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Original poster

Local schools getting easier GCSE exams / inflated grades

85 replies

JoannaFurneaux · 06/05/2021 19:44

Hi all,
my daughter is currently at grammar school where they are having very strictly run exams over the course of a month. 2 per subject. One of his friends goes to a local private school. Apparently his friend at private school said they have been having exams for weeks all of which can go towards their exam grades. Her friend who previously had struggled is forecasted to get almost top marks in every subject! Another friend at the same private school is also getting much higher predicted grades. Previously had also struggled as well. This sounds extremely unfair and is putting extra pressure on my own daughter and is surely not an isolated case. Does anyone know the best place I can complain to about this? I simply want to ensure the fairest possible outcome for my own daughter which at present it sounds like she wont get.
Thank you
Jo

OP posts:
honeybuns007 · 06/05/2021 19:58

So you want to complain about a specific private school? What is the point? Thousands of schools around the country will be doing whatever they will be doing. What happens at your local private school will not affect your child

Original poster
JoannaFurneaux · 06/05/2021 19:57

I am sorry to hear about that. The point I am trying to make though as far as this school is concerned they are deliberately making it easier for their students to get far higher grades than my own daughters school who are doing it fairly.

OP posts:
MarjorieBouvier · 06/05/2021 19:57

If these schools are all sitting exam after exam, presumably in proper exam conditions, then why bother cancelling GCSEs/Alevels in the first place?

Greenmarmalade · 06/05/2021 19:57

As I said before both of her friends right up until they started doing these exams had been getting barely average results.

In which year? Year 10? They were being tested differently then, possibly on the entire gcse course. Now students are being tested only on things they’ve been taught, so grades are, rightly, different and more realistic.

Greenmarmalade · 06/05/2021 19:55

I imagine that your daughter, studying at a grammar school, is getting decent grades. No?

You actually can’t do anything as you don’t know how they’re assessing students in other schools. Teachers are under insane pressure to grade students and collect folders full of evidence. They are all trying their best to be fair and get the best outcome for their kids, as they’ve had a really hard time.

Why is this putting your daughter under more pressure? As long as she gets maths, English and science, and gets into college/wherever, job done.

wonderstuff · 06/05/2021 19:54

Wouldn't be surprised.

LEMtheoriginal · 06/05/2021 19:53

My daughter is yr 11 and has been tested constantly since november. I can tell you now it is not a soft alternative. Its nearly bloody breaking her. I hope she gets the grades she has worked so hard for

Original poster
JoannaFurneaux · 06/05/2021 19:51

I should add on of her friends was even laughing about the fact they were going to get such high grades. Its not their fault but surely the school in question are in basic terms "cheating."

OP posts:
Original poster
JoannaFurneaux · 06/05/2021 19:50

Thanks for the reply - it sounds to me like the school are giving their students multiple exams so over the course of time students are finding them easier and easier and therefore getting higher and higher grades. As I said before both of her friends right up until they started doing these exams had been getting barely average results. Now suddenly they are expecting near perfect grades!!

OP posts:
EllieNBeeb · 06/05/2021 19:47

It sounds like your daughter is not getting the same education that her friends are getting at a fee paying school. If you want to complain, obviously her school is where you should start, as they aren't giving her the degree opportunities for learning and proving what she has learned as her friends at independents are getting.