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Original poster

First term of yr12 over - working at grades / workload /much holiday work?

208 replies

circular · 28/12/2013 19:49

Curious how its been for others with the 'big step up' from GCSE to to AS.

DD1 doesn't seem to have been getting much homework, possibly completing most of it in free periods. When I casually mention 'reading around a subject' she looks at me as though I'm from another planet, and says she is not interested in any of her subjects enough to do extra, apart from Music.

She would typically come home and say she got an D or U in (say) a Physics or French test, but then says half the class got a lower mark than her. This is at a school that gets around 60% A to B at A level., so selective 6th form. DD1 got 2A and 2A at GCSE in her AS subjects.

Had parents evening just after half term, and although then working well below ultimate targets, none of her teachers seemed unduly worried. No end of term report yet, but hearing subsequent test results, not expecting much change in grades.
DD1 Says she understands everything in lessons, teachers seem to agree, and think it is just more question practice that she needs. But unless work is actually set, she has no motivation to go and do any extra. She thinks past papers should be left till nearer exams, says text book is rubbish, and has found a few inaccuracies in study guides so pushed them aside too. Tried to get her to look at Khan academy site but not interested.

Does this seem normal, or should I be worried at this stage?
Anyone else seeing similar or are they all flying?

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mumslife · 11/01/2014 22:28

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Original poster
circular · 11/01/2014 22:00

Moominmammacat Still aiming to take it in spring, if not summer, which would be after AS as she does TG. Would prefer spring, but teachers want her to have a good chance of a distinction.

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Moominmammacat · 11/01/2014 21:48

Circular, what happened with your dd and Grade 8? Hope it is working out well for her.

Original poster
circular · 11/01/2014 21:40

According to the careers officers we saw, the 3 year teaching degree route s preferred for primary. The subject then one year is preferred for secondary.

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mumslife · 11/01/2014 19:15

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Original poster
circular · 11/01/2014 19:01

Exams do seem quite near. We've already been sent provisional timetable and its in school website. Looks like they go from 12/5 thru to 19/6 - and DD has papers on both the first and last day.

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Original poster
circular · 11/01/2014 18:49

Raidne I think DD has already done Physics ISA. Had. Mock one week then tmeak one the next, towards the nd of last term. Was on Electricity unit, not she thinks there will.be something in mechanics too. No feedback yet.

Annoying when teachers change mid course. Especially when for the worst

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Raidne · 11/01/2014 16:41

York is on ds's list too, circular ! Mind you the list is currently ridiculously long so we need to exclude quite a few. Smile

First week back was tough going - Physics is causing some problems as the department are struggling to cover all of the material in the time left. Ds is also not keen on the new Chemistry teacher.

We are waiting to hear about the date for the ISAs for Chemistry and Physics but school have said they can only be done in a fixed week so a bit different to GCSEs.

Ds is feeling a bit Shock at the fact that the exams are only 4 months away!

Original poster
circular · 11/01/2014 12:19

DD1 had quite a busy week, preparing for French spoken quite soon, and stressing about not having got far enough with her music composition. Physycs still giving her problems, definitely seems to be lack of question technique, as scores no better when able to use notes and text book. Unit 2 worse (doing both side by side).
Been told they will have a full maths mock when course finished, so hopefully after half term.
Told we will get a letter soon about everything happening for year 12s this term.

Still trying to work out what Unis are worth visiting. One if the ones we most wanted to see (York) has not announced open day yet.

Hellsbells99 that's great that the school takes them to the Manchester event.

mumslife will be interested to hear what the your DD's careers officers take in the best route for primary teaching is. DD has seen 2, both said fir sevpcindary, a subject degree followed by PGCE is better, same also OK for primary, but a BEd with subject specialism can be preferable.

