Starting Year 11-GCSE2021 (title edited by MNHQ)

In the normal course of events, exam skills can improve a lot during y11, as they start doing more exam style questions and the pupils start understanding much better what they have to do to gain marks (e.g. being very specific with language in longer science answers).

But this isn't a normal year...

It is hard to tell. DD didn’t sit SATs so no benchmark and no working at or exceeding grades. It is ‘finger in the air’ time but teachers have predicted grades verbally early in the year but so far haven’t put them down on paper.

Although DD enjoys her current school and is thriving there she is also keen to confirm that by looking at alternatives but the lack of written predictions isn’t helping.

Are the grades you've been given 'working at' or 'projected' grades?

Ds was back in for 3 hours a week from last week. The learning online has finally started too after 3 months of very little. He's really demotivated and said all his lessons are very generic, so no differentiation for the sets/ ability levels. School didn't want to open but were forced to by the government and I think it reflects in their offering. Ds biggest issue is his lack of motivation, zero accountability demanded from school leading to poor interaction, and poor mental health as a result of being locked indoors for 3 months. Prior to this he was a very sporty, Very social 15 year old, in top sets and fully engaged with learning. He misses school, friends, sport, routine. I honestly don't think some of the kids will be able to get back to their previous learning levels. My priority at the moment is making sure his mental health improves, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't really worried about gcses next year.

Indy Tough if you are shielding someone, can't help on the Art bit, sorry!

Teen Really sorry to hear DD is having such a difficult time, my DD has some anxiety/panic issues that got completely out of control at the beginning, we seem to be in a more positive place right now. Hope you are getting support too.

DD's mental health crashed around about the time term started.
Now finally on meds and slowly improving but from a very low point. Next to zero schoolwork getting done.

Booked in for a week of school, but no idea whether she will make it through the door or cope when there.

School have been very supportive, but it's all pretty depressing.

DD is getting no in school time, we are both very disappointed. The only kids going in to school are the ones who are not engaging in work at all.

She's trying to keep her motivation going but it's hard, she has been meeting up with friends for walks and to sit in the park the last few weeks which has made a huge difference.

My DS starts next week and gets allocated one day a week. They are doing proper lessons in maths, English, physics, chemistry and biology - with subject teachers. It will be a two week rolling rota in these subjects, each lesson one hour and fifteen mins. He and I both wish it would be more. His other choices will just continue online and they are just beginning to introduce Microsoft Teams for lessons. The reason they haven’t gone down this route before is the logistics of getting kids online at set times and trying to ensure that all students have the facilities to do so. A lot have parents working from home, not enough devices for kids and parents and siblings.

DD had three hours in school this week and all her class minus two students were in and they put them all in one large hall with exam desks to fit them in and distance them. The school have been great throughout (in most part). But once DD came home and was chattering about her friends it really hit home how much she was missing out. The next day, home schooling again she was actually very subdued.

DD has work set for each subject she has that day ie following the timetable. She is mostly following it but really needs teacher feedback and communication. The remoteness is lending itself well to a lack of quality. Understandable, self management is a skill we tend to learn later in life.
I do worry how the whole year group will be disadvantaged and ultimately what the government/exam board will do about it.

I would say that the schools that are doing that are in the minority though - the only school in our area doing that is a small private school with a very small year group.

It’s not ideal in any way, but they are all in the same boat and that will be taken into consideration when they sit their exams next year.

They aren't all in the same boat though, there's a huge gap in provision with some schools providing a complete days worth of online lessons following timetables exactly down to ones that's don't have access to a laptop and have a work pack at home and are being left to teach themselves. These kids will be at a huge disadvantage and we have to hope that the government will put looking at this Y10 & 12 cohort as a priority.

It’s not ideal in any way, but they are all in the same boat and that will be taken into consideration when they sit their exams next year. I’m still hopeful they’ll get to sit them!!! My ds doesn’t get a lot of work every day, I guess around 2-3 hours, but he does get it done and has finally matured into someone who can self start and be organised (never thought I’d see the day!) His sister in year 8 does the set work too and is continuing to practise music - her sax teacher is starting zoom lessons next week so that will help too.
I’m assuming that they only meant year 10 going back - as year 12 are at college/6th form and not secondary

I know what you mean...I am seriously worried for our kids in Year 10. I can't believe they could potentially go back sometime before the Summer and by the time they formally go back they will be in Year 11! Slightly worrying.

So..Y10 May be able to see their teachers before the summer holidays, not sure what this even means but doesn't sound like back to formal teaching. Feeling more and more worried now for our year group, DD is having days in the week where she is only set work for one subject and I'm finding it harder and harder to try to motivate her to revise and do things off her own back. She's become anxious and quiet and has lost her appetite

DD is coping fairly well, she's had lots of Google meets and her teachers are doing so much to help them.

I work in a secondary school and I cannot see any way that logistically repeating a year would work. Even moving the exams to July wouldn't work in terms of marking time.

I'm hoping if schools do re open after May half term Y10 will be the first back but who knows!

Our school trailed online learning for a few days before Easter break and after parent and student feedback have tweaked it. 8.40-3pm classes with shorter than normal lunch break (school would normally end at 4.30). They even have PE scheduled!
My daughter missed a month of school last year due to illness and caught up easily enough, but she is stressed about falling behind now, though they have extended summer term for two weeks. It's a private school and she is academically competitive so I'm not worried about her - if it was my son it would be different altogether! She had exams last term so they won't have big exams this term. School is gearing up for physical return after May half term, government permitting.
I don't see how repeating a year will work at all. We are moving to London for sixth form and we can't put that off a year, and what about the other kids moving up to Y10? Schools and exam boards can't double the year group.
My daughter thinks the grade bands will be lower. My feeling is that the kids at schools that are not well prepared for online learning will suffer disproportionately, especially if a particular student needs alot of outside motivation to do well.

DS2 is in Year 10 and at the moment is doing brilliantly...far far better than I possibly could have imagined but I’m concerned at how much longer he can keep this up for. He is submitting all the work he has been given on google classroom and doing extra revision as well. He is worried about his PE practicals cause he was supposed to be assessed on Athletics and Cricket which are both Summer sports. All his other subjects are ok apart from English Lit as they’d just started Romeo and Juliet and despite my best efforts he just isn’t getting it. He’s top set for everything but is more Maths/Science minded than English so is struggling a bit there. Think we are going to find the film version and watch it together.
I haven’t seen anything about them repeating the year...surely that would need to apply to all years rather than just Year 10 or it wouldn’t work?