Starting Year 11 GCSE 2021 Thread 2

Teen I think you have an absolutely valid reason to say you can't commit. I hope DD is doing ok.

We have completed the consultation too, everything is continuing as normal at school, they are having lots of assessments which they have been told will be used so they have to treat it as such.

She got her mock results back and overall she was happy, one 8, two 6s, one 4 and the rest 5s so a real split we also had parents evening which was like some kind of bizarre speed dating in our living room, 4 minutes per teacher and then it cut off so it wasn't a conversation just them speaking to us.

She's decided on her sixth form choices and wants to stay at her current school which in the circumstances I agree is the best decision, she is quite low at the moment and also quite angry which I completely understand. She's going for a walk tomorrow with one of her first friends from Reception so she's looking forward to that.

I think I’d hold fire on any commitment. Pop it in pencil by all means. But commit? No.

I know what you mean Alexa but I'm not sure how teachers can adequately assess in some subjects without there being a test.

Would a test set by the teachers be regarded differently from an official 'mini assessment' or would they basically be the same thing?

I also know that for DD personally, having a focal point of a test/exam is a good motivator.

It's all a big fuck up.

DD and I went through the consultation tonight.

The more I think about the mini assessments, the less I see the point of them. If we're having exams, let's just do exams in the usual way. If we're having teacher assessment, let's trust the teachers to assess, rather than bringing in some kind of weird pseudo-exam where nobody knows what to expect. The mini assessments seem like the worst of both worlds to me.

I'd have preferred dd to have the normal exams, and that's what she wanted too, but we had just about managed to get our heads around the idea of teacher assessment and we're ok with that too. We don't want to fuck around with the mini assessments and I don't see the point.

I'm similar Lynette. What I think I want to happen is for exams to be reinstated but that is unlikely.

I've completed most of the answers and have saved it to go through with DD and also DH this weekend. I plan on getting us to sit with our own individual laptops and complete it at the same time. I want my and DH's response to best reflect what DD would prefer, provided we agree its in her best interests.

I got half way through completing the consultation and paused because I just don' actually know what I'd like to happen- but whatever is going, want clarity ASAP.

No one knows teenplustwenties The consultation is asking if they should be optional or compulsory, if the latter then how many, in May, in May/June, or in June. If teachers can go back over the whole 2 year course or just the last month, 3 months, 4 months etc. Asking if school have them ahead of time so they can choose which & when to give. They’re asking lots of questions about what students, parents and teachers want. It’s definitely worth you & if she’s up to it, your DD completing.

These mini-assessments. Are they 'whenever' or on fixed days?

I am under unbelievable amount of pressure for DD to take a school-day out in May (assuming she is even well enough which is another matter). I wasn't keen before, somehow I feel it seems even less reasonable now, if school might be doing their own assessments around then. Rock and hard place.

A Schools Week article seems to say we’d be notified W/c 22 Feb which means DD won’t feel remotely motivated to revise over half term like she probably should be doing:

schoolsweek.co.uk/ofqual-boss-admits-teachers-face-heavier-responsibility-in-exams-replacement-plan/

I’m guessing you’ve all completed the consultation and your DCs too. It’s predominantly about the mini assessments. It’s pretty much agree/disagree but there are some comment boxes too. Our and kids opportunity to make know what we/they prefer.

Yes I agree @FreekStar .
It would be disgraceful to mark a whole year group with lower grades through no fault of their own.
It will drastically affect their life chances.
Surely people in power would kick up a fuss?
I am viewing it as it will be different than last year as in it won't be full teachers predicted grades. Instead the children will have to produce evidence of what grade they are working at through mini exams, and then they will be adjusted to reflect average grades from previous years.
Let's hope they get this right this year.
I have been getting stressed out about it!

If the end results for the cohort are lower than the previous years, do you think there will be an adjustment to bring them in line with previous years? I don't see how they can justify a whole year having lower grades than they might otherwise have got in different circumstances and consequently facing disadvantage.

DD's school is very much business as usual. If there were no announcements to say otherwise you would assume they were still sitting the exams as normal

Same at DS’s school, keep going, keep working hard, don’t take the foot off the pedal yet as things aren’t set in stone.

DD's school seems to be carrying on business as usual.
Just repeated emphasis that the best thing a student can do to help themselves is to keep engaged and working hard.

@PettsWoodParadise

I totally agree with you.

Unfortunately when it comes to exams our leaders don't seem to be leading, but muddling through. I think kids would just go with the flow of what ever was decided, but it's the not knowing for them that is really tough.

Honestly Freek, I'm not the person to be asking. DD isn't doing school lessons, has dropped to 4 GCSEs, and I have no idea what is happening right now.

Thanks @TeenPlusTwenties, that's useful. I suggested to my dd that she revisit her notes over the next couple of weeks and see if she can add to them and improve them and add any new content she has since covered. She's done part of a maths paper today which was set for mocks but she missed which the teacher has asked them to do at home. Does this sound like we are on the right lines?

Freek DD is averaging about 30mins per day total right now. She did 30mins independent work today for the first time in months. I am hoping that by Feb half term she may be fit to sit an English or Maths paper over 2 sittings of ~ an hour each. She needs to be able to show something to know she'll at least get a grade.

However, assuming you were asking normally, what we did with DD1, who did GCSEs towards the end of the old system, was phase revision with milestones & breaks. So now would be 'work on stuff you didn't understand in your mocks', then there would be 'learn stuff you didn't need for mocks' then 'refresh stuff' and then final learnings with practice papers to check'.

This year, who knows, as the whole thing is up in the air.

Exactly @TeenPlusTwenties DD was working towards a May/June exam session and then school were trying to gently shift towards a June/July exam session then it seems no one knows.

I don't think it is only my teen who is sensitive to the unknown. She is hugely resilient but her Achilles heel is the unknown or sudden changes. She can plan for the absence of detail e.g. an interview, but she has plenty of other knowns she can latch onto e.g. date, format, broad context to frame her expectations. There doesn't seem to be much of this other context at the present time and it is putting her in a bit of spin.

This stop, start, maybe, possibly, not, definitely, hopefully, a bit, some parts of, is so so so bewildering. There are no decisions, just evolutions of thought. I appreciate that it is hard to make decisions when the virus isn't on a defined course, but if like some of the other devolved regions (much as I don't like the leadership in all of them) they had said 'we will do this' earlier on it would have hugely helped, it would have provided focus and certainty. Our children in England have had no focus or direction, only uncertainty, rumour and maybes.

And that uncertainty continues.