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GCSE options dilemma. Higher tier vesus lower tier?

Supercrumpet

My 13 year old Son has Aspergers and ADHD and is in mainstream school. He has to pick his options this month and the dilemma we face is that he excels in Science (level 7) and is good at Math (level 6a) and he really wants to do the triple Science award. His Science teacher is all for it and said he should sail through, but, he has been allocated the lower tier GCSE band and that means he cannot do triple science.

We have spoken to all of his teachers and they feel that he would cope in higher tier, his German teacher was the exception, he said that although he was top of the class at the moment (my Son is in set 3 of 6 sets in his year 9) he didnt feel he would cope at GCSE level. We went to the Deputy Head to discuss whether he could do higher tier so that he could do triple science but the Dep Head was just awful, so patronising and had no real interest in helping. He told our Son that it would involve extra work after school and that he wouldn't cope.The new English Baccalaureate is also being introduced so the school have told us that higher tier pupils MUST take a language and a humanity

We've worked hard to make sure our Son has the same chances as the other kids, we're just heartbroken to fall at the GCSE hurdle. We appreciate that our child may not achieve as well in all of his subjects as he will in Science and Maths but I'm at a loss as to how to challenge the schools belief that he shouldn't even be given the chance to shine at the subjects he is genuinely good at.

Has anyone else had this problem? Does he have to take the full set of GCSE's or can he drop some? I feel that fewer good exam results would be better than a higher number but with weaker results.

Parents

  • I have the same problem. My son has Aspergers (14 yrs) and has just chosen his options. During this time the teachers 'told me off' for trying to steer my son to subjects I felt he would perform better in explaining that it 'should be his decision'. Whilst I agree that no child should do a subject they do not want to, my son really does not understand/was not interested in looking at the exam/classroom assessment spilts, his strengths and weaknesses so in the end I agreed to all his options despite feeling they were not all suitable to his needs.

    The one subject that he and the school all knew he would pick first was music as he is a very talented muscian. He longs to be a rock star and has aims to go to music college. This was two weeks ago and today my son informed me that music was no longer being offered as an option due to low uptake, later confirmed by the school. The subjects left over in the category are all subjects he hates! Art, history, french, drama or motor mechanics! A far cry from music.

    I am now looking at moving him school which he seems excited about but I worry about the outcome of moving him at this stage?

    Any advice would be much appreciated Undecided

Reply

  • I have the same problem. My son has Aspergers (14 yrs) and has just chosen his options. During this time the teachers 'told me off' for trying to steer my son to subjects I felt he would perform better in explaining that it 'should be his decision'. Whilst I agree that no child should do a subject they do not want to, my son really does not understand/was not interested in looking at the exam/classroom assessment spilts, his strengths and weaknesses so in the end I agreed to all his options despite feeling they were not all suitable to his needs.

    The one subject that he and the school all knew he would pick first was music as he is a very talented muscian. He longs to be a rock star and has aims to go to music college. This was two weeks ago and today my son informed me that music was no longer being offered as an option due to low uptake, later confirmed by the school. The subjects left over in the category are all subjects he hates! Art, history, french, drama or motor mechanics! A far cry from music.

    I am now looking at moving him school which he seems excited about but I worry about the outcome of moving him at this stage?

    Any advice would be much appreciated Undecided

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