11 Plus Exams Forum

DD has come home from school today very upset having received the news that one of her chosen A level courses due to start next year (she is currently year 11) will not be running as there are too few students wanting to do the course. She has been so fixed on this course as her first choice for the last two years and is devastated.

Has anyone had any experience of persuading the school to run a course or challenging such a decision?

Very few schools run this course so other options for switching to another school are somewhat limited. A problem increased by the fact that at this point in the year some schools are no longer accepting applications. DD dearly wants to stay at current school, she is very happy there, has a good social group and will miss out on a major schoool trip at the end of year 12 (already part paid) if she changes school.

It seems our best options are likely to be independent schools at a considerable cost. I'm toying with asking the school if I can make a "donation" to cover/part cover the costs of running the course. I'm worried it sounds like a bribe but from my perspective it's likely to be cheaper than going independent. What does it cost a school to run a humanities A level course?

Another option might be a private tutor but I'm not sure how I can verify quality and standards if we use this route.

It is hard when these decisions come out late in the day, but it is unlikely that the school would have come to it without investigating all options to run the course so offering to fund your DC's place is unlikely to be an option. Frequently A level courses are taught by experienced (more expensive) teachers and it is not economically viable for them to run with only a few pupils. Are there any other A levels she might consider in its place at her current school? What have the school suggested as an alternative?

The only suggestion so far from the school is that they investigate whether she could study a similar A level (slightly different focus) at another school locally whilst studying her other options at her current school. However as the school in question is a 40 minute walk away I'm not sure how this will work.

In addition, looking at the prospectus for the other school she can't meet their criteria for the course as she didn't choose the required options at GCSE although I suppose they may waive the criteria in the circumstances.

She's a bit too delicate tonight to discuss alternative A levels but I don't think I'll easily persuade her to look at alternatives. The A level is what she ultimately wants to study at Uni although not essential for the Uni courses she is considering.

Ds2 is likely to find himself in the same situation but won’t know for sure until results day, probably - like your dd he wasn’t sure about any subject except for this one. However the school were very clear that if the numbers are not viable, they reserve the right not to run any subject - a student can choose another subject but will be limited by option blocks at that point.

I can’t imagine the school will be persuaded even if you do offer them money. Investigate alternatives - we are trying to do that now, just in case but might find ourselves in a deep dark corner....

Sympathy here for both of you. Purplerabbit, no tonight is probably not the best time to broach things. Given that you say that what she wants to study at uni doesn’t require her to have taken the A level in that subject (I hope I have understood that right), maybe that is the route to focus on. We always say to our students that there are many routes to get where you want. Sometimes you have to take a route that may not be most obvious and if taking an alternative route still gets you there then that is not so bad.

Kenyancowgirl - so sorry to hear you are in the same position. We are looking at options and do have a possible alternative but it is definitely second best, I.e further away, less good results overall for A level, will lose out on trip and move away from social circle BUT offers chosen A levels!

MrsChubbs, yes you are right that the Uni course does not insist on the A level, I think that this is probably because so few schools offer this A level. There are, as you say, many different routes to reach the same destination so it's not a fatal blow. I'm just rather cross that the school have known the number opting for the course since January but didn't choose to tell DD until yesterday and haven't communicated with me at At all. The time lag has narrowed our options for other schools

What about an EPQ?

EPQs are fine in addition to 3 A levels (but not for the faint hearted) but that doesn't get around the 3rd A level not being offered - another subject has to be chosen instead - and when that was the only subject you really wanted to do, choosing another from restricted blocks (rather than free choice as our school offers initially, and then designs the timetable around the choices) is hard...

+1 KCG please don’t believe any school that tells you 2 a levels and an EPQ are equivalent to 3 A levels and will get you into any Uni.

I thought EPQs were deemed to be worth half an A level, so it’s never going to be a replacement for a full A level.