Starting Year 11-GCSE2021 (title edited by MNHQ)

We have to wait until the end of April for parents evening which seems very late - they'll be most of the way through year 10 before we can get a better idea of where they are at!

DD is doing pretty well although revision is still an issue and I have to keep helping her make timetables then nagging her to do a full hour (she tends to do 30 mins then won't do another 30). She is terrible for saying "well noone else is doing it yet" etc etc when her first exams are 4 weeks away so a lot of content to go over in not very long. She had a maths tutor last term who I have booked for the entirety of year 11 for her as she struggles with maths and is currently getting 5's which is fine but I know she can do much better. Science is her very weak point and her teacher assessment in her report was 3 and 4 for combined science. We're signing up to Tassomai today and I'll be getting her to do 20 mins a day.

Art is a bit of a worry at the moment as the workload is huge. For some reason they spent the first half term drawing various things as some sort of weird practice/teacher assessment but none can be used for coursework. Last half term DD did one large piece which is amazing but now she is finished the teachers are saying ok you need fill 50 pages by the end of this school year so get on with it everyone . Maybe say that at the beginning and don't waste 6 weeks on pointless crap? Very frustrating!

I think DD will do ok on her GCSEs but I know if she pushed herself a bit more she could do really well. It's hard to know how involved to get to be honest!

I have parents evening in Feb. I am concerned about my ds subjects in geography, RE , Spanish and Business studies.

They seem to have lots of tests in the sciences, maths, English and computing to make sure they understand the topic but nothing in the other subjects.

Am worried a different technique will need to be learned for geography, RE and Business studies.

Plus a language needs to be tested regularly. My dd is in anothe school and is in year 8 and has approx. 40 vocab. Per week whereas my ds has no vocab tests...slightly concerning since he is in Year 10!

catapillar I'd have thought so, as they will still be teaching syllabus up until Christmas or so next year, so there would be things on the paper she hadn't even learned about yet.

Dd1 took last years higher maths paper (that’s what she said it was anyway) as a test before Christmas. She was really disappointed to get a 6 ( I thought it was fine) but she has been getting 7s and 8s in other tests and is predicated an 8 at the end of year 11. She puts a lot of pressure on herself to do well.

Is it possible to get an 8 at gcse if she only got a 6 in that test? She went back through it, and realised she had made quite a few silly mistakes. She had a really stinking cold that week, so probably wasn’t feeling as focussed as usual, but she might have a stinking cold the day she takes her GCSEs.

She’s a hard working girl, but probably didn’t revise as much as she could have for that test.

For the record d be happy with a 6 at gcse as long as she was happy with it, but I know she would be disappointed.

DS doesn’t do any homework at home, so am really unsure how much he gets (I’m not thinking much tbh). He arrives at school 40 mins before school starts, has 15 mins between lessons and an hour for lunch. He would much prefer to not have to work at home at all, so I assume he manages to get it all done somewhere in amongst those times.

DS has had to do 1 hour a week on Hegarty Maths.
He's had History homework (on Seneca) at least every other week.
And since September he's had... 3 pieces of English homework (very short pieces), 2 tasks on Educake for Biology along with revision packs over Christmas for that and the other Sciences, and zero Geography homework.

How much HW are your DC getting, and is it consistent across subjects?

DD is getting more or less nothing for Drama, & very limited for Food & Geography. Whereas core subjects plus RE (which most are doing as short course this year but DD is doing as full end y11) are setting more regular homework and more regular tests that obviously need revising for.

On the one hand I'm relieved as DD would struggle with much more, but I am rather anxious, especially regarding Geography.

Happy New Year all.

DD has done limited revision but she's had a lot of homework to do, she had a meltdown about maths, her teacher this year is poor and that's a worry as she has been moved up a set and would have this teacher right through now. Her previous teacher built her confidence up so much and it's sad to see her knocked back down, just been speaking to a tutor who is highly recommend in our area and deciding if this is worth it as it's obviously quite a cost

Haha Teen... It is slightly depressing.

