Starting Year 11-GCSE2021 (title edited by MNHQ)

It's no wonder some Yr 11s are gibbering wrecks given the example their mothers are setting them.

Stop putting them and yourselves under such enormous pressure for GCSEs. Show them how to roll with the punches. Roll your eyes when the school start to catastrophise.

Share a pizza with them whilst watching Schitts Creek and assure them they'll get through this.

@Titsywoo that is what I have been reading which sounds promising...my ds has exams in January- pushed back from December...he has no time revise since homework is piling on and lots of tests ....loosing the will to live on some subjects...the idea he has to revise over Christmas will not be good- I can see it going down hill!!!

They can't put this year in the same category as last year since they didn't miss any lessons compared to this year...

My ds is not mature enough to let the mocks count - since when he was off there was hardly any online teaching - I love his school but was disappointed in the online learning and I expected more from a selective school.

Having the exams in Summer would be better assuming I have understood what is going on in the news at the moment...

Thank goodness I have this forum as my sanity check and I am not alone!

My DD has been doing around 2 hours a night for the last month (I helped her make a timetable to get her organised). They are also doing some revision lessons at school at the end of the day and she has weekly maths and science tutoring as those are her weak subjects. They split the options and core subjects into seperate sets of mocks which helps a lot. There is also a second set of mocks in Feb/March where I assume you can use the GCSE papers from this year now the resits have taken place.

Word in the papers today looks pretty good on what will happen with the exams next year. I really think they are going to go ahead now. I think they'll be able to take their books into Eng Lit - thank god as all that memorising quotes is a damn waste of time and I hope that it is a permanent change. It also looks like they will have a better idea of what topics will be in the exam and will be marked more leniently (whatever that means). More promising than the radio silence previously though! I feel like schools have been treading water waiting to hear news so hopefully they can forge ahead now (well if there are any teachers left in school to do so!).

@neversaygoodbye and @eatthatfrog... Thank you, that makes me feel better. DS was self isolating the 2 weeks before mocks too... He doesn't pay attention at home, he is quite a quick learner but does so much better in lessons.

We've had expected grades a couple of weeks ago, but a couple of the teachers put a note on to say that these are minimum expected and not aspirational, so he's well aware if he works he can do better.

@UncomfortableSilence... I really wish DS would show that level of dedication, I'm going to put a rocket up his arse this week and tell him he needs to do an hour a night on a different subject, and an hour on weekends on 2. Will see if he listens 🙄

@Hellohah very similar to your Ds mine hasn't done enough frantic last minute cramming.He wasn't helped by school saying in assembly work hard it may all depend on these mocks. They have fortnightly tests in some subjects so hopefully he can make it up later. No idea what his predicted grades are everything seemed ok from end of Y10 but as they weren't in school don't count.
I don't see how we can use assessed grades based on mocks if there not all sat in school or how it takes into account kids isolating or having little education last term. There seems to be no plan what so ever from Boris apart from ignore it till too late followed by blind panic then make something up upturn at last minute change it again then it up!
I have doing A levels as well and as its allied health career no drop in grades like other subjects.

Hoping exams go ahead but can't see in what format they could be fair to all

DD still can't work out why she's at home as she said she doesn't sit near the child who's has tested positive.

Revision wise DD did around 3 hours a night and weekends for the last 6 weeks, she really worked hard, just spoke to a friend who said in her school those who were isolating did their mocks at home!

@Hellohah probably not as much as she should have. DD struggles with revision and having been isolating for the 2 weeks before her mocks there's too many distractions at home. She benefits from the discipline of the school environment. Still in "normal" times this is exactly why they have mocks, to help them learn how to revise, learn from their results where they may need to change their techniques etc. With no yr10 exam practice they are at an even bigger disadvantage when it comes to revision. I'm just telling her "do your best".

