The WGGS Triple Science Saga

[KS10]

Parmiter's is 100, I believe. I have no idea if it has always been 100.

[AgNO3]

It's good that the school have sold it to you as being for the benefit of the girls, and I'm glad you are reassured.

Unfortunately, from my point of view the ONLY reason it is being done is for the school league tables - the school have stated that they will be selecting who goes forward to do the 3, not personal preference from the girls - from my point of view, the school are selecting the ones they think they have the best chance of "teaching" to the highest grades, the ones who will perform best in their league tables and those who are "selected" to do double will perform best for the league tables for the school there. It still smacks of being school priority led, not pupil led.

Our school is 100% selective - but even within that you have boys who are wholly more suited to the arts side of the curriculum but there is absolutely no suggestion that they only do double award. The teachers are confident in their ability to teach them to the best of their ability and help them achieve as high as possible. The reality is that parents who believe their child will be one of the chosen few, or whose daughter hates science, will not have a problem with the theory behind this. If they believed their daughter was "bright" enough to be one of the 75 and are then told that she isn't, I suspect there will be a few more grumbles!

Your post is absolutely spot on, and you've nailed it with the last sentence.

K1w1mum, I promise I'm not a stalker so please don't be alarmed, but you're pretty identifiable online and it's obvious what you think of your daughter's chances of getting triple science. You're so confident that you've mentioned her doing triple science in your blog back in February. Your exact comment is "She is doing triple science (no choice, it's what she's been given) so will do physics, biology and chemistry." Posted on 26th February 2016. You know that's absolute bull because no one was "given" anything. So any post from you claiming that it doesn't matter whether they do double or triple science should be taken with a pinch of salt, because it looks like it matters very much to you.

[2g2c]

Parmiter's re-set their science classes at the end of year 9, up until then each half of the year had 4 sets.
From my understanding there are 2 'groups' across the year, due to options clashes etc this is the whole year not just half the year as previously, each numbered 1 to 4 with the sets 1 & 2 doing triple science and sets 3 & 4 doing double.
However the numbers vary in each set, so I guess a rough estimate is half the year do triple, approx. 100, but this could be more or less depending on the individuals progress throughout the year as the re-setting is done after the assessments from Year 9 are finished.
Class sizes do vary in the setted subjects as DD's maths had 32 in but the forms are 26/7 pupils, lower sets have significantly lower numbers of pupils in.

[K1w1mum]

K1w1mum, I promise I'm not a stalker so please don't be alarmed, but you're pretty identifiable online and it's obvious what you think of your daughter's chances of getting triple science. You're so confident that you've mentioned her doing triple science in your blog back in February. Your exact comment is "She is doing triple science (no choice, it's what she's been given) so will do physics, biology and chemistry." Posted on 26th February 2016. You know that's absolute bull because no one was "given" anything. So any post from you claiming that it doesn't matter whether they do double or triple science should be taken with a pinch of salt, because it looks like it matters very much to you.

I'm not alarmed at all, more amused that someone has so much time on their hands
In February this year we didn't know that WGGS would be reducing the numbers and girls believed that the top science sets would be doing the triple as they had every year. So the parents believed that as well, because the group had been set in Y9 up until now. Obviously I was wrong, but at that time I believed what I was writing.
Now it seems that my eldest might be doing triple or she might be doing combined. We find out on Wednesday and what will be will be.
My Y8 daughter will almost certainly be doing combined. Neither of them are likely to want to do 3 sciences at A level so it really doesn't bother me. Obviously there is some kudos in knowing your child is one of the top 75, but that's my issue and I don't think doing combined science will affect my DDs chances in the future. I will be concentrating on getting them through their exam years with as good marks as possible.

[Guest55]

Triple science keeps doors open - that is what a selective school should be doing for able young women.

The 'jump' to A level science will be greater than ever with the new exams if they don't take separate sciences at GCSE.

[AgNO3]

I'm not alarmed at all, more amused that someone has so much time on their hands
In February this year we didn't know that WGGS would be reducing the numbers and girls believed that the top science sets would be doing the triple as they had every year. So the parents believed that as well, because the group had been set in Y9 up until now. Obviously I was wrong, but at that time I believed what I was writing.
Now it seems that my eldest might be doing triple or she might be doing combined. We find out on Wednesday and what will be will be.
My Y8 daughter will almost certainly be doing combined. Neither of them are likely to want to do 3 sciences at A level so it really doesn't bother me. Obviously there is some kudos in knowing your child is one of the top 75, but that's my issue and I don't think doing combined science will affect my DDs chances in the future. I will be concentrating on getting them through their exam years with as good marks as possible.

That's not true. The numbers that are being picked for triple science has changed but the timing hasn't. For you it was a foregone conclusion that your daughter would be picked, possibly with good reason.

Oh and it's not necessary to have a lot of time on your hands since it's impossible to not recognise someone who posts highly identifying information about their family across multiple forums.

[K1w1mum]

Ahh, I've just seen who you are, I didn't see you were another parent and thought it was a bit odd to be that interested in what other schools were doing.
Yes, I agree the school could have handled it better.
I hope you are happy with the group your daughter is put into tomorrow.

[AgNO3]

Thank you. You too.

[1Watford]

I don't suppose anyone has any idea how the sets are going to work for the new Year 9 do they? My DD was told last week that we would have a letter home to let us know but today at school she was just told which set she would be in, the set names don't seem to give a clue.

TIA

[K1w1mum]

I don't suppose anyone has any idea how the sets are going to work for the new Year 9 do they? My DD was told last week that we would have a letter home to let us know but today at school she was just told which set she would be in, the set names don't seem to give a clue.

My leaving Y9 DD said you know which set you are by who you are with! It's fairly variable at this stage and just because they have only let 75 do triple science this year, it doesn't mean they will do the same next year. My leaving Y8 DD has no idea what set she is in, so you are one up on us
The letter we got with our Y10 sets informs us that girls who are under achieving in triple science will be moved to combined science.