Is there any point in ds trying to change one of his GCSE subjects halfway thru' yr10?

[mumblechum]

DS's school insists that he takes 12 GCSEs. He was really struggling to think of the 12th as they were all equally unappealing, eg PE, RM (resistant materials aka woodwork) or drama.

So, he oopts for RM even though he loathes the subject and the teacher in equal measure.

Looking at his work, he's been marked as D, E and even U, for work which he's spent at least an hour on, has carefully measured out the drawings, labelled them, etc etc.

I have parents evening coming up and only really wanted to talk to the teachers of subjects that he's likely to take at A level (all 3 sciences and either English or History), but the RM teacher has insisted that I meet with him too.

I just know that he's going to have a rant about ds, and I'll be biting my tongue as what I really want to say is that you shouldn't be giving U grades out unless no work has been done at all, ds finds the lessons tedious and uninspiring, but the simplest way of getting through the meeting is probably going to be to nod and smile and agree, in the knowledge that even if he fails RM GCSE altogether (which is unlikely as it won't be marked by this guy), it makes not a blind bit of difference to ds's A level choices.

This has brought all this stuff to the fore in my mind today and I'm wondering if there's anyone out there whose dc has changed GCSE course a quarter of the way through, (he'd probably do PE as he's q. sporty) or whether the school will just tell him to put up and shut up.

Any experience, anyone?

No personal experience myself, but I'd have thought it would be worth speaking to the year teacher or guidance teacher and saying "He's trying really hard but not getting anywhere, any chance of a swap?" It may depend if they've already done anything which counts towards the exam (I'm guessing not this early?) and whether there's room in the other subject. But it has to worth a try, if the teacher is that down on him.

Ask for the specification and see if he is meeting the criteria. He might be doing very pretty pictures but if it doesn't meet the criteria, well, it will have to be a D/E/U.

Of course, this may be because the teacher isn't making it clear what your son has to do. Or because your son isn't able to do it. Either way, I'd clarify with Head of Dept. You might be able to drop it entirely or swap with another Technology class. Or flag up the issue anyway. Sadly there are rubbish teachers out there but GCSE work will always be moderated by the whole Department...

(actually... 12 GCSEs?! That's ridiculous. How do they cover the work in a school day anyway?)

Perhaps at the same time as looking into the option of swapping, you could go to the meeting with the RM teacher, and see what he/she has to say. I think it's a good sign that they've asked to see you tbh, it's not as if they've written your ds off is it?

Could you take along some of the drawings given a D/E/U and ask about them? Maybe the teacher can clarify, point out specific problems with them and give you an indication of how your ds can raise his marks? It would seem strange for a teacher to consistently grade a student's work much lower than it should be, leaving a strikingly clear trail of evidence!

try to work with the teacher rather than against.

Presumably the teacher isn't marking him this way just because they don't like each other? There must be something he's not doing right and either the teacehr isn't explaining or he isn't hearing. Either way, you need to talk to the teacher about it.

Why do you think he's going to have a rant?

Seeker, because this guy is well known as one who just doesn't seem to like his job. He's nearing retirement, and I know from listening to ds's friends' mums that he gives out detentions for almost nothing, eg ds got one because even though his drawing was to scale, fully labelled & met the design brief, he hadn't drawn a 1cm border around the paper. For that he missed his lunchtime & was starving at the end of the day. Other kids, even the girls, have had umpteen detentions for really trivial reasons.

I think part of the problem is definitely that ds sees RM as a total waste of his time but he is spending a lot of time on the homework, probably at least as much as he is on the important subjects.

The idea of contacting the head of year to see what she reckons.

DD switched to Art GCSE the week before October half term. I emailed the head of year to find out if it was possible and he agreed to it, provided she used her lunchtimes to catch up on the coursework that had already been covered. He did say that if she had wanted to swap any later in the year then it wouldn't have been allowed because there would have been too much to catch up on. I have no experience of PE GCSE, so I have no idea what he is likely to have missed.

I do think you should see the RM teacher and listen to what he has to say. It is possible your DS has turned out work which is of U standard.

OK so have decided to bottle out of the meeting at parents evening and have drafted (but not sent) an email basically saying that I'm aware that he's not happy with ds's work, that in hindsight ds should never have taken RM as his 12th option as he has no aptitude or enthusiasm for it. I also say that he often spends over an hour on his RM homework and is dispirited when it's returned marked D,E or U and that he's now struggling to get motivated.

