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Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Secondary education

GCSE retakes 2021

40 replies

sorrelli · 03/04/2020 15:35

If students decide to retake their GCSE’s next year what will be the consequences?

Will they apply as usual next year for sixth form places even if they’re 17 by then?

Sorry not very knowledgable so forgive my ignorance.

DD doesn’t like the idea as she’ll be behind her friends but I’m thinking she’d be on much better footing next year and have better grades therefore a better sixth form start.

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SavoyCabbage · 03/04/2020 15:43

Usually they take their resits along side their A’levels. They don’t miss a year of school to do their resits.

sorrelli · 03/04/2020 15:46

What if they won’t be getting in to sixth form due to not reaching target grades

thanks for clearing that up, surely it’d be unlikely they could do a-levels and study for GCSE resits at the same time?

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sorrelli · 03/04/2020 15:46

@SavoyCabbage

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Soma · 03/04/2020 15:46

@sorrelli, some 6th forms give priority to applicants who are 16. Have a look at what your favoured 6th form says on their website. A DC I know was offered a place at several really good 6th forms when he was 16, but had to delay for a year and wasn't ever given a waiting list place when he reapplied the following year.

sorrelli · 03/04/2020 15:50

@soma

Thank you, can’t get these answers from teachers or sixth forms at the moment - understandably theyre too busy.

Can understand that so at the moment I’m just hopeful that they’ll be flexible this year with requirements as DD needed to improve 3 subjects at GCSE to get in which she was working hard towards but it’s unlikely now.

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PeacockPies · 03/04/2020 15:59

So it's this year you are talking about? Not next year? This year everything is different. If you are unhappy with,the grade you can do the exam 'as soon as possible' but at the moment nobody knows when that is.

In normal years, so next year, if you get below a 4 in maths or English then you resit them in the autumn. If your sixth form won't give you a place on the course you wanted to do, then you switch to another course or another sixth form with lower entry requirements.

If you fail geography or art etc. then you've failed.

sorrelli · 03/04/2020 16:04

@peacockpies

Yes I’m talking about this years cohort if they take up the offer of doing this years GCSE’s next summer instead.

Just heard id probably need to register dc as home schooled until examinations took place next year.

Only concern is that if we did this as another poster has mentioned, it might be harder to get a sixth form place.

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TeenPlusTwenties · 03/04/2020 16:12

3 subjects seems a lot to be thinking about 'retaking'.
Is this a 6th form with high entry requirements? Is there one with lesser requirements instead?
If she is going to miss the grade in 3 subjects, should she really be doing A levels at all?
Remember this isn't mock grades, this is where the teacher assess she would have got to by the time of the exams.

eg

If you are trying for a 6th form that needs all 7s and is expecting some 6s I'd just find a different 6th form.
If she needs 6s in 2 Sciences & Maths specifically and is awarded 5s I'd question the sense of doing the specific chosen A levels

PeacockPies · 03/04/2020 16:17

As you put 2021 in your title I thought that's when she must have been going to take her actual GCSEs.

I didn't know that there was an offer of them doing them next summer instead. It sounds like a difficult option. Can't she just study and study for those subjects now and take them as resits in the autumn or whenever they decide the appeals exams are going to be?

PeacockPies · 03/04/2020 16:18

As you put 2021 in your title I thought that's when she must have been going to take her actual GCSEs.

I didn't know that there was an offer of them doing them next summer instead. It sounds like a difficult option. Can't she just study and study for those subjects now and take them as resits in the autumn or whenever they decide the appeals exams are going to be?

aut0replenish · 03/04/2020 16:22

My dd will want to take 3 or 4. Has had a rotten couple of years so will have shitty data all over the place but would have done fine if not well in the exams. She is saying she wants to sit some as wants what she could have had. Very able but under no illusions doing them alongside Alevels will be tough. No other choice though. It’s such a nightmare.

sorrelli · 03/04/2020 16:23

@TeenPlusTwenties

There’s no sixth forms with lower entrance grades around so her only option would to do a BTEC in a subject she isn’t interested in.

Looks like retaking in the autumn is her only chance.

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sorrelli · 03/04/2020 16:25

@aut0replenish

Really understand where you’re coming from. My DD has been going through depression, anxiety and other issues but had really pulled herself together lately.

