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Further education

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Original poster

Corona Cohort: Statements Scripted, Grades Predicted

997 replies

Monkey2001 · 20/09/2021 23:04

This is a thread for supporting all young people post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting. It is respectfully requested that all are supportive and helpful to each other. If you want to start a debate, e.g state vs private, please don't within this thread. Please also be sensitive when responding to threads about grades.

Some of us have been here since first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. Everyone is welcome. It is hoped this will continue.

From OrangeCinnamonCocktail:

Our DS/DD may go down various paths (such as employment, apprenticeships, higher ed) We have decided for anyone interested they will most likely find us within the Further Ed board.

Previous thread - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/further_education/4339233-Thread-19-Corona-Cohort-Enrolling-on-Year-13-hopefully-NOT-unlucky-for-some?pg=1

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Original poster
Monkey2001 · 30/09/2021 10:01

areas not address

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Original poster
Monkey2001 · 30/09/2021 10:01

@Shimy if TES have interpreted it correctly, there will be pretty much full exams with notification of which subject address will come up in Feb. The "no exam" option is very much a contingency plan. If there are no exams it looks like it will be the same as 2021.

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Shimy · 30/09/2021 09:50

But how will this happen unless they go back to normal full exams?

Original poster
Monkey2001 · 30/09/2021 09:26

[quote Shimy]@Fferny1 Sorry to hear about your DS, I can’t even begin to imagine how traumatising that must be for you all thinking how close. Thank God and hope he gets the right help.

Just saw the new headline, ‘Exam grades to return to pre pandemic levels’. Can anyone pls explain to me like a 5yr old exactly what this means?[/quote]
According to TES the 2022 grades will be between 2019 and 2020 levels, and 2023 will be back to 2019 levels.

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stoneysongs · 30/09/2021 09:14

Very sorry to hear of those going through such difficult times. @Fferny1 You must be so shaken. I hope your DS responds well to treatment and don't forget that you need to take care of yourself too Thanks

Shimy · 30/09/2021 09:00

@Fferny1 Sorry to hear about your DS, I can’t even begin to imagine how traumatising that must be for you all thinking how close. Thank God and hope he gets the right help.

Just saw the new headline, ‘Exam grades to return to pre pandemic levels’. Can anyone pls explain to me like a 5yr old exactly what this means?

OrangeCinnamonCocktail · 30/09/2021 08:57

Birmingham we're giving CCC offers if firmed I think? Not quite unconditional, a lower offer if firmed will certainly help with all the uncertainty. I think RHU had a similar policy a 'promise to accept' if a number of grades were dropped.

Original poster
Monkey2001 · 30/09/2021 08:42

@Fferny1 so sorry to hear about your poor DS. What have we done to our young people? So many with fragile mental health which distorts their problems. Well done to the friend, good friends are everything when they feel like that.

OFQIAL - in the TES analysis there were a couple of things which made me wonder who makes these decisions:

  • Grade profile for autumn 2021 same as summer 2021 is utterly ridiculous! It is a completely different type of cohort, most of the people who got A/A will not be re-sitting, so to decide without reference to the actual content of exam scripts that 50% will get A/A and dinner will get grades well below TAGs is bizarre.
-. Saying UCAS predictions should be based on 2019 attainment rather than 2021 is obvious. That guidance is a bit late anyway as I expect all schools have done their early entry predictions, if not all predictions. It would be unfair to change their predicting approach for later entries.

I wonder how they will respond when this policy returns the widest attainment gap ever - state schools in areas where students have not got good access to technology v some independent schools who have managed really well. We are somewhere in the middle, so DS should be OK.

There was never going to be a good solution, but this one is not impressive. It will be interesting to see how the universities respond, maybe we will see an increase in unconditional offers as there remains uncertainty on exams and uncertainty is bad for everyone.

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OrangeCinnamonCocktail · 30/09/2021 08:36

Thanks so much all. I'm quite stoic at the moment as DM has suffered a lot throughout her life. I'm so sorry to hear you are going through the mill @Monkey2001 it does seem to happen in waves Sad

@Fferny1 so sorry to hear about DS1 and I really hope you can get the help he needs, it sounds like a shock, thank goodness for his friend.

I've told Dd about her Nan, previously we thought the heart attack had happened some time ago, until yesterday. I've left it up to her to decide if she wants to visit, Mum was always very much 'I want the kids to have a nice last memory of me' but if Dd wants to go and see her she can. I don't know if it was the right thing to say.

Delphigirl · 30/09/2021 08:32

And @Monkey2001 too. It seems that all those articles I’ve read over the years about 45-55yo having the greatest stresses - teen children & aging parents & menopause & health issues in themselves, friends and family & work responsibilities from senior roles … is all true. I am struggling with most of these too. It is tough Flowers

Heifer · 30/09/2021 08:29

So sorry this is happening to you all, especially @Fferny1, @OrangeCinnamonCocktail & @Monkey2001.

Fferny - it must be so hard on you all, thank goodness for wonderful friends, please keep posting, I know a lot of this must sound so trivial for you at the moment, but you need your own head space at times too - you can post anything you want to say.

Orange - Dementia is a horrible enough disease without Covid and other health issues. I hope you manage to have some lucid moments together.

Monkey - that is a lot to cope with. We have 2 friends that have passed away recently and I know it's taken it's toll on other friends who were very close to both. It's not just the immediate family it affects, it's other around them too.

