6th Form

Son of 16 is yet again in a foul mood. This time not because of me - hurrah!

He signed up to stay on in the sixth form of the school that he currently attends. He made his choices and sent all the forms off. He received a letter back saying he had his place (pending his GCSE results) and that he had his choices.

He has chosen to do A level Maths, Physics, Geography and Computing. Now Computing was the main one for him as this is the area he wants to work in later in life.

He received a letter from his school yesterday saying that they are pulling the Computing A Level course due to 'staffing issues'.

Now I can see this from many angles - he is very unhappy as this was his main choice. He is cross because they confirmed it all and now he has to choose something else.

I can see it from my angle - I am cross because they have upset him, I am also cross because they have more than enough time to recruit a new ICT teacher - the deadline for starting in September would be to hand your notice in by the end of May - plenty of time, so where's the staffing issue!

I can see it from a school angle - The budget may not stretch to another teacher - well why offer the course then if you couldn't afford the staff. There may be a timetabling issue - same as before, why offer the course.

So I did what any mother would do - I called the school. The secretary to the sixth form answered the phone and I asked her all the questions I had - she had no answers. She sounded harassed - must have had a few calls by the sounds of things. I need to speak to the Head of Sixth form, who, being a teacher, if on holiday.

School is back on the 16th April - my son has to have his choices in by the 17th April. Oh well, the options he has are Sociology, Government and Politics, Economics, English or Applied Design Technology. Exciting choices eh!

So I have to wait.

No one upsets my son - that's my job!