Can my year 11 DS drop a subject?

Seanymph

The key thing here is that the school need him to pass 5 including maths and english - they get a better rate for science to be in there too.

Put that in mind, and go to a meeting with the head of year and explain that for him to get 5 he needs to drop german.

I personally would be wheeling in tutors and supporting learning rather than giving up German - but if you want him to give up then you need school to agree, and using the above as a lever you are more likely to get them to.

Threebabes

My son did french last year, he got a D, he has always struggled with it. He did his best and we have just left it off his CV. I would tell him to concentrate on the subjects he is best at it. What a shame for your son, people think kids have it easy these days and it couldn't be further from the truth. The amount of pressure with exams is terrible. My son now is doing A levels and thats even worse. X

sharnad

Just ignore the subject and help him on the other ones he needs.. Write down any old rubbish for his assessments and doodle during the exam Ben leave it off any future cvs. There is no point forcing Simon e to do a subject that isn't necessary to the detriment of he ones he needs

londonlydia

German was by far my worst subject. I wish I was better, as I speak to Germans in my job occasionally, but generally Germans speak English fluently as they learn it from 5. I did 3 exchanges in Germany to try and improve but none of them wanted to speak German to me!

Its interesting that you never got a struggling statement from the school, and they are offering lots of support though. Before I did pull him out, I would check that he is genuinely going to fail, or nerves arent getting the best of him. It may be his weakest subject, but maybe not a fail? Maybe he just neds confidence? My mum said before all my exams that she didnt mind what I got...knowing that you dont mind and arent putting pressure on him in German may improve his confidence enough to just carry it on.

Oh and whilst we discuss GCSEs, English is an odd one. It's not really something you can revise. It's just about generally being able to persuade and sell an opinion well, so if you want to improve him in that subject, the best thing you can do is getting him to READ: read books, and newspapers...why not on the way to school? My ex failed GCSE English at school, and never read. I got him into reading, he retook it, only having done that, and he got a B! The other thing is make sure you have lots of debates and discussions with him so that he can make a solid argument...and he'll be fine.

scooby088

I was really flagging in my gcse's about 20 years ago and the teacher hadn't entered me into the exam, only reason they gave was that I hadn't done the study which had nothing to do with the final grade anyway.

loulou123

I had this issue with my French GCSE, they wouldn't let me drop it, I was completely hopeless at it and had no interest in learning it either.

I just didn't revise, answered all the questions in my oral test with the few sentences I could say (hello my name is,I live in england and a ham and cheese sandwich please - being about all I knew!)

In the written exam I just answered about 2 questions and left as soon as the minimum time was up - and I got an F! Couldn't believe I'd got a grade at all...

samwich1979

I was rubbish at Spanish but really struggled with my Maths in year 10 so i asked if i could drop the Spanish and have extra Maths and the head agreed it was a good idea.

I would go and have a meeting with the year head and ask if this is possible. I doubt they will say no if it benefits your childs education.

Just to add i was also doing French but carried this on and got a C grade.

pollypenny

The problem may be that the school doesn't know where he can go during those German lessons. Additionally, it's not that easy to give extra maths or English instead.

If he is not allowed to drop it snd just sit in the class revising something else, I would follow the good advice here and tell him not to worry about it.

A poor result can be left off any CV.

madjay

I disagree, your child should not drop the subject, it justteaches your DS that if any thing is to hard just walk away from it. What happenif he gets stressed over maths would you want his to drop that too. All youwill be teaching you child is how to give up. You would be better try to findout part of the subject he has a problemwith and helping him to sort it out and teaching him how not to stressed overthings. When my DD stresses out over some subject saying she can not do it so Ijust sit down and help her work it all out. You child needs to learn that inlife there is thing we all struggle with but you just can’t walk away from youjust have to deal with it.

Felicity

Caroline_a wrote: »

I understand that your son is going through a tough time with this - I did German at school too and it's not the easiest of languages but sometimes dropping out of something is giving our children the easy option. Yes, we all want our children to not do stuff they dont like, but it's so good for them to have to finish what they started.

Personally I would help him to deal with it, maybe ask for extra help at school or find someone local who speaks German and do some casual conversation sessions. There are also some excellent online resources, some of which are free.

But the only lesson that he will learn unfortunately if you let him drop the subject is that if he finds things difficult then it's ok to stop doing it. Life really isnt like that...

I would normally agree with your sentiment but I suspect the OP knows best and if her son is stressed to the point it is impacting on his health then she should be able to make the call.

Being stressed through work as a child is clearly not good, it could have an impact on his physical health to the detriment of his other subjects.