Hugs to you all - and anyone else that needs one :-)

Delphigirl · 30/09/2021 08:27

@Fferny1 I have just read your update - I am so sorry to hear what you are going through Flowers

EwwSprouts · 30/09/2021 08:21

@Fferny1 so pleased your DS gave some signal his friend could respond to. Perspective indeed.

@Monkey2001 What a rough few months. Flowers

ProggyMat · 30/09/2021 08:17

Try to have time to take care of yourselves, too @Fferny1 @OrangeCinnamonCocktail @Monkey2001 Flowers

Isthisjustnormal · 30/09/2021 08:05

Oh @Fferny1, so sorry to read your update. What amazing mates your Ds has and hope things get smoother for him over the Nezt few weeks.

BlueMarigold · 30/09/2021 08:01

Sorry to see so many of you are going through such a rough time. Sending love, especially to @Fferny1, @OrangeCinnamonCocktail and @Monkey2001 Flowers

20newnames · 30/09/2021 07:49

@Fferny1 I am so sorry to hear what you are all going through. Thinking of you Flowers

@OrangeCinnamonCocktail Thinking of you too, I hope your mum improves. Flowers

And @Monkey2001Flowers

Thank you for info on arrangements for next year @Delphigirl and @Piggywaspushed. Have just had a quick look but seen they are bringing back grades over two years. I suppose they have to get back there but harsh on our lot as they will be directly compared to the previous year.

Piggywaspushed · 30/09/2021 06:46

Raw summary here

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-58734418

From teacher pov ,I am really frustrated by much of this.

Horace123 · 30/09/2021 06:40

I just popped on here very quickly to post something - I haven't had time to read everything but am so sorry some of you are having such a hard time. Thinking of you and wishing you and your families well.

The reason for posting is that Ofqal and DoE published their updates this morning (at 1am! Why? I forgot to turn my phone off so got woken by the alerts.) I think the news has picked up some of it but in case they have it wrong I thought I'd post the links. Except obviously now I can't get the links to copy. I will try and post them when I get to work but in the meantime if anyone can't wait they can google it or look on gov.uk.

The 4 publications are - (1) "Ofqual's approach to grading exams and assessments in summer 2022 and autumn 2021"; (2) "Awarding qualifications in summer 2022"; (3) Proposed changes to the assessments of GCSEs, AS and A levels in 2022"; (4) "Contingency arrangements: GCSE, AS, A level, Project and AEA".

Sorry my link posting is so rubbish - in my defence I'm on a train and will be in meetings all morning but will try later. Looks like our cohort will be a "halfway point" in terms of getting back to normal after grade inflation and they've gone through with the proposed changes to the exams.

Nard75 · 30/09/2021 05:53

Utterly devastating news from some of you regarding illness and mental health issues. Sending you all virtual hugs and best wishes at this difficult time 🙏🏽

Oblomov21 · 30/09/2021 05:32

I'm so very sorry to Fferny re ds. What a tough situation for you. Which is also not just a one off incident but a long road of worry. Wishing you all the best. Thanks

And to Orange and Monkey too. Sorry to hear about your situations.

Volterra · 30/09/2021 05:09

Oh Ffemy I am so sorry, what a terrible shock for you all 💐Thank goodness his friend took him seriously and spoke up. That’s good he is responding to his medication. Please take really good care of yourself, you must be in shock right now and go onto autopilot.

Orange I am really sorry, I have been where you are 💐

Monkey that is awful, what a difficult time for you all💐 it definitely does put everything into perspective indeed.

Fferny1 · 29/09/2021 23:31

Gosh @ monkey that sounds like very difficult times for your friends & family - such tragic stories.

@Cinnamon I'm so sorry to hear about your mother becoming so ill. I hope you can spend as much time as possible together with her in the near future.

I haven't been posting as well because we've had a shockingly unexpected event here. My youngest became suicidal while I was on holiday with my daughters and he was left with DH. He planned to kill himself a couple of weeks ago. It was aborted by one of his friends calling the police who knocked on the door & told DH. Who then found he'd set up a plan in his bathroom. It's been a very difficult time to say the least. So UCAS application has been the last thing on my mind.
Hopefully things are picking up a bit & my youngest is starting to respond to his medication. But one day he's fine & the next he isn't. He's not attending school & has been signed off for a few weeks. So I have no school run as the others are all boarding now.

Original poster
Monkey2001 · 29/09/2021 22:31

Orange sorry to hear your sad news. Hope you are managing some good quality moments in the midst of the stress.

I have more than my fair share of funerals and memorials at the moment. Put together it sounds like "A series of Unfortunate Events"

Really sad memorial service today - a friend who died from complication in a brain operation in August which she needed for the metastatised breast cancer she has been fighting for 3 years. She was a single mum and leaves a 17 year old daughter, all the relatives live in Romania and it is unbearably sad. To be left to make your own way at 17, when our DCs need so much support is tragic. I was asked to speak at the funeral and it was hard!

2 weeks till my uncle's funeral. My aunt died of lung cancer in March, 6 weeks after it was diagnosed. She had appeared to be in good health at Christmas. My uncle was devoted to her, and when he got Covid a month ago basically decided not to fight it. He was 82 but had a good quality of life, singing in a choir, going on holidays. My cousins had 2 apparently healthy parents last Christmas and have now lost them both.

Final one, DH's boss's wife committed suicide in September, caused by some drugs for her ME changing her personality. She hung herself and her husband found her. Utterly devastated. That's another memorial just after my uncle's.

That is my cheery Autumn, puts all the UCAS stuff into perspective for us.

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