late withdrawal, it’s just the exam fee. So there’s no disadvantage to the school that has already committed.

RE is a compulsory subject but it doesn’t have to be a full GCSE - many schools feel that if students have to study it, they may as well get something for that.

Honestly I’d just tell her to sit in the lessons but don’t worry about revision. It’s almost Easter, then it’s about 5 more weeks. It will soon pass.

MoreChocPls · 25/03/2025 17:39

Just dont do any work for it and see what happens in the exam.

NotDonna · 25/03/2025 18:03

A lot of the replies are for the school. Not creating an issue for the school etc. Not a lot of consideration for your DD who is possibly struggling?
Im not entirely sure how it works but my friend’s DD wanted to withdraw from history gcse. School said no. The DD did not attend for either exam. She simply didn’t sit it and thus zero grade and has 9 other GCSE’s. Zero history certificate pass/fail. Perhaps saying to school that she WILL NOT sit the exam? I think the DD concerned probably had ‘appointments’ every history lesson or stayed in lesson quietly. Seems very silly not to withdraw IF there’s an option to be supervised for the missed lesson.
We’ve had a fair few suddenly drop chemistry.

idril · 25/03/2025 18:10

Just don't turn up to the exam and tell school that this is what will happen.

They might change their mind and withdraw her or they might not. If they don't, she'll get a U which will be worse for them than for her. Nobody will care that she got a U in her 10th GCSE.

FrippEnos · 25/03/2025 19:03

If the OPs DD doesn't attend the exam then she will likely be awarded a "U" grade which could have an effect on UCAS scores.
The school can also pass on the cost and the fine to the OP.

The OP maybe able to have her DD withdrawn if she offers to pay the fees and fine.

OhCrumbsWhereNow · 25/03/2025 19:32

FrippEnos · 25/03/2025 19:03

If the OPs DD doesn't attend the exam then she will likely be awarded a "U" grade which could have an effect on UCAS scores.
The school can also pass on the cost and the fine to the OP.

The OP maybe able to have her DD withdrawn if she offers to pay the fees and fine.

Edited

She won't have a 'U' she'll get an X if she doesn't turn up which doesn't feature on exam certificates.