QE A level cull

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tiffinboys
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Re: QE A Level Voluntary Cull

Post by tiffinboys »

This thread has brought something about QE which other prospective parents would have never found out.

DAOgroupie's advise is good on moral grounds. But is the child emotionally strong enough to withstand any possible ill behavior by staff or other pupils, even if he is performing well. How many fronts will this 15-16 year old boy fight. What would be the possible behavior of other pupils who would want to be in the good books and eyes of the teacher. Does he have strong friends who would stand with him and take him in their group for group assignments etc or will he be made to feel isolated. Would he encounter decent or cruel teacher, knowing he got those subjects against their wishes. Would they encourage or discourage him. Would they support or denigrate him if he face any difficult topic in the chosen subject.

Seems like this is a place, where position in the league tables is everything....
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suzyb
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Re: QE A Level Voluntary Cull

Post by suzyb »

It would appear that there are lots of other boys, including ourselves in the same position. Either with no preferred A levels in their allocated list or missing at least one. We have recommendation in 6 A level subjects non of which my son is interested in. Have been looking at the admissions code but find it a bit vague and I am not sure whether it applies to schools with academy status. I did speak to one teacher and I think if your son gets an A* in the subject he wants to do at A level the school would be hard pushed to say no. This has been supported by a couple of parents who have gone through exactly the same thing in the past. There are still the January mocks to gain brownie points in too and second round of recommendations happens in February which will be the boys second crack at the whip. The fact remains, however, that I believe it is thoroughly immoral and has heaped huge amounts of undue stress and pressure on parents and more importantly young boys who really don't need it ontop of all the other stresses the school heaps upon them. These are high acheiving boys that other schools in the borough would be proud to have.To compound things I have heard it gets even worse in the sixth form!
hermanmunster
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Re: QE A Level Voluntary Cull

Post by hermanmunster »

I think it is pretty dire that they are given lists of A levels they are "allowed" to do -they ought to set a required standard at GCSE to enable the kid to do the A level - many schools (including high performing GS) it is a B - though may be an A in other subjects eg maths..
suzyb
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Re: QE A Level Voluntary Cull

Post by suzyb »

hermanmunster wrote:I think it is pretty dire that they are given lists of A levels they are "allowed" to do -they ought to set a required standard at GCSE to enable the kid to do the A level - many schools (including high performing GS) it is a B - though may be an A in other subjects eg maths..
I agree. My son like bullred's is predicted A* for GCSE in all the subjects he wishes to do at A level but has missed the mark by 2 or 3% in the internal tests they have to sit. These are not GCSE style questions they give them but more like A level in style. If we had known in year 6 what we know now we would have chosen to go elsewhere. The stress we are under now feels worse than the stress of the 11+. We are now like many others looking at alternative sixth forms. Its not what we ever thought we would be doing. My son has been really happy at QE and made great friends and this has devastated him and us.

Interestingly enough one of the subjects he has a recommendation for he only got an A in the first module last June. One of the subjects he wants to do he actually got a higher UMS score in the first paper but has been told he hasn't got the A level recommendation. It really is all based on the internal tests.
Minesh
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Re: QE A Level Voluntary Cull

Post by Minesh »

Must ensure you make it quite clear to your sons that it is not in any way their 'fault', failings in any way - this sort of thing can disturb young people and remain with them for life. 'teenagers' self esteem is very fragile despite outward bravado and appearance.

There is a lot of pressure and stress already with GCSEs. -

This QE cull is not new - Friend's boy refused Further maths at QE 2 years ago - achieved A* at Maths and Fmaths at Latymer now at Imperial. Things change, students surprise you and QE can get it wrong as can any school.
tiffinboys
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Re: QE A Level Voluntary Cull

Post by tiffinboys »

Minesh wrote: This QE cull is not new - Friend's boy refused Further maths at QE 2 years ago - achieved A* at Maths and Fmaths at Latymer now at Imperial. Things change, students surprise you and QE can get it wrong as can any school.
Lesson is that you must have trust in your child and be prepared to say good bye to QE, if your choices are not being 'allowed'. If your child doesn't get the subjects that he is interested in, chances are that his performance would not be very good in other subjects as well, which are forced upon him.
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bullred
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Re: QE A Level Voluntary Cull

Post by bullred »

This is a very stressful time for our son and both his parents, so I really do appreciate all the kind advice and sympathy shown by all. Thank you one and all.

