Year 10 - 2023/2024 Support Thread

Parents evening. It was like speed dating for an hour, trying to find each teacher at their desk, for five minutes, and I honestly felt mentally exhausted! And starving. Couldn't wait to get home for my dinner!

I had written to his tutor asking for feedback prior to this and I'm glad I did. I got really good info. The 5 minutes at parents evening isn't enough.

So two weeks ago, when I got his tutors report from all the teachers I sat down and I said you know this really isn't good enough, you need to pull your socks up and make more of an effort and they all said he really really had, and was on fire, and his homework was much better and he was doing much better, so I'm really glad I stepped in. I normally leave him just get on with it, but I had my suspicions that he wasn't quite pulling his way so I stepped in and I'm really glad I did.

He has targets of 7. He got 4's in most subjects, from his recent exam week. At first I was shocked. Looks bad. Plus this is the first year, year 10 where I've ever had numbers. You know what he's working at what is predicted grade is what is target is etc. so I was like 7, but 4! . Before that it was just good or coasting, so this is the first time I can put a number to it.

But they all said they were happy with that (the 4 or 5 he got! ) because they'd only been teaching topics for 4 weeks, had only covered 1 or 2 topics and it was very early days. Some said a bit chatty, needs to focus more. 3 said they loved having him in their class.

So, I'm ok about it all. He's not ds1. I accept that. He can get a 7, or push for an 8, if he really really wants it. Even a 5 or 6 in subjects he doesn't want to do at A'level is good enough for me.

His business teacher said he was quite unworldly wise, which is a bit worrying because I know he is, whereas DS1 is much more savvy and he did business A-level and really enjoyed it so I'm not quite sure what I'm gonna do about that .

My daughter had a few tests earlier, not sure if she has more before the end of term. I think we get a report and then parents’ evening next term too. Our school reports always give the median and which quartile they are in which is interesting.
My daughter puts lots of work in to both homework and tests and it pays off but her dad and I are worried that this is out of balance with other areas in her life. She hugely lacks confidence and doesn’t have friends that she sees outside school except for a handful of old primary school friends. I think it is becoming more apparent to her now her sister has started at the same school in year 7 and is socialising happily with girls outside her primary friendship groups and I think she is quite lonely too ☹️

I’ve contacted her form tutor to discuss this to see if school can support in any way but wondered if any of you had any good ideas as to how to help build her confidence and self esteem? It doesn’t help that I am often distracted by trying to support her brother with SEN or that her Dad is very cautious and limits the things he wants her to do 😬

Lots of end of topic tests here and dare I jinx it by saying she’s revising and doing well! She’s seeing the correlation between study and results, which is helping motivation. They’re not given grades just the usual percentages. I think we’ll get a report at Christmas, then parents eve in spring. I’m hoping the Christmas report gives her results and the median scores so that there’s some context. They definitely have end of year exams in the first week of June immediately after half term.

We don't have a parents evening till April!

DS has had a mixed bag of results recently. He thought he did well in Geography but got an average mark. Did surprisingly well in RE (surprising because he's usually towards the bottom of the class in this subject) and got an 8. I said it's because we watched Life of Brian at the weekend before the test! He got pretty poor results in a PE exam and had to resit. He claims he didn't know there was going to be a test that day as it wasn't in the calender/to do list on Google classroom, which was actually true, so he didn't revise for it. Annoying when that happens, as he works off a list and if it's not there then even if he was told in class, he WILL forget about it unless it's on the to do list.

We haven't been told how they go about predicting grades for GCSE's. There's no end of year 10 exams either, just tests on topics for each subject. Is this usual?

My other two didn’t have work experience in yr10 so hoping DD3 doesn’t. It’d be a tough call as few employers would want them so young. I think we’d really struggle to find a useful opportunity.
DD does sports at school til 7pm everyday bar Monday. So mostly home quite late, dinner finished by 830, bit of faffing, maybe some homework or revision. She has ADHD and keeping her focused on getting organised for bed is tricky - she’s up at 640am and gets the train to school. Her sports start at 5pm so she has an hour in late stay to do homework but I think she struggles to concentrate.

Wellcome to the newbies.

Ds brought home a mini report today. He's not happy with the grade attainments. He said no one in his class (top set) got higher than 7's. Then there are target grades. Ds's are all 7 and 8's. Again no one had anything higher. So it's obviously a general marker they give them all in the higher sets. They are still good grades to me. We have parents eve in early December.

