Gcse 2018 (10) The one with half term

What's does an actively sabotaging parent do and why?

I think we all have different styles of parenting because all our children are different! It's like the baby books - you can read as many as you like but in the end you go with what works.
I don't know if anyone else thinks this but DS says he's found the actual exams less stressful than doing two rounds of mocks. Cynical me thinks this may have something to do with him being better prepared for the real thing!
Anyway, DS hasn't got any exams today but I wanted to send out a massive 'good luck!' to the historians and anyone else doing exams today!

I'm less involved than you, Goodbye...

And then there are the actively sabotaging or no-sympathy parents out there.

Sostenueto (sorry, lots of crossed posts which I hadn't read before replying to mmzz) you misunderstand - I'm not saying the reformed exams are easy at all - they're definitely not, they're seriously challenging - I'm saying instead that the previous exams - especially for those many, many, many DC whose schools took them as linear with no retakes - were not a walk in the park. And yes I fully agree about the politics involved and the casting aside of the less able - a disgrace.

mmzz I can only work out your approach from what you write on the thread, but I can see that you know a huge amount about specifications etc and that you know in detail what your DS's revision timetable is. So I conclude that you're far more directly involved whereas I seem to be at the least involved end of the spectrum - which is not to say I don't care, it just seems to work for DD and me.

There's absolutely no judgment being made (people jump to conclusions quite wrongly (and far too quickly!) whenever one mentions different approaches. I specifically said approaches will and should differ according to different DC and I've no way of knowing if my approach is 'better' - I certainly don't claim it to be).

Yes it's far easier being on the last of eight DC taking these things and it does put the reforms in perspective.

Best of luck to everyone today! DS1 has a day off today before geography tomorrow and maths on Thursday.

He's doing 10 exams this time with one sat last year. It feels an OK number and in truth he's been able to keep up extra curricular stuff (rugby, cricket and D of E). Only the cricket has been impacted by exams but all his club games have been scheduled to start after exams finish - it's useful that DH is the team manager

Yes mmzz the threads have been very mutually supportive, largely because there has been very little judging of how other posters approach things. There are too many factors that affect how involved parents need/choose to be for there to be a 'right' way of doing things and that's been almost universally reflected in the threads.

Good luck to all those with exams today. The end is in sight!

Here we go again! Good luck today to Historians, fellow Psychologists, and any others with exams 🍀🍀🍀

May be the way to go would be to strengthen art/music/sport etc outside of gcse s (formal exams). And just be examined in the core at 16

If you want to peruse a career I music/drama/art/sport a GCSE probably doesn't count for much, ability, real dedication and interest does and higher level entry is by audition rather than gcse results etc

But how do you get schools to give priority to that when they are measured so crudely on exam results. And if schools can't offer it then how do you make that available to all. I don't know what the answer is just the questions !

History this morning - good luck to all - I will be so glad when the next two days are out of the way. Really nervous for DS - he is also looking very tired which doesn't help his dyslexic brain.

I think we really need for this new system to bed in for a few years and then everyone will have a better idea how workable it is for everyone......personally I think it would be a shame if the number of GCSE's are reduced for everyone as it narrows down options at such a young age and doesn't take account of people changing their minds......which we can all do especially teenagers ..........not that any of us will actually get a say in it anyway!!!

History here as well......Good luck fellow historians and anyone else taking an exam today!

Ten really isn't a lot and has the advantage of not being too narrow too early.

Even with taking 10 subjects, many kids will have dropped important subjects like History, Geography or languages. So I wonder whether you can get a rounded education with less than 10?

Good luck to little mmzz!

Sorry the iPad plays up when posting on MN!

Off to wake DS1 up now to send him in for a History pre-exam revision session. The teacher emailed yesterday afternoon to tell the class about it. I think English has the same tomorrow. DS is fine with these because they are helpful.

Good luck to everyone who has an exam today.

