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

One school round here has done Leavers' Hoodies with 'Plague Year' on the back and a big red cross

Brilliant.

I think it's hard to say students have consistently attained a particular grade for two years though, as teachers never know for sure what mark equates to grade 7/8/9 etc. As that earlier video explained, the actual exams are graded on a standard deviation curve, so that results don't go up too much, so a mark that gets a 9 one year may only be awarded an 8 the following year.

My dd's mock mark in Biology would have been awarded a 9 in last year's GCSE, but her teacher gave her a 7 because she thought boundaries would change. Other than mocks though, she's not been given grades on a 1-9 scale much, if at all through years 10 and 11 for the reason that no one knows what mark will attain a 9 in any particular year.

Obviously if a child is in a school where typically there are lots of 9s and they always come top in every test/exam etc, you might say with confidence that they've always achieved 9s.

My dd honestly doesn't know for sure what grades she's been attaining the last two years! She does know raw scores though.

Oops!
Consistently attained a grade over 2 years and at Yr11 mocks yet may be awarded a lower grade- as in Heifers example
Also, we have not as yet been given a detailed indication on resists
As for the extra 2% at 7 and above and 1% at 4 is that for all GCSE subjects.
That was agreed for French but I haven’t seen an update to see it’s across all subjects.

@Monkey2001 It’s more a question if requested by an individual student should they share that individuals data.
Of course there are surprises on results day but that’s after students have had a chance to prove themselves in an exam
Also, as you’ve highlighted with your DSs results re-marks happen every year which can dramatically alter the grade awarded.
The point in trying to put across is there may be some students whom have consistently attained a g

@ProggyMat according to Mr Salles () schools are advised not to share rankings, even after results day.

Who knows......

Having been through all this 3 years ago, it may be helpful to remind you that most students get some surprises on results day even in a normal year.

DS1 was confident of A* in Music, Geography and Biology but was:

• 0.25% short in music after a moderation of performances in which the moderator did not actually listen to his performance;
• 1% short in Biology because the teacher who had predicted him A* throughout gave him a B for coursework so his almost 100% UMS in exams could not make up for it;
• missed an A* in Geography because they had never done a case study before the exam and so he did not know how they were supposed to use data and got a B for that paper after 99% for coursework and 100% UMS for one of the papers

On the other hand, he was expecting a 7 for Eng Lit, got a 6, got it re-marked and got a 9. Expected a A/B for RE and got an A* with almost 100% UMS.

So on balance his grades were about right, but not in the right subjects because of randomness of the exam process.

This year it seems unlikely that any grades will be more than 1 grade from where they should be and the video I linked said that they would allow 2% extra 7-9 and 1% extra 4+ and the randomness of exams has been taken out of the equation so there is good cause for optimism.

On the day it feels so important, but in reality, particularly for this cohort, they will not feel so important within a couple of years.

@Monkey2001 I don’t think anyone would expect to see the full ranked list
I would imagine it would be something like grade 7 ranked 7/18
It would be very difficult with a subject which attracts only a few entries. That said, the schools results history would show the typical spread of grades for that subject for the past 3 years.
The poster that mentioned grades and ranking could be requested after the results had been informed by their DCs school that this would be the case.

@ProggyMat from www.naht.org.uk/news-and-opinion/news/leadership-news/awarding-grades-for-gcse-as-and-a-levels-summer-2020-what-do-schools-and-colleges-need-to-do/#an-results

Can students request this data under GDPR?

Ofqual guidance explains that in respect of personal data, such as marks or other information processed by a data controller for the purposes of determining results, an exemption from disclosure exists under paragraph 25(2) of the Data Protection Act. This allows data controllers (in this case centres) to delay disclosure of such information until after results have been issued.

which is not very clear, although under GDPR they are not supposed to disclose data which is identifying for a third party, so maybe it depends on whether disclosing a position in the rankings would mean that you could tell how others had been ranked. They certainly would not disclose the full ranked list.

Dd's school said this week that senior management, as well as scrutinising the grades per department, have also looked at each girl's spread of grades to make sure they look right for her. I'm not sure whether this would change much, but I guess it's possible that one girl could end up top of the 7 rankings in a number of subjects and another girl could be bottom of the 8 rankings in a few subjects and it might be better to switch a few round if overall they are of equal ability and work ethic?

I've tried to prepare dd for a few 7s where she would have wanted 8s. We know the proportion of the year who got 8/9s last year in each subject and she's not convinced she would fall into that top % on historic work for her 'worst' subjects. At the end of the day, she probably would have pulled the stops out and worked harder towards the exams, but if she gets 7s in those subjects that does reflect her aptitude and effort up to March!

@wheresthebeach the request for the information could/would be made after the official grade from the exam board
If someone was expecting a 7 given previous performance but received a 6 the info requested from the school could show that their assessment was indeed a 7 but then it had been pulled down by exam board
@Monkey2001 the poster on the A level thread seemed to think the rank could be disclosed too.
Hopefully, none of us will have the need to request the information.

@ProggyMat - that's interesting. Wonder if the school would be under an obligation to share, or if optional. I thought all the previous guidance was that kids wouldn't be told? I'm not sure if its a good thing or not? Results day could be awful if downgraded.