I failed GCSE Science back at school, DS did suggest if I was going to help him, I could resit my own GCSE and maybe pass this time 😂

Hello The slightly depressing bit is when you realise you know the stuff better than they do!

Happy New Year to you too @TeenPlusTwenties

DS hasn't done much over the festive period, despite the fact he has tests when he goes back.

He has done about 3 hours on Seneca for History over the last couple of days.

He attempted some Biology revision, but then came to me to say that he doesn't really learn anything by reading and making notes and trying to decipher said notes. We realised he could do Biology on Seneca and will start that tonight. He reckons he manages to remember more when he hears it so has asked me to do the work with him (ie, read out the info while he makes flashcards) and then let him do the quizzes. We can then go back to the flashcards and I quiz him on them.

Looks like I'm going to be doing a lot of learning myself over the next 18 months haha!

Happy New Year to all parents of y10s.

DD2 is currently in our dining room doing a maths test she missed before Christmas as she was ill. I can hear a lot of despairing moans. Unhelpfully, the test didn't say how long it was, so we have guessed 1 hour as it was due to be done in class.

Typo

I am using the same revision resources that DS2 used in this summer’s GCSEs. - I mean DS1

DS2 sits his GCSEs in 2021. I am using the same revision resources that DS2 used in this summer’s GCSEs. I get DS2 to learn topics, and then he practices relevant topical questions; and checks against the mark schemes. Only issue we have is AQA economics, as no set text book or past papers - so using OCR Textbook.

I would say try and expose your DC to topical exam qns and mark schemes asap. You should be able to get some from subject teachers.

re grade increase. I guess that depends on what 'current' means, and which subject?

DD2 gets grades for longer tests (mainly 5s at the moment) and if she actually achieves the grades she is currently getting in those in the final exams then I'll be ecstatic:

• there is a world of difference between revising 1 or 2 topics for a test and knowing 10 subjects completely for summer y11.
• on the other hand, I would expect 'question answering technique' to improve, especially for things like English & History.

We will get given 'current prediction' which is 'if they keep working at same pace this is the grade we think is most likely they'll get in the end'.

@UncomfortableSilence A two grade increase sounds reasonable and realist

Hello That's lovely and ultimately what is most important, the kids are under so much pressure but it's just lovely to hear teachers speak personally about them rather than just results etc.

Lynette We have been given current level and predicted level at GCSE. This though like you say is based on SATS etc. The school I work in, teacher friends tell me it's not unrealistic to go up two grades from where they are now however that is based on so many factors that it's just not accurate to predict and at the end of the day predicted grades are just an educated guess.

Does anyone know how much progress is expected between now and final exams?

We've been given current GCSE grades, which are supposed to improve steadily between now and exams, but I'm not sure how much by!

(DD does have target grades relating to KS2 SATs, but hers are a bit squiffy) so not very helpful)

We had parents evening last night.
DS now has Head of English, never been taught by him before. He said the most lovely things about DS which made me quite emotional.
It's nice to hear that someone thinks your child is pretty special, and not just because of academic ability but because they can make someone see the world and the subject they've been teaching for a long time a bit differently and brightens up their day.

I went with the hope that he was reaching his targets and doing well, but came out realising that actually, whilst his academic performance is important, other things are too and I'm so proud that he's a bloody lovely dude who is really happy and has loads of amazing qualities that can't possibly be defined by a load of tests.

Will try and keep sight of this in the next few years when we argue about lack of revision haha!

Just a bug I think. No doubt she'll perk up tomorrow.

Oh no, do you think it's related or maybe a bug? Hope she feels better soon.

Right that's it. I've officially had enough of this term. DD is actually being sick now (as opposed to the stress feeling sick but not sick we had last week).
She is feeling very sorry for herself.

Both my girls are crawling to the end of term....I work in a secondary school and I feel the same

DD had a physics exam today, Business tomorrow and History next week she also has her first go at her English speaking next week.

Bit peeved as her Business teacher left last week, her replacement said he doesn't like teaching AQA and has changed them to OCR

All year groups have to do it from year 7-11 and we’re not even in my homeland of Scotland!! I think it’s brilliant.....the kids not so much