Ds doesn't turn his light off until 10ish on a school night. A bit later than I'd like, but he always gets up on his own so I don't say anything. He doesn't set an alarm but usually showers 7-710am. He comes down for breakfast as 7.42 I've absolutely no idea what the random 2 mins is for and why it isn't 7.40am. He leaves at 8.20am. The bus stops at the top of next doors drive. He's always first there. Ds2 used to be a nightmare, he was never up, I'd have to nag. He'd go in the shower at 8.10am and rush about drying, dressing and eating and leave almost missing the bus each day. So I'm glad ds3 is more organised, but he is a bit regimental.

Yes, work experience in Y10 for us.
And yes, he's organized it, but only because his mate said "my Mum works in a really cool place, and I think you should go there for work experience".
tbf it is a really cool place, and will suit DS's current ambitions. There has been nothing from school yet about sorting anything tho.
We didn't do a CV (what can they put on it?) but did write a letter outlining academic stuff, and how his extra curricula stuff is heading in the direction if the company. It was 3 or 4 paragraphs long. He got a message back a week later saying he was in the diary, and to turn up at 9 on the first day.

Someone else asked about evenings:
Get in at 3.30. Music practice and a snack. Then he claims he does "all" his homework - maybe half an hour tops, slobs about a bit, and is out 7-9 4 nights a week, plus quite a few weekend days.

DS has work experience middle of July and I've arranged for him to go and work at my friend's architectural firm for a week. They are used to work experience students and will keep him busy with a project I have been assured!

I didn't even know til this moment that Year 10 work experience was a thing!

We have long day here, he gets up at 6 to catch bus at 7.15. School goes from 8.30 till 4pm. He's home by 5 then does homework or DofE stuff for maybe an hour or so a day. He does about 6-8 hrs of homework in weekends which is when annoyingly we want to do stuff together. I think he purposely leaves it so he has excuse to stay home....

I try really hard not to get involved in his studies, he's proved to me that he has it all under control and I hate getting into fights about it. It's hard not to meddle tho.

He mentioned a work experience thing last week. He's into engineering so I'll try find him something in that field.

DD definitely has more homework this year, generally around an hour a day though she often does it on weekends.

Can I ask whether your kids are all due to do work experience in the summer? And have you (DC) started organising this yet? DD is due to do 4 days, I think, and has put together a CV but is waiting to add her volunteering on before deciding where to send it. So nothing will happen until January I expect. Her school will try and help but encourage parents to use their contacts!

oh yes, DS is an early waker too, no lying in teenager here! He's up before everybody even at the weekends, so he lights off at 10pm for him during the week and a bit later at the weekends.

@GCSEherewego My DS sounds exactly the same regarding attitude to school work! He's knows he needs to do his homework so he will willingly do it, only he needs to be TOLD to do it. Once he's told he's fine though. With revision he's quite relaxed about it, and will do it when bribed with more Xbox time. He's ont lazy either, but definitely needs telling and getting him to organise himself. He's waiting for an ADHD assessment as he shows quite a few symptoms, such as being disorganised and forgetful.

@DarkAcademia DS gets in at around 4pm, school finished at 3pm but he walks back veeery slowly with friends, mucking around in the park, comes home covered with mud usually! He goes on his Xbox till around 5pm when I come in from work, and then I have to drag him downstairs, get him to eat something and then it's either homework or revision and if neither of these needs to be done it's music practise time or it's music practise in the evening if there's homework. 2 or 3 evenings a week it's running and cricket club so that takes up the majority of the evening on those days. So homework and revision has to be done on other days, and weekends. At the moment extra curricular activities are prioritised outside of school hours, but I guess this will change next year.
We are not that pushy on the revision so much, except for science perhaps, as he does seem to need a bit of extra help with that as he tends to lose focus in class and hasn't always understood the concepts. Apart from that we aren't that insistent on hours and hours of revision. And he won't do it anyway. DH is against lots of school work in the evenings, he's a teacher and he is generally anti homework, but will make them do it if it's set. Both DCs did next to nothing regarding homework at primary, not that they were set any anyway as it was a relaxed school, just lots of reading. Those were the easy days!

I have a friend who makes her DCs to work extra revision during school holidays even when there's no tests looming and I always come back from hers feeling bad that I don't insist it of my kids and that I'm failing them. But kids need a break as the school day is pretty full on for them.

That's such a great volunteering activity! I love it.

What does your Y10 teen's evening look like?

We had almost no homework last year, and with the school change it has gone up a LOT, which is fine, but I was just wondering.

