Year 9 - 2022/2023 Support Thread

@QueenMabby only a few with the top grades are told in class. I'm sure it'll be the same few children who's names are called out. I don't think they get told the mark out loud. So the others won't know where their position in the class is. So those at the bottom won't know.

Well we’ve just had his end of year report, very positive on the whole. Where he needs to improve the teachers have helpfully been very specific, so we know what he needs to target.
But what I was most pleased with was quite a few comments about his empathy and kindness towards others, and his ability to communicate in a mature way.

No doubt about it though, the next two years are going to be a big challenge!

🤔 mmm I’m not sure I like the idea of reading out the top marks either especially if they’re assigned to a name. We get given our DC’s score and the median for that exam, which is very useful.

@QueenMabby yes the grade boundaries can be so different in each subject. Some subjects a low percent grade can be an A/8/9 whereas other subjects a much higher percentage is required. I think their school reads out the test grades for the top few students after tests. Ds wants to be up there with the top students. I think he will find that more difficult next year as they currently have 2 top sets for maths and science. There will only be one top in year 10 so there will be more competition for the top spots. I am not sure I agree with telling the class who is at the top. Ds is only bothered about some subjects. The humanities and subjects like pe he doesn't mind what grades he gets.

@icanbewhatiwant It’s intrinsic. Fingers crossed his GCSEs won’t be too stressful and he soon has a more balanced approach. They can be so very very tough on themselves that it’s hard to watch.

@IThinkIMadeItWorse yep. Ds says it's boring and pointless.

@NotDonna no school aren't pushy. It's ds. He wants to be the best all the time. Everything he does is never good enough. I often wonder what GCSEs will be like for him. Not too stressful I hope.

@icanbewhatiwant he can’t do better than his best though can he? That’s an awful lot of pressure already isn’t it. No one can give 100% effort 100% of the time. They need some 70% days. Are school a bit pushy or is this totally him?

@icanbewhatiwant my DD hates bedrock, she finds it incredibly boring and pointless. She even got her first ever detention earlier this year for not doing it two weeks in a row. For Maths they use sparx maths which she finds a bit annoying but not as pointless as the English on bedrock. They also use languagenut for languages. I guess it makes a lot of sense from the teachers point of view as it is all set automatically and there is no marking for them. I don't know if it will change in year 10. We still haven't had end of year results, school is doing very badly at communication at the moment. She finishes on 20th July and she is counting the days!

Ds has had most of his end of year exam results back. He always says he's done really badly. But I think he has high expectations of himself. For example physics he got 78% class average was 61% so i say that's good. Ds thinks not. I'm sure it's a great result. I don't mind what grades he gets. I told him he can only do his best. But he tells me that's a silly thing to say and that he needs to do better than his best.

Not heard of Dr Frost. Ds's school does something called bedrock. He hates it. They've done it since year 7. It's English work. He was hoping it would end in year 10 but he now thinks it will continue. Anyone else heard of it?

@CasparBloomberg you sound a lot more knowledgeable than me and I’m sure your DD will be sorted next year. There are so many ways to try and help accommodate the kids now which weren’t available when I was young!

Hi @BreakfastClub80
DD is autistic but hasn’t been assessed for exam arrangements yet, I think they will do that next year as an EP comes in to do it (or did with DS). I invigilate at another school so I know what can be put in place and what I’m hoping she gets - computer use and ear defenders/ear plugs.

Hi, I’d love to join the thread too (though we’ll be Yr 10 soon 😬)!

Good to hear all your kids seem to be sorted for next year and ready for the end of this year. DD has already finished school and has 9 weeks off with some homework (possibly, she is going to check).

She has chosen her GCSEs and is doing triple science, French, History, Geography and DT.

DD is dyslexic and thankfully they have done the tests this term to establish that she will get extra time in the GCSEs. She’s had this for a while for internal exams so we mostly wanted to know what was happening in case we needed to wean her off it 😂.