Off to wake DS1 up now to send him in for a History pre-exam revision session. The teacher emailed yesterday afternoon to tell the class about it. I think English has the same tomorrow. DS is fine with these because they are helpful.

Good luck to everyone who has an exam today.

Thanks, Sost.
these threads have been good, and worth staying with because they have been mutually supportive. When I've had a dilemma or a concern, I feel like everyone else understands and gives good advice because you can see the wood for the trees, whereas sometimes, I'm just too emotionally involved. I hope sometimes I've managed to reciprocate.

I will try to find the article in my browsing history later, but, as I remember, the reason 8 max were proposed at the time of the reforms (if they were reformed, of course) was to allow time for hobbies and volunteering.

Good luck to everyone back up and at it this morning!
Not long now...

Dgd doing 10 GCSEs. She is a high achiever ( even though she thinks she's not) and she struggles with workload of 10 inasmuchas she won't be satisfied with 7/As . oh no she wants 8/9s! If she didn't want such high grades then she wouldn't have to do half as much work. But there are DC who struggle to get 4/5 and in my opinion doing 10/12 GCSEs is really too much. Also what is the point in studying something you have no interest in? Best to study what interests you and obviously core subjects and if that means doing 8 or 7 or btecs then so be it.
As for work/play balance yes you need to get it right but each child's work/play balance different. But I'm afraid if you have a determined DC that wants to do really well, doesn't have advantages of grammar school/ professional parents/ private tutors and has to work really hard that balance can go out the window very quickly as is in dgds case.
Each poster here on our lovely thread have different approaches as to how their DC cope with the new GCSEs. I never profess to know what others approaches are completely but understand if they are different to mine. All we can do is to support each other through exam season with the new exams able and not so able DC, special needs etc all are the same in my eyes, all facing their first big challenge in their young lives, all coping in vastly different ways and all s in my eyes! One last add on I do disagree that there isn't much difference in these new exams. I understand if you have always done linear than you may think new exams are no big deal, but IMO as these exams continue you will begin to see over the years their true political use of dividing our DC further and further. And I'm a great believer in never being too complacent about difficulty of any exam. Enough of my opinions!
Good luck historians and all others sitting exams today!

stickerocks

Our approachs may well be significantly different, goodbyestranger but I'm at a disadvantage with that one as I have no idea what your approach is, but you appear to know enough of mine to make that statement.

Fascinating to hear from someone who has been through this process 7 times previously though. I have both to compare it to, DS1 being my eldest, so the changes feel slightly theoretical, iyswim.

mmzz sure - but my point is merely that actually plenty of schools took GCSEs as linear, not that you'd know that from the spin about modules and retakes etc. So for many schools the difference is about content only, nothing else.

It's not about numbers of GCSEs in absolute terms though is it - it's about the approach, and clearly your approach as a parent is light years away from mine, very possibly in response to our different DC although equally possibly it may affect how much time our DC put into work and revision. DD has always enjoyed sport, which is a fab antidote to work, so that helps enormously too.

I think most colleges/schools look at the performance of the best 8...if DC;s want to do 12/13 or more because they feel they are limited by choice then I think they should be allowed to do this ...but for DC's who just want to concentrate on subjects that they feel passionate about at an early stage - that should be allowed to do this too. I think my daughter is reasonably able but she has struggled with 10 - she cannot see the point of studying a subject she has no interest in or taking further (perhaps this doesn't show resilience or perhaps it shows maturity of a student who can make critical decisions earlier than others) she would have benefited from extending her knowledge in subjects she has more interest in to a further level which I believe is what UNI's look for ? I'm hopeful that the T levels will extend this specialism in education further to cater for all. She is also calm...its not a competition as far as she is concerned to regurgitate facts in an era where a search will give you more information than a brain could handle.

goodbyestranger I'm only quoting from the report, not making claims!
However, DS is doing 10 and for the last 4/5 months haven't had much of a work-life balance.