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Original poster

Anyone else’s dc beginning to really struggle with the demands of gcse prep?

36 replies

IllBeAtTheBarIfYouNeedMe · 29/03/2018 09:39

Just that really. It’s the home stretch and dd is so close to actually breaking from the demands on her. Last night she was wondering around the house dazed and teary eyed just waiting for her db’s just to breathe in her direction so she can jump down their throats. She’s exhausted.

Her school has had her at school from 7:30am until 5:10pm mon-fri and 9-3 on saturdays since September. They want her in over the easter holidays too according to the schedule I’ve received. She’s revising at home all evening and at weekends so it just seems to be completely non stop for her at the moment.

She’s predicted to do well and I really don’t want her to fail because she just overwhelmed by it all and/or burnt out.

I’ve booked her a trip with a few of her friends to go and see another friend of theirs who lives by the coast for a few day this weekend so I’m hoping that it will give her a breather and she’ll come back more relaxed and ready for the last bit before GCSEs.

Or am I just being ridiculous? How is everyone else helping their teens?

OP posts:
LooseAtTheSeams · 29/03/2018 11:00

I have to say we have a lot less pressure - the school did nag them a lot for mocks and there have been a lot of after/school and Saturday morning revision sessions but very little compulsory stuff. We have voluntary revision classes in the second week of Easter over 4 days but some are aimed at specific groups.

Verbena37 · 29/03/2018 10:57

Her school has had her at school from 7:30am until 5:10pm mon-fri and 9-3 on saturdays since September.

Is this a private school?
Those hours are cruel! These are children. Why are you letting her get burnt out?

The normal school day has always been plenty of time for passing GCSEs and A Levels. As a parent, I’d be sending her at normal times, not Saturday mornings and not in the holidays...other than for perhaps one session of revision .

BlueBelle123 · 29/03/2018 10:53

Illbe if i was in your position and my DC was perfectly capable of revising on their own then I would be phoning the school on a regular basis saying she is off ill, her mental health is far more important than the schools stats!!! After all if she wants to do A levels then she needs to be self motivated all this pressure and spoon feeding from the school does no-one any good.

DS who is also in Y11 may not be at the perfect school but they are excellent at putting minimal pressure on the kids, extra sessions are on a voluntary basis only and certainly nothing going on over the Easter Holidays.

Original poster
IllBeAtTheBarIfYouNeedMe · 29/03/2018 10:38

*didnt turn up

OP posts:
Original poster
IllBeAtTheBarIfYouNeedMe · 29/03/2018 10:37

Inspired - they impress on the parents quite heavily that the dc should attend but they tell the dc that they will come to their homes and take them from their beds if necessary. I’ve dared them to try this one weekend when dd was suffering with a horrific bug but they did turn up so it’s obviously just a way they strong arm the kids to attend the extra day.

The school was taken over by a new academy last September and I think they’re over keen to make an immediate impact in the community. Given that gcse grades were already improving over the past 5 years will have no bearing im sure when these lot, hopefully, do well come the summer.

OP posts:
Original poster
IllBeAtTheBarIfYouNeedMe · 29/03/2018 10:31

Faintline- it really is tough on them. They seem to be pulled in so many directions which each subject (understandably) claiming that theirs is the most important that the kids seem to not know wether they’re coming or going. They just want to do well and haven’t figured out yet how to manage the demands on them or at least that’s what I tell myself to cope with the constant refereeing I’m having to do

TheSecond- It really is a long week. I can imagine the teachers are feeling much like the children are Confused

Both of my ds’s have asd so I have that joy next whilst dd will be doing her a levels. I suspect that ds1 will either be all (like your ds) or nothing (nor likely as he compartmentalises school and home and it’s already a stress just to get him to do homework).

I wish both of your dc the very best and hope it’ll be worth it come August

OP posts:
InspiredByIntegrity · 29/03/2018 10:31

Does the school really think that kind of timetable is reasonable? Are they playing catch up with some missed curriculum? If the Saturdays are optional I would suggest to her that she revise at her leisure at home.

DS's school makes the library open across Easter so there is a quiet place with resources available but no-one has to go in and there is no teaching. DT students can access workshop too.

TheSecondOfHerName · 29/03/2018 10:05

Her school has had her at school from 7:30am until 5:10pm mon-fri and 9-3 on saturdays since September.

That would be a long work week for an adult. There must be a point at which extra hours of school become counterproductive.

TheSecondOfHerName · 29/03/2018 10:03

And I've got one doing A-levels as well, to add to the joy.

TheSecondOfHerName · 29/03/2018 10:02

DS2's school does not do extra revision sessions outside of normal school hours, but the timetable he sets himself is excessive. He has ASD, and once he sets himself a schedule, he sticks to it come hell or high water.

He started doing an hour of revision each day on top of set homework in April of Y10, he has not taken a single day off since then. He revised on Christmas Day. He revised on his 16th birthday. When his mocks finished, he refused to take a day off, and continued revising the next day.

Every time a teacher says "make sure you do half an hour of X each day" he takes that literally and adds it on top of what he is already doing, so it is now more like two hours a day (more on weekends and school holidays). By the time the exams arrive, he will have done over 1000 hours of extra studying on top of school work.

He is also preparing for the Grade 8 music exam that he is insisting on taking this summer.

Faintlinesquints · 29/03/2018 09:44

In Scotland here, but my eldest is having a horrible time in the run up to her nationals.

She had her first one yesterday. She suffers with anxiety and she phoned me mid-panic attack it was awful! I had to phone her year head to find her and calm her down.

Dd is very bright and expected to do well too, but she is under so much pressure it's really awful.
She is the same with her siblings too I've never had them fight so much, everything is getting to her and she is so teary at every little thing.
I've had to tell dd to stop studying at points as she's been burning out and making herself ill.

The trip you've booked for your dd sounds great, and hopefully just what she needs.
You're certainly not being ridiculous, I wish they covered this in the parenting mags Gin

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