Anyone else have a 16 year old not gain any GCSE 'C' grades this year?

aliasojo

Dunroamin wrote: »

Even in the leafy suburbs there are kids who are thick as mince. (Love that expression!)

Trust me, it's not that wonderful when it's aimed at you. :rotfl:

My Primary 7 teacher maimed my self esteem for life.

daisiegg

Sorry, let me explain. I work in a school in a very 'middle class' area where most of our parents are professionals, highly educated etc. My school is not selective, and nor are any others in the area. We never get anyone getting less than a D, and we get VERY few D grades. This is the same with all but one of the other schools in the area, and that school is a faith school so it has students coming in from a lot further away. And we are not even the very top non-selective state schools in the country (though pretty high) - there are other areas I could name where they do even better.

Anyway, it is off topic, but I was just disagreeing with the statement that ALL non-selective schools have students that are way below the C/D borderline. It just isn't true; you only need to look at the league tables and see the numbers of non-selective schools achieving 98%+ A* to C grades. I think the discussion came about from talking about what grades bottom sets would be achieving. In my school, bottom sets would be mostly Cs with a significant number of Bs and one or two C/D borderline.

Anyway, sorry, it is off on a tangent and isn't really relevant, I was just responding to something someone else had said.

Dunroamin

aliasojo wrote: »

Trust me, it's not that wonderful when it's aimed at you. :rotfl:

My Primary 7 teacher maimed my self esteem for life.

Don't worry, I was told when I was about 9 that I had 2 speeds - dead slow and stop. She wasn't wrong either.:o

silvercar

daisiegg wrote: »

Sorry, let me explain. I work in a school in a very 'middle class' area where most of our parents are professionals, highly educated etc. My school is not selective, and nor are any others in the area. We never get anyone getting less than a D, and we get VERY few D grades. This is the same with all but one of the other schools in the area, and that school is a faith school so it has students coming in from a lot further away. And we are not even the very top non-selective state schools in the country (though pretty high) - there are other areas I could name where they do even better.

Anyway, it is off topic, but I was just disagreeing with the statement that ALL non-selective schools have students that are way below the C/D borderline. It just isn't true; you only need to look at the league tables and see the numbers of non-selective schools achieving 98%+ A* to C grades. I think the discussion came about from talking about what grades bottom sets would be achieving. In my school, bottom sets would be mostly Cs with a significant number of Bs and one or two C/D borderline.

Anyway, sorry, it is off on a tangent and isn't really relevant, I was just responding to something someone else had said.

That is the key, if the whole area is non-selective then the school will reflect its area. If there are selective schools around and private schools, then the non-selective schools will have more than an average amount of low performing pupils.

My local non selective school achieved (and they did rate it as an achievement) 46% getting A*-C in gcse maths and english. That means over half didn't, so the bottom set must have been full of pupils who scored D or below.

shop-to-drop

Do those with special needs not get included in the figures? Seems unusual that some 'middle class' areas have no under average pupils.

Person_one

silvercar wrote: »

That is the key, if the whole area is non-selective then the school will reflect its area. If there are selective schools around and private schools, then the non-selective schools will have more than an average amount of low performing pupils.

Very true, I went to a non-selective comp that probably would have been higher in the league tables if it hadn't been for the fee-paying 'grammar' school and the two faith schools in the area that were seen as more desirable and attracted a certain set of the more invested and supportive/pushy parents.

Its doing alright these days I believe, one of the faith schools closed and there aren't as many applications to the private school since the credit crunch!

RAS

tilley

A couple of very practical points.

1. He was a very young male GCSE taker and their results tend to be less good regardless of ability.

2. What does your son want to do? Does he want to go back and have another go or does he want to work?

3. As long as he starts a level 2 or three course before his 19th birthday, he will be funded for fees and you can claim CB and CTC if appropriate until he is 20.

4. If he want to take time out, he can go back and do and an Access course later , but he needs to be awate that once he is aged over 24 he will have to pay fees of £4000 or take out a loan (at current rates, cost could be a lot higher by then).

Also be very very careful about the advice colleges give out; some of them are frankly dire. Even kids getting good results end up taking mickey mouse course after mickey mouse course at the same level rather than moving onto the next level.

Think about NVQs if he wants to work or a job that offers the opportunity to do them.

Or maybe he needs to work for a year so that he realises that study is the easier option?

or would he work and then take the GCSE English and Maths part-time?

Dunroamin

Person_one wrote: »

Very true, I went to a non-selective comp that probably would have been higher in the league tables if it hadn't been for the fee-paying 'grammar' school and the two faith schools in the area that were seen as more desirable and attracted a certain set of the more invested and supportive/pushy parents.

Its doing alright these days I believe, one of the faith schools closed and there aren't as many applications to the private school since the credit crunch!

You do know that most grammar schools aren't fee paying, don't you?

Person_one

Dunroamin wrote: »

You do know that most grammar schools aren't fee paying, don't you?

You know I'm not an idiot DR, please.

rozmister

TopQuark wrote: »

LOL:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I agree that university is not for everyone (and the proliferation of quirky subjects from quirky institutions has been unhelpful), but your post is borderline rude and also misleading. There is employment out there for graduates with good degrees in the right subjects. We should not discourage bright, able kids just because the jobs market is tough at the current time.

I'm a scientist (BSc & PhD degrees) and work for the most prestigious scientific research organisation in the world. Thus, my academic qualifications are did not come 'off the back of a cornflake box'.

Just to add to the whole degrees off the back of a cornflake box -
I have one of those 'off the back of a cornflake box' degrees (Marketing & Public Relations anyone?!) but I had less than 3 weeks unemployed after graduation. Whether you get a degree or you leave school without a single GCSE your determination and hard work will decide where you end up.

I struggled to make the grades throughout my time studying because of ongoing mental health issues but I've always been determined and I've always been prepared to put in the graft in the workplace. I started working at 13 and carried on doing something or other part time until I graduated. When I graduated I quit my supermarket job before the grades came in to push myself into employment so I wouldn't get comfortable. I applied for anything and everything that would use my degree and in the end landed the one I wanted most. Now I'm off to work for local government on a pretty decent wage doing something I'm passionate about.

The most important thing for any young person to have is determination, grit, passion and a consistent work record. Sure I don't put the fact I used to clean toilets and break the bones in chicken wings so I could get more in a deep fat fryer on my CV now but it did me no harm at the time and it taught me that you have to roll your sleeves up and get your hands dirty to get somewhere.

It's not whether people get degrees or learn a trade that determines whether someone is a success it's their attitude to work.

As for the OPs son he sounds like he's happy to work away and he feels passionate about cheffing and that's great. As long as he keeps that attitude I'm sure he'll be a great success in life