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

As we are now mid week, here’s hoping further news on how grades will be determined is imminent.

I am very interested in seeing how this plays out. My yr 11 child has been told by school to carry on doing 2 hours revision a day over the holidays (less obviously than would normally have been expected) and they will do open book assesments after Easter. This seems pretty unlikely to me though.

A couple of exam board websites have crashed today which makes me wonder if mad updates are being done to pages.

As our school is still hinting at this.

I think 'm just looking for reassurance that no further assessments are going to be made.

You’re probably right @crazycrofter. I was shocked when I discovered that targets for GCSE’s were based on KS2, and KS2 targets based on KS1. Seems like the system is designed assuming linear progress.

I presume DfE will be giving guidance on how much proof is required to back up a grade, and maybe some sort of weighting eg mocks v classroom? Be interesting to see.

I think the teachers' unions are currently coming up with some workable suggestions to present to the DofE.

Since many teachers feel that snapshot GCSEs are not the best way of assessing students, the current situation can be take as an opportunity to show that Teacher Assessment can work fairly and that it won't turn into a mad grade inflation.

I don’t think SATs will play much of a role @Wheresthebeach except for at a whole school level, eg to demonstrate why the distribution of grades for this year 11 in school X should be higher than what the same school achieved the previous year - because KS2 results on entry were higher overall.

They can’t play a massive role because private schools don’t do them. My ds (not in this cohort) didn’t do them either because he was home educated at that point.

I’m not sure what more they can say than what we’ve deduced already? I guess they will set a deadline for schools to submit their grades and a date for ‘results day’.

Yeah I’m getting nervous. I’d hate KS2 results to be a guide. DD is dyslexic and without extra time, increased print size etc she struggles. With the access arrangement she flys. I really don’t like the system of predicting based on tests at 11. I think the results should be about that moment in time, rather than a guide for how they’ll do in Geography or History. Secondary is so different, and kids develop so much.

I thought it was to be out this week?

Me popcorn! When are we expecting that announcement?

Anyone else starting to get nervous again about the Ofqual decisions this week? I assume they will have made some decisions, it could all just be more vague advice of course.

You're welcome!

@FoolsAssassin I'll swap you a toastie for some cake! Your DS did amazingly well then given his difficulties, you should be very proud of him.

@ProggyMat I asked him he told me my idea was 'dead' and then laughed when i made a sad face, he's such a meaner but I'll work on him. I got my toastie though.

Ah yes of course ! Thanks @Piggywaspushed.

DD also got a 6 in Maths but was one mark off in reading (sad that I remember that!). She barely ever reads now though, maybe she'll pick it up again over these next few months. She was thinking about English Lit A Level, but I think she's settled on RS, Psychology and History now.

Oo just found a report - she got 6 in maths and 6 in parts of English but a 5 in the reading. So 5 in English overall. No subdivisions a b c on the report anywhere.

My Dds different primary schools reported it differently, which was shown on their report cards through Secondary. 1st child had 5a marked down, 2nd child just 5. Never bothered me before but may be important this year if they are going with that matrix. It seems the secondary school didn't ask for subdivisions. Any school admin know if schools do in fact get raw data or just input it from the primary school?

@OrangeCinnamon no it was piggy who compiled the list.
@JustHereWithMyPopcorn good idea!
DD is asleep I’ll ask her when she wakes which book will be the joint effort

Orange, it was Piggy.
I’ve already started curating books on the list from our home library, and will buy others as DD works through them.

Thank you for new thread @FoolsAssassin.

Sorry been AWOL all - was it you @proggymat who sent the reading list ? DD is reading Tess in preparation for English Lit A level. We have Caroline Criado-Perez' Invisible Women for Sociology and nothing for Music prep so far ( not too worried about that). Would be really nice if she could get into more reading and some classics - they just don't have the time usually do they.

I'm doing Open Uni ( hence my sporadic absences) and we have been looking at Openlearn courses too. DD currently completing one on Human Rights Law.

Awaiting the Grade 5 Theory resit mark with trepidation.

Hmm, I'm thinking now. He said yesterday that he's going to start reading The Great Gatsby (when the book arrives this week), maybe I'll read it too and we can have a mini book club!

Go for it!