Year 11 2023-24

Joining too. Starting back on Wednesday. DS didn't get any homework apart from Art ( which he didn't do!) but I set him a revision timetable and got him to do an hour a day. His Yr 10 mocks weren't great, but he has worked really hard over the summer from the books. If he doesnt improve, I don't know what else to do eith him He did do maths genie as his maths is stubbornly at a 3.9, and he said that helped. I'm trying not to stress too much about it.

Joining. Starts back today!

Good lukc to your DD today @Midnightstar76 , DS was meant to start back on Weds but they've pushed it back to Thursday to accommodate some building work that needed to finish.

Good luck all for the start of term. DD starts a little later today. She actually tidied her bedroom so small wins. Realistically we are looking at level 1 courses for college but as long as she tries her best. She is not academic and does struggle. No learning needs but has always found things hard so we will see. Anyway going to get the first day done and then see what homework she has. If none will look at some revision stuff for her.

Took me a while to remember what times we needed to all be up in the morning! Dd decided to reorganise her bedroom this afternoon and then remembered she did have 3 whole science papers she was supposed to have done!

No idea how we’ll all manage tomorrow. I’m a teacher so first day for me too. I never sleep well the day before term starts, always worried I’ll have forgotten how to teach over the holidays.

Hope next week goes well for everyone.

My DS is starting y11 too.
no homework apart from sport studies (seriously?!?) and he will not do anything extra unless set by school. We have argued all summer!

Well crikey have just helped DD go through her mess of a box of school work and quite frankly I am overwhelmed with the amount of stuff they have to learn. At the moment I feel at a loss at how I can help but on a positive her work is now organised into subjects and her revision books are in some sort of order now.

My dd does explorers, they let the teens lead the activities week to week and there’s been opportunities to join national and regional events too, she’s not done any but has had chance to spend time with working huskies in Sweden, do a ‘monopoly’ trail in London and learn to scuba dive at a local school. Week to week they take turns leading and do cooking outside, play games, there was a big water fight in the summer.

DD has also done duke of Edinburgh through her school.

Aaah DS still not finished his homework !! Only 3days till back at school too. Dreading this year😥

We’ve just discussed it and he’s going to start to apply for some jobs, I’ve just been helping him put together a (very short!) CV! It does feel like it might be a little easier right now to get that first bit of experience than it has been in the last 10 years or so, and I’m not sure how long that’s going to last. The retail temp jobs for run up to Christmas have already started to appear!

@Gazelda i always thought NCS sounded great, but I’m confused how it works now it looks like they’ve changed it from a standard 4 week programme, can’t really make sense of their website.

Hope no one is caught up in the concrete issues!

My DS is also hoping to starting working this year happy to let him work if grades are affected then he will have to stop working. Though will delay him starting till after his 1st set of mocks have been done.

@MiniMidiMaxi I have been pondering the same thing DD is 16 in September and has been pestering for a part time job since she was 14. Not pushing revision until DD is back at school. I would just get into loggerheads with DD and DH if I did.

I've forced the issue of revision this week. Actually he hasn't been as resistant as I thought he might be and has got on and done it. He was given a load of revision books by his school and I've decided to focus on just maths, English Language and science. Generally the books have a page of information then a few questions at the bottom so I've been printing out the page, cutting off the questions then sticking them both on a double page spread in an exercise book. It quickly came to light that he's not actually reading the info before attempting the questions but even when he does, particularly in English, he can't always find the right information to answer the question. Maths isn't too bad but in maths I think his predicted grade is a 3 whereas in English it's a 4. I cannot see him getting to a 4 based on the work I've been marking this week from him but we'll keep plugging away in hope!

I've been wondering the same. I think it does wonders for independence.

However I don't think we'll encourage it in DD's case. She's doing Art GCSE which is taking up huge amounts of time, far more than any of her other subjects. She also does an 4hr extra curricular activity on Saturdays which she loves.

So I don't think she'll have time for anything else without risking her resilience and MH (we've had problems with her being a perfectionist and getting herself into a state).

I'm already starting to look around for options for next summer though - either a volunteering role or part time job.

NCS looks like a great opportunity but I don't think she'll have the confidence to go for it herself. She'll be too old for me to insist or sign her up for without her agreement, so I'm going to drip feed it's benefits and fun element over the year in the hope it piques her net rest.

Ds going into yr11. No homework over holidays but being in Wales they have recently sat 45% of their final
science exams so nice to get a break.

What are peoples views about part time working alongside GCSEs? DS will turn 16 in September and is keen to apply for a Saturday job (or Sunday!). I know from my own experience that it can be great for quickly developing maturity, and he certainly has had the time to spare during y10, but I’m weighing this up against the ramping-up of school work. Anyone got thoughts from older DC? I’d impose a limit of 8 ish hours a week I think, and he may very well not be successful in finding a job, but our local part-time and temp job market looks buoyant right now, so just want to think it through in advance. In my mind, the benefits to him at this age would not be about money, it’s about building experience, but keen to get other perspectives.

Joining in here too - I was on the previous y10 chat a bit, but I suspect there’ll be more to talk about this year!

We’re now back from our family holiday so it feels like the run-in to return to school. I found it very odd going through existing school uniform with DS, asking ‘can we make this last until June?’! He seems to be past growth spurts so hoping I don’t need to buy anything. If he gets into the sixth form he wants, he’ll need to wear a suit.

He didn’t have any school work set for the summer, so hasn’t done much apart from a bit of practice on Spanish vocabulary as that was his worst result in his end of year 10 exams. We went to France for our holiday, should have planned that better! I’m trying to encourage him to do some work on his English Lit set texts before they move on to different stuff when he’s back, but he’s still in summer stupor mode at the moment!

Joining please. My son has done his short course RS GCSE this year which was good experience. First mocks in November.

Very little homework set for him over the summer. The exception is in the subject for which he was without a teacher for over half a year. The new teacher has given them lots of reading and revision tasks.

He is very able, but quite lazy. He got an 8 in the RS short course which has provoked a flurry of revision yesterday and today. I've been researching revision aids and putting together a google drive folder of resources such as past papers. I've bought pads, revision cards, post it notes, and printed off several of the weekly revision timetable templates provided by his school.

Don't forget the contingency dat (or dates, rather, but the first two are within the main timetable):
(para 17 in the AQA document)
The awarding bodies have designated Wednesday 26 June 2024 as the ‘contingency day’ for examinations. The afternoons of Thursday 6 June and Thursday 13 June have been designated as ‘contingency afternoons’ for examinations. This is consistent with the qualification regulators’ document Exam system contingency plan: England, Wales and Northern Ireland – gov.uk/government/publications/exam-system-contingency-plan-england-wales-and-northernireland  The designation of ‘contingency days’ within the common examination timetable is in the event of national or significant local disruption to examinations in the United Kingdom. It is part of the awarding bodies’ standard contingency planning for examinations. Centres must therefore remind candidates that they must remain available until Wednesday 26 June 2024 should an awarding body need to invoke its contingency plan

My DS will be going into Yr11 in September.
No homework or revision given from the school for the summer hols which I was surprised about.

I am definitely more nervous than what he is for his exams

Yes my daughter is going into year 11. She's very anxious about it, got all 8s and 9s in her mocks and been revising in the holidays. She's a massive swot which I never was!

One of the English language guide books landed in the post yesterday. DH got on at DD to tidy her room which she did. I mentioned the book that came and the need to work for what we want and I got a massive scowl and told not back yet. I am so frustrated. I keep saying we must do this and she replied not we , me! We will see. Going to help her sort out her work notes etc as it is an utter mess. It’s all just chucked in a box.