GCSE results day 2021 support thread

@TeenMinusTests what? No photo of the cat?

Your DD has come far, she went and got the results herself. That is amazing. My niece was under CAHMS for her GCSE years, went through a lot. Was heartbreaking to watch. My sister and BIL celebrated any small achievements she made because to her they were huge.

Well done to all the DC. Whatever their results they should be proud that they got through what has been a very unusual and challenging couple of years. I hope they have all got what they need to go on to the next stage of their education.

Dd is thrilled with her results. She has worked very hard and done well. She’s pleased that all the subjects she will be doing at A level she has achieved an 8 in. Her results were mainly 8s with one 7 and two 6s. Also a distinction* in her btec subject. So very proud of her determination through lockdown.

@Hellohah @LynetteScavo @ChocolateRiver @OnTheBenchOfDoom
Thank you. We are taking solace in our new rescue DCat who arrived last week and is currently snuggled next to DD. Considering querying one result but I don't expect it will get us anywhere.
I need to keep telling myself

• she got what she needed for college
• any results were a 'win' considering the state she was in a few months back.

Well done to all the dcs. It’s been tough for everyone. Some amazing results.
Thanks for the support. We’ve been to-ing and fro-ing, looking at various courses and their syllabus. Ds has a place to do A levels but is still unsure about his 3rd A level. We’ve written to the HOY to see what they can do. They suggest to try it out for a couple of weeks in September then change it. We’ve still got our fingers crossed that they’ll let him do one that he’d love to do. He got 6 in it but he needed a 7.
And he did say that he wished he’d listened to me and not played so much Xbox all the time
Hindsight, hey?

@TeenMinusTests I have been thinking about you and your DD all day and popped on here to see how she did. I am sorry you are disappointed, it really has been a shit time for her. But, school is now over for her, she can go to college and hopefully this will be a much better experience for her.

@chocolateisavegetable what a lovely thing to share, well done to your DD and it does prove that schools are not necessarily the best environment for everyone because we all know that they are not.

Ds got eight 9s and three 8s. Very proud of him for getting such good grades but also for retaining his sense of humour and resilience and for generally still being his fantastically laid back and generous self over the past year despite the stresses and strains of learning from home and not being able to do sport and see his friends. Well done to all the year 11s for getting through the year.

Sorry no 8 in Maths was a 7 but still bloody proud of her

Delighted here that DD passed all but one that she took, as the percentages we were given for her assessments were a bit dubious in a few cases. She has easily met the criteria for her Level 3 college course. Grades broadly in line with her predictions over the years, though got a higher grade in her favourite subject.

She suffered from anxiety all through the pandemic and depression earlier this year. Found it very hard to engage during lockdown and refused to go to some lessons after the Easter holidays, so mega stress all round here.

We are mightily relieved and happy.

Happy with DDs results and she more than passes for the course she wants - with 8s in double science, maths, English Lit, History and Media that is some achievement for a child not seen as a high flyer and bumped to 2nd or even 3rd set in a standard comp. They only really realised her ability in Maths in Jan this year and stuck her in 1st set in MARCH ridiculous - she was slotted in March to the higher paper and then gets a 7 overall, so proud of her. It really suited her being out of school. As she said herself no putting up with the fucking about in school and no time wasting

AzPie
Talk to college as soon as you can, there will be people manning the phones today.

We had a similar sort of thing with DS1, his college (I suspect like many) are much more understanding of situations, and are really good at coming up with solutions that are positive.

Honestly colleges are such great places, and seem so much more supportive.

College was the making of DS1, when he did GCSE it was awful he had always been predicted pretty good grades all the way through, but the last couple of years, we honestly prayed he would just pass them especially English. his last year at school was like playing Russian roulete with his mental health every day. I pulled him out and rang him in sick for weeks before study leave.

And I suppose - due to track record - this year that has translated to private schools being able to give 8s and 9s to almost everyone without being challenged.

Is it as simple as this? I’m not up with process at all but if a private school wanted to give a lot of 9s could they?

We are using state, about to use private selective so think both sectors can work well. But I’m intrigued by this - I hadn’t thought about it much,

[quote ineedaholidaynow]@SlightlyJaded are you suggesting that the Private schools might have been more generous with their grading, or just that the teaching helped? DS's Private school seem to have been realistic with marks and his grades are consistent with his targets. His school isn't selective[/quote]
I have always believed that if you're going to do well, you can do well anywhere. I still think this to a degree, but I have today seen a clear and definite grade disparity.

