School changing goalposts

xxJudexx

One day before the summer holidays my brother (who is in year 10) has suddenly found out the school has scrapped triple science and he will now have to take the double GCSE.

So he has lost a GCSE and will only be taking 8!!

Plus he wants to be a Physics teacher so he really should be taking the triple!!

Is the school allowed to do this when he is halfway through his GCSE's?

building_with_lego

He'll take the double GCSE, then do A-level physics, and that should get him onto a physics degree and onto PGCE. The key thing for him to become a physics teacher is the physics degree, and they will be more concerned about a lack of physics at A- level than they will about the double science!

I shan't argue the merits of them changing at this stage in his GCSE course, but can't see that this will have any impact on his career path.

pinkshoes

I'm a Physics teacher and did double science (my school didn't offer triple!). It wont affect him in the slightest, and to be honest, the bit most kids struggle with at A Level Physics is actually the maths side.

Why have they moved the goal posts?. That seems a very odd thing to do, as depending on which exam board it is, two of the three exams are common, so it is just a case of sitting a third exam.

I would question their reasoning. Have they said why?

Also, the Y11 science exams are quite late next year, so they can't say there is a lack of time to teach the content.

xxJudexx

pinkshoes wrote: »

I'm a Physics teacher and did double science (my school didn't offer triple!). It wont affect him in the slightest, and to be honest, the bit most kids struggle with at A Level Physics is actually the maths side.

Why have they moved the goal posts?. That seems a very odd thing to do, as depending on which exam board it is, two of the three exams are common, so it is just a case of sitting a third exam.

I would question their reasoning. Have they said why?

Also, the Y11 science exams are quite late next year, so they can't say there is a lack of time to teach the content.

They haven't really explained why, they have just said that this is whats happening. We didn't even get a letter through, it's only becaise my brother mentioned it when he got home!

The school has been a complete shambles the whole time. The head of science said on the phone that if he wanted to do the triple he would have to have extra lessons after school and his exams would be back to back, did they not know about the exams until now!

My mum will be going in to see the head in the morning for a proper explanation, the sooner he is out of that school the better!

So if he applied to do A Levels at a different school and wanted to do a physics A Level would the double be accepted?

pinkshoes

xxJudexx wrote: »

They haven't really explained why, they have just said that this is whats happening. We didn't even get a letter through, it's only becaise my brother mentioned it when he got home!

The school has been a complete shambles the whole time. The head of science said on the phone that if he wanted to do the triple he would have to have extra lessons after school and his exams would be back to back, did they not know about the exams until now!

My mum will be going in to see the head in the morning for a proper explanation, the sooner he is out of that school the better!

So if he applied to do A Levels at a different school and wanted to do a physics A Level would the double be accepted?

I think I would be WRITING to the school asking for a written rather than a verbal explanation.

A double award in Science would be fine at any school for A Level Physics. The results should have a breakdown of each paper, so he needs to make sure that he gets an A grade on the Physics section (or whatever grade the school requires for entry into A Level).

We switched our BTEC science course (just 20 kids) to GCSE the other year after October half term, but that was because the government moved the goal posts on what would count towards GCSE points, so we felt it was better off for the kids to do the actual GCSE. It was tough on them, but they did well.

I would be asking the school what hte original provisions were for teaching the additional module for the triple science, and why this has now changed.

Have they had staffing issues?

Which exam board is it?

EDIT: The exams often are back to back e.g. the third module is always on the same day as the second module, which isn't the end of the world, as they are not long exam papers.

onomatopoeia99

pinkshoes wrote: »

I'm a Physics teacher and did double science (my school didn't offer triple!). It wont affect him in the slightest, and to be honest, the bit most kids struggle with at A Level Physics is actually the maths side.

30 years since I started my A level courses, but I'd have said it would have been really hard to do A level Physics without doing A level Maths at the same time, at least back then. O level maths didn't go far enough into calculus for what the A level physics course needed from what I remember, definitely not for the S paper.

susancs

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

30 years since I started my A level courses, but I'd have said it would have been really hard to do A level Physics without doing A level Maths at the same time, at least back then. O level maths didn't go far enough into calculus for what the A level physics course needed from what I remember, definitely not for the S paper.

DD1 found that when she did A level physics. She got a good grade at GCSE, but this was mainly due to a good grasp of theory and she was not given adequate information that the A level was mainly maths and as she did not like maths she did not take maths at A level. All her classmates did Maths A level and it was often just a revision lesson for them when they did it at A level physics, on the other hand it was all new to her and she struggled. In the end she dropped it after AS (to the Head Of Science horror as she was the sole girl in the class!) to concentrate on the other two sciences and English at A2. Likewise a classmate wanted to do physics with maths at Cambridge, but did not realise he should have also done further maths at AS level to aid this, so ended up doing 4 A levels and A2 further maths this year.

JasX

Relatively more recently and for an engineering degree there was concern for those without DOUBLE maths A level (so much so 'remedial' lectures in it were run for the first 6 weeks)

Worth double checking their a level offerings are not lining up for a sudden similar dumbing down and check entry requirements for physics degrees at uni's he is looking at by comparison

heartbreak_star

I got onto A-level Physics with Dual Science, but Ono is right - I struggled with the maths too!

HBS x

LandyAndy

JasX wrote: »

Relatively more recently and for an engineering degree there was concern for those without DOUBLE maths A level (so much so 'remedial' lectures in it were run for the first 6 weeks)

Worth double checking their a level offerings are not lining up for a sudden similar dumbing down and check entry requirements for physics degrees at uni's he is looking at by comparison

My sons are both reading sciences (one Physics and the other Chemistry) at university and both say that students without Further Maths at A level have struggled with the maths content of courses.

onomatopoeia99

JasX wrote: »

Relatively more recently and for an engineering degree there was concern for those without DOUBLE maths A level (so much so 'remedial' lectures in it were run for the first 6 weeks)

I know this has happened at a university local to me for physics undergraduates as well, depsite them having A grade Maths at A level to get in.

When I attended the same university, remedial lessons weren't needed and only a B grade in Maths was required for admittance. edit - I did an engineering degree, but I knew people reading physics and what they needed to get in their A levels.