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A-levels your school can’t offer?

Yesterday I found out I won’t be able to do A level geography at my school because I’m the only one who chose it! My friend also chose physics and that can’t run either because of not enough people wanting to do it

I’m just curious if there are any subjects your school couldn’t run because not enough people wanted to do them
I know photography wasn't an option. Nobody wanted it and there were no teachers who taught it so it wasn't a problem.

Some people at my school did one A-Level at a different school that offered it in the local area, is that not an option for you?
Original post by georgia1989
Yesterday I found out I won’t be able to do A level geography at my school because I’m the only one who chose it! My friend also chose physics and that can’t run either because of not enough people wanting to do it

I’m just curious if there are any subjects your school couldn’t run because not enough people wanted to do them


Photography so the school done media where there was a photography unit
They've offered it before but English Lit couldn't be run this year as apparently not enough people chose it. Yet they're happy to put on Chemistry when only 5 people now take it. There were only 8 of us to start with.
(edited 6 years ago)
I'm in Year 12 at the moment and I had to (last minute) change school so I could do the options I could do, they stopped doing (and discontinued it):

•

Government and Politics (lack of teachers)

•

Sociology (lack of teachers)

•

Psychology (lack of teachers)

•

Further Maths (apparently too difficult for students to do)

•

Product Design (lack of students)

•

Spanish (no reason in particular)

•

Sport (ridiculously difficult - almost all students (bar 3 out of 24) who chose this in Year 12 the previous year dropped it by the end of that year)

Original post by DrawTheLine
I know photography wasn't an option. Nobody wanted it and there were no teachers who taught it so it wasn't a problem.

Some people at my school did one A-Level at a different school that offered it in the local area, is that not an option for you?


The thing is I’ve got a place at another school I’d rather go to and they can offer geography so it’s not so much of a problem for me
I wanted to do D&T at A levels but it wasn't offered. I also know they got rid of Electronics.
Reply 7
Avatar for ajj2000
ajj2000
20
Original post by delporto8
I'm in Year 12 at the moment and I had to (last minute) change school so I could do the options I could do, they stopped doing (and discontinued it):

•

Government and Politics (lack of teachers)

•

Sociology (lack of teachers)

•

Psychology (lack of teachers)

•

Further Maths (apparently too difficult for students to do)

•

Product Design (lack of students)

•

Spanish (no reason in particular)

•

Sport (ridiculously difficult - almost all students (bar 3 out of 24) who chose this in Year 12 the previous year dropped it by the end of that year)




Wow - are there other schools? I think anywhere other than a specialist college which doesn't offer major subjects like Geography, Spanish, Physics (and also further maths) is seriously letting down its students.
Original post by georgia1989
The thing is I’ve got a place at another school I’d rather go to and they can offer geography so it’s not so much of a problem for me


Ah okay your post made it seem like it was a problem.
Original post by DrawTheLine
Ah okay your post made it seem like it was a problem.


I just forgot to mention it
Original post by ajj2000
Wow - are there other schools? I think anywhere other than a specialist college which doesn't offer major subjects like Geography, Spanish, Physics (and also further maths) is seriously letting down its students.


I agree! My friend also wanted to do further maths and there are talks of not running that either 😬

Luckily I’ve got a place at another school which can offer me geography so I’ll take that
Further maths, maths teachers can't teach it and I'm the only one that wanted to do it lol so I just self taught it all this year.
Original post by Mikasadoge
Further maths, maths teachers can't teach it and I'm the only one that wanted to do it lol so I just self taught it all this year.


Hey well done! I'd wondered how teachers coped with further maths. I know a few people who teach maths who I wouldn't bet much on their ability to get an A/A* on FM A level and definitely would be numb on a STEP paper. I still think its part of providing an education that provision is made for the course - likewise for students to carry on with a language they took at GCSE regardless of their only being one or two who chose it.
Original post by ajj2000
Hey well done! I'd wondered how teachers coped with further maths. I know a few people who teach maths who I wouldn't bet much on their ability to get an A/A* on FM A level and definitely would be numb on a STEP paper. I still think its part of providing an education that provision is made for the course - likewise for students to carry on with a language they took at GCSE regardless of their only being one or two who chose it.


It was kinda disheartening at the start though, was struggling a lot and had no one to go to (teachers couldn't help at all) but I'm doing great now exam in 25 days :smile: At least my school paid for all my exams hehe
Reply 14
Avatar for sundae
sundae
16
My school got rid of German because no one was doing it :frown:
Original post by sundae
My school got rid of German because no one was doing it :frown:


:frown: my school hasn’t ever offered A-level german and there are only 9 of us in my GCSE class (which is actually quite nice tbh)
Reply 16
Avatar for sundae
sundae
16
Original post by georgia1989
:frown: my school hasn’t ever offered A-level german and there are only 9 of us in my GCSE class (which is actually quite nice tbh)


It's sad how unpopular German (and just languages in general) are :frown: I think French is going to go the same way in my school as less and less people are taking it each year.
Original post by sundae
It's sad how unpopular German (and just languages in general) are :frown: I think French is going to go the same way in my school as less and less people are taking it each year.


I go to a sixth form college so all the modern languages have a decent amount of people (around 15 in my Spanish class), but my friend who does German at my old school is in a class of 2! I feel like around 10 is a good number, although majority of my classes, including Spanish, are around the size of 15-20.

Yeah it's sad numbers are dwindling. I feel a lot is to do with people losing enthusiasm for it in school and also the wider range of courses, not just strictly academic, available now to people. There's new ones popping up all the time and others been cut all the time I swear 😂😂
Original post by sundae
It's sad how unpopular German (and just languages in general) are :frown: I think French is going to go the same way in my school as less and less people are taking it each year.


Yeah unfortunately :frown: I didn’t really like german at first but I’ve come to love it and I think being able to speak another language is the absolute coolest thing and I’m so glad I got the chance to
Was going to do computing A-level at a partner school but they bait and switched to btec cs lol (was suspicious when they were being vague as to whether it was a btec or A-level)

Then tried to do RS at another partner school, but it was dropped due to a lack of interest (I was probably the only one that applied). Was only told on results day.
(edited 6 years ago)

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