GCSE's 2019

[thehappyrunner]

Morning all! I have gone through the GCSE pain before with my eldest daughter who is safely over the education hump and now a teacher herself, however, I am about to go through it again with my 15 year old. I am planning on taking her for a short break to Krakow (her choice) and cannot remember if the Feb half term is a good time to go. Thank you!

[TeenTimesTwo]

I think you are asking whether it will impact studies to go away Feb half term of y11? (i.e. not specifically to do with whether Krakow is nice in Feb?).

Do you know when mocks are?
Is she doing any courses which still have an element of controlled assessment?

DD1 worked over Christmas for mocks in Jan, but then needed to work over Feb half term preparing her final MFL CAs. We then had 4 days away over Easter as a final break before the big push. (But this 3 years ago before the spec changes).

Unless mocks are straight after the half term I would think you could do a break Feb half term, provided
a) Your DD is up for it
b) Your DD will take work with her if it becomes necessary.
If it is only a few days and not the whole 9 days, then definitely yes.

[foundoutyet]

dc also had mocks in Jan (last year) and did something not school related in Feb half term

[clary]

Yy as teentimestwo says, find out when mocks are as that will make a difference.

[Mindthecat]

My dd is on a school trip to Poland the week before feb half term. It's making me v nervous, but I guess the school must think it's ok, or they wouldn't have arranged it.

[Oneteen]

Agree with everyone else about mocks/coursework (DT, Music and Art can need extra work at that time).
If she is doing History then Krakow is a great place to go for a few day;s in Feb (It will be very cold). A visit to Auschwitz (not far) would benefit her and there is a lot of information about WW2. I can even recommend this hotel - great location and very helpful www.hotelcolumbus.pl

[Powergower]

We are planning on going away at Feb half term. We can't go ay Xmas cos of mocks and Easter is out so Feb half term will have to do.

Btw do any mums know where we can get a full aqa curriculum list for all the aqa subjects. With the spec being new it's hard to find a comprehensive list online and school are really dragging their heels.

[Holidayshopping]

DS has his mocks the first two weeks after February half term, so I wouldn’t have done.

[goodbyestranger]

I used to take Y13 History students at our school to Krakow in the Feb half term. Feb is absolutely fine. It's a really good time to visit actually, especially if it snows.

[goodbyestranger]

The newish Schindler museum (2010) is worth seeing before going to Auschwitz or indeed doing much else in Krakow. It's not really about Schindler and gives a really excellent background to what Krakow and it's people went through in the Second World War. The Wawel is unmissable too.

[goodbyestranger]

its people duh.

[OlderThanAverageforMN]

Our school is running a trip to Berlin in the Feb half term, only four days though, and we have our mocks either side of Xmas.

[mmmz]

Powergrower if I understand you correctly that you want to know GCSE by GCSE what's included in the specifications then you'll find the AQA ones on the AQA site and the Edexcel ones on the Pearson site.
https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects]

[mmmz]

Feb half term is just about the last time you can safely go away.

[thehappyrunner]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I think I will def start with an email to the school to ask about mocks. The reason she is keen on Krakow is because of doing History GCSE but I don't want to add any more stress into the mix by trying to do a good thing! Oh the joys of parenthood!!!

[Powergower]

Mmmz thank you!

[pointythings]

mmmz not entirely true - it depends on whether your DC is conscientious and will do work if they are away. We went away for Easter last year and DD1 worked hard - but also had relaxation and downtime. And did very well indeed in her exams.