Pupils stopped from doing A-Level exams because they did badly in their mocks

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-48339107

Students who did badly in their February mock A-Levels at UCL Academy were withdrawn from their A-Level exams this summer at the last moment, reports say. They have said that this was also done via email over Easter, instead of a face-to-face meeting.

They're now worried about University applications, with some students paying £450 per exam to sit them externally, or looking to defer their place. Revision worries, stress and anxiety has also hit hard.

The academy said "any student at risk of not passing was identified early in the school year. This led to meetings with parents and teachers to flag the concern and agree a plan of support and action. Targets were agreed and action necessary to fulfill them were put in place".

This counteracts what the students themselves and the Association of School and College Leaders have said happened.

What do you think about how they were withdrawn from their exams?

Reply 1

Guru Jason

I'd be interested to see their pass rates. Can't see any other reason to withdraw so many people unless it's to protect it. Pretty scummy if you ask me.

Reply 2

Andrew97

Entertainment Forum Helper, Debate & Current Affairs Helper

I doubt it just based on mock results, If so that would be ridiculous.

Reply 3

Neilos

Curious... I'd expect this sort of thing to happen in those highly selective places where their position in league tables and average grade rankings (or whatever they have) come ahead of everything.

But fancy name and UCL link aside, this one is an entirely average school with unremarkable results.

(Results Info)

Reply 4

theicsmmedic

Original post by Andrew97

I doubt it just based on mock results, If so that would be ridiculous.

Sadly it’s true - and it isn’t the first school. Look up Dartford Grammar and St Olave’s who excluded pupils because of bad mock grades, it’s just to protect reputation and their stats. The school should be investigated since they’ve broken the law by doing this.

Reply 5

username4310824

Another school caring more about their reputation than their students.

Reply 6

PhoenixFortune

When I was at school (granted that was many years ago), mock exams were never taken seriously and were seen to mean very little, so grades were always vastly different to real exam performance. The attitude towards mocks may have changed nowadays, but it's most likely a failing of the school for not preparing their pupils properly (and not making them aware of the consequences of bad performance).

Reply 7

ChangeOurWorld

When I was in sixth form I badly flunked my mocks. I was struggling with the realsiation I was no longer the smartest person in the class and this knocked my confidence badly so I didn't feel like I could do any of the work. I really struggle to maintain revision alongside regular classes and homework so i didn't do much revision for the mocks. I ended up with really bad grades in these and yet managed to get some of the best marks in my cohort in my final exams. If my school had withdrawn me from my A Levels because of poor progress half way through the year I would not have been able to sit them and would never have attended the LSE for undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

This is horrendous and injust for the students and the schools should be ashamed of themselves.

Reply 8

drriversong

my first AS level english mock: D
I ended up getting 94% in my AS that same year. Mocks mean nout

Reply 9

forgotten_one

Feels like the school just wants to be high up in the school rankings.

Reply 10

GreenCub

Quite a bit can change in the few months between February mocks and the actual A level exams. There seems to be no reason for the academy to do this except eliminating low-scoring students so they can boost their league table rankings.

It would be useful to get some statistics on the proportion of students who passed out of the ones the academy thought was going to fail.

Reply 11

honeyfilth

They didn't 'warn anyone early on', bunch of bs, they made about 4 students drop their A Levels about 3 weeks before the exams. I was beyond shocked when I heard about this considering I did bad on my mocks and got fabulous A Level results.

Reply 12

ColtTheWolf

Original post by StrawberryDreams

I believe this is a failure on behalf of the school. It's not keeping student's best interests at heart at all and is entirely selfish.

What about a kid who just wants a C and gets a D/E in his mock and is working his way up slowly? Does he now not get a chance to even prove himself?

What about the person who has a panic attack in the exam and fails just out of nerves, but has now learned how to steady themselves between the mock and the real exam?

What about the pupils who do better cramming and working in the last month or two rather than consistently throughout the year? I got BCE in my mocks and ended up with AAB in the real thing.

It's evident that all they want is to try and bolster their numbers and appear like they're a better school than they really are. I hope any pupil who entered externally and does well does not have their grades added to that school's name. It's totally pathetic and they're not even trying to hide their scummy behaviour. A schools purpose is to give support, help, and push a student to achieve. Not to ditch the struggling students and offer them no support in favour of the naturally talented students who don't need it.

I experienced this before. Teachers offering me loads of extra sessions in my GCSEs even though I was already thoroughly on an A* and then ignoring students on C's and D's who really needed the help to get their B's and A's.