I then go on to say that I'll continue to encourage him to work hard at the homework and acknowledge that the teacher is probably becoming frustrated and annoyed at ds failing to reach the required standard, but making the point that ds is naturally focussed on the academic subjects, particularly the sciences, which he's likely to go on to study at A level.

I also say that whilst I'm not suggesting that work is being marked unfairly [it bloody is though], that a little encouraging feedback would go a long way.

I then thank him for his hard work.

Do you think that's OK?

sounds sort of Ok to me, but it's not really what you want to achieve is it?

Why not press for him to drop the subject completely & either change to PE or have some free time? It doesn't really sound as though anybody is gaining anything by him attending the RM lessons to me.

I would talk to the head of year about possible options.

Thanks, Snorkle, I think from what another poster was saying that it's too late to change and I can't see them dropping it altogetehr, but as you say I could give the HoY a call.

I'll talk to ds tonight first, though.

It's formative comments he needs on the work, not necessarily merely encouraging. If I have a student who is consistently scoring low grades, I make it clear what they need to do to improve. It's a Big Thing in Education now. I wouldn't give an unwarranted grade though, however long was spent on the homework. But your DS should know what he has to do to improve.

I think that lots of things that aren't allowed are possible if you are pushy enough. PE would compliment his sciences better (quite an overlap with biology I understand) and even if he doesn't end up with that high a mark due to missing a lot of the course it's likely to be a better grade than the RM and more enjoyable for him. If they really won't allow it then argue strongly for doing nothing instead. Noone really needs 12 GCSEs and 11 good ones will be slightly better for him than 11 good and one bad, even discounting all the agro that is going along with the 12th.

Pixie, I only wanted to see the core subject teachers because even then it'll take the best part of two hours or even longer with the way the appointments system work. Seeing all 12 teachers plus form tutor would take till past midnight!

I take your point that at this stage DS doesn't necessarily know for sure what he wants to do for A level, however he's always been a straight A student for all the sciences and English and a B for maths (he wants to do medicine), whereas the chance of him doing something like welding or carpentry are pretty slim - he's inherited his dad's charming incompetence ability for practical DIY stuff.

Thanks everyone for v. helpful advice. I mailed his HoY last night basically grovelling for a chance for him to swap for PE.

At my secondary school we were all forced to do technology. I did the absolute bare minimum work (minutes not hours), got a D in the end which I have never mentioned since, as 6 As and 4As sounds somehow better than 6 As 4As and a D! The moral of my story is, if you can't get the school to see sense, DS can always put this subject to the very back of his priority list and focus all his time and effort on the subjects that matter to him, and nothing bad will come of it.

Well, I heard back from the HoY on Monday and she said that it's too late for him to change to PE, which is pretty much what I expected.

I had the meeting with the RM teacher last night and stood up for DS as much as possible without being aggressive. For example, he'd done a piece of work to scale and properly labelled and with the 1cm border around it which he insists upon and it'd been marked D. No comment, so I asked him what the problem was and he said it was supposed to be a life sized drawing. I suggested that it would have been helpful if he'd fed that back to ds, and perhaps suggested increasing it on the photocopier. Basically I said that RM was the 12th option and that DS was spending more time on RM than on the academic subjects and that it would be helpful if he did his bit to try to improve communications.

There was a crowd of parents outside his room all basically summoned to talk to him because the children were "underperforming". After swapping horror stories about him (eg yesterday DS was given break and lunchtime detentions by him so he had no food from 7.30 am to 6pm), we alll came to the conclusion that he's going to be impossible to please so why bother trying. Sad but true.

This is similar to a problem my child had in year io The subject was buisness studies the schools specialism unfortunately!!!Anyway being dyslexic perhaps the pressure of so many subjects was all to much so following an unepectedly low d it was why not drop the subject!!!!But we didnt expect or understand the way the school reacted my parenting skills were brought into question and talk of lack of confidence in my child who is naturally quiet as I am .Fortunately after threatenig to take it further it was allowed!! The end result more time for my child to spend on other subjects and gcses at grades much higher than predicted reducing the pressure was just what was needed

Sorry Ive just been reminded it was actually really unheard off it was at the start of year 11 !!!There has definetly been no regrets getting good grades seen as much more to be proud of than some ridiculous number of gcses at not so good grades