Year 11 2023-24

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/5124222-y11-202324-thread-5-results?page=6&reply=137582735

We are all over on the thread above as this one and others are nearly full

Well, less than a week until we see how it all actually went. DC is nervous. We've spoken about options and back up plans etc. I think at least some of it is that it feels like everything hinges on these results. Eek. (I know it doesn't really as there are always options.)
How's everyone else doing??

Marking for notes.

@elliejjtiny There’s still time to pull up biology. It’s DD’s weakest science too, but I helped her focus on it over the Easter holidays and she gained lots of confidence.

If he will let you help, find as many questions as you can for him to tackle in biology, using his textbook, any revision guides he has, free sites like BBC Bitesize and Seneca, and/or paid resources like the one I linked. Best of luck to him.

@Marisquita Thank you for that. Ds2 really likes physics, is ok with chemistry but hates biology and it's the biology part that always pulls the rest of his grade down. He finds it annoying that if he'd done triple science, his physics grade would have been separate and the college would have let him do physics a level without a good biology result.

@elliejjtiny My DD really likes my-gcsescience.com. It’s a subscription site, but we have found it good value at £24.95 for AQA Combined Science.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/5057260-y11-2023-24-continued

I made a new thread 🙂

Keep forgetting about this thread. My DS2 has a conditional offer at sixth form college (only the private schools have sixth forms here) but he needs 6-6 in his combined science GCSE to do a-level physics. He got 4-4 in the mocks last month. Not sure what he is going to do if he doesn't get it. Hope everyone else's dc are getting on all right.

@Maxus thank you for starting such a good thread. I think we are going to run out of space very soon!

Where I am it's all grades, not points and colleges are more for vocational courses, the more academic kids go to sixth forms, which do also do 'certificate' courses.
My daughter wants to go to her school sixth form which she'll need 7 passes at grade 5 or above.

DS handed in his first and only non exam coursework for Electronics rest is all exam based now.
Hope coursework goes s going well for all the other kids.

Interesting how different areas are for colleges 6th forms and minimum grades. Hopefully all our kids flurrish in what ever path they take after GCSEs

Interesting range of options in different places. Here most of the schools have a sixth form and all are comprehensives, though there are grammar schools in the neighbouring authority. We have one college but it's more vocational that A level based. DD is going to stay on at her comp. No points requirement and it prides itself on being inclusive so there's a range of A level grades and leavers' destinations. Sixth form is outstanding so I'm happy that she's staying on and she'll be benefit from the structure of school.

In our borough the schools have 6th forms. Except DS' school which doesn't (annoyingly). Consequently he's had to look elsewhere. He's been fortunate enough to get a conditional offer from a super selective grammar in the neighbouring borough (Reading School). To be able to confirm this place he'll need 56 points from his top 8 GCSEs, much like the grammar @anoukis daughter has applied for. He also needs 8's in his chosen subjects.

His second choice is a large 6th Form college in the neighbouring county (Hampshire) where they have colleges rather than school sixth forms. This is Ofsted Outstanding too and has excellent A Level results. Here he needs grade 6 in his chosen subjects and 5 x grade 5's, including English and Maths, as a general requirement.

All the schools and colleges we went to have slightly different requirements, but we visited schools and colleges in three counties so that's not surprising .

@dinomirror points = sum of best 8 GCSEs grades, in the context above

In our area all secondary schools are outstanding or good. Even though their 6th forms aren't truly selective, they all have minimum required grades for certain subjects (e.g. min 7 maths, 6 sciences, min 8 Add Maths, etc).

They also have additional general entry requirements e.g. "at least 6 GCSE passes, with at least 3 subjects grade 6+, and English and Maths grade 4+".

The local colleges have similar requirements, but those requirements are lower than for all the local schools 6th forms (e.g., average of higher than grade 5 across all GCSE results).

We have 2 grammars - single sex up to year 11, but their 6th forms are mixed - and they both have high requirements e.g. minimum 8 maths, 7/8 sciences, etc. And the minimum cut off score of 56, to be considered for admission - for one of them and I think 60 for the other.

There are two 6th form colleges which are very very popular and where most academic students go
6th form (attached to school) is where most who still want to do A-Levels but didn't get into the 6th form college/didn't do as well as expected go
FE college- for BTEC, T-Level etc

When I was growing up, my area had X 6th Form College and X College of Further Education. Two separate organisations. All the school 6th forms had shut a year or so before I started secondary so everyone went to either of these colleges. One was for A Levels and one for vocational.

