Does my DD have to continue studying maths if she's already passed her GCSE

[chimpymelon]

Just this really.

She took her maths GCSE in November and was thrilled to have passed when she received her results last week.

Is there any legal reason why she has to continue studying maths?

Her school are insisting that she continue to sit in on maths lessons, which seems to me to be a complete waste of her time when she could be revising for other subjects or cracking on with homework.

I've googled and it says that children must be taught maths until they're 16, but wondering if there is documentation/ legislation that supersedes this once they've attained GCSE?

Any knowledge would be greatly appreciated!

Where would she go if not her maths lessons?

What did she get in the GCSE? Unless she got pretty much 100%, I would have thought she'd still learn from these lessons. Do the school themselves put them in for it? If so, there must be others who have passed already and it seems they need a class set up for those who passed it already. If you chose to put her in for it early, then in some ways, I don't see why school should set up something separate for her.
If you speak directly to her teacher, could they not set her some kind of extension research project?

Ideally, i'd like her to the library or student support, where she could independently revise for her forthcoming GCSEs.

She got a 7, which is more than happy with. She doesn't enjoy maths but was put in for it early as she is in top set. They were given the option to do Further Maths, but she got so stressed with the Maths one, that she has no desire to continue her maths journey. Which we fully support her with.

Your daughter is in compulsory education until the last Friday in June and her school have timetabled her to be in maths so that is really where she needs to be. Is she the only one to decline Further Maths? They probably do not have the capacity to staff an independent study session. The compromise is probably for her to attend maths lessons and be permitted to revise independently in the room but I have to warn you that in my experience these arrangements are difficult to manage. Even the most assiduous of students will struggle to remain motivated with independent study 4/5 times a week from January to June.

I don't know the legalities but I'd assume school have a right to insist she still attends. She got a 7 and that's great, but there's still more she can learn. Her maths journey shouldn't just finish on an early pass of a GCSE. I'd assume the law of 'until they're 16' means until the end of Year 11, regardless of whether they've passed early or not. Whether she enjoys maths or not is totally irreverent. If she goes into it with the right attitude, there's still more she could learn or grow in confidence with over the next few months. If anything, the pressure is off so zero stress.

School should not be responsible for organising free study periods for students of parents who deem that lesson irrelevant now their child has passed their GCSE. This could amount to lots of students and, with the best will in the world, they wouldn't use that time wisely for study. Come on, we were all students once. They'll chat, doodle and muck about unless supervised and school absolutely should not be organising supervision for them. Staff are overstretched as it is. She has provision provided. Her timetabled maths lesson.

As her parent I'd be encouraging her to use this time wisely as it's the last few months of tutored maths she's ever likely to receive in her life, rather than encouraging her to adopt the attitude of it's ok to drop out because she doesn't like it. After this year she need never attend another maths lesson if she doesn't want to, but until the end of Year 11 it's part of her school timetable. We all have things we'd rather not do but it's a good life lesson for her that that's, well, life I'm afraid.

Very many schools don't have the staffing to support this. I know we don't.

Don't they do further maths level 2 with those who do gcse early ?

Was this an i gcse? November is usually resit only.
you sent your daughter to the school so she should sit their curriculum.

Mary7241

that’s what’s I was thinking. Must be I gcse at a private school.

It’s not necessarily iGCSE. Schools can enter year 11 for maths in November if they want but it’s not considered great practice and the performance measures are designed to discourage it.

We sometimes have parents who hothouse ids through i gcse English and maths with tutors privately then ask us to do a bespoke curriculum - state school.
we do not do this.

Yes, iGCSE in a private school. If they get a grade they're happy with, the intention is for them to do Further Maths in May. For various reasons, my DD does not want to do the Further paper. She is now doing self study during her Maths lessons and all parties are happy with the arrangement. Thanks for the input and advice.

Glad you are sorted but that would have been helpful context as most of the responses you received won’t have been relevant. There is no statutory national curriculum in independent schools, who only have to follow the fairly loose requirements of the 2002 education act.

@ThanksItHasPockets Apologies, I didn't realise this.

Sorry OP, I didn’t mean it to sound like a telling-off! Just that I wouldn’t want you to be misled by advice that isn’t relevant to your context.

Sorry not sorry to be pedantic, but it's a capital I, standing for International. It's not an Apple product. I mark IGCSE and this drives me crackers 😅!

L