Thanks @Monkey2001 - Fingers crossed. I always worry about SATs as DD dyslexic and wasn't given extra time. Also increased print size wasn't allowed for her (eyes obs) so her SATs weren't indicative of her ability. However if it's cohort based then should be okay. Just feeling down about it all I think.

@Wheresthebeach if you watch the video I linked earlier you will see that they also look at SATs results in moderation, so a strong cohort should be picked up.

@ProggyMat I heard on Radio 4 that students will be able to ask what the school have as the assessed grade, but NOT where they were ranked.

Thanks for the new thread Fools
I can’t stop laughing at the Plague Year Hoodie 😂
I told DD but she just gave me a withering look...
We’ve actually had a prom dress fitting this week but it’s really cheered DD up and if it languishes in her wardrobe until Yr13, so be it
Heifer I don’t think I could as cool if DD was given a grade less than she’d ‘attained’ for 2 years plus achieved at Mocks. DD would be absolutely livid!
I read on an A level thread, some time ago, that whilst schools can’t give the grades prior to ‘results day’, afterwards a request can be made under data laws to ascertain how the school had graded and ranked a student’s subjects.
Does anyone know if this is the case?

It's so depressing to think that kids will get lower marks than they deserve due to previous cohorts. DD's year was expected to get the highest marks for years because they are able. It will be gutting if the teachers predictions, which I think reflect her work, get downgraded. I've started to dread results day now.

This was supposed to be their most careful, best summer ever.

No suggestion of hoodies here.

DS is sleeping in till lunch, doing a tiny bit of bridging work (mostly to avoid being nagged) and then gaming. We scarcely see him apart from meal times.
I suspect he must be bored though, because yesterday he was looking at the Chemistry bridging work and he has absolutely no intention of studying Chemistry further. Although as he has no intention of studying so many things, he doesn't what he actually will be studying next year, perhaps it's a good thing he's broadening his horizons.

Is he the only one that doesn't know what he wants to do next year, and how do you move beyond this?

Could somebody please point me in the direction of the main A level thread? Is it here in Secondary Education or in the Coronavirus topic? Thanks!

Just place marking for the new thread

@Heifer another one here with a whiteboard list!

Lots of clothes being sorted out - possibly to optimistically make room for a new 6th form wardrobe (no uniform)!

DS found it rather amusing really & I could hear his eyes roll when I said I had emailed the school 😬
He said that the students on the ‘Prom Sub Committee’ were all Queen Bee’s & Sporting heroes - so it was all rather self serving.

It felt like ‘Star of Week’ at Primary all over again!

Sounds a recipe for disaster @Northumberlandlass teethitching indeed

Thanks for the new thread.

DS’s school have produced Leavers Hoodie’s but I was disappointed they were just the usual design - I thought ‘Lockdown Leavers’ might have been a nice touch.

Apparently they are organising some social online engagement instead of a Prom - not that DS was that bothered. They are holding some American style prom awards which made my teeth itch - so I sent an email to the school about such superficial shite being included.... “who is most likely to be a millionaire” “most likely to win the internet” “likely to sleep through exams” ...

Thanks for those 2 videos, very interesting. Especially liked the 2nd one which made a very good point that although about 50% of results will be changed from what the teacher predicted (up and down), adjustments are made every year anyway so the grades don't improve too much year on year..

This may help explain later to DD if she doesn't get a certain grade which she believes she deserves . For example an 8 in PE, she has been working at this grade, never getting lower in tests or homework etc, got an 8 in Mocks - didn't spend as much time revising as some other subjects so COULD have got a 9 in exam but who knows. It's possible that she will actually be awarded a 7. Her school cohort this year are much lower predicted grades in PE, most of the class were working at 3/4/5 apparently, so I suspect that the results in previous 3 years weren't many 8s. This may well mean that although she deserves an 8 she won't get it. And even if she was at a school where lots had 8s before her, the grade could be reduced to a 7 if lots more people also predicted 8s nationally, which would have happened anyway even if they had taken exams and too many got 8 results. I don't think DD is aware of this happening every year and it wasn't just about what score you got on the exam itself.

I can see some tears coming tbh, if DD doesn't get the grades she believes she deserves, but I am guessing that in some subjects her grade may be higher than she believes (fingers crossed anyway).

I've tried to get across to her that it doesn't really matter if it's a 7, 8, or 9, or 5,6,7 (Chemistry as she is around a 6) as long as she gets what she needs to do the next thing, at the school she wants to go too (another story as she still hasn't decided to stay or go)…

DD seems more unsettled now that the exams would have been over, even though she has met up with friends, it's now that she knows she would be having "the best summer of her life"..

She is doing some A level bridging work, but not lots. Seems to be sleeping later and later. (going to sleep later as well as waking up later). I am leaving her to her own devices at the moment. I can see from her message board in her room that she is doing some work, stretching, exercise routine, tidying her room, sorting clothes etc - she is like me in that she loves a list to tick off :-)

August 20th seems so very far away, so fingers crossed we all cope (us and the Yr11s) !!

There is something about.some of these tutors on Youtube...I love that he is just using a pen and paper to explain, its working, it's helpful, seem so genuine compared to some of the manufactured dross.

Unfortunately the school decided that the last mock results (early March) would not be released. One teacher emailed Dd before covid-19 (and that school decision)in delight basically saying 'don't tell anyone I told you ...but you got an 8' on the back of another convo.

I do feel sorry for the other years, it all seems so rubbish for them