I live in a totally different area now and there's one college spread across two campuses. A Levels are mostly at one campus and vocational another but some of the vocational subjects are taught at the A Level campus. My son needs to decide between two subjects each at a different campus.

There are also at least two schools I know of who have their own 6th forms, but these aren't particularly seen as better than the college, just some kids prefer the school environment. I definitely would have done. I hated college.

I don't know how the schools' 6th forms do it, or the college for A Level entry, but for the vocational courses you can enter at Level 1, 2 or 3 and that's not decided until the enrolment day which is after the GCSE results come out. But you apply for as many courses as you want before that, get an unconditional offer on them all, then make a firm choice on enrolment day and your GCSE grades determine what level you're put in.

At the beginning of the year I was hopeful my son would start on at least a Level 2 course but now most of his predicted grades have come right down from 4s in Year 10 to 1s after his recent mocks so now I'm assuming he'll start college on a Level 1 course. But then he hopefully won't find that too difficult, which is how he's found school every day of his life.

But at least it's fairly clear for him and he doesn't have to worry about certain grades for a certain course. His brother in the year below at the minute wants to do A Levels at his school 6th form. I don't think A Levels are the right path for him really but if he wants to do them he'll have to really push himself as at the minute I think he's predicted mostly 5s with a few 4s but I've tried to gently suggest that he'll find the courses too difficult if he can't get at least a 6 in the subjects he wants at GCSE.

6th forms seen as for the lesson able?

Do you mean 6th form colleges as opposed to 6th forms in schools?
Or in your area are the colleges seen as better for A levels than schools?

(Genuinely interested, here in Hants it is all colleges anyway)

Its really interesting how all areas do it differently. Around here there are no 'points' -only grades and sixth forms are seen for the less academically able

That's interesting - DS has applied to 2 "outstanding" sixth form options (which get good results) and got 2 offers- but the minimum grades are far, far lower than PPs are describing, 48 points + for one and 5s for the other one.

I guess it's nice for him to have the definite offers, but I suspect he is less motivated than if he thought getting into sixth form would be a challenge.

It might backfire, as he tends to be far too laid back anyway.

DD went back to school today and straight into Paper 2 mocks for the sciences (they only did Paper 1 mocks before). She’s worked diligently and seems to be in good heart about it all, making time for cooking, baking, the gym, cuddling the cat and WhatsApping her friends. She needs 7s in everything and 8s in A level subjects. Induction days are in late June and she’s looking forward to meeting new people. Hope everyone’s hanging in there!

Yeah, deadline for offers is apparently 30th of April, but I'm guessing my DD's predicted score isn't high enough. The subjects she is choosing are very popular in that school so competition on those is fiercest. It's a shame, as she's predicted 9s in her chosen subjects (2 sciences and maths) and quite in a few others. Her History, English Lit, and Art predicted grades aren't high enough... I'm guessing conditional offers were all 9s with a few 8s but not really sure.

TBH I prefer our current school which is a 10-min walk from us and has great teachers in 6th form. The grammar is a boys school with a mixed 6th form. My DD was lured by her best friend to apply to the grammar. None of them got an offer though - they are applying for the same subjects a with similar score - so maybe they'll end up together in their current school :) The grammar had over 1400 applications for something like 100 external places.

Well done to your DS!

Good luck to the artists!

@anoukis - interesting about the selective grammar your daughter is applying to still making offers. DS has a conditional offer for a selective and they were offering on between 68 and 70+ points (from top 8) for external students (depending on subject choice). They offered based on grade predictions, school recommendation and personal statements. They usually do interviews but they had had too many applications to process to have time to do interviews. Good luck to your DD. Stressful to have that hanging over her as well as revision.

My DD has a few conditional offers, as her school has advised students to apply to multiple 6th forms. Taster days are all in June for those, however my DD doesn't plan to go to any, as they're pretty much back-up choices. Her top two choices are her own school and a selective grammar which hasn't made her an offer.

PS. She will likely end up the grammar's wait list, as her predicted grades qualify her for it (minimum score is 56 across best 8 GCSE predicted grades). She didn't have enough predicted 9s to get a conditional offer. The school is making cond offers until end of April.