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mumslife · 11/01/2014 09:37

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hellsbells99 · 11/01/2014 08:50

Sorry DD1 'had' not has a chemistry test!

hellsbells99 · 11/01/2014 08:48

Well first week back finished and both DDs are tired! DD2 had her English Language gcse results so 6th form another step closer. DD1 has a chemistry test on all unit 1 which was 'hard but ok'. She has smaller tests in biology & maths next week. She is worried that they are nowhere near finishing unit 1 in biology. She has brought home a letter saying school are taking them to a Ucas event st Manchester Uni so she is looking forward to that and going to look on the website to see which unis will be there and whats talks are planned. Seems like we should be planning uni visits soon. We will have a look at booking the UEA open day mentioned above thanks.

Original poster
circular · 10/01/2014 19:22

mumslife The Sutton Trust courses at Cambridge are later.

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Original poster
circular · 10/01/2014 19:16

That's just it , the number of A per student figures are not published, so wonder how their assessors get that info. Only thing DD1 may have in her favour (apart from parents not going to HE) is she had the only A in her subject at GCSE school.

Just had a quick try on the schools list for various grammar schools by name and they are all there. So none excluded from applying, maybe not enough from the lesser schools do apply?

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mumslife · 10/01/2014 19:00

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webwiz · 10/01/2014 18:56

The school is above average for A to C but I've no idea for A, they usually send one or two to Oxbridge. I can't tell if DS has any chance at all!

Original poster
circular · 10/01/2014 18:49

webwiz out of interest, what sort of level is the school, with regards to Oxbridge entries, and A* at GCSE?

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webwiz · 10/01/2014 18:06

I've just had an email from school about uniq summer schools but it says they will be giving out more information next week. I've had a poke around the website and can't understand the selection criteria either. It asks about parental education in the further details section (and about income and occupation) but it says its for monitoring not for selection.

Original poster
circular · 10/01/2014 16:23

Seems like site works better from tablet than keyboard/mouse.
On the Polar thing, we came out as the highest. There was a postcode data link to Acorn too, which was a bit silly to sign up to. Even if requesting personal use it is asking company name.

Apart from where we live, DD would meet quite a few of the criteria. Her GCSE school has higher than average 5A to C, but not masses of A, but her 6th form do get the odd one or two into Oxbridge.

Looked briefly at the application questions. Couldn't see what is asked about the parents education.

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Raidne · 10/01/2014 13:43

Hi circular, I know that the link called "Polar" shows HE trends in an area which I assumed was what they really meant by postcode data. My area is level 4, the highest score being level 5.

I got the impression that it is for children from families with no history of HE and areas with low numbers going on to university (in addition to being high achievers from schools with little/no history of pupils going to Oxford). Quite a few criteria then!!!!

Original poster
circular · 10/01/2014 08:13

The Uniq entry requirements seemed a bit vague. The link to the schools data didnt show no of A* for school, so no real way of knowing how yours fared in comparison. Their postcode link never told me much either.

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Raidne · 09/01/2014 23:01

Ds mentioned the Uniq courses but the entry requirements re background etc seem very strict (although he'd be fine on the GCSE requirement).

Original poster
circular · 09/01/2014 21:53

The never seems to be any Music taster days at Unis, always on the lookout.

Sutton Trust and Uniq summer school applications now open too. Thought DD would apply but she thinks not now as dates not great for Music.

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Original poster
circular · 09/01/2014 21:50

I knew someone that did Media at Brighton, must have graduated two or three years ago now. She really enjoyed the course and the location.

On a separate note, may be worth starting another thread for yr12 Uni specifics on Higher Ed for more response on individual Unis / courses.

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Raidne · 09/01/2014 21:44

Ah yes, mumslife, Sussex has lots of grounds but I thought all of the buildings were close together which is very handy. I know one student at Brighton doing some sort of media course, though, not history. He is really happy - he is not in the main campus which I think is the one opposite Sussex.

Thanks webwiz, I will get ds to look into the RSC if he hasn't done already. I think school did take them to some RSC thing last term (oh dear, I don't feel very up to speed on this stuff! Grin)