Year 9 - 2022/2023 Support Thread

@QueenMabby perhaps all sets in your DS's school sat the higher tier paper? Ours is a grammar school and they do this. So, perhaps that's why ours don't set for anything other than Maths, top set doing FM in addition.

@MissyB1 a quiet house for a few days, how lovely! Hope your DS enjoyed himself on his trip.

We won’t get their results until next week at the earliest I suspect. I know he took them seriously and he revised so I will do my best to be positive about whatever results he gets. Ds works steadily at school and does all his homework etc but has a habit of underperforming in exams.

@QueenMabby Good luck to your DD regarding her results next week. Well done to her for her regional success, that's amazing!!

Regarding sets, it seems a bit of a mystery to me at our school. As far as we are told there's only one accelerated set for Maths and it's mixed ability for all other subjects. Although I think PE has 2 sets too to cater for the more sporty. We weren't told if the end of year tests were to be used for setting them in year 10, they just said it's to track progress and provide intervention if needed.
DS did say that they are going to narrow the accelerated maths set and offer further maths to that set. Not sure if DS will make the cut, he is in that set currently and he did do well in the test, but not sure if it's enough to be in that top set next year.

Ds finished his year 9 exams last Friday. This week they are on a residential for a few days, at a lake doing some watersports and team building type activities. He will be back Thursday but the house is very quiet without him!

Thanks Mabby.
I know this, it is my only concern is that he stays in a decent set, that has the chance of the higher paper.

Ds2 doing exams this week. He'll be put in groups for year 10 based on these results, for many subjects. Got an email to say they are extending the maths 'sets' from 10 to 12 groups and I told him I don't want him slipping from 'set' 2 into set 3. I emailed his maths teacher to check his progress and whether he was secure in the middle of the set and tell her I didn't want him dropping. I told him this too.
But he's done bugger all revision. I've offered support, insisted, cajoled, but maybe I'm not being tough enough?

Yes. Whilst I would have lived to board O wouldn’t like my own to. Miss them way too much so totally understand your feelings @minisnowballs It’ll be an amazing opportunity for her!

Well, we are off to the girls' grandma's for the week this morning - DD2 has taken more revision books than mid-GCSE dd1. I have never known her so motivated for an end of year test so they must have really bigged it up. The flute has come too but she has an exam in it next month so fair enough.

@NotDonna amazing to do so well in English without too much reading, she must be brilliant at analysis. My dd1 wants to take Eng Lit a-level - she certainly isn't the voracious reader I was at her age and I reckon she'll have to pick up her pace. Glad they've picked it up now even if they didn't before.

@DataColour DD2 can stay for sixth form - her government scholarship thing should cover to 18... a bit of me is hoping she might be back by then, but I'm suspecting she either won't be or will choose another boarding music school. She is bouncing with excitement about boarding - the whole thing is very Malory Towers, and she's just waiting for her house allocation. We are somewhat less thrilled and I'm spending a lot of time putting name tags on everything, even the underwear.

Ugh DofE @MissyB1 I did bronze & silver centuries ago and tried putting my DDs off. But only DD3 has taken heed. I recall fir Bronze camping in hideous mud on the practice & then burning my nose and forehead on the real thing. I was better irritated for silver and only returned with blisters. Even better prepared for Gold by simply avoiding! I did enjoy them though. Hope he has a fab time!!

Well ds is on his first night of Bronze D of E. expedition. Its so hot here, and staying that way all weekend, better than pouring rain obviously, but even so, all that walking carrying very heavy rucksacks… 🥵 hoping he doesn’t come home burnt to a crisp!

Just catching up…
With those non-readers please double check their eyesight - not necessarily opticians but a chat. My DD2 (now upper 6th) at age 13 said the letters bounced about. Opticians said nothing wrong. In Yr10 had a dyslexia test and confirmed there was an issue. She didn’t read as it was exhausting, couldn’t follow the lines and avoided as much as possible. She’s since had eye exercises that have helped plus coloured overlays (wouldn’t wear the colour glasses). She still only reads what she absolutely has to and zero reading for fun but still got 8’s at both English GCSEs. If they don’t read at all it’s worth checking out. She thought letters bouncing about was normal.

@DataColour DD3 (yr9) doing PE GSCE starting next year too and there’s been no mention of having to do a sport outside school. @icanbewhatiwant thank heavens for covid in that sense for your DS. She’ll be doing gymnastics, dance and trampoline for hers.

She also has end of year exams after half term. All subjects bar creatives so 12, I think. But they have them every June so it’s no biggie. They only set for maths at her school, all other subjects are mixed ability. Top two sets do further maths, so she won’t be.

