Year 11 2023-24

I got the impression they were quite closely monitored- they have a form teacher that keeps an eye on their grades? But I guess at 6th form they will expect them to be a bit more self motivated... tbh my daughter is pretty good already

Wow 2/3! We just come home from the course consultation and i am wondering just how hands off they are? DD will definitely need some encouragement and support so it would be good to know

@Waspie not heard back from the school will send another email on Monday.

DS is planning to stay at school but has submitted his A-level preferences. Presumably, they need to look at offerings as they take loads of Y12 from other schools.
He has chosen history, business, and psychology.
Mocks starting on 15 Feb either side of HT, so we are on full-on revision mode now

That link is very helpful, thanks @MrsHamlet - DS also sends thanks he find the mark schemes on the English language papers particularly woolly.

Hope you have had productive meetings with your son's school @Tebheag

My son had his second interview yesterday - at a large and well regarded sixth form college - he got a conditional offer for the subjects he applied for (History, English Lit and Politics). He is still wobbling about his subject choice. He feels his selection is too narrow and would "close doors".

He mentioned this to the interviewer yesterday who said that he could change his preferences after he gets his results. She said this was usually where the applicant didn't achieve the grades needed for their first choice subjects but no reason why they couldn't be used in DS' situation too. She confirmed that they would only let him take A level Physics if he takes Maths too. He is now thinking - History, Maths and Physics (predications 9,8,9 respectively).

The school have shipped loads of resources this week via google drive. All of the subject content has now been covered and it's revision and exam technique from here on. DS now just has to focus and put the work in to get the grades he needs.

@Dinomirror business, politics, economics 😀

That great! Dd also has offers to both loreto and xaverian and is conflicted on which to choose for history,politics and economics. What subjects is your dd taking

dinomirror my daughter has an offer for Loreto too! She's applied there, xavarian and to two 6th forms but Loreto is her (and my) favourite. Everyone I know who has been there has been very happy, very small sample size though admittedly.
I do think that even if the nasty girls from your dad's school are there, it'll be big enough to dilute them. And they won't be doing the same subjects? There's so much choice!

I need some help. Dd got offers for the two sixth form colleges in our area both of which are very very big (1500 + in each year group) and is having a wobble about going to such a big college. The problem is she hasn't applied to any sixth forms. As not the drip feed dd has never really got on with this school and really needed a change- mainly sick of the bitchy girls as its an all girls. However its likely majority will go to either of two colleges. Also, dd has realised that she would like to still have somewhat a school environment and i dont know if the college offers that. For anyone in manchester its loreto college

Does anyone have any good ideas on practicing oral Spanish without hiring a personal tutor?

@Tebheag it is aqa isn't it? If you want to pm me some screen shots, I can have a look and see what I would suggest

@MrsHamlet DS latest past paper set for homework. Teacher just wrote did you get this done in the time? Well done or similar praise! and something about What how why which I forgot. No marks on it or lines crossed out.

@Tebheag my students do, and that's what matters!
It's possible to get fairly solid marks with only a little written as long as you know exactly what the marks are for.
I am brutal when I mark my own students' work - I cross out anything extraneous that won't get them any marks to help them see what's useful and what's fluff. It certainly helps to focus the mind!

@MrsHamlet I hope they really appreciate you at your school. The more info a couple of teachers had explained at parents evening after mock results and DS replied he knew but was running out of time to get it all written down. I had always thought extra time was just for children who are dyslexic .

@Tebheag there are answers... you just need to know where to find them!
https://global.oup.com/education/content/secondary/series/aqa-english-gcse-2015/answers/?region=uk

"write more" is useless. Write more what??

@MrsHamlet he had help in primary for speech and writing but nothing in Secondary. His English teacher was off ill for quite a while so he had substitutes! It's the teachers that say he needs to write more as he keeps all answers short. If there are about 6 to 8 lines for answer he used 1.5 to 2, guessing due to hard writing will email teacher this evening. I did get the book you recommended but he hasn't enjoyed it as no answers to check if he is right!

@Tebheag I'm surprised noone has ever spotted this. I've referred many students to our Senco to check writing and processing because I know what an average amount for each question looks like.
Email the school today. Tell the senco that you're concerned about writing and processing speed and ask if they can test him.
In terms of "enough" in English, though, it's not about how much (except in the writing) but about meeting the criteria. Does he know what they are?

@MrsHamlet thank you never spoken to Senco before. It is painful watching him write due to the speed. He does keep an eye on the time though hence why he gets answers down but looses mark as not enough info down and no time is ever left to check his answers. He passed one past paper but was over on time any others done in time limit have been fails.

You can't just request Extra Time.

You'd need to ask the SENCO to screen to see if he might be entitled.

With English, they need to learn how long to spend on each question before they move on. The high tariff questions are at the end so spending too long on the early ones is almost always the issue.

Too late now for Gcses but how do you go about requesting extra time? DS has ran out of time on all his practice English papers. All his teachers on other subjects have said time and time again he needs to write more fortunately he has managed passes on other subjects except English. Got a feeling he may have to resit.

My dyslexic DD qualifies for extra time after being duly assessed. She easily meets the criteria. I don’t normally talk grades on here, but she got all 9/8/7 in mocks and is aiming for 9s and 8s in the real thing. The extra time has done wonders for her ability to show what she can do - but also, crucially, for her motivation and mental health. We went through a very bad patch a couple of years ago when she lost her motivation to do well because she simply couldn’t get through the questions in the time available, so “why bother?”. She’s now a different girl, pushing hard to get the very best out of herself and dreaming of a particular course at university which would be great for her.

I’m a qualified exams access assessor, for extra time kids need to demonstrate slow processing in two psychometric tests in two different areas of processing, so it is a fairly high bar, but there are many different tests on the market, a few years ago independent schools were awarding 40% of their students extra time and state schools around 15%. The need for two instead of one test was introduced a couple of years ago.
I have got quite sharp elbowed with dd school asking for them to assess her, after her never finishing an exam in essay subjects, they gave her ET in mocks but still haven’t tested her. Deadline is end of March for applications. In my state school just over 20% get ET, because I am able to do a lot of testing. Not all schools have an on site assessor.

We screen everyone's writing speed in my state secondary. I have a number of students who get extra time because they write so very slowly.

My son is getting extra time but is quite low achieving. In his November mocks his highest grade was a 2.

Quite a few very high achievers at DC's school get extra time. Indie school. We're talking all Grades 7-9 pupils. AFAIK there's rigorous assessments so they get it. Sadly my friends in the State system have told me there's less assessment unless they push for it, and CAMHS have a huge backlog.