Is your school running GCSE revision sessions this holiday?

I think that's fair martorana

TBH, I think your average kid woulld be better off revising in peace at home. You could get more done in the quiet of home in an hour, and three hours with all your mates .

But as you say, some DC won't have a decent place to do it, nor any idea how to tackle it.

Ds's school runs revision sessions. Because we are slowly dragging our results up, and the the vast majority of our kids come from backgrounds where revision, homework, exams and in some cases, school at all are alien concepts. They make an enormous difference- and teachers are enthusiastic about running them.

I would be a bit hmm at a school with a different catchment needing to run them.........

That said, I do think much of GCSE sucess is down to technique and if teachers don't think they've covered enough of this is class, then revision sessions concentrating on technique are a good idea, no?

Interesting to read all these comments. Take a look also at the thread asking is it worth it to spend £800 on 2 holiday revision courses to get an A*
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/2042086-Is-it-worth-800-to-turn-an-expected-A-grade-into-a-A-at-Gcse

The teacher offering this clearly feels that it is not spoon feeding or discouraging independent study

I am full of admiration for the teachers who work so hard to help students improve their grades - especially those who want input or do not have a separate area away from family to sit and revise undisturbed. My DD's school is running some although she is not in Y11 yet.

My DC's schools don't offer general sessions in the Easter holidays. And both still offer study leave next term.

They are independent schools (one selective, one mixed ability) and get fabulous results.

Though my DC are not in year 11, I know from those that are that the homework is pretty intensive during this holiday. One girl told me she had 20 past papers to do .

I think there are revision sessions next term (before and during study leave).

Yes, how can we teach resilience if we aren't allowed to let them fail?

It is noticeable that if a kid is not on course to get a C/meet their target, their teacher has to fill out endless requests for information on what the teacher is doing to get that kid to get the grade. Intervention lessons, after school sessions, mentors, lunchtime catch-up.

I don't think anyone actually asks the kid. It's all about how hard the teacher is working.

DD3 just put me right - she's going in for GCSE drama rehearsal tomorrow, no other revision sessions. DD2 is doing A2, so has a few more, but there's plenty going on at home too if the number of past papers, mind maps, revision guides and workbooks are anything to go by! I'll be so glad when it's the end of June again.

Oops - hit send! Still seething. There is a lot going on at my school but it is voluntary and certainly not expected. I'm only doing it because the practical exams for my subject are shortly after we go back and in an hour's lesson, I don't get time to spend with each group helping and/or watching their rehearsals. I agree with posters who say that it doesn't help to spoon feed, but unfortunately, it's become the norm. To the PP who said that she wasn't spoofed - neither was I, and I did very well at GCSE. We had study leave and were left to our own devices. However, that was (in my case anyway) before league tables. As long as schools are judged in the way they are currently, then no school is simply going to leave the kids to it and say "ah well, should have worked harder!" on results day. If the students in my class don't all make their 4 levels of progress (based on KS2 levels in subjects other than the one I teach) then I will have to explain exactly why. The pressure has moved off children and onto teachers and this is unacceptable. The consequence is stressed, burned out teachers who pass that stress onto children. The A/A* kids in my tutor group have already said that it's getting too much - they recognise that their teachers are stressed and were basically saying "stop taking it out on us!" Over the 17 years I've been teaching, I've seen the amount of responsibility a child is supposed to take for their own results get less and less, to the point that we now are supposed to teach "resilience" as if it's a new-tangled idea. It makes me

I'm pretty sure that DD's school will be doing so. I know they are currently doing after school sessions. Their GCSE results shot up from 62% to 80% last year, they went up an ofsted rating from satisfactory to good in the autumn and they are now aiming for outstanding. Their league table standing jumped up to 4th in the county as well, so obviously they want to continue on the upward trend.

