Year 11 GCSE Exam Support Thread

I did Under Milk Wood and Chaucer but can't remember any of it. Also remember doing Milton's Paradise Lost which was horrific.

My DD doesn't try that line with me re Eng lit because she knows that one of my texts was Chaucer's Nun's Priest's tale. Even the M&M and Inspector calls have to be better than that! Frankly, that was a total waste of time, it really wasn't English and I can't really remember anything about it - I was jealous of the other set who got a proper book (Tess). Fortunately the other was Under Milk Wood, for which I have some affection and can still remember chunks verbatim! DD thinks that of all the subjects Eng Lit is the most pointles - I have a feeling that it tends to kill love of literature in a lot of pupils.

She actually revised something other than physics today - only because she's waiting for DH to return from waterstones with a physics revision guide.

This afternoons conversation was; "You try it, Mum, you read the books and and take the English Lit exam, and then you'll see how hard it is."

Funnily, enough DS1, I have, I did, and I got quite a good grade.

I bought dd of Mice and Men on DVD and she fell asleep half way through. I have to admit, can't say I really blame her.

Well, DS is in school for the third time this half term.

I've have suggested he reads the copy of "The Inspector Calls" that I bought him, but he declined, saying "We read it at school and it's really boring. All the books we read at school are boring."

I've just noticed the local college are asking for a B in maths and a B in Chemistry if you want to do Chemistry.

Can I ask if your DC aren't planning on doing A'levels next year, what they do want to do, and what grades they need?

The school that DD has applied to for 6th form is a five minute walk away. She currently gets the train, followed by a 20 minute walk. The train costs about £70 per half term but will go up when she turns 16. The new school will cost us a fortune in food costs as students have breakfasts and lunch at school with their tutors. DD can't resist a nice croissant she takes after me

Oops! The teacher I was referring to teaches Bus. Studies; his degree is something like Bus & Finance or Bus. & Management.

I totally agree with mathematicians making the worst teachers, I'm married to a mathematician and he's never been able to teach me!!

Lynette's beating me on quantity, DD's bus fare was £905 this year. Wonder if the fall in fuel prices will peg it there.

OT, but wondering what the heck a 'Business Studies' degree consists of if you can do it with 'shaky' maths.

I'm not sure that a teacher (if they're a good teacher) necessarily needs a degree in a subject in order to effectively teach KS3/4 (really good mathematicians can make the worst maths teachers!) but they surely need time to get to grips with the course content, not just be thrown in ad hoc.

We would have to pay for the bus fare but we will get a bursary for DD which covers bus fare and £2.20 a day towards lunch plus money to cover essential school trips and text books.

Yes we are lucky to have zip cards, the college is a 5 minute walk, but selective academy will be two buses. ( another plus to college)

We are in London so DC have zip cards for free bus travel though I think they have to get a new one at 16.

Going back to the bus pass, yes we will have to pay next year £200 per term. (When DD goes into Y7 I will Bs paying 3 lots if travel, so £1800pa)

It still works out cheaper than public transport though.

Horsemad I agree! When I was at school I don't remember having supply teachers. My DC are at a local indie and they don't have supply teachers - the regular specialist teachers have enough free periods that they can , if necessary, cover other teachers for the dept.
But now that state teachers have to wear so many hats - form tutor, subject leader etc, they have meetings, trips, illnesses, jury service, even holidays (yes, really! a school I was in last week, before half-term had two teachers on holiday) and there is a need for their lessons to be covered, and not enough free periods available from their own dept. And when they get in supply teachers (like me) they don't have the luxury of always getting an expert. I have A level maths and often am brought in to teach maths, but also cover physics, geography... whatever is needed.

DontGo, this is what I don't understand. Surely years ago teachers did a degree in their subject i.e. Geog and then became a teacher in that subject?
How can teachers teach/deliver lessons in a subject their degree isn't in?

I was chatting to an acquaintance about this last week. He is NQT, his degree is Bus. Studies. He has a job in a local grammar school and had been asked to cover Maths (he has Maths GCSE Grade C). He has actually resigned, because his Maths is shaky and he felt uncomfortable teaching Yr7&8 - said he knew he wouldn't be doing a good enough job and felt out of his depth. I don't think someone with Grade C Maths should be teaching Maths!
I just find it weird that teachers are teaching lessons they have no advanced knowledge of!

Re teachers. Yes, science is scarce. I am a supply teacher, speciality English, but have been teaching Physics for 2 weeks in an outstanding comp (SW London) because they desperately need cover for Y11 (and Y10.) Normally they would re-deploy science teachers from other year groups to Y11, but they tend to mostly be biology specialists, so not better than me

Sounds like here then, where in catchment don't pay and out of catchment do - and then everyone pays in 6th form.
It's a bit cheeky of the govt to make it law that the DC stay in education until 18 but then charge the parents to get them to the educational establishment. The nearest 6th form provision is 7 miles away at our grammar school.

That's what I gathered Errol all the catchment parents were having a moan about starting to pay for 6th form, and I was all 'we've been paying for years'.

We have to pay for DD's bus pass - we're out of catchment though, don't know if the ones from within it have to pay or not. My understanding is that there is no catchment for 6th form - maybe it's the same with yours and that means no free passes for anyone?

DS1 travels an hour each way on the designated school bus. It's not the catchment and costs us £547.50 a year.

AFAIK for 6th form everyone pays whether it's catchment or not though.

Do any of your DC have to travel to school by bus?

Mine do, but because it's our catchment grammar, they receive a bus pass. Yet when DS1 went into 6th form at the same school, we had to pay for his bus pass!!

As DS2 is the first year that have to stay in education until 18, it will be interesting to see whether we will have to pay for his bus pass.

Dd only needs C s for her 6th form, and already has A, A and A half banked, so something will have to go very wrong not to get in.
On the other hand to get into the selective 6th form, I think she will need mainly A*. How much she really want it is the big question.
So far she hasn't done as much revision as I expected, and has another set of mocks after half term, so we shall see.
I've already told her if she gets the same grades in summer as her mocks I will still be very proud of her, as I don't want to pile the pressure on iyswim.

DD has predicted grades and target grades. Both seem to be anxiety inducing for her
She has to send off the grades from the latest mocks (when she gets them) to the sixth forms she had applied to. As she came back saying she had flopped every single one, I am

Errol I expect they would, though I don't know how they choose who to offer places to - I was already pretty sure that they had decided to offer DD a place before her interview since the week before she was given a letter to apply for the 6th form Germany trip.

I know my friend's DD got a couple of As and the rest Bs and got into 6th form but other than that I don't know. They don't do any vocational qualifications so it's A levels only.