Starting Year 11 GCSE 2021 Thread 2

DD’s school seem to have taken a calm and practical approach. They say they will need to carry on studying to progress to the next level and so there is no air of giving up and their response seems to have rubbed off enough on DD. However many of the departments have got a good way into the syllabus. DD had completed Maths and was solely working on FM which they expect to finish by half term and then it was all about revision. I know many aren’t in the same boat.

Expecting to be twiddling thumbs in Spring DD has ordered all her classical Civ and English A level books and seems to now have gone from demotivated at the bottom of a slough of despond to steaming ahead and positive, I am sure the rollercoaster of ups and downs will continue.

Hope your DCs are not at rock bottom like mine seemed to be yesterday.

DS is having a ‘live’ timetable so I assume they are going with business as usual. He is only coming out of his room to make cups of tea. He missed them when he went back last term!

That was nice of the HOY @UncomfortableSilence

Oh it's just a complete balls up... dd is down even though she's in a really good position, she had her mocks in November and gained 7s and above she feels demotivated and is gutted she's misses her last drama performance. She feels like it's all been for nothing. I'm trying to comfort and motivate her but it's not easy.

DD is being kept very busy today, she's had two Google meets and her English teacher told them they will be continuing as if exams were still taking place, they want to make sure as much of the content is completed as possible.

We just had a link sent for an online parents evening next week, I just hope they give some guidance soon as to the plans but not holding my breath.

HOY sent a nice motivational email to them all last night which finished with you're all amazing and you can all do this.... whatever this is!

DD still seems on the edge a bit though I'm trying to stay calm and go with it for now whilst helping DD2 who is Y6 and trying to WFH

I agree
It’s going to be no good for their MH if they have nothing to do at all
Not sure how poor teachers are supposed to keep them all motivated though

I'm just really hoping whatever they decide it involves keeping the kids at school (virtual or IRL) and engaged up to end of June when exams would have finished. I don't want my DD sitting around for months on end with nothing to do. I know some kids and families really struggled with this last year.

I'll probably just throw something at the tv!

Gavin is meant to be telling the Commons what the plan is tomorrow

DD had a biology lesson on teams this morning - the teacher said the first they heard about exams being cancelled was when we did with Boris' announcement so I expect it will take them a while to get themselves sorted. DD has been told to carry on as if nothing has changed. All her friends have said they are not going to bother learning anymore - hopefully that is just teenage bullshit. There is a big risk of a lot of kids disengaging totally at this point..

I feel for you @teenplustwenties and your DD!!
DD1 is A level but she’s just not getting the grades at the moment due to similar issues as your DD. Sounds odd but June/july exams were keeping her going. I’m not sure how school can assess her. I don’t think she’ll get the grades needed for uni via teacher assessment. They ‘know’ she can get them if she was her usual self but they won’t have the evidence. She’s v upset.

@ineedaholidaynow

Thank you.

BTECs are still going ahead I think

This is a nightmare...my dh heard on the radio this morning that some of the exams will be cancelled....does that mean not of all of them? Which one?

This just creates more questions....

So many questions.

As an adult I don't mind what happens (well I do!) but I can happily cope as long as I know what will happen. I really feel for kids who have been left up in the air. I don't ever want to hear the government say they care about mental health ever again

Oh hell.
DD not being in school or having been doing schoolwork at all, I was relying on getting her up to speed for June.

Oh that’s a really good point pettswood I hadn’t thought of the 3 week extension.

Oh and the bits I am reading about being able to use what would have been study leave or finishing in early July to catch-up wasn’t well received in our household by DD. Will they make them go on until usual dates near end of July?

Still so many questions

Our (once only) mocks were due this week but were then pushed along to the following week so that testing could be done prior. Now these are cancelled. So like many of you, it’s tricky to see where the school will get their evidence from. We all know they have data and can give decent predictions but I’m guessing it’ll be ‘evidence’ that’s the issue. I’m not sure how this ‘evidence’ can work anyway given schools for different mocks, at different time, with different marking boundaries. Nothing is standardised.

I assume children in Scotland haven’t given up as their exams were cancelled some time ago. I assume there will be some form of assessment so they need to keep going

I just hope that is not school done for them, exams will be what they will be, they can be predicted or retaken. I'm more worried about my DS having nothing to do all year.

I agree with you all...my ds has gone to bed upset...he is worried . His school had exams in September to see what gaps there were and he was hoping to improve in his January mocks but since he won't be going back into school till feb. Am not sure what will happen.

I don't won't any online mocks since the results may not be the true reflection of all the kids.

He is worried that he only concentrated on the subjects he liked but now wants to do well in all his GCSEs and is now worried he can't do well and they will use the September results.

I am sure they won't but am keen to find out how they will be graded?