Wick High - 5th Year Choices

[ashaw1]

My son is going into 5th year at Wick High and is at the point of making his subject choices for next term. He is not old enough to leave at xmas so has no option but to stay on at school.

A good proportion of his chosen subjects are under subscribed so the classes are being dropped (most of these being practical based classes). At present he has 16 free periods every week where he will be made to go to school and sit in the gym hall. Up until yesterday there was the possibility it would be 24 free periods a week which is the equivalent of 2 days every week but luckily he managed to squeeze into a class.

I just wondered if there were any other parents out there who's children were in a similar position and not happy about it.

My son is currently trying to find ways he can leave school when he really doesn't want to!

[vanman]

were in exactly the same position!! I cant believe how ridiculous it is.
my child has now had 2 of his subjects dropped & been told to pick other subjects, all the subjects that are left they have no interest in & think they only had a choice of 3 anyway!
The choice forms were extremely poor for any child that didnt take highers last year not alot of subjects to choose from & most of them craft related.

[dirdyweeker]

why not discuss this with his Guidance teacher who might be able to help more than we can?
I am sure there is a way to resolve this but I think to be fair it is the school you both should approach.

[Venture]

were in exactly the same position!! I cant believe how ridiculous it is.
my child has now had 2 of his subjects dropped & been told to pick other subjects, all the subjects that are left they have no interest in & think they only had a choice of 3 anyway!
The choice forms were extremely poor for any child that didnt take highers last year not alot of subjects to choose from & most of them craft related.

Do you mean standard grade, not higher? Pupils don't usually take highers until 5th year. Can you tell me which two subjects have been dropped?

[rfr10]

I have to admit that, after having a look at the choice form for 09/10 session, they do seem to be pretty poor compared to previous years. It is a different format and I know of a lot of pupils who have had to choose between two subjects of which they wanted to study both.

[vanman]

Do you mean standard grade, not higher? Pupils don't usually take highers until 5th year. Can you tell me which two subjects have been dropped?

If pupils took less than Intermediate 1 grades last year they couldnt take certain subjects this year.
Craft & design & Electronics were 2 subjects that had far to many pupils in & alot of pupils were told to chose different subjects. Think there planning on doing away with Electronics altogether.
I know the 3rd years are having the same problems with their choices too.

Weve already spoken to the school who said theres nothing they can do, they havent got the teachers to teach the classes due to cuts etc & we were told just to pick different subjects, when we explained this doesnt help with career choices they told my 15yr old to try getting into college now.

[ashaw1]

Think there planning on doing away with Electronics altogether.

Well i hope this isn't the case, this is the class my son just managed to squeeze into!

The school are trying to get these children to take maths and geography which are no way similar to woodwork and other practical based subjects.

My son was also told to try to get into college!

[vanman]

I have to admit that, after having a look at the choice form for 09/10 session, they do seem to be pretty poor compared to previous years. It is a different format and I know of a lot of pupils who have had to choose between two subjects of which they wanted to study both.

your right the choice form is completely different from previous years.
most of the columns you had to choose from only had 3 subjects & you had to pick 2 of them. my son had to pick hospitality & home economics when he wants to go into the construction industry! sure employers will look favourable on this on his CV.

[Venture]

If you speak to your son or daughter you will find that the pupils have been told that the timetable/choices for the new school year has not been set in stone. A lot of factors have to be taken into consideration before the final outcome in the new session. These are: exam results, which don't come out until August; the fact the school will be operating with 7 less teachers next school year;and a dramatic rise in the number of pupils staying on. Between 80-90 in 6th year and 130-150 in 5th year.

Some pupils may also decide after the results that they qualify for college courses etc and leave the school. This will then free up places in classes. Some pupils who are staying on may decide to drop certain subjects or change their choice of subject.

I think you can now see the difficulty that the school has and that things will be finalised after the holidays. The school will accommodate every child that wishes to continue their education in the best way that it can. If after the holidays you are still not happy with your son/daughter's timetable etc. contact the school direct where they will be happy to discuss it further with you.

Hope that helps.

[ocd]

The choices are terrible! If a pupil wants to sit both computing and biology its a no go they were both in the same column and did not appear in any other column....
Classes are changing rapidly with kids not knowing if they are getting their subject choices or not... a very unsettling time for a lot of pupils.

WHS seems to offer a very poor range of subjects IMO, I do appreciate it is difficult to offer all subjects but I do feel WHS is exceptionally poor

[Alice in Blunderland]

WHS seems to offer a very poor range of subjects IMO, I do appreciate it is difficult to offer all subjects but I do feel WHS is exceptionally poor

At this momment in time my thoughts are with the staff of Wick High school who are trying to the best of their ability to offer what they can with the resources they have at hand. Its like trying to juggle with one hand tied behind your back.

In the current climate of cuts you can expect things to get worse.

The budget and staffing levels are not set by the school and they can only offer subjects they have the staff to teach.

I agree it would be great if all the children could get what they want but its just never going to happen and as has been reported due to a drop in the school role staff must go.

