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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Starting Year 11-GCSE2021 (title edited by MNHQ)

991 replies

indy69 · 01/08/2019 05:57

Good morning Mums,

My DD will start her GCSE journey this September. MN always has such good advice that I thought we could have a new thread to support each other. My DD has 4 options apart from English, Science AQA and Maths Edexcel. She has Art and History - Edexcel, and Psychology and Economics - AQA. It wpuld be lovely to know what your DC are doing and we could share resources here. I look forward to meeting you all on this thread. We have 4 weeks to go to start of term and a ton of homework to finish. My DD is feeling too lazy to do anything at the moment, but I guess they have earned the break. I will start reminding her next week about the work. Thanks

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Hattie71 · 07/12/2020 20:42

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UncomfortableSilence · 07/12/2020 20:15

Mocks take two tomorrow for DD Grin Let's see how far we get this time, two more groups had to isolate in the last week so that's four cases in her year group this last 10 days. They are trying really hard to get the exams finished before Christmas but it's looking unlikely, they are being hit very hard with staff shortages.

paganbilly · 05/12/2020 17:31

@NotDonna

Phew paganbilly I was having palpitations on your DS’s behalf!! DD has the option of 3x A levels plus 1x AS (useful if they’re unsure) or 3x A levels plus EPQ or 3x A levels plus core maths. She’s thinking the latter as core maths will help with economics & psychology A levels alongside history. Her elder sister is yr13 doing A levels maths so knows the jump & that it’s not for her!
DS won't do core maths unless forced to (which won't be by me), I think he'll go for an AS level. My eldest did an AS, dropping the one that she got the lowest grade in in the mocks. Her teacher very tactfully said she might get a B so she dropped that one and got very respectable grades for her 3 remaining A levels.
NotDonna · 05/12/2020 16:27

Phew paganbilly I was having palpitations on your DS’s behalf!! DD has the option of 3x A levels plus 1x AS (useful if they’re unsure) or 3x A levels plus EPQ or 3x A levels plus core maths. She’s thinking the latter as core maths will help with economics & psychology A levels alongside history. Her elder sister is yr13 doing A levels maths so knows the jump & that it’s not for her!

paganbilly · 05/12/2020 14:46

Wow @paganbilly 4 A levels plus an EPQ sounds and awful lot!

@NotDonna It sounds insane! They don't do all that, they can do 4 A levels and either do all 4 or drop one after a year (like the AS levels) or 3 A levels and the EPQ. I have no idea if it is an option to do all that, I sincerely hope not. If it was I wouldn't let any child of mine do it.

NotDonna · 04/12/2020 23:32

titsywoo utter madness.
I agree with kitty that an open book can mean them wasting a lot of time.
‘Core maths’ is a catch all title for a number of supportive AS type maths courses that can be quite variable in what they cover I believe, so it’s probably worth checking if it’s suitable for supporting physics etc. At DDs 6th form the core maths option seems predominantly statistics that are useful for social sciences rather than a course that would support physics or chemistry. DDs school push maths A level for those sciences.

AsPerMyLastEmail · 04/12/2020 23:10

@Titsywoo that does sound madness, especially as Christmas holidays are round the corner.

NotDonna · 04/12/2020 23:08

@paganbilly

Physics is one that my DS is considering but he will not be doing Maths. He can do four A levels at his school as he' will be in the stream that can do the EPQ.
Wow @paganbilly 4 A levels plus an EPQ sounds and awful lot!
paganbilly · 04/12/2020 15:49

That's completely ridiculous!

Titsywoo · 04/12/2020 13:54

So core subjects mocks start on Monday and now they have decided to close the school on Monday to implement a one way system so they can ditch the year group bubbles for class time and have the teachers stay in their classrooms and the students move around (all cleaning their desk and chair before they leave to go to the next class). FGS.

paganbilly · 03/12/2020 20:53

Closed book allows them to focus more on what they’re actually writing. It’s v easy to waste half an hour flicking through a book.

That's very true. My daughter had open book exams for her university finals this year but by 3rd year of university they are (hopefully!) more adept at the processes of finding what they need and quickly.

AsPerMyLastEmail · 03/12/2020 19:38

DD also hoping for open books in English.

KittyMcKitty · 03/12/2020 19:37

[quote Toobuktim]@paganbilly my ds really hopes for open books in English![/quote]
In the Ofqual changes it was very against open books.

They’re not always great actually- I’ve invigilated/ read / scribed for students back when it used to be open books and students often got bogged down & wasted a lot of time trying to find the perfect quote etc. Closed book allows them to focus more on what they’re actually writing. It’s v easy to waste half an hour flicking through a book.

Toobuktim · 03/12/2020 19:34

@paganbilly my ds really hopes for open books in English!

paganbilly · 03/12/2020 18:20

@ihearttc I think your DS has the right idea about the jump with Maths when doing A level. My DS does well at Maths but it's not a priority for him at A level as he knows he won't do physics at university).

@NotBabiesForLong DS will do that I expect. I think it's compulsory in his planned stream in 6th form.

@Toobuktim I hope they have open books in English, that'll really be useful for my DS.

@portico I wondered much the same. I hope there is more guidance soon as my DS has mocks again in January and February.

AsPerMyLastEmail · 03/12/2020 18:12

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Cuddling57 · 03/12/2020 18:08

Maybe the advance notice of topics will be enough to get them on their way to a pass but not enough alone to get a 9?

UncomfortableSilence · 03/12/2020 16:01

Agree it's still fairly vague, but a start! Let's hope they find out really soon what the finer details are as there really isn't very long once they go back after Christmas.

AsPerMyLastEmail · 03/12/2020 14:43

Agree our kids really need clarity and reassurance.

Goldistheanswer · 03/12/2020 12:51

I agree portico. What does “some” mean? It’s a really vague description when our kids need clarity and reassurance.

paganbilly · 03/12/2020 12:43

@UncomfortableSilence

Extra measures 'to ensure fair exams next summer' www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-55160374

Today's announcement on the measures for their exams.

It sounds too good, what's the catch ?
portico · 03/12/2020 10:18

When they say advance notice in SOME topics. What does SOME mean. If there are 10 topics in Chemistry and they provide notice of 2 topics, I still read it as learning those 2 topics plus the remaining 8. Have I overthought this?

Toobuktim · 03/12/2020 05:34

Just read this now @UncomfortableSilence, what do you make of it? I see they are giving out formula sheets, I wonder if they’ll have open book exams in English too

UncomfortableSilence · 03/12/2020 05:30

Extra measures 'to ensure fair exams next summer' www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-55160374

Today's announcement on the measures for their exams.

paganbilly · 02/12/2020 23:23

@NotBabiesForLong

Core maths is a great option in 6th form.
That's what my ds will be doing, his stream will be expected to. Re his 5 in English, it turns out out he found some old grade boundaries online and assumed it's a five, actually he doesn't know