Year 9 - 2022/2023 Support Thread

Looking ahead to Y10, DD won't have coursework in the same way that I did when I did GCSEs in the very late '80s.

So what does KS4 homework look like? Is it all geared towards revision for end of topic tests?

Ah I know that type @QueenMabby a think a number of girls (my eldest included) can be perfectionists and quite hard in themselves too!

We’ve not had confirmation of choices either but I don’t think I did for my other 2 either. No news is good news? Maybe they only contact if they can’t do it?

DD returned from her weeks camp on Friday night in really good form, chatting about their activities etc only then to be ill all night and spending the whole day in bed yesterday. Not sure if a tummy bug or eaten something dodgy. Such a shame. Today she needs to unpack her kit and get her school stuff together - it’s normal tomorrow (I think) then Tues sports day, Wed ‘festival’ day (6th formers organise activities for other years, like silent disco, circus stuff etc), then Thurs prize giving day and then finish midday Fri! So their last week is pretty relaxed. I’ll go to sports day and prize giving this year as it’s DD2 (upper 6th) last one. I’m normally banned! By my girls not the school.

Three weeks left here for DS. His sister has finished her GCSEs so he is quite envious of all her lie-ins I think.

He came back from DofE yesterday so am not sure what time he will surface today. End-of-year exam results are not back yet and we also don’t yet have confirmation of their GCSE choices. It’s been a busy few weeks for him with out of school music stuff, including an exam and two concerts last week - one more to go this week.

Have asked him if he can aim for fewer detentions in Year 10 😬.

Sorry @icanbewhatiwant yes, it is 3. Which just makes it worse!

Ds only has a week left now. To be fair to the staff they have made the last week fun, there’s a drama workshop, a stem day - they are making little solar powered vehicles, and there’s the auditions for next term’s school musical. On the downside ds says some of the trickier boys in his year have turned positively feral!

@Oblomov23 do you only have 2 weeks left? Ds has 3 weeks. Sports day next week. A trip to jump street the last week...but yes, probably all pointless. Though we still haven't heard which of their options they will take.

Welcome sticky.
Ds2 doesn't want to go to school. He says next 2 weeks are pointless because now they've got their exam results, they aren't actually doing anything, not learning anything on the syllabus. I can actually see his point.

@icanbewhatiwant ah!! That’s an issue. They don’t set fir any subjects other than maths at DDs school. I do think sciences would be worth setting for though.

@NotDonna yes that is true if it means still taking the same exams. At our school only the top set take triple science. So Ds would like to stay in the top set. In maths ds1 and ds2 were in set 3. Ds1 took the lower papers, ds2 was due to take the higher papers, but GCSEs were cancelled. I guess it depends on how many high achievers are in the sets as to how many take the top tier papers. Ds3 has 2 joint top sets in year 9. He's in one of them, but apparently there will only be one top set in year 10 I'm sure they will both take the higher paper though, so it won't matter if Ds isn't in the top one. I'd rather be at the top level of a lower set than the bottom level of a top set.

@icanbewhatiwant moving down a set can actually be a blessing as it ensures they’re working at a slower steadier pace and truly understand the content. MyDD is in set 5 (bottom set) for maths. I had a phone call this week from her maths teacher saying she did better than all set 5, set 4 and most of set 3 in this end of year exams but is remaining in set 5 because that’s where she’s learning and understanding. I agree with the teacher. She’d have done much worse if she was in a higher se as it’s a faster pace. Slight caveat that It’s a selective school so all sets take the higher paper. She’s delighted she’s done so well and equally delighted that she’s not moving up 😂

crikey @QueenMabby they’re amazing results. Naturally talented! Does she have to graft or is it fairly straightforward?

DD has just returned from activity week in Devon and had a ball. Not too exhausted or grumpy despite tent sleeping. All that running around and fresh air has done her the world of good after the exam week. She’s now heavily invested in persuading me that she ‘needs’ a hamster 🤔 one sister moved out recently and the other will in September (grades depending) so apparently ‘needs’ a companion 🙄

Knock knock - may I come in?

I am the proud owner of a Y9 DD and @Oblomov23 alerted me to this thread - thanks!

In a rush so just placemarking at the moment. Will pop in later.

