GCSE’s summer 2020 thread 5 - And then there were none..

I'm glad I've found this thread. My dc is in Year 11 and school have set no work whatsoever. When queried, their official line was that they know their students, they have continually assessed them and trust the teachers to make a fair and accurate judgement on their grades. Predicted grades would be good enough for her but she does feel she has improved a lot since then so hopefully that will be reflected in grades awarded.
The only concession they've made is to suggest that anyone who wishes to do so could so some voluntary research on their chosen subjects for A levels.
This does all sound very reasonable and fair but my dc is really struggling with the lack of structure and I worry it is going to be a huge culture shock when we do return to school. She's helping out with our younger dc with some tutoring and babysitting whilst we wfh but it's just not the same!

I think there is the world of difference between starting an EPQ - which I suggested to DD would be a good idea. Might as well start researching ideas, getting a head start etc and holding it over their heads re: a reference. The reference should be based on the last 2 years, not by holding a gun to their heads. That’s so stressful.

It is not unusual for sixth forms to have aptitude tests at start of Y12. DS1's school did that if you did not have the right grades for maths/science but wanted to do A level. It was a second chance to prove yourself

@patiencevirtue

Yes it does seem like a nice idea but dd just wanted to get on with revision for re-taking exams or towards her post 16 options but I suppose it won’t hurt. She’s 15 too.

Cor @Sorrelli that's harsh re the aptitude tests. Really sorry that your dd is upset.

I quite like the idea of some sort of EPQ though as I dread to think how much ds' brain is going to fester without anything to do. I know he ought to get on with reading around his A levels but it's not obvious to him or to me how to structure this and he's not a self-starter (being 15 this seems fair enough).

If he does a properly engaging, mind-expanding, critical thinking using project and learns to cook/use washing machine then I think he'll have really lucked out. So much more valuable than the grimness of revision.

All this without even knowing what the DfE announcement will be.

They’ll also be setting work.

@wheresthebeach

I know! Not quite the support my already anxious DD needed, she’s in tears.

@sorrelli ...eh???

School announcement was that they need to complete via distance a 5 week intense project similar to EPQ or they won’t get a good reference. (Year 11)

Also that if they get grades under what’s required they’ll need to do an aptitude test to make sure they’re ‘good enough’.

They’ve said other sixth forms will do that too.

I think that’s shocking if they do Friday evening. They should time it so that staff have time to digest and contact parents.

I think this is what may change.

Sorry, posted too soon. All 3 6th forms/colleges we visited only offered you to take 3 or 4 full A levels

They do still exist : a few subjects withdrew them this year. But they are definitely still a thing. Everyone does them in the sixth form college near me.

I didn’t realise AS was still an option?

Most schools have pulled A levels down to 3 and dispensed with AS so after the Corona Cohort GCSEs how many would opt for AS levels?

Exam boards reduce costs for AS and we don’t claim refunds for this year’s exams?

I think AS will have a surge in entries next year. But all exam entries cost money, so perhaps only in schools which can afford the extra hit.

I have said all along noble. That's pretty much how they announced school closures after all : to the general public, after the end of a teaching day....

@noblegiraffe- my thoughts too and I’m not a teacher!
Thus, two weeks to ‘let the dust settle’...

Just spent a long time reading all this. Thanks, lots of interesting thoughts.

My DS has been given some work, maybe 6-7 hours over the week. There were a couple of English assessments which he seemed to think the teacher might want to use when finalising her predicted grades. I don't know whether that was true, but it certainly caused him to take them more seriously, which was nice.

He is just planning to accept whatever he gets and only sit exams in the autumn for subjects he is taking at A level if he does not get what he wants for those. He will keep working on the revision books and past papers for those subjects so that he is ready at the start of Y12.

As others have said, the universities know this is an odd year and I think that the ones which have relied heavily on GCSEs in the past may re-think.

An interesting thought from DS is that he said he would like to do AS levels as he does not want the A levels to be his first external exams. I was impressed by that thinking as it would also help universities if this cohort had some external exams when they apply to university.

My bet is Friday evening after we’ve broken up for Easter. That’s when education announcements are normally made (remember the workload reduction pack that was released just at the start of the summer holidays?).

Still nowt from Ofqual/DfE today. In fact, other than a Zoom screenshot, when's the last time anyone even saw Gavin Williamson??

From what I can tell (which is very little) of maths the methods are vastly different from what I was taught. Even the way DD was taught division in primary did my head in...couldn’t figure it out as it was completely different from how I was taught. I can just imagine a parent doing a maths paper using old methods!

Now that you ask @ProggyMat I’m not sure...they just said they were looking at setting on line exams. We’ve not had details, and I think they floated it to see how everyone reacted (mixed!).

What I meant about the maths teacher was my DH could pretty much do the paper and no one would know! Obviously , most parents wouldn't...but after years as a teacher I can tell you, it's not as uncommon as it should be! It backfires sometimes, however...