Why is there such a big difference between English GCSE results and all other subjects

[Cobwebs5]

This is a super selective grammar. Good results for sure. What do you think of the English results ? I have a feeling that this pattern isn’t specific to this school. What is so different about English ? I have a friend whose daughter got 9 grades 9’s and a 6 in English language.

Dd1 got grade 9 in everything but English where she got 2 x 6s. She hated eveything about English. The texts, her teacher, the lack of time in exams, lack of help from school. The other subjects she found very easy to study at home using online resources.

@SisterMaryImmaculateAll pupils take the Higher paper where available in all subjects.

The 11+ in my grammar county is entirely MCQ. So it selects for people who are good at making right/wrong choices under time pressure. I suspect that translates quite well to something like physics or biology GCSE but I am really dubious how well that predicts whether someone is going to be able to analyze and discuss the nuances of pride and prejudice or Shakespeare or similar for GCSE... Or have flair and imagination for creative writing.

21.5% English as a second language. 13.4% Pupil Premium.

The link to reading explains why the standard of English is falling generally. It doesn’t, I don’t think, explain why grammar school pupils are doing disproportionately worse.

@WishihadanalgorithmYes it is AQA for both Language and Literature.

@redskydelightYes, the school has a 6th form.

@claryTop 5% so Super Selective.

Something is going wrong with English as per the Observer article. The tests the Government independently did on the cohort showed strong ability and then the exam results did not reflect, due to potentially too many exams, quality control issues with exam boards. It should be fully investigated. As these are the key measures that kids have to quote on their CV (Maths and English). It is not fair on them. This is true across a range of schools.

@newmum1976 Yes, there are so many really good resources to study STEM online, English is much more difficult.

@puffyisgood I’ll post the A level results

Does this superselective grammar school have a large proportion of EAL children? I spent a while on a forum for 11+ tuition/applicants and there was a huge proportion of parents posting who were not fluent in English (some mentioned this, others' posts indicated this). If English is not their first language, that could explain why they are lagging behind in English GCSEs. They will struggle to match the depth of vocabulary, the wider reference of English literature or even historial references of students who are well-supported in our language, culture and literature.

I’ve no idea what to make of these. A bit disappointing ?

Ah they've been rubbish with marking for years, I don't understand why any school still uses them 🤦‍♀️

I wouldn't go there if I aimed for medicine 😁

Surely that will vary hugely by geography? Rural Dorset will be massively different from inner London.

Well i think they confirm that the school is attracting predominantly STEM based students (assuming a large proportion of these are students who also attended lower down the school). If everyone takes 3 A Levels that's around 150 students in the sixth form and 97 of them are taking maths!! And only (for example) 6 taking history.

A grammar offering Media Studies for A Level looks strange. MS is pretty much useless, top grammars are usually non-nonsense about their time.

I also think that schools spend so much time on the memory test that is English Literature that the skills needed for the higher grades in English are overlooked.
There needs to be a complete overhaul - 15 poems, two plays and a text - it's a lot to remember.

To be fair it was always the case that flair got the higher grades in English and that can't be taught!

Wow from that I take a massive focus on STEM as already observed.

A cohort of about 150-160 (assuming most take three) and half of them do biology and half do chemistry? Meanwhile 20 take Eng lit (more take economics), no Eng lang on offer, and six take history?

Don't know about medicine but I don't think I'd go to sixth form there is I was interested in humanities tbh. Six taking history, 21 English and 8 RE does not inspire confidence in those subjects – i would fear they might not even run for lack of numbers.

The best stat there is a French with seven taking it, not bad (more than history!) and six of them getting A or Astar.

I have no idea if it's a good school and I didn't go to school in the UK but where I did, super selective schools very often had a large contingent of middle class immigrant background (incl 2nd+ gen e.g. children of Indian/Chinese doctors) kids whose parents pushed/tutored them to a very high standard in maths (like university level while still at school) but did not push English to the same degree, sometimes positioning it as a soft subject.

I'm not sure if that would show up as EAL if 2nd+ gen but might still affect cultural attitudes to the subjects.

Are you considering this school for your child OP?

I see the opposite - they're quite good for art, a very difficult AL, and not good enough for Maths and STEM 😂

This is absolutely not true for geography. Extended writing, evaluation and judgement are a huge part of geography papers.

Not true for maths either where you have to show how you worked out the answer.

Pupil demographic mostly from backgrounds where imagination, critical thinking or skills other than stem aren't valued or tutored for enough. It's hard to tutor in critical skills or imagination. Overtutored to death in maths as a way to become a mini robot, doctor, programmer or pharmacist and earn as much for the family as possibly. Such children are rarely supported in English, or have independence or imagination required for excellence in English. Many don't read so have very few skills and are barely intelligent.
Also backgrounds where 'womens's' skills are looked down on whereas 'mens' are great.