Year 11 2023-24

H&SC would possibly be a good way in to being a family support worker or something like that?

@Panic71 I think some brighter children can get away with slower processing for longer as their academic skills hide it iyswim? Independent schools will have the funds to screen whole cohorts whereas many state schools only screen if the disparity is obvious or parents push.

Thanks @TeenDivided will check it out with the college.
Will sit down with her today, yesterday we established that she likes helping people and would not want a desk job sitting at a computer all day so that’s a starting point. Her interests are fashion, makeup. However I am not sure she want’s to do hairdressing, beauty. It would more be the fashion side of things but the only course is art and design and she is not interested in this either.

I was just surprised a child would have slow processing speed if they could achieve so highly in mocks. The parents were surprised as never any mention of processing issues in years 7/8/9 and yet quite a few have now been diagnosed in the autumn of year 11. I’m a little sceptical 🫤

@Midnightstar76 probably they will take her on the level1 course anyway if she doesn't get the grades for the level2, but worth checking with the college anyway.

What skills/ interests/ hobbies does she have?

Extra time is/should be about processing speed or handwriting speed, not about grades. If the 6/7s would be 8/9s with the allowance then it is reasonable.

Both my DC got extra time, it enabled them to show what they could do. All the extra time in the world wouldn't have got them 7s.

(It is probably possible to cheat the system on the tests for extra time, but a school would be risking a lot to do so.)

It is a double edge sword for those with slow processing as it extends the exam load.

DD has no idea what to do next at college. She was going to go for health and social care but has backtracked now saying she does not want to do nursing. I did point out that there are lots of different careers. She has applied for a level 2 health and social care but thinks she should apply for level 1 as well. Does anyone recommend any career quizzes to spark her interest in? I went through the college courses available with her and nothing was of interest.

Can I ask if anyone’s child has been granted 25% extra time?
Our friends children have, having both scored very highly in mocks, grades 6,7,8,9s. One is at an independent school, one not.

ankipro flashcards are great.

DS was told to apply to at least 3- One aspirational, one realistic and one disaster planning.
He applied to 4, but has now gone to a few taster days and has narrowed it down to 2 -his first choice ( current school sixth form) and a backup.

Wow 6! DS only applied to two 6th forms. @Waspie hope your DS gets into the one he wants.

I’m hoping they go through the paper properly in class so we can see if it’s about exam technique or he just doesn’t know enough (or a mix of both) and take it from there. I imagine if additional classes are offered DS will say no. They offer an Easter revision course here (which we would pay for) and I have offered to sign him up but he is adamant he isn’t going. We’ll see… 😄

Not the same exam then @JustHereWithMyPopcorn but possibly the same issue.

DS' biology teacher said that his experience of GCSE marking is that the student should be showing understanding to gain marks and has less emphasis on specific terminology. I guess by A Level the student is expected to be very precise with their understanding.

DS is now revising like crazy for biology and going to the after school sessions.

The school has also just sent out their additional sessions for February half term and DS has applied for sessions for all the subjects he is taking. He didn't need any prodding from me to sign up either - result!

@Waspie DS does Edexcel but if it's anything like the Biology A level that his older brother sat then it is exactly as you describe, super specific in the acceptable wording - even if it's very clear that the child understands the content you lose marks for not using their exact wording.

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn Well done to your son!

Re: Biology. My son's biology result was lower than expected too. I wonder if our boys did the same AQA exam as their mock? DS's teacher had (according to DS) "a complete rant" about how pedantic the mark scheme was for the exam. One example was a question about mitochondrial division and if the student didn't use one particular word they got no marks at all even if they obviously knew what they were talking about.

@Tebheag thanks DS has applied to 6 sixth forms and hopes to get at least 5 interviews. The last one is to a super selective grammar with very high entry requirements and very limited numbers so getting an interview/conditional offer would be the equivalent of winning the lottery!

DS has had some results back now, he has done well so far except his Biology is 1-2 grades lower than he expected. They haven't gone through the paper yet so will be interesting to see what went awry there.

@Waspie thank you. Well done on you DS getting a conditional offer too. How many interviews is he doing?
@JustHereWithMyPopcorn thank you. I hope he did well and hasn't got too long to wait for results.

It's such pressure if you're not a confident person isn't it, that one to one. I wish I knew someone who speaks Spanish to just talk to him!

Thanks @JustHereWithMyPopcorn

I'm sure your son did much better than he thinks in his oral. The oral is such a tricky one; being one-to-one with the examiner makes it a pressured, and contrived, situation. DS said similar about his MFL oral and we have given him the same advice as you have given your son.

@Tebheag and @Waspie good news on the offers.

DS had his Spanish oral today and has been in a mood since he got home. It was going well until near the end when he completely forgot what he wanted to say and then started panicking and couldn't think of anything to say at all. He's really beating himself up about it and I keep trying to reassure him that it's fine, practice will improve his confidence as he moves through to his real exams. Hopefully it's not as bad as he thinks.

That's good @Tebheag

DS had an interview last weekend and got a conditional offer, which is a good start. He has one next week and one the week after as well. Three still to hear from.

DS had an interview today for 6th form only got told about it today. He has been offered a place as long as he gets a 5 in English
Good luck to any Kids doing interviews.

No, just checked now and nothing there.

Report it to MN

DS has got a telephone interview in a couple of weeks for 6th form college not heard from his own school 6th form yet!

Has anyone else had a PM from a private tutoring company today? 🙄