DD gets in at 4 on a normal evening, 5/5.30 on an evening with an after school activity (they all take place AT the school, at least!), and has a snack, chills on the sofa and watches tv for a bit with sibling, and then does maybe an hour of homework. This last week or so, it has gone up to probably an hour before dinner and half an hour or so after, and I think she will probably stick with that. She goes to bed around 9 or 9.30, reads for a bit, asleep well before 10 (up at 6.45). She has taken to joining us on the sofa and knitting for a bit before she goes upstairs to bed, which is very sweet.

A lot of her friends study for a lot later into the evening, but I'm reluctant to let her do that because she still needs to sleep! Most of her friends' parents are quite full on re. study, and DD is conscious that these friends often end up getting full marks in all their tests. And then she worries that she should study more to achieve these results - while she's not WRONG exactly, I do want to balance her energy and mental health.

A friend is from South Korea and her tales of secondary school and tutoring/extra study are WILD. I don't think she slept more than 3 hours a night between the ages of 12 and 18. 😦

Hi guys, I have a DS doing Yr 10 along with Silver DofE and other bits. Just wanted to say hi, looking forward to venting on here if I need to avoid blowing up at a lazy teen. He's not really lazy but his nonchalance makes it look that way. Anyhoo just a quickie to say for volunteering, my son is doing baking for a charity that meets up once a week and serves lunch and company to elderly people. He makes a cake a week and delivers it locally. No public interaction. Thought that might appeal to your DC if she is shy or socially averse.

welcome @DarkAcademia - sounds like your DD has made a very sensible decision especially since she has a lot else to take in. Mine is finding moving school (and in her case from state to independent, day to boarding, no music to shedloads of it) means a lot of other things to assimilate - like the stress when you begin a new job but massively magnified.

Fortunately, she absolutely loves it, and in her case the academic expectations have not ramped up. rather the reverse, but I can see that with the music and the drama on top that's a lot to handle for your DD without Silver as well!

My DD who's in year 9 currently got her science teacher last year to give her extra marks after she made him realise that there might just be another explanation that wasn't in the marking scheme, he gave her a few more marks (probably to get her out of his class as it was lunch time!).

Yes, the tests seem relentless and even I'm tired of it, let alone DS. There's tests after every topic for each subject...argh!!

We need to start researching for the DofE volunteering , haven't had time to do it yet. Thanks for all the suggestions and experiences!

DS got into a bit of trouble this week, 30min detention. He and his friend took a year 8's shoe and ran off with it (but returned it). DS says he knew the year 8 from scouts and thought he'd take it as a joke but head of year said it could be seen as bullying so detention given, fair enough.

This week has been a stressful one and tomorrow is DD's grade 5 piano exam and she is properly stressing over it and it's been really really challenging keeping her sane over it. Can't wait for it to be over, definitely need lots of wine tomorrow night!

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Just stumbled across this thread - I have a Y10 DD who is getting off to a good start this year, I think.

Re. DofE, DD started Bronze, but switched schools and missed the expedition. She has completed all the requirements, but has decided not to do the expedition and go on to Silver, and unexpectedly (for me!) I'm supporting her in this.

She has made a move from a very laid back school to a very very academic school and while she is taking it all in stride, there has been an enormous increase in workload and expectations, and just now, I am happy for her not to layer something else on top of it. She does drama and a musical instrument (both grade 6 this year) and plays in an orchestra, and the skills she learned doing Bronze (a craft and a sport) are things that she is carrying on with because she loves them.

She has very high expectations of herself, and worries a lot, and I felt that recognising that Silver would cause her anxiety was very grown up of her (and correct!). She was so surprised that I agreed she should drop it (I'm a bit of a Tiger Mom).

@QueenMabby - my very much not perfectionist DDs always search for extra marks when their teachers mark tests - absolutely fair that they all want their due! Mistakes always happen - my Ukrainian ward, who is doing A-Level maths, said the girl who sits next to her in maths who is an absolute genius, had been randomly predicted a C in their report. She's never got below 100 per cent in a test, so it is good to question!

Still not a lot of testing here - weird as I'm used to them getting loads of it. DD2 did pretty well in her maths test, which they have had, and has science next week. Rather more scarily she also has her 'specialists assessment' which is to see how their specialists are doing in music. As her funding comes from government this is fair enough, but I know she's worrying her.

I guess it's only baseline for her as they've only had her since mid Sept and they've told me they think she's doing 'really well' so hoping she doesn't panic too much. Going down for a concert on Monday so at least will get to see her briefly.