Rest assured we love our son very much and have assured him this is not a reflection on his capability, whatever the outcome, but a failure of QE.

I wanted to share our experience so we could get advice and support from this community plus also share real experience with potential applicants and those already at QE that will experience this process later. They may be able avoid some pit falls from our experience.

I really do feel QE has misled us on culling as we specifically did ask the question before applying and were assured that this does not happen any more. Even now if boys do start A levels next year there is no guarantee that QE will not cull them end of next year.

Special thank you to suzyb. It is good to know we are not alone. My son has told me there are lots of extremely capable disappointed boys today so we are by no means alone.

My son too has been recommended one of the subjects he has only got an A last June but not subjects he is predicted to get A*s. It is clear they are ignoring GCSE gained or predicted grades and going on there own tests. So far they have not shared these all important internal tests results on an on going basis with us. Do I need to request this information or is it available online to access?
suzyb wrote: I did speak to one teacher and I think if your son gets an A* in the subject he wants to do at A level the school would be hard pushed to say no. This has been supported by a couple of parents who have gone through exactly the same thing in the past.
I assume this is after August results day. Bit strange why the let the GSCE results override their internal tests at this point.

Is this conditional offer you need to agree with the teachers now or do you have to address this only after results day?
ToadMum
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Location: Essex

Re: QE A Level Voluntary Cull

Post by ToadMum »

QE is definitely not our area (and from this thread I think perhaps we should be grateful for that :shock: ), but DH and I have been doing the rounds of most of the local school sixth forms and a couple of colleges recently with DS1.

I think that everywhere has stated that students are not allowed to proceed to A2 in subjects in which they do badly at AS, but the definition of "doing badly" has been not achieving a D / C.

At at least two of the GS that I have been to with him, the specific message has been that as it is our DC who actually have to spend the next two years studying for the A Levels, the choice of subjects should be theirs, with the obvious proviso that they should be able to meet the GCSE grade requirements and that the selection should be a sensible one with regard to further study / career choices.

All our local schools actually encourage outside applicants to their sixth forms; they regard the number of these they attract as a selling point :)
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Etienne
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Re: QE A Level Voluntary Cull

Post by Etienne »

Is there any legal or other recourse that we can take?
Both the Admissions Code and the Appeals Code do apply to academies (because it is a requirement in their funding agreement with the DfE), but I'm not sure that helps when the issue is to do with admission on to specific courses rather than entry into the 6th form.

Pupils already on roll at the school must be able to transfer into the 6th form if they meet any general academic requirements for entry.

All the 2012 Appeals Code says is:
3.17 In the case of an appeal where the child did not reach the specified entry requirements, the panel must not make its own assessment of a child’s ability, but must decide whether the admission authority’s decision that the child was not of the required standard was reasonable in light of the information available to it. In doing so, it must consider whether any process in place to consider such cases (for example, where a pupil had not been studying in England and therefore did not have GCSEs) was carried out in a consistent and objective way.

I really do feel QE has misled us on culling as we specifically did ask the question before applying and were assured that this does not happen any more.
The school is required to have a complaints procedure, although I couldn't immediately see one on the school website.

The ombudsman has issued guidance regarding complaints about schools (including academies):
Academies operate independently of local authorities, and we cannot currently look at complaints about them. You should speak to the academy initially about how to complain to them. They will provide you with a copy of their complaints procedure.

If you have a complaint about an academy that you have been unable to resolve, you can write to the Secretary of State for Education (see contact details above).
http://www.lgo.org.uk/publications/fact ... t-schools/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Etienne
Jean.Brodie
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Re: QE A Level Voluntary Cull

Post by Jean.Brodie »

Hi Etienne!

How about the Young Persons' Learning Agency? ... Is this not, in general, the first port of call regarding an Academy?
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