GCSE Foundation Tier - How to appeal decision?

thatlemming

Early entry is rather daft is some cases. I was at school when we still had KS3 SATS ha, but set 1 did Maths, Stats and English at the end of year 10, but only if they thought you were going to get an A/A*. I did, and then spent an awful lot of year 11 being bunged in a computer room and playing games Never understood that.

Aimless

securityguy wrote: »

As Ofsted said:



http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/schools-use-of-early-entry-gcse-examinations

For some reason Ofsted's quote hasn't copied over, but anyway...

My son's grammar has done early entry for maths, but only for the top set. This meant he got into the modular maths, and already has an A and A* on the first two papers. I believe they are going to do some form of further maths next year, but they've not decided what yet. Ofsted may be right as a general rule, but not all schools who do early entry are weak or fiddling the figures.

Not quite the same as choosing foundation or higher, but the school are only now at the end their year 10 choosing which children are doing separate sciences and which are doing double science.

It may be he has slightly misunderstood what they meant, but I'd definitely clarify it with the school, because you don't want him giving up and coasting because he thinks he'll 'only' get a C whatever.

flashnazia

Thanks for all your replies.

We've emailed the head of English. Will keep you posted.

The exam board is AQA btw.

susancs

flashnazia wrote: »

He's just told me his whole set have been put on foundation tier. He is in a top tier set (group 3 set 1).

In my daughter's school they have top and second tiers in each of the top, second, middle and lower middle group so I wonder if your brother is in the top tier of group three (third group or middle group in my chilren's school) rather than the top group as it would be very unusual for the whole of a top set group to work towards a foundation level GCSE. The top two groups usually follow the higher GCSE English paper pathway in my children's school and usually their target grades are A*-B, with the top group target being A*-A.

It may not be that your brother's performance in English has detoriated as a level 4 at KS2 is the average expectation. If he achieved a level 5 KS2 attainment the expectation would be that he would go on to achieve an A*-B in GCSE. However having said that secondary schools in our area do not use KS2 SATs for target setting instead they use Cognitive Ability Tests and teacher assessments on entry to secondary school. You probably need to look at his recent report grades to get a clearer picture on his ability in English.

It may be different in other schools but in my children's faith school (so not selective entry on academic ability) the top group students achieve a level 7+ at the end of KS3 assessments. The second set students usually have level 6+ attainment. Both these groups follow the higher tier paper pathway. If your brother is at these levels then it would certainly be worth pressing on to ensure he gets the chance to do the higher tier paper. If he is not at his level then he might struggle with English class work if put into the higher tier GCSE English pathway, which may impact on his self esteem, put him undedr a lot of pressure and you take the risk he may get a lower grade than C. To do A levels in our region most sixth forms ask for a minimum of a C grade in Maths and English as well as a B in the subjects they want to do at A level, so it is important to try to get a minimum of a C grade.

If you do not get an adequate explaination as to why your brother may be more suited to doing the foundation tier paper route from the Head Of English, you will need to escalate the matter to the Head Teacher and then the school Governors. I would put everything in writing and be persistant. I would pin them down in relation to equal opportunities (asking for a reply in writing) and ask if there are any students in his current year who have achieved the same KS3 grade as your brother, who have been selected to do the higher tier pathway. The best thing to happen would be that there is a student on the higher tier pathway that has the same KS3 attainment as you can argue this is not in line with the school's equal opportunities policy.

flashnazia

susancs wrote: »

In my daughter's school they have top and second tiers in each of the top, second, middle and lower middle group so I wonder if your brother is in the top tier of group three (third group or middle group in my chilren's school) rather than the top group as it would be very unusual for the whole of a top set group to work towards a foundation level GCSE. The top two groups usually follow the higher GCSE English paper pathway in my children's school and usually their target grades are A*-B, with the top group target being A*-A.

It may not be that your brother's performance in English has detoriated as a level 4 at KS2 is the average expectation. If he achieved a level 5 KS2 attainment the expectation would be that he would go on to achieve an A*-B in GCSE. However having said that secondary schools in our area do not use KS2 SATs for target setting instead they use Cognitive Ability Tests and teacher assessments on entry to secondary school. You probably need to look at his recent report grades to get a clearer picture on his ability in English.

It may be different in other schools but in my children's faith school (so not selective entry on academic ability) the top group students achieve a level 7+ at the end of KS3 assessments. The second set students usually have level 6+ attainment. Both these groups follow the higher tier paper pathway. If your brother is at these levels then it would certainly be worth pressing on to ensure he gets the chance to do the higher tier paper. If he is not at his level then he might struggle with English class work if put into the higher tier GCSE English pathway, which may impact on his self esteem, put him undedr a lot of prssure and you take the risk he may get a lower grade than C. To do A levels in our region most sixth forms ask for a minimum of a C grade in Maths and English as well as a B in the subjects they want to do at A level, so it is important to try to get a C grade.

If you do not get an adequate explaination as to why your brother may be more suited to doing the foundation tier paper route from the Head Of English, you will need to escalate the matter to the Head Teacher and then the school Governors. I would put everything in writing and be persistant.

The set thing is not as straightforward as it usually is, perhaps because two schools merged into one. There are nine sets; three levels each with three groups. He is in the first level but in the last group.

I have no evidence of this but I wonder if the teachers are just fed up of having such a large number of pupils (because of the merger) and don't want to make an effort.

susancs

flashnazia wrote: »

The set thing is not as straightforward as it usually is, perhaps because two schools merged into one. There are nine sets; three levels each with three groups. He is in the first level but in the last group.

I have no evidence of this but I wonder if the teachers are just fed up of having such a large number of pupils (because of the merger) and don't want to make an effort.

If it is not a recent merger, you could look at the GCSE results for the last few years and if in the GCSE grades breakdown the school has a lot of C grades instead of higher grades then it may well be that they are just trying to get C grade passes, rather then challenge more able pupils. You could also compare this with other similar secondary schools in the area and nationally to get an idea of how your brother's school is performing in relation to the higher grades and use this to support your position.

daisiegg

flashnazia wrote: »

The set thing is not as straightforward as it usually is, perhaps because two schools merged into one. There are nine sets; three levels each with three groups. He is in the first level but in the last group.

I have no evidence of this but I wonder if the teachers are just fed up of having such a large number of pupils (because of the merger) and don't want to make an effort.

To me, then, this sounds like he is in what would be bottom set in most schools.

Not sure about your comment about teachers not making the effort. It takes no more effort to teach someone you intend to put in for higher than someone you intend to put in for foundation. Indeed, as I said before, my school doesn't decide which tier to enter students for until around February of Year 11, so it really doesn't affect the effort or otherwise required to teach the class for two years.

Wondering if you have had any replies from the school yet? I hope you have asked what his end of KS3 results are. This would give you a good indication of his ability and potential.