Full day of lessons on exam days?

[Teacherproblem]

Is this new/normal?

In my day we went on study leave two weeks before and then on the day just came in for exams.

Mine has no study leave and will have lessons all around her exam time?

So a day of PE/History/Maths/Science and then a Geography exam.
Or two exams and then lessons inbetween?

[Comefromaway]

Assuming you are talking about GCSE's dd did hers last year.

She had no study leave and attended revision lessons at school up until all exams in that subject were over.

[adamsappletree]

They'll be revising in lessons

[Teacherproblem]

Yes sorry GCSE exams.

Ah it's obviously all changed. Did tbey revise for the exam that day or did they go to History when they normally would and revise that subject?

I'm wondering the benefits of spending a double lesson revising Geography to immediately go and do a Maths exam afterwards.

[Dana28]

At my DC's school they have study leave

[adamsappletree]

At my school they'll revise that subject if they haven't done the exam yet but staff often let them revise another subject if that exam is later that day. Ours come in for exams only after may half term.

[KeithLeMonde]

It's normal. The exam period goes on for weeks, most schools continue with revision lessons through at least the first part of it.

[Teacherproblem]

Thanks that's really useful.
I kind of thought she would finish in a couple of weeks and only go back for exams!
DD will be gutted

[Comefromaway]

At dds school they had a revision timetable that sort of coincided with normal lessons due to teacher timetabling/availability but there was some flexibility.

[TeenTimesTwo]

See also this recent thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3531172-GCSEs-year-11-and-study-after-Easter-Does-your-school-state-or-private-give-them-study-leave

[Teacherproblem]

Ohh thank you Teen. Off to read.

[Freemind]

The school where I was teaching started to keep the children in school over the main part of the exam period several years ago. The results were much better: no one forgot to turn up or was late because they had got into the habit of sleeping in, they could check up on revision queries with their teachers easily and the staff were all there to help with the inevitable stress that some felt. Most agreed that they would not have used the time as effectively had they been on study leave for the whole of the exam period and would have missed out on the support they had had in school.

[WhyAmIPayingFees]

One of the criteria we used when selecting schools was the explicit provision of study leave, i.,e. we ruled out schools that deny it. My son is coming up for GCSEs and I am really pleased that (a) he will not be wasting 2h time every day travelling to and from school (b) will be able to follow his own revision plan tailored to his own needs and exam timetable (c) will not have that plan fouled up by generic lessons which do not reflect his priorities (d) will not be distracted or wound up by other kids festering anxiety or doing pointless post-mortems after exams. He can still attend optional revision clinics and is free to e-mail teaching staff as needed for support. I think there was a study that did show some improvement in weaker boys as having to come into school stopped them playing video games, but for bright kids who are perfectly capable of organising themselves the denial of leave is only to the detriment of their revision and exam performance. My advice would be to sign off on some plausible sickies so your DD can review properly and tell the head to change the policy.

[Teacherproblem]

Interesting point WhyAmIPayingFees.
My DDs school only really has two sets as far as I'm aware in a lot of subjects and tbh she has ended up in the class with the disruptive kids for year ten and 11.
This has already imo had a huge affect on her grades. She's working no where near where she should be and is on a reduced timetable.
She has SEN herself but should be getting 5/6. Instead she's doing quite poorly.
She also can't cope in disruptive classes to the point she's allowed to leave.
What I'm most worried about is her going into sensory overload in a normal class with the kids who shout and are disruptive (and she has one particular teacher who she gets quite angry about because she shouts and screams a lot) being very worked up and then walking into an exam in that state.

[jeanne16]

Our school runs revision sessions during the exams but they are optional. Some pupils revise better on their own at home but others don’t and so actually get some work done in the classes. I would think honestly about what your DC is like, if they can revise better at home, just don’t send them in.

[cauliflowersqueeze]

Schools are not allowed to code as study leave before the May half term.
We have created a revision schedule in the run up to exams to help our students and it went down really well.

[GillianUsedToLiveHere]

Agree with Cauli they have to be marked in the register as absent and it affects the school attendance statistics.

OP I would find out if there is another room your DD can study in if she is finding the usual classroom overwhelming.

Ds has been told that they will study in the morning what they are doing in the afternoon so a whole day of maths! Luckily he love maths. But before half term they are definitely in school when they don't have exams on.

[pointythings]

Our school does revision sessions in whatever exam they will have next. So if they have History in the morning, they will have had the revision session for that paper the afternoon before. There are separate sessions for Higher/Foundation. It worked brilliantly for DD1, she said it really helped her focus and identify little things she'd missed working at home.

Towards the end there are more gaps and if the exam the next day is in a subject they aren't taking, they don't have to come in for that session and revise at home instead. It's also for Year 11s only and disruptive behaviour is not tolerated.