Also due to start their bronze DoE next year so needs to plan that I think.

Re setting, I have been told several times that it’s really about pace/style of learning and I do believe this. Maths, English and Science GCSEs will be set at DD’s school but they haven’t mentioned any others so we’ll see. I think sets can be helpful for the MFL too but maybe not at this point as you’re all heading for the same goal!

Hi 👋can I join in too? Have DD in year 9 and can’t believe I didn’t spot this thread before now. Nice to meet you all.

Options for GCSE all agreed (Drama, French, Sociology and Photography) and they’ve started doing some lessons in their option subjects since the year 11s left. She’s enjoyed that. Also sitting off timetable Statistics in Y10. She’s down for triple science but really not keen on it and would prefer to do combined.

Our school uses Dr Frost and Mathswatch for homework (spotted it being discussed).
No big year 9 exams here, just the regular end of term tests and reports.

Usually nothing set for the summer but they have to do a project of their choosing over course of each year to present (a bit EPQ style) so she wants to make a start on that.

Regarding summer studying… errr no!
My two eldest did do some summer study in A levels in that summer between yr12 & yr13 because they return to exams in Sept but never in other years. DD3 won’t be doing any unless school set something; they don’t usually. They’re quite keen that the kids get a decent break (and I doubt they’d want to be marking it either). She’s doing gcse F&D so we may do a bit of cooking.

@QueenMabby so far it seems to be mostly name tags and uniform - it's surprisingly similar but with a lot more concert dress required (ie any concert dress as she owns none at all!) and a more expensive blazer. Also duvet covers...

No lashings of ginger beer as yet!

Still no school exam results back here - sounds like everyone else is a bit ahead of DD's school (and they're on strike today). She did the school production last night in which she had a Big Part - Miss Honey in Matilda - and she is sleeping it off. The school hadn't done a show for nine years so this was a seriously big deal and I'm thrilled for all who got to be involved. The show is double cast so she's done her two shows now and is demoted to the vocal chorus for tomorrow night's finale....but at least she got to do her thing.

She's switching schools so no summer work as yet. Grade 8 music exam next week though so she's still got plenty to be getting on with!

Sports day and some kind of wellbeing festival to go, but she's practically done. Very weird.

Re KS4 homework @ImStillMe . DD1's was mostly revision for tests - some finding out about stuff. While no coursework some subjects have things like composing, performance, art portfolios and speaking exams to prepare for early too. DD1 did her English aural in Year 10 for example. I think DD2 will have coursework as iGCSES seem to include it, but that's all new to us.

I really like Dr. Frost. I printed out worksheets from work (!), worksheets which you can tailor make to your child, and both DCs liked the format and did well in Maths for the end of year exams.
Had DS's end of year exam results back last week and it was a mixed bunch. He did really well in some and really badly in others! A couple were average. His worst was RE. DD said she did even worse in RE, and her report is yet to land! RE is the bane of their lives. It's a compulsory full GCSE at their school, even though it's a non-denominational. Quite a lot of the kids are religious though, so the school can get good results in this subject with the cohort that they've got. But of course if you aren't religious (or like my DD a complete sceptic and refuses to do any RE work) you are on a bit of back foot.

Regarding doing work in the summer - is this something that is necessary? we've never done any work in the summer, except for 11+ prep. Might to some Maths and Science, probably a good idea. DS could do with a bit of help with English, as he is needs practise with creative writing. Any recommendations?

Well I’ve horrified ds by buying a GCSE combined science revision/workbook, and the maths one, because he needs to do a bit of both over the summer.

My other two (now 19 & 18) definitely had set homework per subject per week so at least one piece every night if not more. I think there was quite a bit of maths & English. They didn’t take any creative GCSEs though, which seem to have more coursework and hard to ‘finish’ therefore potentially time consuming.

Now need to google Dr Frost… never heard of her/him. I think ours used Heggarty.