I know that private selective schools (which is where a lot of DDs friends are) do have form for better results for all the reasons we know selecting pupils/strong teaching/funding/small class sizes etc... And today I have seen many of DDs fairly bright (but certainly not extraordinary) privately educated friends receive a clean sweep of 9s - seriously, at least five of her friends got a full house of ten or eleven nines, and the rest have a smattering of eights. I have also seen her equally bright, state educated friends get a mix of 6/7/8s and the odd 9.

FWIW DD got into two very good London private schools but ultimately we couldn't afford them and she didn't want to go to them. So it would be easy to view this as 'bitter' but it's really not that: it seems clear to me that those friends who have just posted clean sweeps of 9s would probably have got 7s/8s and the odd 6 or 9 at the local state and some of the brightest kids at DDs comp might have got that clean sweep of 9s at a selective private.

And I suppose - due to track record - this year that has translated to private schools being able to give 8s and 9s to almost everyone without being challenged.

It's not a school bashing (private or state) comment, just an observation based on what I've seen today. I just never thought I'd see it quite so clearly.

DS grades not inflated either.
He got bang on (and a grade below in all Sciences and Geography) what he thought he would get.
His school only gave out 3 grade 9s across all subjects which is slightly below 2019 where I think they had 5.

I haven't had chance to speak with DD yet as she's out with friends for the day. I'm going to suggest she appeals, some of her results do not make any sense in line with what she's been predicted for years.

My only hope is that the sixth form college will be understanding of her situation and how her secondary school completely failed to support her for years (this goes back way before the pandemic). Otherwise, I don't know what she's going to do, due to her rigid thinking (ASD), she is completely focused on 3 BTEC subjects (to the extent she's been researching/watching/learning about it since school broke up).

Well done to everyone else's DC on great results x

Dd devastates with her maths. She got a 6 in set 1 yet half set 3 got a 7? Makes no sense

Could understand if it was single exam and they had a bad day but how can set 3 be teacher assessed as a 7 and set 1 as a 6. All the people she knew who got a 7 were in set 3 yet all the set 1/2 got 5/6!

@PettsWoodParadise

I completely agree. DS’s results haven’t been inflated at all (he got slightly lower than expected on a couple) and we’re pretty much what he thought he’d get.

@SlightlyJaded are you suggesting that the Private schools might have been more generous with their grading, or just that the teaching helped? DS's Private school seem to have been realistic with marks and his grades are consistent with his targets. His school isn't selective

DD has done really well and is happy with her results so sorry to hear of those who are unhappy.

DD’s school do seem to have been conservative with marking and results seem more in line with 2019 rather than all these mega uplifts I am hearing about at other schools.

@gulliblestravels Same here, 11 9s for my DS (autistic perfectionist). My mum's already said (what I didn't want to think about today) it wasn't worth what he's put himself and me through. But at least he's happy today and I'm so relieved that he is!

DD did brilliantly and got exactly what she was hoping for. Super proud of her! Overall, the grade seems to have been fair and in line with what the kids were expecting. It's been a tough year for all of the kids, and they've done really well to get through it!

@AzPie

Devastated for DD, she was hoping to get at least her predicted grades, not even close I don't get some of her results, for example English lang/lit she has been predicted a 6/6 the whole way through, she was given 4/3. She's not long had an EHCP finalised and the level of support she should have had in place (instead of just being sat in SEND alone trying to use online educational platforms to teach herself), it just breaks my heart. I don't know what she's going to do, I just feel like I let her down, I should have fought harder for support for her so she could have reached her potential

Talking to my dd who is doing GCSE results support currently she says you may be able to appeal on SEN reasons. You can appeal if your access arrangements weren't in place, and you may be able to use this potentially? Worth asking anyway, appeals are free and you could try it with one subject see how that gets on, and if you win that try the others?

Good luck.

[quote chocolateisavegetable]**@TeenMinusTests* and anyone else who has DC who are disappointed with their results - I just want to share the DD's story. She was devastated with her GCSE results 2 years ago. College initially wouldn't take her onto the Level 3 BTEC course she wanted to do because she didn't have English and didn't have 5 passes. After a lot of negotiating, they accepted her, and this week she got her results - D, D, D. GCSEs don't suit all children, but hopefully they can find a course / apprenticeship / job where they can shine.[/quote]
Love that!!