Withdrawing from a GCSE

[Imnoonesfool]

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exam board is AQA - can anybody advise if I am able to go back and insist she be withdrawn ?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

How far off a pass mark was she @Imnoonesfool You said in 2 other subjects she has gone from a 5 to a 7? So if she's getting a 2 or a 3 in the mocks and you help her revise by looking at some past papers to make sure she has enough knowledge of the content then that could be a 4 or 5 in the proper exams?

One of my DC is fed up with one of their subjects which had a practical assessment element that for a few reasons hasn't gone well so now really dislikes that course and is refusing to revise for that exam other than in the lessons. I'm not going to force them (let's face it I couldn't if I tried!) Although I still thinking walking away with something is better than having nothing to show for the two years.

She won’t get a U though. She didn’t sit it so received no grade & no certificate as if she’d never studied it at all and as if withdrawn!!

She didn’t choose the subject it was not an option .

No she won’t be awarded a U as that’s a fail. She didn’t fail it because she didn’t attend the exams. There’s zero record of it. No certificate or grade at all. My friend’s DD got 9 decent GCSE’s, studied A levels, no probs with ucas and in final year at university studying neuroscience. Not turning up for her history gcse exams has not held her back. It was absolutely the right decision for her at the time.

Even better then!

@Imnoonesfool If she is seriously struggling and non-attendance at the exams is a consideration, it’s important there is no coursework and no sitting any of the RS exams! Otherwise she’ll still be awarded a grade. There needs to be zero submission of RS coursework or RS exams. The school may charge you for the exam fee though. Is it £60? Which given you’ve asked her to be withdrawn before the April deadline would seem unfair.

Update

spoke to the progress lead this afternoon and he has agreed it’s not in her best interest to continue with the course. They will speak to the exams officer to see if there is a fine to withdraw her and I have said I am happy to cover. There is no way she would continue with the course and not try as that is not in her nature. She is only just passing Maths and Eng lang and I think her effort would better be focused there. As for why they are taking 10 GCSEs this is now standard at this school, my son who left a few years ago didn’t have to take RS it was taught as part of the PSHE lessons so he was only required to take 9 GCSEs.

As for why it’s so late in the day we had no clue she was failing until she got her Nov mock back as her last report had her forecast a grade 6, following that mock her teacher said she wasn’t concerned it was just a bad day at the office. So she worked really hard revising for her Feb mock and really thought she’d done well, so to fail again I’m not sure what they had been basing her forecast grade on.

anyway all sorted now thanks

Yes it is your legal right to withdraw your child from religious education. Might be the most effective way.

Well done @Imnoonesfool and good luck to her in all her other GCSE’s.

Well done @Imnoonesfool that's a great result.

I'm going to do the same for DS. It's a different exam board though, so will ring them up and ask about withdrawal.

Does it make a difference if they are withdrawn or not if they don't planning on attending the exam?

The exam boards won't allow you, the parent, to withdraw them (which is probably a good thing) but they can advise you of the deadlines.

If they are withdrawn from the exam then it is as if they have never studied the subject. It doesn't appear on any slips or certificates.

If you don't show up then it is on the exam slip but graded as X and not on the certificates.

If there has been coursework or they sit one paper then they will get a grade on both.

Schools are very reluctant to withdraw - and I believe they can't just do it because you might not get a good grade.

We have done it but it took a long time to be approved.

If you don't show up then it is on the exam slip but graded as X and not on the certificates.

This might be the best course of action then. I'm pretty sure there's no coursework for it.

Until I experienced it first hand it’s difficult to comprehend how real school based anxiety is. I have seen my confident happy bubbly child who had loved everything about school reduced to panic attacks at the thought of a teacher asking her question in class. Sitting in the car in morning talking her into just walking through the gate. She has made massive progress in the last 3 months becaise she hates the life she was living BUT to see her start spiralling again due the sheer pressure of the workload she has, she is not academically gifted, she has to work so hard for her grades so all I want is to reduce some of that pressure from her to ensure she ends her secondary journey with what she needs for her next step and her mind intact is more important to me. Although I don’t want to cause problems for the school or her teachers.

@Imnoonesfool i think unless you have first hand experience it is very difficult to understand. Even with that first hand experience it’s very tricky to know what’s best for your child at times as you’ll receive so much conflicting ‘advice’. You are absolutely doing the right thing putting your DD first & her MH. That’s always paramount. Exams can be taken whenever. They really aren’t paramount.

Yes, go back and ask again. 9 GCSEs is plenty and she doesn't need RS for anything work/university-wise, I assume

My son was allowed to drop a subject this time last year for GCSE. He is dyslexic though and it was an independent school. He used the extra time for other subjects and was allowed to go to the library supervised in the gap where the lesson was. It was the best decision ever and he got excellent grades across the remaining 9 subjects including 9's for all three chosen A levels.

I hope your school allows you to as having 9 or 10 will make no difference to my son at all now or at any point in the future.

Sorry yes as the PP said the withdrawal of subject took a long time to be approved. It wasn't just a case of one bad grade at mocks, I had been requesting for a year at least.

Same position here. Teacher said it couldn’t be dropped as there was no supervision. I said she could just go to the class but not sit the exam. Teacher didn’t like that suggestion either. So after getting a U in the latest mock I’ve made the decision that DD carries on as normal but doesn’t sit the exam. She needs to concentrate in the GCSEs she needs for her college course. School probably won’t be happy when she doesn’t turn up for the exam but they should have just let her drop it.

If it is RS then legally they have to let you drop it. It is the only subject you have the legal right to withdraw your child without explanation.

We have also decided it's not worth sitting the exam. DH said DS could just sit it without doing any revision, but when I pointed out that even sitting the 2 papers will take hours out of his time and tire him out when he could be concentrating on improving his other GCSEs he changed his mind.