GCSE summer 2020 thread 6 - Carry on Corona Cohort, Further adventures aboard the Corona Charabanc.

@neutralintelligence I think as much I am freaking out inside, I am all cool and collected in front of my DD. I don’t want my worries to rub off on her. I can get all my venting done on here so she doesn’t know.

According to the BBC new, schools will be asked to be more lenient about their 6th form entry criteria so your DS should be fine.

It’s good he got 9s in the mocks, they should have used that to rank him highly. It’s not the only thing they use but they should put him pretty high.

I have the opposite problem. My dd didn’t revise for some subjects so only got 4s and 5s in some subjects she is normally very good at.

At the moment I am considering buying uniforms for 3 different sixth forms with the possibility that on Aug 20 we will need to apply last-minute to some other college entirely if results are dire. Ds current school hasn't said anything about those kinds of contingencies.

@neutralintelligence I think sixth forms will be flexible with entrance requirements this year. With all the news reports it’s looks like it’s going to be very turbulent for a lot of kids so hopefully colleges are making plans to deal with it all fairly.

I am worried going in for results will be carnage with hysterical pupils and parents(me included). How can the staff deal with a hundred or two hundred pupils who haven't got what they expected before they have to choose a sixth form place the same day? There won't be a chance to speak to staff properly, especially with social distancing requirements. Normally pupils vaguely know if exams went ok or badly, but this year no-one knows what they will wake up to.

@neutralintelligence I feel the same. It’s just down to luck how the school did last few years.

Can I join in please? I am so worried about GCSE results day. DS school never really accepted that a kid who was given grade 6s based on y6 SATs could get 9s at GCSE, even when he got these in his mocks. He got higher in his mocks than his predicted grades but they didn't change the predicted grades. I worry about the teacher predicted grades, ranking, and exam board mass downgrading. I worry my son will be devastated and have a mental health crisis. Also what happens about sixth form entry criteria? Will schools relax offer requirements if lots of kids do less well than expected? We have been told to let the sixth forms know by midday on results day if we will take up a place, how can we do that with all the uncertainty and especially if the results are a disappointment.

ProggyMat if attending for results staff will have info, I guess to inform discussions around 6th form/college etc and if have asked for results to be emailed need to send a separate email request. I know we're lucky it sounds as if there will be a few staff in not just examinations officer.

EwwSprouts does the pupil’s request need to be verbal or written in order for them to find out their CAG and rank per subject at your DS’ school?

Well you will all be pleased to hear the TES article has been dismissed for the scaremongering twaddle it was.

www.gov.uk/government/news/response-to-tes-story-about-centre-assessment-grades

Do read the blog it links to of 6 August at the end too.

For next year it has to be exams or results will potentially become further removed from the reality of students' abilities year on year and improving schools will not see that reflected in results?.

School have given yr11 the option of going in for results or receive by email. They have said CAG and ranking will be disclosed to a pupil (not a parent) if they ask.

There are more than 15 pupils for every subject DS takes. Looking increasingly random given the TES article. I don't read the response as a strong denial. I feel sorry for the new head & all the teachers who spent so much time on all this.

@Zandathepanda do come back if so after results day....when we can really move on to the next stage

Argh I think I am going to stop looking at this board. Dd is predicted high grades. I looked back and the only ranking I know was that she came 6th out of 240 pupils in CAT scores in Year 7 - and a note to say she didn’t finish one of the exams as she was fixing her annoying wobbly desk ! However, she was hospitalised for a brain infection in January so had only been to a handful of lessons in the Spring Term. If it goes on ranking, she is really at the mercy of the teachers’ perception of her illness. Don’t know what to think. Glad she didn’t have to do the exams and so fortunate her cognitive abilities are not affected but the teachers were aware of seizures and tiredness. And I thought it would work out ok. She has had so much to contend with.

One thing I have really advised her to do is look forward NOT back and don’t bother with ‘resitting‘. Whether she takes my advice I have no idea.

Hopefully if there’s that much of a big shocker headline, employers will remember and on future CVs, this year group could put grades in two columns: school prediction v ‘algorithm‘ grade, with Coronavirus 2020 in bold. If there is that much of a discrepancy, I will pacify her with this!

Piggy I had to lol at this
"9 should be run around the block naked type level of excitement." so so true, a 7 is a great grade, it's an A after all!

Ofqual just published a responds to the tes article here:

www.gov.uk/government/news/response-to-tes-story-about-centre-assessment-grades

Oh that’s made me feel quite stressed & I’m not sure I understood that teachers grades would only be used for new schools or for subjects with less than 15 students.

Teacher grades will be used for new schools and for subjects with less than 15 students. They couldn’t only ask some schools for grades and not others so there had to be one coherent system. Whether they use the teacher grades or not the rank order that was submitted will be still be really important and that was the really time-consuming part for any department with more than one teacher. The process wasn’t a waste of time.

If teachers grades are being ignored what was the point in asking them to go through the stressful process?

I don't think postcodes have been used at all.

Fools chatting to a teacher whilst on holiday and after reading Scottish stories it seems post codes played a part in what the algorithm ‘ spat out’
despite CAGs or ranks.
I don’t know if this is on an individual level or centre level hence my question to those that may be in a position to advise.

I don't think schools will do as much of that : certainly the patronising value added type stuff will go .

That does depend where they put that girl in the rank order wheres...

I think there will be waves of appeals.

One thing I am really hoping is that schools will not do their normal "It was a great year for GCSEs; we achieved xyz and Fred, Bob and Sue did particularly well achieving ..." type reports for the local media/school websites.

Would really like to see schools putting out statements that all their students have worked hard for 5 years and many of them will not have got the results that they wanted and deserved, but they are all to be commended for what they have achieved whether that is reflected in their results or not ...... or something like that.

Are there any rules around reporting results for this cohort?