QE A level cull

[Jean.Brodie]

qebmum,

There is an expectation at Q E Boys that around 40 of the 180 who start in Year 7 will leave after Year 11. In fact it is an annual certainty. Nearly all of these are rejected or forced out. In other words, there is selection at 11+ and full reselection at 16+. This should be made clear before Year 7. Why are you opposed to this clarity and openness?

Q E Boys should also make clear before Year 7 that the reselection in Year 11 will be based on their own criteria and assessment procedures, not predicted or actual GCSE grades. Again, why are you opposed to this?

[tabasco]

qebmum,

There is an expectation at Q E Boys that around 40 of the 180 who start in Year 7 will leave after Year 11. In fact it is an annual certainty. Nearly all of these are rejected or forced out. In other words, there is selection at 11+ and full reselection at 16+. This should be made clear before Year 7. Why are you opposed to this clarity and openness?

Q E Boys should also make clear before Year 7 that the reselection in Year 11 will be based on their own criteria and assessment procedures, not predicted or actual GCSE grades. Again, why are you opposed to this?

I agree JB. QE should make it absolutely clear in their admission policy that only 140/180 DSs will progress to year 12 & 13 based on their internal assessment and not on GCSE grades at year 10 &11. Of cause all parents will hope their DS to be the selected 140. As long as they are awared from day one then the DS and their family just have to try to make sure they are in the selected 140 by year 11! There is quite a big jump in level of the subjects from GCSE to A level. If the school didn't teach beyond the curriculum at GCSE, even with an A*/A grade at GCSE, the DC might find the A level challenging, let along getting A* at A level.

[Daogroupie]

There is an adjustment to be made from GCSE to A level but if QE can't get very able A/A* GCSE Maths boys to A/A* in Maths in A level maths in two years then there must be something wrong with their teaching. Perhaps their issue is that too many boys want to do the same subjects and they don't want to find themselves unable to offer the other A levels because they don't have enough boys wanting to do them. I can imagine that a very large percentage of their intake want to do maths and a very small percentage want to do English. I note they only had one student going on to do English at University this year. DG

[WP]

There is an adjustment to be made from GCSE to A level but if QE can't get very able A/A* GCSE Maths boys to A/A* in Maths in A level maths in two years then there must be something wrong with their teaching.

According to this DfE statistical report (p25), only 30% of A-level Maths students with an A* at GCSE end up with A*, while 42% of them get A. So if you made A* at GCSE the entry requirement, you'd expect 72% to get A* or A at A-level. With their more restrictive internal selection, QE gets 90% at A* or A.

[qebmum]

I think all JB was after that QE should be transparent about its policies about 6th form admissions for its pupils from the start. If only 140 pupils are to be moved to 6th form from 180 intake, then 40 would be leaving or forced to leave. If they don't let A grade students read for Further Maths, then QE is only caring about grades (& league ranking) and not about learning. If the boy has the apptitude for maths, what's wrong for him to take on with the challenge of studying further maths. And so what if he gets B. He would be studying what interest him - not what School wants him to appear for - for the sake of better grades.

I don't know for sure if they have the capacity to take all 180 into the 6th form but I do think that if they have to let 40 go then they would have told the parents this. I'll ask DS to check. I can tell you what's wrong with getting a B Tiffin - all my son's uni offers have demanded A*AA. Personally, I'm glad QE steered him in the direction where this is possible.

[tiffinboys]

I would have thought that steering in the right direction would mean educating children in the field of their interest and providing guidance towards achieving their goal. If A grade student wants to do Maths and Further Maths, then he is clearly showing apptitude for the subject. So what if in the end, he gets B grade - though more likely he will get A or even better.

QE policy of entering student for only the subjects in which A* or A grade is almost assured is not learning-directed. How come same very boys, who are denied by QE, go to other schools and get A or A* grades. This policy is not in the interest of the learning and is biased towards School's standing in the league tables.

If QE has capacity problem, they should clearly declare so i.e. that only top 15 students in the school's internal tests would be allowed to take further maths and the rest can make alternate arrangements.

Other thing, without this forum, how could one find out the real picture as open days or glossy prospectus never give out such information.

[inwuzzle]

At least one boy this year in Latymer gained a place to study Physics at Oxford after being forced away from QE because apparently he wasn't good enough for Further Maths. Their loss.

[Daogroupie]

He probably got A*s at Maths and Triple Science at GCSE but they used the results of their internal tests instead of his GCSE results to make their decision. I hope his points helped Latymer up the A level league tables! DG

[inwuzzle]

He probably got A*s at Maths and Triple Science at GCSE but they used the results of their internal tests instead of his GCSE results to make their decision. I hope his points helped Latymer up the A level league tables! DG

I think the main reason they're quite low down is because pupils are actively encouraged to take no more than four AS levels and then drop a subject for A2 unless they're taking further maths (this affects points per pupil), plus they have the opposite of a cull so they take on students who have come from poorly performing schools (with an entry requirement of six As at GCSE) and don't have aspirations or expectations that go quite as high. I also don't think they care that much because we all know that league tables don't give the whole picture.

[copella]

DAOgroupie you clearly sent your DD's to Owens because of reasons other than the league tables or else you would have sent them else where. I am not sure what point you are making about Latymer. In my experience and in those of others whose children have been there longer it is an excellent school which gives a holistic experience to education and does not just concentrate on its position in league tables. Pupils do very well there. They do not expect or want pupils to take exams early or take many more exams than necessary because there is more to life than just exams. Isn't that the case at Owens as well or am I mistaken and the focus for that school is just league tables?