GCSE 2019 support thread 6

Lots of love to all, great to hear from you myrtle

See you on the other side....😁🤞

Dammit, I have no tonic. Will have to put that right tomorrow when I’ve finished hanging about in the car waiting for a text.

I do like the success stories of dc who had to rethink and retake etc to get where they wanted to be.

Carrie - I've been reduced to vodka and coke - not my usual tipple but I stupidly neglected to stock up on wine

welcome back myrtle.

No cash reward here but also feel that’s up to parent and a lot depends on the child . I am taking Dd away for a weekend somewhere as a reward for the graft I guess. It’s not cash and not grade dependent .. but I’m still putting out the dosh so not much different.

Flyingarcher - well done to your ds . Hope he has a fantastic time at uni!

Thanks flyingarcher, we need more stories like this

Just wanted to say Hi to the newbies and Yay to Flying Archer, I'm on my 3rd glass of wine which is way more than I normally drink so much love and luck to everyone and I'll see you tomorrow.

DD2 isn't motivated by money either. She's getting some presents either way, she's worked really hard and had a tough year with losing her dad last year and her gran 2 weeks before the start of exams.

We don't need to chase 6th forms, the school has a very good one and unless absolute disaster has struck that is where she will be going, with enrolment for internal students on the 4th of September.

We're going to pick up her new glasses tomorrow after results and have a meal out in the evening.

@GloriaSmud That is the same course my DD2 wants to do at college! Good to hear of more girls doing this!

Dear all

I just wanted to report from someone who is far on the other side. We are somewhat sold the fact that English and Maths plus the fated other six GCSE 'good' grades are the be all and end all. Certainly it makes life easier but for those who don't do so well, or who, like my son, see an exam and just do inexplicably stupid things ..a story from the other side for a bit of hope. Three years ago, DS 2 got his results, brill in Drama, Pe and
Science were ok. The rest, however....he had to do an intermediate year at college where he did maths and Eng again. Maths he passed straight away (he is good at maths). He did two level 2 Btech and got Distinction for those. He did three level 3 Btech and has gained a Distinction * for one and Merits for others. He regularly fails his
English GCSE by one or two marks each time. He was given several unconditional offers from unis and starts on his chosen course (for which he had to audition and have all day assessment and interviews) soon. He fully expects to have failed his English again tomorrow because, thanks to Gove, he's given up. In actual fact he is rather good at English but never writes enough.

I just wanted to say that for those of us who don't have A grade, academic kids, who may feel really disappointed tomorrow, there is hope and light and GCSE are merely a staging post on the route not an end point. I wouldn't have believed three years ago he'd be going to uni and not just going but having unis actively competing for him.

Best wishes to all

And @berlinbabylon

Thank you @slingthegin and @Saucery that is reassuring to know.

Thank you @DeRigueurMortis I’m hoping point 3 kicks in. She is the youngest in year 10 and her boyfriend is the oldest in year 9 so has little motivation just now. Their relationship is very intense full term planning their life together.

My daughter hasn’t mentioned the financial incentive the other parents have, a few in any case.

I’ll hold looking into 6th form just now, she needs a min of 6 across the board for her current school or the joint 6th with the boys school, sounds like there is still hope and room for shock motivation.

DS isn't motivated by money either. I don't think he's expecting anything and we certainly haven't offered.

Can I join?

Am in the airport, having spent a week with my mum who's in hospital. But I felt I needed to come home for DS gcse results tomorrow!

He is a dark horse and results could be anything, not nervous as such but want to be there for him in case he's disappointed/sad!

College intake interview on Friday....

FAQs no, wouldn’t ever offer financial reward for exam results personally. Wouldn’t judge any parent who did - the dynamic between them and their dc is none of my business. But it’s not one of DS’s motivators, so pointless for us. I suppose paying for Uni will be a delayed financial reward!

Another delurker here of a DS who admitted he could not even be incentivised bribed to improve by hard cash (Faq not uncommon round these parts either).

Similar story to Zen here, watching YouTube videos the evening prior to exam, seemed the only revision we saw at home. He assures us he worked hard at school though. We shall see what tomorrow brings!

Good luck all.

I'm sitting here reading all your posts - DD's downstairs cooking dinner for us both, she MUST be stressed . I am getting garlic and chilli prawns with tomatoes, to go on our mixed salad. Yummy. The smell is amazing.

zen1 that will be my next experience of this....DD is going into year 10 and is the complete opposite of her brother! She's got revision guides already and has my teacher gene so it's highlighters and post its all the way! I'm hoping for much less stress (for me) second time. DS2 starts year 7 this year so I'll have to see which route he takes nearer the time.

We haven't given any reward but it seems most parents here are dishing the cash. DS thinks he's getting a new phone if he gets 8s and 9s but I don't know what gave him that idea!