Year 9 and Year 10 GCSE students - unfairly treated by Ofqual?

It's one of the carpet ones isn't it?

Yes, totally blame your school. These practices are outdated, unfair on the kids ( fancy studying at A level a subject you haven’t done for 2 years) and only done to game the system, as evidenced by the fact you claim to be in top 5%. Poor kids, shit slt.

Is this an independent school? City perhaps?

For those commenting on the various ons and outs of taking some GCSEs early: does it make your child a better rounded learner to be narrowing their curriculum early?

The whole point of banning early entry and endless re-sits is to reverse the trans where schools have become exam factories.

Everything Ofsted has been talking about recently makes a lot of sense- more sense than they have ever made. Students should enjoy a broad curriculum that is challenging and well planned and has joined up thinking that allows them to become confident in their topics.

Limiting a child to the GCSE specs in Yr 9 is the total antithesis of this new approach. Yr9 should be about exploring skills and interesting content- not just what the exam board deems worthy.

DD1 is in Y10 and was due to take a GCSE this session - her entire year group have studied the subject for two years and it was the first time the school had made it compulsory at GCSE. She's sat the same mock exams as Y11, been to the same after school drop-in sessions etc. but won't now get a grade. It's not a statutory subject, nor one that she would have chosen given the option so if Y10 aren't given grades, we'll request that she's not entered for the exam whenever it happens.

Everything is so up in the air for the Y10s that for DD1, having the possibility of an extra exam hanging over her at the same time she's potentially trying to get through course content for ten other GCSE subjects independently, doesn't work. She's had music exams (not GCSE) postponed too as well as performance assessments so it's better for her to just write off the unexamined subject and move on.

I feel differently about schools that cram two year courses into one year though - this was a full GCSE done over two years, as the course is designed to be done.

Children tend to take fewer GCSEs now the content and level of these exams has increased. Think they are more in line with the old style O-levels which I took many years ago. Then it was very rare for children to take more than 10 in one sitting. Although I do remember taking RE a year early. But everyone did in the school, and I assumed that was because it was a convent.

Sorry for all typos my phone changed half the words
Op think we will just have to wait and see I'm sure something will be announced soon

My understanding is that first exam result is what's I league table law so if fail razors etc don't count so wouldn't inflate a school if lots fail taking too early
I can still see benefit of taking one year early and they would have option to re take if they wanted .
My year 10 is going to have a huge challenge ahead and I would be fine with teacher assessments personally when it comes to my children as they both under perform in exams others would prefer exams as their children may be better at exams . But these year groups were accepted for the exams therefore should really be given same options . If ofsted don't like it then they should not allow schools to enter early . But I'm not a fan of ofsted anyway . And yes my son did sit 11 GCSE's and not because he's exceptionally bright just how many it worked out , he was last year to do that as we style gcse he also sat and due them being supposedly a little harder school have dropped an option so no one is doing 11 anymore

Blame the school as they should not be entering kids this way. They can take the exam next year after revising

I do think the year 10 and year 12 students are the ones who ultimately will perhaps be worse affected by this. They will have missed a terms teaching of their subjects and still have to sit their exams next year.

The current exam system is crazily intense. There is no denying that. Students have to do a much higher number of exams for fewer qualifications. I am not defending that. What I, and I took most posters, are saying is that the system has to be a fair as possible. A school leaver who did 20+ exams in one sitting competing against a school leaver who did roughy 7 a year for three years isn’t fair. I know it can never be a completely level playing field (I went to private school and now teach in an SEMH school so I have seen it very close up) but schools should be ashamed of this blatant manipulation.

If forced to sit exams at the appropriate time it will be interesting to see how the results/university offers actually compare to national levels.

The one this year was a " No designation inspection", not sure what it means, but they rated effectiveness 9.

It means no one came to visit your school. It means they checked the data, we’re happy, and put it back in the cycle. Thankfully, this is stopping with the new Ofsted Deep Dives. It also means previous posters were correct in their assumptions.

OP, in England, only a first entry in exams (to prevent multiple resits) are included in the league tables and this was assumed by Ofqual and exam boards that the terminal year would and should be Year 11. A few schools relied on these resits to get better results in the past. A tiny minority of schools looked at how they could continue to play the system and have instead gone against guidance, as you say.

Of course it is easier in the short term to do exams the way your school does them OP -that’s why your school is doing it that way but it is not the way the vast majority of schools are doing them (who are following what they are supposed to) and therefore your school is causing a disparity that means the majority of the time, they ‘win’ the system. This time, instead, it is every other school who is ‘winning’ just this once. (And I wouldn’t say thy are winning-there are few winners in this awful situation)

That’s why posters are saying your school is unfair. They have caused this situation with your child. No one else.

This is an article that I strongly suggest you read OP to understand the data and how few schools do what your school does (and it refutes your claim that 500,000 odd children will be affected)

ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2019/08/gcse-results-2019-to-what-extent-are-schools-entering-pupils-early/

Art exams are taken in April. Nobody is walking out of a 10 hour art exam and straight into physics.
4 exams for a subject isn’t normal, nor is sitting 11 different subjects. Nobody is sitting 44 exams. Before the exams proper start, art is completely out of the way, as are big chunks of mfl, music, drama, food tech, DT etc. Even dcs who don’t do any of these subjects would be unlikely to have more than 22 exams for 9 subjects over a 5-6 week period. It’s not “cruel”

My experience from my childhood was that no one took exams early but the able ones did AO levels, S levels, etc.

My eldest was part of an experiment at his school - they did Eng Lit in Y10 and Eng Lang in Y11. I'm assuming it didn't work, overall, as 2 years later my next didn't do it.

As an invigilator, the only people doing exams early are usually in a language (bilingual students normally).

Given it's not the 'norm' I'd expect the guidance to be based on what the majority do and set my expectation low for those that go off script. There are much more urgent things that need addressing than students who can still take those exams at a later date along with their cohort.

I call bullshit.

As Chloe Decker has already pointed out, no mainstream school as kept it’s Outstanding status under Ofsted under the new inspection regime.

OP- you could tell us the name of the school and we could read the inspection report ourselves.

It would be an utter scandal if a school retained Outstanding while running GCSEs in this manner. There is no rigour in that system.

OR this is a private school and is actually inspected by ISI. Which would make more sense.

I think be thankful that your kid won’t have to sit a gcse at 14yo after a shorter period of teaching. Dodged a bullet.

School will have to sort out teaching next year to keep them current/fresh.

No child needs to be off sick for a week with a cold fgs!