There is no consideration to subjects needing to be taught its plain old bums on seats thats how staffing levels are calculated.

Yes its good to highlight it on the org and ask about it. Another way of expressing your concern is to attend Parent Council meetings in the High school and to lobby your councillors who vote for the budgets and MSP Jamie Stone who can take this further.

[Alice in Blunderland]

a very unsettling time for a lot of pupils.

Its not just the pupils that are unsettled ............staff dont know whats happening either.

Its a big commitment for some taking up a position in Wick and not knowing if the job will last,this will not help with recruitment. It will be safer to look for a job in a school where the population/ school role doesnt fluctuate so much.

Short sighted attitude from the council for a long term problem.

[Venture]

Well said Alice. The announcement about the school loosing 7 teachers was announced some time ago and highlighted on the front page of the Groat. Parents have known about this but only decide to complain now when it begins to affect their children. Alice is right the cuts will get worse and the pupils and staff will suffer because of it.

[cuddlepop]

I'm well aware of the education cuts but surely our childrens education comes first.
Its not their fault "someone" hasnt been budgeting properly.

All too often the kids in my experience "have" to fit into the "schools" timetable.

Curriculum for Excellence?.....now thats a joke.

[miranda]

[quote=vanman;562659] Think there planning on doing away with Electronics altogether.


my daughter too has struggled with the choice forms this year, she went to her guidance teacher for support and pretty much was told if she wasnt happy ..leave
She decided on electronics eventually and has now been told this may no longer be available!!! back to square one !!!!

[ashaw1]

At this momment in time my thoughts are with the staff of Wick High school who are trying to the best of their ability to offer what they can with the resources they have at hand. Its like trying to juggle with one hand tied behind your back.

In the current climate of cuts you can expect things to get worse.

The budget and staffing levels are not set by the school and they can only offer subjects they have the staff to teach.

I agree it would be great if all the children could get what they want but its just never going to happen and as has been reported due to a drop in the school role staff must go.

There is no consideration to subjects needing to be taught its plain old bums on seats thats how staffing levels are calculated.

Yes its good to highlight it on the org and ask about it. Another way of expressing your concern is to attend Parent Council meetings in the High school and to lobby your councillors who vote for the budgets and MSP Jamie Stone who can take this further.

It's a catch 22 situation. If things carry on like this then there will be fewer and fewer pupils and even fewer teachers to teach them. Surely they should be encouraged to stay on at school and not to 'apply for a college course'.

[girnigoe]

Didnt they fill in and hand in choice forms before the exams started?? :S

[ocd]

Didnt they fill in and hand in choice forms before the exams started?? :S

Yes, they were submitted before study leave commenced, as is the norm!?!?!?

[Invisible]

In 5th year i had to pick 3 subjects apart from Maths and English which were compulsory to me so I choose Chemistry, Physics, Computing.

At higher, Chemistry teacher wouldn't let me sit it so i had to opt for either Home Economics, Art, Craft & Design @ Higher or Modern Languages at Intermediate 1. I had no previous learning experience of Home Economics, Art or Craft & Design, so really my only option was Modern Languages with the choice of Russian, Spanish or German.

When I went to the glass first time round there was 8 people in this class. 2 Russians, 3 Spanish and 3 Germans and so I became the 9th member of the class. Still it was a small class as the 7 period week was split into 2 for Russian, 2 for German, 2 for Spanish and 1 for studying. Mind you when we got our one to one lesson it was benificial and I came out with a Standard Grade 3.
The next year I had to resit English, Physics and Computing and due to the timetable choices was stuck with German again at a Higher level with a smaller class of 8 in total including the Higher French class. One to one teaching time was only one period for 2nd Year Germans. I cam out with a SG 2 that year.

basically my point is that the way the timetable was structured back then was a state. My mate had 24 free periods because he didn't have the qualifications necessary to do more.

[weeboyagee]

It's a catch 22 situation. If things carry on like this then there will be fewer and fewer pupils and even fewer teachers to teach them. Surely they should be encouraged to stay on at school and not to 'apply for a college course'.

Thoroughly agree.

In this world these days a good education (with qualifications) is now a minimum requirement with an increasing amount of employers. Yes, I know that as many come out with higher education qualifications for no jobs but that is totally different. Those who are at school should stay at school for as long as possible and study and gain knowledge and information for as long as possible. The exception being where they seek to follow an apprenticeship including opportunities within the Forces. There after, they have more chance of getting into College and/or University - which I also advocate. The whole standard of and attitude towards the concept of "employment" is raised to a much higher and more mature level by that age and therefore the contribution to the economy is more effective. It does not make logical sense to leave school at 16 - anyway you look at it - whether they want to or not.

This however, does not fix a problem with the falling class roles. If the Caithness population is drifting away (espcially the youth) you have to look at your socio-economic factors to understand the problem with a view to fixing it. And that, trust me, is a serious one to fix and one that requires a whole new change of attitude from a lot of us in this county.

WBG