Now her place at sixth form which she was working hard towards looks unlikely. They sent an email saying they won’t be flexible and will be sticking to entrance requirements.

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TeenPlusTwenties · 03/04/2020 16:26

aut If your DD gets enough to do her chosen A levels she would imo be better off then focussing on good A level results rather than spread herself thin chasing GCSE grades.
The only people that will care much about GCSE grades once she is doing A levels is uni, and they will see they are 'resits' anyway. It only makes sense to 'resit' if they can be done early Sept.

sorrelli · 03/04/2020 16:26

@PeacockPies sorry I wasn’t clear, yes they’ll have options to retake in autumn or next summer

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sorrelli · 03/04/2020 16:29

@TeenPlusTwenties

Really agree with you and if for a minute I thought she’d get the grades to do her chosen a level I wouldn’t even consider resits. It’s a pain in the arse. But as she got a 3/4 in three of her subjects it looks unlikely that she’ll get the grades she was planning on getting in her exam.

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aut0replenish · 03/04/2020 16:30

Yes which is why it would be good to know ASAP. If it’s November then yes maybe not but would be really annoying if she’d worked all summer for them instead of A level prep thinking Sep.

Op god I hope our 6 th form will have more empathy. My dd similar situation. They won’t be alone going by mental health levels.

Hairydogmummy · 03/04/2020 16:32

I'm a teacher and parent of year 11. The option of sitting the exam will be in the autumn of this year. Your daughter will get teacher allocated grades in the summer and having studied how this will be done am satisfied it's fair, this will be what determines her grade. She will get in to sixth form based on these but if she doesn't like them, she can sit the exams this autumn. It's highly unlikely a sixth form would turn her down based on allocated grades and then for her to do her exams and get grades so much higher she would have got in. If that were to happen and as I say it's highly unlikely she apply to join the following year and would be a year older but that's highly highly unlikely.

aut0replenish · 03/04/2020 16:36

It’s not highly unlikely at all. You could easily be 1 grade off a specific gcse for a specific course or the whole number of GCSEs needed for the A level course.

aut0replenish · 03/04/2020 16:37

And how can you say it’s fair. Teachers and assessments differ, it’s not very scientific at all.

Hairydogmummy · 03/04/2020 16:41

Honestly don't worry about sixth forms saying they will be strict...this will be because the grades are likely to be a little higher than normal and if they then went on to take students lower than their usual grades, they're going to end up with students who won't be able to do the A levels. If students are destined for A level, their teachers will already know this and will want to give them the best grade they can justify. Where 6 forms are attached to schools, they want as many year 11 to stay on as possible, they're not going to turn people down unless they really have to. It's such an anxious time I know. We aren't allowed from now on to give parents or students an idea of their grade.

sorrelli · 03/04/2020 16:41

@Hairydogmummy

Thanks for your input. Just had an email from her sixth form saying that the exam will be as if she sat it and that the entry requirements are the same - no flexibility.

So we are very worried as she didn’t get a chance to show what she could do and were expecting some flexibility from her sixth form.

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sorrelli · 03/04/2020 16:45

@Hairydogmummy

My DD is from a competitive school and was yesterday left in tears by a teachers talk saying that their entry requirements had gone up because they’re oversubscribed this year and that lots would just have to go to college.

A lot of students do better from mocks to GCSE and surprise their teachers because now they’re motivated. It’s a shame!

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Hairydogmummy · 03/04/2020 16:56

Honestly...try not to worry...we know our students...my son is at a grammar too. I know it's hard if you've not been through the system lots of times but we almost always get it right. It's unlikely that if your child wants to go to the school's sixth form and thinks they're suitable for the course, that they will give them a grade that puts the blockers on that. It's as fair as it can be @aut0replenish there's no way I will allow any of my students of the kids you're describing to be disappointed or disadvantaged. The only ones who won't do well enough to go on to what they want to do are the ones who have continually let themselves down.

sorrelli · 03/04/2020 16:59

@Hairydogmummy

Thank you, we do however think that our dc have let themselves down due to factors such as depression which school don’t know about.

But thank you for the reassurance, I hope all the teachers are like you.

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