@DataColour I've never heard any of my dc's mention CAT scores. I don't know whether their school have them. Ds has his end of year physics test today. He's convinced he is going to go down a set in science and in maths. He's always had very high expectations of himself. I'm sure he will be fine though. Yes...we never know whether they are doing their best or whether school are predicting correctly etc. I said to Ds this mon...what will be will be. Ds still hasn't been told what options he will take.

@icanbewhatiwant we get a mark for each subject and the year average. Overall DS seems to be "average" with some subjects above average, some average and some below. I'm already worrying a bit about whether he's doing the best he can really at the moment and how it's going to impact his gcse grades, perhaps silly to worry at this stage. His CAT scores where high, above 130 as average with a 141 for NVR which gives his predictions of 8s mostly, but his school work doesn't seem to reflect this.

@DataColour that's a better idea, predicting grades on current work. Ours say based on primary attainment. Then we get another score for working above, working below that grade. The predictions were fairly spot on with ds1. I may have said that on here already. But ds2 didn't take GCSEs due to covid.

@QueenMabby wow well done to your DD that's amazing! I can't even imagine get top results in 12 subjects, she must be very able!

@minisnowballs Sounds like you have a very busy girl and good luck for her flute exam, hope it goes well! Is she going to continue with further exams after Grade 8? My DS is working on his grade 7 piano, hopefully do the exam later this year or early next year.

@icanbewhatiwant Our school said they base the GCSE predictions on CAT scores and school work. I wonder when they do the predictions, we haven't got any yet. our school doesn't seem to be very communicative about things and I don't know what's going on half the time, despite having 2 kids there!

@MissyB1 well done to your DS on his sporting achievement!

It was sports day last week for us. Each child had to sign up for one event and DS won the 400m sprint, as expected I think as he's one of the best runners in his year group.
My DD in year 8, was forced/encouraged to do 3 events as it's a very boy heavy year and some of the girls just refused to take part. She came first in the 800m and pretty well in the other ones.

Oh wow brilliant results! Ds did fairly well but only just scraped through maths/physics/ chemistry his 3 weak subjects. We have chatted about the step up in year 10 in terms of study time at home.
We had sports day last week which he was very proud to get first in triple jump and 100 metre sprint. Yes only two more weeks here as well, where did that year go??!

Ds1 wanted to do the higher maths paper for gcse. He was in set 3. Set 3 and below took the lower papers. He said he found the exams easy. He got 5's which was as high as he could get. But maybe it's better to find it easy than to be struggling. He had to do a maths course at uni along with his biology degree in his first year. All those who didn't take A level maths had to do it.

Ds2 was also in set 3 but was due to take the higher papers, much to ds1's annoyance. Covid meant he didn't sit the exams though. I think ds3 will be top set.
I thought ds3 said he didn't have any end of year exams. But he has. The maths one will be in the school hall like an official exam. They are next week and the week after. I just had his end of year data report. They always give gcse predictions based on primary school attainment/sats. I know our cohort didn't take sats. But it annoys me that they don't base them on their work now.

oh and @QueenMabby well done to your DD - what an absolute star she is!

At our comp, the top three or four sets sit the higher paper (and that's with parallel sets, so eight classes in total) so there's definitely more access to maths higher than there was in my day, where only 1 and top of 2 sat the higher and everyone else intermediate.

I worried less about maths sets once I realised that.

That said, the higher paper can be very inaccessible to those who are not top set (even my DD1, who is bottom of top set, knows that the last two questions are not 'for her')- but you can get a pretty good mark with a quite low percentage, so it really is very different from what you might expect.

Their school only sets for maths and science, and science is just a set one with mixed ability below.

With assessments nearly over, DD2's friendship group in Year 9 are all terribly stressed about moving down a set. She is stressed too and no amount of me pointing out that she's not going to be there is stopping her worrying.

She's like Schrodinger's child at the moment - both focused on Year 10 at current school, even though she won't be staying, and Year 10 at new school. It has not escaped my notice that she has imported the new school's calendar into her phone and knows more about their masterclasses and trips than she does about her own!

I'm trying to help her to prioritise as she's crazy busy. She has the school musical, plus just had a zoom audition for musical at new school, and a concert at saturday school this weekend where she's playing two pieces. And D of E bronze next week.

Actually the thing she should probably be focusing on is Grade 8 flute next month, which really will be relevant next year, but when all your teachers talk about the focus being maths and science tests that isn't easy to work out. It was all less stressful when I was her age.