Current Year 10 2020/2021 support thread

Hi all, hope everyone is well. Congrats on all the high scores for Senior Maths challenge!

We are nearing the end of our enforced 2 week school closure/home-learning. It’s been relatively pain free but I must admit I’m looking forward to them going back to school next week.

English Lit wise DD has just finished reading An Inspector Calls and that’s what they did their assessment on. They’ve moved on to poetry now which DD absolutely hates. I’ve never been one for poetry either. I think they are then doing Hamlet. Still no sign of her grade collection that are meant to include predicted grades. I’m hoping they’ll be given out once they return to school.

DD is doing Jekyll and Hyde, Lord of the Flies and Macbeth for English - cheery bunch . She has also informed me that they will get ATL scores this week, I'm hoping that there will be something in there to link to grades as well.......

Well done now the DC with their competition results and the predicted results.

My class at school read To Kill a Mockingbird and the other Of Mice and Men so I read both. DS’s school have decided against Great Expectations this year in case of lockdowns so are doing A Christmas Carol. They are also doing Romeo and Juliet which I did in Year 8 but have very fond memories of. I was excited for Macbeth but alas it is not to be.

I reread Jane Eyre in lockdown and large parts were far more draggy than I remember.

Good luck to your DS in the Kangaroo Its What would be interesting would be to see the scores differences for those sitting online at home unsupervised compared to those sitting in school with supervision.

Just saw on DD's GoForSchools we now have MTGs in - I looked it up and it says minimum target grade, before we just had current grade and were told it would raise by 1 to 2 from this time of year. Though not sure if its MTGs for year end or GCSE end - she seems to have 6 x9s, 3 x 8+s, 1 x 8 and 1 x 6 for MTGs. Though the 6 is for history and she was said to have a current grade of 9 last year in that but this year got a NQT who changed current grade to 4 and she did loads of history in lockdown. Delighted with that though especially English which has improved.

Both have orthodontist tomorrow - they just phoned and I thought no its cancelled and we've been waiting years but going ahead and just covid questions, phew.

Well done to your two @SilkieCat really good scores for yr9 and yr10! I did notice the boundaries were slightly higher but not that much higher than 2014 and 2016 for example so not sure how much the sitting it over 4 days and online changed things. (The geek in me would be tempted to try and test to see if it is statistically significant if my stats was not so rusty!) Hope your DS enjoys the kangaroo, DH did a couple of practice papers with DS over the weekend so hopefully he will enjoy it this afternoon.

DS did Jane Eyre last year and thought it was the most boring book ever! I made him watch the NT production of it when it was streamed in the Easter holidays which I think helped, he is doing drama GCSE as well so ended up watching a lot of productions online in lockdown. I've been brushing up my Much Ado about Nothing knowledge as well! Sadly I am completely unable to help him in his weakest subject (French) as I did German at school!

My DS (y9) is currently doing Of Mice and Men and loves it - think its as it has rabbits in and he has an indoor rabbit though he doesn't like the use of the 'n' word (racist) but generally most I've known him love a book.

Got SMC back and DS has 90 - 1 point off gold and kangaroo (second round) but really good at 13 and was tougher this year as some did it online unsupervised and also done over 4 days rather than normal 1. He did it day 1 on paper at school but boundaries are up a lot this year. I've got school to let him sit the kangaroo anyway 'just for fun' as he really wants to sit it. DD got gold and kangaroo in y9 and best in school but this year also has silver, her school was lower than last year's at 80 but its primarily an A level age competition so still very good, think its top 30% or so. Very glad they are still running it despite covid, amazing voluntary organisation behind it.

Mercedes I try and do that too - ds has “Of Mice and Men” next term which I have read before but will need to brush up on!
Ds is back this week after his self isolation - he was really happy. We had virtual parents’ evening too which was wonderful. All his teachers said such lovely things about him and we’re looking at a healthier set of grades for GCSEs than even I was expecting. Was thrilled.

I also read the books that DC are reading, engage with the humanities subjects and still appear to be able to help with Year 8 French and Spanish, year 10 Spanish I have my moments. I also love revising and exams (having got to these skills as a mature student). DS resists my help and tbf his Spanish is prob better than mine but I can definitely help with conversation as his accent can be appalling, but I’ve noticed that he can do it when he is on his own. He did eventually seek me out when they did Animal Farm to discuss.

DS was very happy when I told him he had been given 3 reward points for his "Fantstaic engagement and conduct during the PSHE sessions" as he wasn't there - he was at home and just told me the whole day should be put in the bin and he wasn't listening to any of it. It was sex ed so I didn't argue that one.

Afraid I can't help with Spanish unless it was on dora the explorer DS loves the periodic table, that's within the 10% of his work he doesn't get me to do. I told him tonight that DD said she's recently been doing 4 hours study a night and up from about 5 mins a night last 2 years. He said what is the point in doing that? wasting her time. It's very much why do work if you can get someone else to do it for you. At least he's back at school now.

In lockdown I had to engage the cat's help as he would listen with the cat but now she's got so elderly she can't get here or stay awake. I'm wondering if I can train his indoor rabbit, don't think there's much hope of training his silkie chickens.