How much have all your kids revised for their mocks? Too late for DS now who is half way through, he has 3 Science mocks this week and the last Maths mock. He has done zero revision :(

My niece who is now Year 12 used to bring revision to family parties, was constantly doing school work etc. DS does his homework (reluctantly) and that's it!

He's going to bloody fail!!!!

@UncomfortableSilence oh no that's awful, your poor DD. This is exactly what people don't understand-how the level of disruption is affecting our kids. We're still waiting to find out if DD is back tomorrow for her first mock - tutor tried to say official date given was wrong but no other child has been told this, think it's a bit of a cock up on his part. No teachers in school today as "inset day".

Who bloody knows, last week was a shit show, supply after supply teacher, no email just a frantic phone call making sure she didn't come in

Hour before she's due to leave for her first mock call from the school she has to isolate, no mocks for her I'm devastated for her, she's worked so hard, I could cry.

It seems those of us in England are due an announcement, it states in one broadsheet newspaper today:

“GCSE students in England will be told their exam topics in advance and marked more generously under plans expected to be unveiled this week.

Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, may also announce that students who had lessons heavily disrupted by the coronavirus could get grades with asterisks to indicate to higher education colleges that they should look kindly on applicants.”

How they will identify those who were more disrupted than others I haven’t a clue. DD had to stay home due to DH having cancer treatment but that wouldn’t have been recorded as due to Covid but it was a by product of Covid hospital requirements. There are so many permutations.

@UncomfortableSilence mocks starting here too tomorrow for ds, I hope you both have a good couple of weeks - and most important, stay clear of any isolations!!

Thanks billy glad your DS got through them before having to isolate! Guess that takes you pretty much through to the Xmas holidays then.

DDs school now have so many teachers out they've had to close two year groups. She has had supply after supply teacher last week apparently they haven't even looked at unseen poetry yet and her English teacher is off so I've been trying to help her with that this weekend as that's her first exam tomorrow.

Mocks start tomorrow, she's very nervous, she's worked extremely hard and that's all she can do. She was hoping to go for a long walk with her boyfriend today but he has to isolate now it's bloody never ending

We've had mocks here too, they just finished in time before DS had to self isolate because somebody in tutor tested positive.
Good luck to those still waiting for results and those managing to still be in school.

It's comforting to read this thread and realise there are others going through the same thing. My ds has just finished a week of mocks. It's been brutal. Had a text today to say he now has to self-isolate for ten days meaning he will miss two exams on Monday.
This is so incredibly unfair on them. My ds is at a grammar school and they have been utterly shit in helping him prepare, as they were when lock down began initially. A number of his teachers have been out with Covid. I am so sad for him and that this has been experience of his last year of school.

@UncomfortableSilence
That’s exactly it, the relentlessness of it all. He is doing nothing other than going to school or revising (with a bit of x box thrown in). He sees his girlfriend at school so it wouldn’t bother me if she came round ours as normal because they are together at school anyway (I know it’s not in the “rules” however for me it’s all about levels of risk and if they are there with each other (and obviously not social distancing) then it makes no sense to keep them apart out of school but her Mum won’t let. I totally respect her decision but it’s made the whole thing even harder. He can’t play football (at least that’s coming back), can’t see his girlfriend and is getting pressure all the time at school.

I'm currently livid with DD's school. Due to return from isolation on 1st Dec straight into mock exams....only during an email with the tutor to check timings for mock week he mentions how she'll miss her first exam and they're rescheduling as she's not due back till Wednesday 2nd. Last day of contact with positive case was Tuesday last week, NHS guidance says that's the day you count from which would mean the school letter was correct.
Anyway, he's now just sent me another message saying it's definitely the 2nd and we will receive an updated letter. Seriously, this late in the day with the school having inset days tomorrow and Monday! What a joke. Fuming doesn't do my current mood justice.

Notdonna It's the relentlessness of it for DD, go to school, come home, revise, go to bed and repeat. They can't go out with their friends and do 'normal' things they should be doing at their age to break it all up and release a bit.

How do we get them laughing again? This is truly heartbreaking!