It was me who went in yesterday only for the students not to turn up (still seeth

Ours is a "good" school,gets excellent results,revision sessions happen after school, at lunch, in pe and art ( which has finished), no revision sessions this Easter, kids have comprehensive revision packs, revision timetables etc. teachers are on their knees, kids feeling it too, so pleased that that extra pressure isn't there.

How do you do a controlled assessment in one day, FallenMadonna? I seem to remember DS angsting for weeks over his!

I am very impressed by the dedication of the staff at your school Talkin but unfortunately this does take the onus away from the students and then becomes expected. This is why students expect to be spoonfed in higher education. I would run these revision classes for borderline C/D students and those who have study issues but not for those aiming for A/A* as it will do them a disservice in the long run. I also agree that it is a long haul until the exams and surely both teachers and pupils need a break.

Our school is running revision sessions (they have for at least the last three years), but I'm not sure they're compulsory for the teachers - they certainly aren't for the girls. Dd3 will be there tomorrow morning, DD2 in the afternoon.
We live 25 miles from school, so it'll mean a whole day out for me, but I figure that if the teachers are giving up their time for my kids then the least I can do is make sure DDs turn up! They've always found them really useful anyway, so are happy to go in.

I feel very negative about the fact that in future years I'm likely to have to run these sessions during my break in order to be in with a chance of a pay rise.
I really hope the kids in my classes do well, but in all honestly they won't as they have failed to take any part of their GCSEs seriously so far and as such I will have to a explain why results are poor

They not on for easter. Been given booklets to do. They need to have somtime to chill as well. He doing d of e training this week end. So he wull be able to focus on something else
His sisters have been through it already
Just need to make sure you allow them free time not just revise revise. Child can only do there best.

Son had hour sessions after school term time. Some extra long session three hours break with food included. (Not every week) during this they have a change of teacher to mix it up a bit

Schools like mine, with an intake significantly below average, and with subjects still judged in RAISEonline on A-C passes, are understandably reluctant to leave students to their independent study*

That makes sense, for a school such as yours and I'm sure your efforts are important and worthwhile.

Generally speaking though, it smacks of presenteeism and PR. I think the OP's analysis is pretty shrewd.

I will be doing a controlled assessment one day in the holiday, for students who have not yet achieved a high mark in the previous two attempts, or who were absent for part of the previous attempts (quite a lot...)

I will be doing a revision conference for invited students during next half term, because working with small groups is more effective in addressing specific issues.

I sincerely hope these students will do better with my intervention than without. Schools like mine, with an intake significantly below average, and with subjects still judged in RAISEonline on A*-C passes, are understandably reluctant to leave students to their independent study, and need "overinflated" grades in order to avoid the blue...

It is not Easter holidays yet here, but as far as I know there are no sessions scheduled in the holidays. Lots of after school drop-in sessions have been running, which should be more than enough.

I don't think teachers should be teaching during holidays unless we start to pay them for it.

I really hate the way that people are increasingly expected to work for free in areas that should be paid for. Unpaid overtime and the 'necessity' of internships to get jobs undermines everybody's right to a decent wage.

Not sure about this.
I have grumbled on here that DS has had after school sessions 3 to 4 days a week since September. So his teachers (bog standard comp) can hardly be accused of slacking or not putting in the effort.
Nothing during these holidays though, everyone needs a break.
I do think it's worth considering that learning to self study is hugely important preparation for A levels.

Doesn't bode well for future employment and/or university studies.

Quite.

Sorry you are being made to play along with an emptyish exercise Kitty. We have to stop treating our excellent teachers like this.

DD's school, not a sink school, doesn't offer any classes during the holidays, which I completely agree with. I don't think compulsory classes are helpful to a lot of the students, although if the teachers are good enough to offer their free time to do these classes, I would support a drop in session where kids that wanted to could attend if they had a particular problem they wanted to sort.

DD's school do lunchtime revision sessions, which are advertised as open to all, but if the top sets turn up, they are apparently encouraged to leave!