Hi all
Wow @SilkieRabbits and @Rollergirl11 my DH rolls his eyes as he watches me read DS books, learning his topics so I can assist him with his revision. Thought I was the only one. Glad to know I’m not alone. If either of you need to know about ionic bonding, covalent bonding, periodic table or anything chemistry related come to think of it, I’m here 🤗.

Struggling with Spanish however lol

A 6 may well go to an 8 - a low 6 goes to a 7, a mid 6 goes to a low 8 and a high 6 goes to a mid 8 at this stage.

We’ll see Silkie. I don’t think our school works like that! I’m not really expecting him to get more than a 6 generally in Spanish gcse but I know he’s expecting 8s/9s in maths and the sciences so.... 🤷🏻‍♀️

It could be those are current grades, predicted are about 1.5 higher normally at this time of year, its 1 grade per 12 months. We get a 'at' grade - or plus with our current grades so 7,7+, 8-, 8 type grading for current grade. A lot of the subjects the highest possible current is 8 not sure why, maybe as a year to go. But its often only one or two questions between the higher grade categories from what DD has said so 33/33 = 8, 31 or 32/33 = 7+, 30 is a 7.

Last day of home learning for DS - whole year group on a 2 week isolation after 3 cases in the year group. He’s coped really well although is keen to get back next week. Monday is also parents’ evening and I’m really hoping for a steer on predicted grades. Nothing so far apart from half term’s attainment grades. They were “out of 9” and ds got all 6s and 7s but I’ve no clue how they were calculated. I’m presuming they weren’t predicted grades as his best subjects (maths, physics) were 6s and his absolute worst (Spanish) was a 7!

Congrats to your DS Ithink No results back here though DD thinks DS (13) beat her so expecting lots of arguments here She got Gold kangaroo last year but she thinks she just got silver this year and 80 and thinks DS got 90 which is 1 mark below Kangaroo and gold.

She's doing really well in the GCSE subjects 8 x predicted 9 so far with english language and biology left to grade and the NQT in history grading her a 6 but last year she was graded a 9 and DD says her grading is all over the place and based on 1 4 mark question done at home. Though very glad just the one subject that's causing issues.

She also managed a whole week of being on time at school and got a reward point for that. She's always running and very absent minded with time.

DS had his last day of isolation, he has been so whiney about school work this week.

Our parents evening not til June! Madness.

Perhaps our school is the same then as parents’ Evening is in March.

Well done to DS.

I don't think DS has assessments until middle of Jan and then we get some data in Feb just before parents eve. There is no up to date info on their online system - not even his current timetable.
I've just realised he forgot to take his mask this morning! Hope he doesn't get into trouble.
Still we heard yesterday that he did very well in the SMC and got through to the kangaroo so pleased about that.

We've been really lucky in avoiding isolation so far. Having persuaded ds to admit to actually having some assessments, now trying to get him revising for them. There are so many distractions when everything's online but he absolutely won't allow me to oversee what he's doing, or help him make a revision plan - I suppose it's baby steps...

3 identified cases at school but DS not a close contact.
We should get DSs first year 10 progress report on Friday (according to the school calendar). It’ll be the first one since January this year so eagerly awaited to see what weeks of lockdown worksheets in year 9 equates to in terms of actual progress.

Ds's year group had a case that meant he had to isolate over half term
I've never heard of SMC, it hasn't featured at his school yet - I'll have to ask him about that as he's a maths boffin so it'll be right up his street.

DofE stuff has paused during lockdown, then there are loads of catch-up meetings in December/January.

We’ve had a positive case in DS’s year but he hasn’t been told to isolate. Apparently they’ve identified those who have had close contact.

We’ve still had no communication about year 10 at all, when we can expect some target/predicted grades etc though I am expecting something by the end of the month based on last year’s timetable.

We are still waiting to hear about the SMC as well, I think results are supposed to be out tomorrow but DS doesn't have maths tomorrow so we may not hear until Wed. We are still waiting on the results of his Cayley paper which he did the day before school closed back in March!

He didn't do the SMC last year, don't know if anybody else at his school did. There is another excellent mathematician in his year (who usually beats him) so no expectation to get best in school here, we're just pleased they sorted it out so he could do it as initially they said it wouldn't be possible.

Good luck to those doing school at home again because of isolating! Feeling very fortunate we haven't had to do that (yet!)

DD is still at school and has managed to avoid isolations so far but DS is on day 3 and the novelty has definitely worn off, he's acting like it really should be a holiday now. He's pretending to be deaf anytime I mention work, or slumping to floor, or claiming to have an urgent need for the bathroom every 5 minutes then running past me afterwards. I managed to get him to listen to Of Mice and Men today with me reading but that was it.

Still awaiting the SMC scores but DD thinks DS beat her which won't go down well as he's a year younger and last year she was best in school. There's a new boy in school who's come from a top Malaysian private school who is really good at maths so wouldn't be amazed if he's top this year. Think results due out tomorrow. DD currently on a run. DS is on his usual slump with rabbit.