Why is the school putting so much pressure on? UAL level 2 diploma

[Greenmountains]

DC15 attends a performing arts school, year 10 doing theatre, by the end of year 11 they will get the UAL level 2 diploma worth 4 GCSE.

In order to get the diploma they have to write 5 long portfolios through year 10 and 11 and pass each one to be able to continue with next one and the course. The last portfolio will decide if they get the diploma or not

They scratched passes for the first two, currently working on the third one and on track to deliver on time. Looks pretty good to me but I am not expert.

Now the school called me that they want a meeting to lay expectations for year 11 with DC and myself.

Presumably if she only just passed on the previous work they are worried she won’t make it.

it doesn’t matter what it looks like to you, you are not marking it

Probably, but all they can do is continue to work and improve.

It causes me so much stress

Imagine how much stress you’ll feel in a couple
of years when you have an unemployed actor with barely a couple of GCSEs to her name….

You’re the parent here, you need to support the school and make sure your kid actually gets some qualifications, however stressful you find it.

If sounds like they are worried about her progress and want to try to solve it now rather than getting to this time next year with nothing to show for the work.

At my school when leadership do these meetings it’s usually to say something along the lines of;

at the moment you look like you might fail. We want to stop that happening. Then they will talk through with the parents - does the child have a quiet place to work? Is the parent supervising homework and making sure it is done?

they may agree a weekly phone call where the leader will speak to the parents directly and tell them if homework is not being done, or and much more importantly if coursework is not being done

they may offer help if the students struggles to work at home - we offered homework supervision after school for as many days as was wanted (it ran 5 days a week). We also offered additional suppprt by subject, so coursework heavy subjects would have deadlines for each part of the coursework and there would be lunch time catch ups or before school sessions for the student to access art rooms /DT rooms /computers.

school want your kid to pass.

Thank you all. It is good to see other people point of view. I didn’t grow up here, didn’t have all that pressure at that age.

DC has also been working harder in the latest portfolio which isn’t due yet and on tract to deliver by deadline

The stress is because DC has been having some mental health struggles since last year so I am worry to push them beyond their limits, they are also going through puberty with ups and downs hormones on top of all the school pressure.

I’m sorry about their MH issues (are they unable to perform as a result?), but puberty? Come on, all kids go through puberty while they’re at school, you can’t use that as an excuse - unless they are significantly more affected than normal, in which case go to your GP.

You can't "make sure" they get qualifications as a parent. You can facilitate and support them as much as possible but can only do so much as ulitimately it's up to them. Sounds like OP's DD has been having a tough time and may be already doing all she can. Schools often do put far too much pressure on and not everyone is academic or capable of getting multiple GCSEs at high grades, no matter how much they try.

Yes, of course their mental health impacts their performance . They already have a therapist.

Also if you ever have to deal with hormones, pms, menopause you will realise it does impact you if you are not feeling 100 percent to deal with the day to day stuff.

Thank you; yes, we are supporting all we can and DC is doing the work.

I appreciate the school wants to support my daughter to get a pass; but does anyone know if there is a reason they put so
much pressure on the kids? Is it because schools get merits on passes/scores?

The pressure is the system. They have to get to a certain standard to pass, if they don’t, well what then? So of course there’s pressure! Is it graded? Like pass, merit, distinction?

Yes, pass, merit, distinction.

What I want to know if if the school gets affected by kids not passing and how? How does this impact them?

If this is a Diploma worth 4 GCSE, then there might be the option to drop to a Certificate worth only 2 (?) GCSEs. It is worth you asking explicitly about this.
There would still be a number of compulsory units to pass, but fewer additional ones.
That could take stress away if MH is an issue.

Schools get 'scored' on average grade achievement at GCSE. Kids failing is not a good look for them.
Plus it is their basic job - educate the kids to achieve qualifications.

Of course exam results impact the school. How a school’s pupils perform in public exams is on record for everyone to see and compare with other schools. If a parent is looking at two schools, one of the comparisons they are likely to focus on is exam results. Not many people will pick a school with lower than average passes at GCSE ahead of a school with average or above average results, given the choice.

I have no idea what this diploma is, but schools usually publish results. They will want your daughter to pass for her more than that though. It’s really tough to start out with no qualifications.
I remember your previous post asking if she should drop science to focus on this. I know it’s tough when they are struggling, but every teenager has hormonal challenges, and they all need to find a way to manage. It sounds as though meeting with school is a good idea.

Thank you

I did ask before and I understood it was all or nothing; not options of dropping GCSE.

It doesn’t hurt asking again, so may query this.

The strange thing is that musical theatre or music strands don’t have all this pressure; they only have to complete a journal on each lesson and they get the same diploma.

This is a performing arts school though - parents won’t be choosing it based on their GCSE results - they only do a handful anyway!

It will be far worse for OP’s dd which I don’t think OP has fully realised.

They do Science, English, Maths and an optional

She needs to meet whatever the learning outcomes are for the portfolios. She may be perfectly capable but not really understand how what she hands in translates, or doesn’t translate, into marks. Sometimes kids who have a talent for a none academic subject think they will get great marks in it because they are good at it but it doesn’t work like that. She may need extra support to understand it better. You need to see what they say at the meeting and try to identify where the problem is and get some specific advice on how to support her.

Schools are judged based on how many students pass how many GCSEs.

it will be a bit different for a performing arts school (fewer GCSEs) but yes the school is judged on this.

there are league tables and you can look up a schools results and for some parents this impacts their choice

The information is publicly available here

https://www.gov.uk/school-performance-tables

in addition schools are inspected (think of it as like a particularly brutal audit) and a report is written. If the report is not good heads and other leaders can lose their jobs.

these reports are also publicly available -

https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/

@Greenmountains I also recall your other thread – where IIRC you got some good advice.

I think in this case you need to reframe it to yourself and to your DC. It’s not the school putting on the pressure – the staff want your DC to so their best so they are supporting them to achieve this.

You should also try and support. Yes you cannot make them pass the exams but you can help, in the ways @Octavia64 and others detail.

Please go to the meeting with an open mind and see what they school advises. Your DC will have a lighter exam load next May and June (if you have seen the GCSE threads you will know that some YP have 25+ exams; you DC will have 13 unless the NAL includes any?) but the payback is during the course when the CW needs to be good enough.

See how the school says you can support and be positive about it. See if there is help for your DC’s mental health. Is it medicated? And yes, please don’t say it’s down to hormones. All GCSE candidates have that issue.

They really (really) need to do their best to pass their GCSEs as not doing so means retakes and as some of us on this thread know full well, that’s a PITA best avoided. Everyone and everyone’s DC face challenges as, again, PPs (and I) can tell you for sure. It’s how they deal with those challenges and work to achieve their potential that’s key. All the best to your DC.