Year 11 2023-24

Place marking

Watching with interest. DS not academic and SEN so hoping he scrapes enough for whatever he wants to do next. Half the school is being knocked down due to RAAC but fortunately the school have year 11s in. Wish the school gave parents advance notice of coursework and deadlines, seems to come from nowhere late in the day.

Yes they have a very good sixth form, and their open evening is the last one in the area, which may accountvfor their slowness, but they have dropped one of the subjects he really wanted to do at A Level. I just yhjnk it'll ge good for him to see his options.

That sounds tough, @Angrycat2768 . Can he continue where he is for 6th form? Our school stops at 16 so they started talking to them (gently) about next steps in about mid-Y10.

My DS us thr opposite. He got so confused about all the different options we stopped talking about it. Well go and see all of them near us. I told him he could apply for whichever ones he wanted and then see what happens. They don't seem to have done much at school yet even though the open days start first week in October here

Busy here looking at potential 6th forms. DD is excited about life beyond GCSE, to the extent I sometimes have to bring her back down to Earth with a reminder that there is a task to be done this year before all these opportunities can open up for her! It’s nice to see her inspired, though. Also looking forward to leaving certain “mean girls” behind…

How’s the week gone? DD seems okay, she’s not enjoying much of school but is working, she gets that she needs to.
Shes 16 in about 6 weeks and has no idea what she wants to do (very unlike her) apparently she’s got a much bigger friendship group than in past years and can’t think of something to include them all. I’m sure we’ll figure something out, be grateful for any ideas though. Think there’s about 10 of them.

Meetings with current school and local private school for my younger one next week DD has her nose out of joint about us spending money on his schooling, but she is on track to be able to do anything she wants post 16 and he isn’t. Thankfully state post 16 offer is good.

Open evenings for local colleges coming up in a couple of weeks. Dd has decided where to go but not which subjects. She’s thinking statistics, and I’ve no idea what it entails?

@wonderstuff I hope this week is starting out better than last.
@MiniMidiMaxi hope your DS is feeling better soon and in time for birthday dinner!

It's DS's birthday today, 16 years old - eek! 😱 We're off out for a pizza later, had a bigger family birthday thing on Sunday and a friends thing last weekend so today will just be immediate family.

We haven't even mentioned revision yet, and he still seems to have minimal homework. I'm assuming the school know what they're doing..

@wonderstuff and @MiniMidiMaxi hope the braces and soft food eating are going ok. We've got all this to come with my 10 year old as we're waiting for him to have major surgery on his mouth at some point in the next few months, hopefully. Although we've been waiting nearly 2 years so far and part of me wants to get it over with and part of me wants it to be delayed as long as possible. 10 year old doesn't care as long as he doesn't have it done just before christmas as he wants to eat all the non soft christmas food!

DS2 has got his prefect hoodie but it's handwash only. And naturally he jogged home from school in it on Friday so it had to be washed and then of course took forever to dry. He's now been banned from jogging or doing pe wearing the hoodie! I managed to get a first day photo of him but I was only allowed to take a photo of the hoodie if he wasn't wearing it. I'm hoping to take a nice photo of my 2 leavers when DS4 gets his primary school leavers hoodie in the summer.

@wonderstuff that does sound like a tough week, hope the migraine has passed now and that the braces discomfort settles down. DS is under doctors instructions to eat soft food for the next week after a jaw injury from rugby. Which is a bit disappointing for him as it’s his birthday coming up and we are meant to be going out for dinner!

I need to ask him what’s been set by school so far, I don’t get notified about homework for DS1, like I do for his brother in y9 (they’re in different schools). I think I recognise your name from being on the same 2010 pregnancy threads wonderstuff! But sorry to hear he’s having a bad time at school.

