Can I drop to 4th year?

BeckyCarroll

Last year when I was in 3rd year I made a foolish decision to take my 4th year application form out of the school because I didn't want I do it at the time. Before I took out my application form I had asked a teacher if I wasn't able for the leaving cert would it be possible to drop down to 4th year and he/she said something could be arranged because of my young age, and now that I am in 5th year I'm finding it very difficult to keep up and settle in, this is making me extremely uncomfortable and unhappy as I am getting very stressed. I know I am not ready or mature enough for the leaving cert at this young age. I said it to the school numerous of times and my parents have been up to the school having meetings trying to arrange something and the school told them there is no room even though it is the smallest 4th year group the school has had. Last year there was over 60 students in 4th year and they let a girl drop from 5th to 4th this year there's only 43 students in 4th year and they won't let me drop. I think it's just as excuse they are using. There was a letter wrote to the board of education about it and then the school said that they won't do anything to help me. I feel as if every student that skips 4th year should have the choice wether to drop or not especially at such a young age. Do I not have a right do drop as I am not copping very well and am so unhappy?

Peg14

In my school, it is the biggest TY year ever - 84 people which is 3 classes. To me your situation does sound odd. If there's two TY classes at 22 students each, that's hardly full. If you try and try, and they still don't let you drop, you can always repeat 5th year. TY, depending on your school, can be a pretty useless year for those who struggle at academics or whatever. A lot would be better off repeating 5th year instead, and repeating 5th year usually means you won't need to repeat 6th year.

BeckyCarroll

There is 22 people in one class and 23 in the other.do you think they should let me drop?and who's decision is it to let me drop my principle or the board of management?

spurious

22 and 23 in a class could easily be full. You have to allow for classroom size etc.. There are plenty of schools in Ireland where classrooms could not physically take 28 students per room.
If the school have set the class sizes, they have done so for a reason.

TY has nothing to do with academics, if it is run properly. Many schools however, break the rules and use it as LC preparation.


OP - Talk to your year head, but do it properly. They do not have to let you switch.

BeckyCarroll

I have talked to my principle and year head numerous of times and even wrote a letter to the board of education, and they said no!is there anything else I could do to try and get moved down to 4th year as I am so unhappy!

coolerboy

BeckyCarroll wrote: »

I have talked to my principle and year head numerous of times and even wrote a letter to the board of education, and they said no!is there anything else I could do to try and get moved down to 4th year as I am so unhappy!

You could just move schools ??

seavill

BeckyCarroll wrote: »

Last year when I was in 3rd year I made a foolish decision to take my 4th year application form out of the school because I didn't want I do it at the time. Before I took out my application form I had asked a teacher if I wasn't able for the leaving cert would it be possible to drop down to 4th year and he/she said something could be arranged because of my young age, and now that I am in 5th year I'm finding it very difficult to keep up and settle in, this is making me extremely uncomfortable and unhappy as I am getting very stressed. I know I am not ready or mature enough for the leaving cert at this young age. I said it to the school numerous of times and my parents have been up to the school having meetings trying to arrange something and the school told them there is no room even though it is the smallest 4th year group the school has had. Last year there was over 60 students in 4th year and they let a girl drop from 5th to 4th this year there's only 43 students in 4th year and they won't let me drop. I think it's just as excuse they are using. There was a letter wrote to the board of education about it and then the school said that they won't do anything to help me. I feel as if every student that skips 4th year should have the choice wether to drop or not especially at such a young age. Do I not have a right do drop as I am not copping very well and am so unhappy?

I know you are upset about your situation but this cannot work in reality. Schools have to plan for the year ahead, plan a timetable for every member of staff and every child and if say 10 decided to move and it created a 3rd class then everything changes.

The school have the right to decide whether to let you drop or not as far as I know. However in reality they would usually have a good reason why they were refusing, not just becuase they don't want to.

No room is a genuine reason, 24 would be the maximum in any TY I have ever seen in a school however there may be other restrictions to consider such as is there an SNA with anyone, if you had a 48 seater bus, you would need 3 adults at least going, 45 students you have said plus 3 adults, bus is full. There are so many other things to think of that would not even come to mind for a student or parent.

All you can do is ask again, apart from that I don't see any other avenue you have. You were given your chance to go for it and you refused that chance, unfortunately that's life sometimes, you have to live with the decisions you make.
In our place last year we had 1 person swap back down, however it worked out because someone wanted to change and go into 5th year so it was a straight swap.
This is possibly the only option left open to you, to see is there anyone currently in TY that would actually prefer to move onto 5th year now. That way the reason of no space won't occur