@minisnowballs is she excited about boarding? I used to nag to go to boarding not realising it actually cost anything. I had visions of being at Mallory Towers.

Ds2 did gcse pe. They were meant to do a sport out of school. Ds dropped out of the football team he used to play in. He was and still is small (5'4" now at age 19) so they rarely played him as he was so much smaller than the other players. He was getting fed up with sitting on the side lines. So he dropped out. His pe teacher said he must do a sport out of school, submit photos/footage of him playing etc. luckily the pe teacher let him use footage of him playing in a school match, then covid hit, exams were cancelled and none of it mattered. I thought it was unfair they needed to play an out of school sport. He really enjoyed the theory part and had really good marks for that part of it. He would have liked to study it for A level too, but he just didn't do enough out of school sport.

Yes, I agree that GCSE options should be feasible to all children, and shouldn't depend on extra curricular activities. I think he'll be OK. He is good at pushing himself physically, so I know he'll try his best, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a growth spurt in the meantime!
Wow, your DD must be very talented. Is she going to be there for 6th form too?

@DataColour - average at a grammar sounds pretty bright to me. My DDs' school doesn't set for english at all so there are children in her class who will fail the subject as well as those predicted nines. I suspect you'll find it all comes good by Year 11 if he's good at the subject - some of what's required is a really artificial structure that just needs to be taught -I should imagine most of his cohort will get very good marks in English so he'll do well too.

I suspect a lot of PE marks will come from the written work and biology knowledge. If it's anything like music and dance the actual marks that come from being skilled in the subject might well not be that high. DD2 is currently doing dance, has never had a dance lesson in her life, but has good predictions as she's good at writing on the subject. The subjects have to be accessible to children who haven't had specialist lessons from a young age so this seems fair.

And thanks re transition. We hope so too. She's a woodwind player (and singer) and will be full boarding three and a half hours away from us so it's a huge step! We are going to miss her so much.

Thanks for the advice regarding English. It's reassuring to hear that he might improve with the right guidance. His teacher says he's "bright" and good at the subject, but when his results seem average compared to the rest of the year group, it's difficult not to worry a bit. It is a grammar school, but still.......
I don't know whether the school is using any baseline testing to project their grades. They didn't sit for SATs did they. The school did do CAT testing.

@minisnowballs hope your DDs transition goes well. She must be very good in music. What instrument does she play?

I'm starting to worry a bit about PE GCSE that DS has chosen. Don't know how good he would have to be to get good marks, needs to speak to the teacher. He is not as "good" in sport as he was a year or so ago, as he hasn't had a growth spurt yet and is small compared to the other sport boys. So he is falling behind in the sports that he is doing outside school. I'm trying to get DH to start taking him to the velodrome or hill cycling (no hills near as alas!), as he's a good cyclist and it's something that he can do even without being tall and broad!

On ds3's report they have a target range for GCSEs. This target is based on tests in year 6 and 7. For English ds's is a 7 but it says working well above his target range. Yet he never reads, he hates reading. He has a book in his bag to read if he has to at school. So there must be other things that make him better at English. That might all change in year 10 though. I'd like him to read more. But ds2 was the same. He wouldn't read at that age. Now ds2 is studying for a history degree, so obviously he has to read for that, but he's started reading other books now too.

Hope all with exams are coping OK. Our Year 9 has hers after half term, and since big sis is taking her books with her to revise while we are away at her grandma's (she's mid GCSEs) she's hopefully going to do so too. However, DD2 is switching schools in September, from her current comprehensive to a specialist music school.

She thinks they'll pass on the data, but I'm not sure the new school will take any notice, as she's done CAT tests for them and I suspect they use very different assessment methods at this stage. I'm not telling her that though - it will be good to get her to do some revision!

On English @DataColour we definitely found that the marks improved as DD1 got higher up the school and the school explained the mark schemes and how to structure answers - even those who would otherwise be good at english don't do well without that so maybe time will improve it. You can buy books of 'sample essays' (we inherited some) which might give an idea of what is being looked for but we found it just improved over time.

sigh of relief!

We've had end of year exams the week before last, so DS has been getting his results back. Did OK in English, average marks, he seems to be happy about it, but I think he can do better! He's an avid reader of good books, so can't be his lack of reading, but I guess it doesn't always translate to good writing. Any ideas to improve his English?
.He did pretty well in Geography and Maths. Currently they only set for maths at his school, and that's just one higher set, which DS is in. Some of the higher set is offered further maths, wonder whether they decide on these tests or once they are settled in year 10.
My DD in year 8, in the same school, is doing her exams this week. All done by Friday, a big sign of relied all round.

Ds2 has exams for all subjects after the May bank holiday, partly to set them for year 10.