Disappointing GCSE results :(

Oldernotwiser

gregg1 wrote: »

By the way, your comments about GCSE maths being basic ? Totally wrong!

Many students with GCSE grade C in Maths are virtually innumerate, which is why many decent schools won't accept less than a B grade to do any Maths based A levels.

Do you realise that with some exam boards and tiers you can get less than 30% marks and still be awarded a C?

Basic, you don't know the half of it!

choccyface2006

UPDATE

We have been to enrole today, she will have to go onto the foundation course but as she is accessed in the first week if they feel she is suitable she can go on the original course Also if she stays on the course they will revise the situation again 6 weeks in and move her onto the higher course then if they feel she should be on it. They feel, as I do that she is much closer to getting onto the higher course than the foundation.

So, fingers crossed one way or another, she could be on her chosen course before too long.

Sarah x

jojo2004

gregg1 wrote: »

surely being a parent means doing all you can to help your child - having supported them all through their school days you are hardly likely to take a back seat if you can possibly help them get into college!

By the way, your comments about GCSE maths being basic ? Totally wrong!

As someone who holds a teaching fellowship and teaches undergraduates at a university, I have to take issue with you there - "getting into college" should NOT be the ultimate ambition for every teenager.

There are far too many eighteen and nineteen year olds (and mature students too for that matter!) doing undergraduate courses, which not only put them into debt, but are subsidised by the tax payer (the fees you pay are less than half the actual cost), who should never have even considered university as a step on the path. It's not meant to be something everyone does, it's meant as a specific training path to a future career, not just proof that you have a brain lurking in there somewhere.

A degree which was undertaken simply because college/university is "the best thing" to do, is valueless. An employer will not be impressed by it, and is it really worth nearly twenty thousand pounds worth of debt??????

Getting your child into college at all costs, if that's not what they're cut out for (and forgive me for being brutal, but those who get themselves there are without fail the ones who achieve and continue to achieve; the spoon-fed ones fall by the wayside) is not something you should aim for.

And btw, GCSE Maths can be done in one's sleep. I see first year undergraduates, with a C in A-Level maths who can't add without a calculator, with a C in A-Level English who have no idea what a noun is. I'm serious.

Rant over. Phew, much better now!

flossy_splodge

And now jojo tell everyone the story about your first 'language' lecture and the level of knowledge about a 'noun'. Go on. I bet many won't believe it!
In my humble opinion, it just goes to prove the point. And how many of those students had the most horrendous time desperately trying to keep up on a course for which they simply did not have the skills.:eek:

choccyface2006

Just another update........daughter is in college and really enjoying it, yesterday (her first day) they moved her up to the higher level She is also re-sitting her maths GCSE and considering voluntary work alongside her Saturday job.

Sarah x

silvercar

flossy_splodge wrote: »

Quite frankly, if your daughter wants to join the police do you not think SHE should be speaking to the college etc for herself?
Its got something to do with taking responsibility for yourself.
And in Maths particularly I'm afraid "equivalents" are just not viewed as equivalents (if you get my drift), usually because they aren't!
GCSE maths is really pretty basic stuff so if she is struggling perhaps a different techer, a different learning centre or private lessons may help?
I'm sorry but I am frankly appalled that as a society we seem to be "helping" people get into job paths that they are not really suited to. Do you really want someone in the police who can't do basic maths??
Sorry, but I for one do NOT.
I realise this will come across as unsympathetic, I'm not, just wishing it was accepted that standards have already dropped enough without squeezing inadequately qualified people into certain jobs.:eek:

Years ago, I was in a careers lesson at school and one kid piped up that he wanted to be a doctor. His A level subjects were maths, physics and chemistry. The advisor asked why he wasn't taking biology. The kid replied that you didn't need biology to get into a particular uni. The advisor replied that, although the uni may not want it, his future patients may want him to have studied biology!

merlinormartin

Tell her not to worry, a friend of mine left school with all GCSE'S below a C grade! he went to college and started a NVQ2 -> BTEC Certificate -> BTEC Dimploma -> University ... he graduated with a first and now works for one of the biggest companies in the world. Working in the police requires no "formal qualifications" .. although she will have to be physically fit and pass the written tests.

Good luck!

choccyface2006

Thank you Merlinormartin x

lisssa

choccyface2006 wrote: »

Just another update........daughter is in college and really enjoying it, yesterday (her first day) they moved her up to the higher level She is also re-sitting her maths GCSE and considering voluntary work alongside her Saturday job.

Sarah x

ahh thats excellent news. glad it has all worked out for her !

x

aplegjnf

choccyface2006 wrote: »

Just another update........daughter is in college and really enjoying it, yesterday (her first day) they moved her up to the higher level She is also re-sitting her maths GCSE and considering voluntary work alongside her Saturday job.

Sarah x

Been Lurking, and glad to hear the news:T
Do your local police force have a junior section... like police cadets? I know some do but not sure what it entails. That may help her know if its the right path for her before 'signing her life away':p
Be careful she doesn't take on too much too soon though, if she is struggling academically she shoudl just be concentrating on her work;)
BWs
P.