To want 9s not 7s for my child in their GCSEs?

Please do not use lazy and dyslexic in the same sentence. Dyslexic children are not lazy the have a specific learning difficulty.

@ZeldaFighter DC is also the middle child and gets ignored because of the needs of his siblings.

This is so sad. Do you and your DH genuinely have no time at all for him?

Please don’t ignore him. As hard as it may be with other children with additional needs, please don’t ignore him. The term ‘glass child’ is a real thing.

My dd2 got mainly 7s a couple of 8s at GCSE. She is currently smashing her A levels and on course for A* across the board. Which I don’t think she would be if I had destroyed her confidence pushing her too hard at GCSE. Encourage your child and support them but at the end of the day GCSEs aren’t all that.

What are your child’s target grades? If they’re on their target now, lay off. If they have the potential to improve, support and encourage them to do so. Your own achievements are irrelevant here.

I want my kids to be happy and not stressed and overwhelmed. Whatever their results I will be proud.

You say your child is a model student and completing all her homework. That means she is striving for better grades! Getting grade 7s is great. Most good sixth forms require grade 7s for A level so she meets the threshold. Consider her mental health too, please. A happy child will be a productive child. Don't grind her down expecting more when she is already working hard. You'll only drive a wedge between you and her.

Bloody hell OP, you're beyond unreasonable.

Please lay off your child. It's GCSE. Give them some space to grow.
Don't let your issues spoil their time.

Do you want them to get them for you or for them? Are they reaching their actual potential or is this just arbitrary on your part?

Too much pressure. I was a model student at that age with asian parents who put all the pressure on me to get all A's.. they tried to hide their disappointment on my GCSE results day but it was obvious. Same throughout college and university... It puts an insane amount of stress on a child. Especially on a gifted one!

I expect my hardworking 14 Yr old to get 7s on her stronger subjects (she's predicted 8s as her highest scores although she's not in year 11 of course.. I still wouldn't put so much pressure on her) and a pass at the very least on her weakest subjects, but expecting all 9s and being disappointed in 7s would make a child feel awful..

Only read OP's post (always makes me wonder).

I'd love my DS to get all 9s.
After the summer fails and a slight improvement in the Jan mocks, he's on target to pass them all, with some 6s and maybe the odd 7.
He has matured a great deal over the last few months. He's seen that even a little work gets good results (he's a bright enough lad). If he was a model student, worked diligently and always completed his h/w he would meet his potential. I provide an environment for him to do so. The motivation needs to come from him, with support from me.
It's not a great school. They don't actually have a teacher for business studies. Stats was a horror show, but they've got an excellent teacher now (a bit late, but she's amazing). He'll be fine. I'm proud of him and keeping it in perspective. There are lots of children in his school who won't get English and Maths.

DD got one 8, the rest 9's and this was common amongst her friend group. I suspect that you and I are basing this on our own experience of it "not being that rare" because we know several who did it, and our kids have the advantage of being top flight academically coupled with being a school that helped them achieve that. A top flight student at a crap school is unlikely to do it, same as a not so bright student at a good school. I was a good student at a good school but my mothers attempt at "support" was to make it very very clear that failure was not an option and name calling, shouting abuse etc if I didnt do what she thought I should be doing. So I barely scraped passes.

I think it is a lot of ability but a fair bit of luck too in terms of teaching, family support etc. I didnt realise how rare it is to be honest.

Breakdown of all 9s.

It's is incredibly rare to get all 9s ... only 1200 16 year old students got all 9s out of over 670,000 students. That's like 0.2% ...

https://www.ocr.org.uk/about/policy-and-public-affairs/articles/results-trends-2024-gcses/#:~:text=More%20than%205.6%20million%20GCSE,students%20in%20England%20this%20summer.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/infographic-gcse-results-2024/infographics-for-gcse-results-2024-accessible

Children who get 9s across the board are Oxbridge material usually.

7 is an A but yes some children do get 9’s…
my dd got them across the board and some of her friends did too in state school so it’s not that rare

Really, 5% a lot?

.

Exactly. WTF do parents expect their child to achieve things that they couldn’t? So unreasonable.

A 9 is an A**, so better than what you got. It’s not about just turning up and doing the homework. There is an element of natural flair that gets them a 9. Your daughter might have that, but 6s and 7s are good.

I think if you strived for As and came away with As Bs and Cs, it's a bit much to then expect your child to get all 9s. He inherited his intelligence from his parents. So absolutely fine to strive for 9s but don't be disappointed if he doesn't get them.

This is what I have always assumed from when the numbered grades were introduced with 1 as the lowest, but do you know it for a fact? I'd be interested to see it stated that this was always the intention.

GCSEs are much harder since the introduction of 9-1. YABU.

Of course it's correct to say that the vast majority of candidates don't achieve a 9. It may be "alot" of children altogether, but it's a very small proportion; there will be many pupils who will never reach that level no matter how hard they work.

This generation has so much pressure on them. My poor teenager is in burnout because of it. Just encourage and support your child. GCSEs are not the be all and end all! To get 9s is tough! My eldest got mostly 7s & 8s with a couple of 6s and we were proud as punch! As long as they’re happy and healthy, and able to do their best - who cares!