@wonderstuff what a first week for you and your DD’s. Wishing you better weeks to come. Well at a loggerhead with DD on Friday evening. Was planning on biology revision but it didn’t happen. I got her argument though and gave in. She said it’s Friday this is my time etc etc then said she has been set three lots of homework for next week. I said what homework and she point blank refused to tell me but I gave her some space and she then went on to tell me she has History revision flashcards, Maths and English homework. Only after I said I would look in her bag unless she said as I am trying to help plan revision. She then said all I go on about is revision. Seriously though if I didn’t she would not do anything at all. Anyway so I am using the homework as revision so have said to get that done this weekend and we will do science revision on Monday. Her gran is visiting today so going to try and persuade her to do one of them before she comes so it’s not all done on Sunday. Wish me luck

That felt like a long week! Poor DD had braces fixed on Monday afternoon so she’s been feeling pretty miserable with those and the heat. I had a job interview (which I didn’t get) yesterday and my day started with discovering a bald patch on my head (thanks peri menopause) and ended in a migraine. I honestly don’t think we’ve had a worst first week! And the heat is just miserable isn’t it.
DD has decided she only likes 2 of her teachers and my DS in year 9 is being bullied so much im considering moving him. It can only get better right?

👋 Yes, my youngest son has just started Year 11. He does okay, but he just gets so bored quickly. He also isn't one to be sat in a classroom all day. At his school, he's had a number of teacher changes, especially in Maths, English, and Science. This has been disruptive to learning. There are no plans currently for him to stay on for 6th Form, but know the school will push about that, and about university. Thing is, he wants to work as a carpenter, or in some kind of construction work. Therefore he's probably looking at an apprenticeship.

DS first day back got told by several teachers inc English he has mocks first week in November. Not impressed with English as told mocks are on Lord of the flies he hasn't even been told to read the book yet and the book is not available to collect for another couple of weeks!

How much revision is she planning? TIA.

DS started back today and said it was a boring day - not sure if he was expecting fanfares and ribbons?! 😂

DD started back today, had a pretty relaxed summer with only one Eng Lit essay to hand in & no homework.
She's planned a revision time table as her school holds mocks in November. She's doing 3 languages & I'm just hoping she can keep up with it all.
She sets high standards for herself so I'm just hoping she doesn't make herself into a pressure pot.
Best of luck to all yours as the new academic year starts.

No homework set over the holidays here. Ds2 goes back tomorrow so he is busy washing his hair in preparation. He's allowed to wear his pe kit to school this week because of the heatwave but he is determined to wear his prefect hoodie with it!

Well small victory DD did some English language revision. I did sit with her and we did a mixture of different things for 20/30 minutes. BBC bite size, Mr Bruff and some reading of revision book cpg. Will set her some maths to do when she comes home from school tomorrow without me and my input. Have just ordered her some Sociology revision guides. Will sit and structure a timetable with her at the weekend.

In my area the local employers won't take part-time/student staff until after their GCSEs.

DS had quite a lot of homework over the summer. He's decided to start revision for his November mocks next week. We've designed a weekly revision timetable and collated as many past papers as possible, Just got to get them printed off now

My dc is also going into year 11. I’m hoping he will take revision seriously as he can be a bit complacent. We’ve agreed that he will look for a part time summer job once gcses are done.

Yippee DS homework all complete. School have had a problem with timetables so kids will have to wait till school to get them.
Hope all your kids have a great first day in Yr 11.

Hi, got DS2 starting year 11. Also have a year 13 and a year 6 so going to be an emotional summer!

My last one to go through Y11, you'd think that with 3 older ones I might have an idea how to do this now...

Nothing set over the Summer which he was pleased about as students who were felt to be in danger of not getting the grades to stay on for Sixth Form were given very detailed work plans. He's rested and grown up a bit.

Last year was a key one for him - after an inattentive ADHD diagnosis, he finally got the right things in place to to manage his atrocious handwriting and focus issues, teachers are looking out for him and he now knows what attention should feel like. His grades all jumped up so he's in a good place.

He's also starting to think strategically about what he needs to work on, let's see where that goes!

Mine had mocks in the last couple of weeks of summer term so no results yet. Hopefully we'll get them fairly early on.