GCSE Support - the results are in

The best way IMO is to first watch something (anything, as many as you like) they know really well without subtitles (kids' films are good for this because hopefully simpler) and stop and listen again any time there's something they don't understand (again, write it down then and there). Listen as many times as needed to work out what the word is, look it up and write it down. If you can't work it out, stick the subtitles on and work out what it is that way. There might be a lot of pausing!

Second option is watch something more grown up with subtitles but make it something they are prepared to watch a few times because they will want to go back and watch again without subtitles once they know the plot etc. This can also be a favourite film but something hopefully with more adult dialogue.

Also, try to find a radio station or pop music in the target language. Have the radio station on in the background when eg tidying their room or cooking something. They absolutely won't understand everything but just hearing it and the rhythms/sounds is good. As time goes on they may find they recognise more words (feels like such a win when you finally work out what the hell they are talking about).

If you can find pop music that they like in German, Spotify on a phone has lyrics which is massively helpful (look up the words and write them down!).

Podcasts are great. DD has been listening to an intermediate French one on Spotify and it's fab because it discusses loads of different stuff (good for vocab) but at a speed that is comprehensible. Start with an easy one to build confidence.

Thanks for this BonjourCrisette . At the college open evening I noticed that the language department had loads of popular films in Spanish on DVD/Bluray for the students to borrow (glad we've still got a DVD player!). DD has been watching loads of Dr Who (David Tennant era) in Spanish and I hope it's helped her. I think she sees it as a good excuse to watch Dr Who really!

@MoFoFlo you mentioned Head of Hall. I wonder is your DD going to L? I only ask as mine is - I'd never heard of the Hall system before yesterday, but perhaps lots of places use it.

College registration went well - about half the kids had a parent with them. DD’s grades were lower than expected and she has to resit English so she was feeling quite nervous. The teacher who did her course consultation was lovely and suggested that she might do better overall switching A-level business to ctec as it’s got a mix of coursework and exams, plus modules can be retaken if necessary. We’d talk about this in advance but the teacher helped DD feel a bit happier about the decision. She’s also going to do btec sport and A-level psychology. Because she’s borderline with her GCSE results she’ll be encouraged to check in regularly with her head of hall to make sure she’s doing ok. We both felt very reassured by how supportive they are and the college has a very strong reputation for this. DD now whinging about her perfectly fine ID card photo, though lots of smiles and giggles for the first time in a week.

@SummerCycling322 yes AQA Biology. DS one mark off G5.

Same here for one of my DC, we have received one subject for another (He has requested 2). We are dealing with the examinations manager, is it possible to get hold of them at your school? They do seem to be replying but have said that it’s very busy so will take a while. I have also emailed a teacher about a grade query but they haven’t responded.
I am in awe of all these schools that are taking an active interest in reviews over the holidays, our school is never very interested despite being a very high achieving academy.

@Neversaygoodbye is it AQA paper 2 biology? We’ve got the same dilemma as she’s one point of G6, lucky college accepted her onto A’Levels as she was strong across all the others but I’m worried it may impact at University choices plus we’ve reviewed both papers and there’s definitely some odd marking going on. She was a very solid G6 on paper 1.

@MrsHamlet thanks 👍

@bluegiraffe I teach English, so no. They're not always that useful for my subject either, frankly

@MrsBeetlejuice yes. Or the head of department

@MrsHamlet
So do you know how they well predict A level grades if they are taking A levels in subjects they did not do for GCSE?

@MrsHamlet great, so then do you just forward them on to the subject teacher to see if they believe a review is worth while?

@MrsBeetlejuice it's a download so it should be very quick

@MrsHamlet thank you. When we go in to request them, how long does it normally take to actually see them?

@noblegiraffe is, of course, correct.

Target grades come from GCSE scores
Predicted grades come from teacher knowledge

They get a collective point score for their GCSE grades and that's used to generate A-level target grades so they will have the same prediction for all subjects. This means a kid who got a 9 in maths but a 4 in English might only have a target of an A for Maths A-level instead of an A*, but would also have a target of an A for English if they were allowed to take it.

Predicted grades should be teacher-generated based on performance.

Only the exams officer can request them. But they belong to the candidate so you should be able to get them fairly easily.
Teachers are still on holiday so you might not hear from them until term starts.

Still no scripts here. Keep getting told I need to speak to different people. Only one teacher has got back to me so far. Looks like we won't have even started the ball rolling until term actually starts 🙄

Another one here who was too embarrassing to be allowed onto college premises, but relegated to glorified Uber driver instead. DC reckons it was about 75/25 on favour of parents being there.

Sorry we've had the scripts back for all 3 subjects. The head of Biology has come back and said she feels it would be worth considering a review of paper 2.

Ask the school to review and advise. DD was 1 mark off a 9 in history and her teacher has gone through every paper and said yes, she could argue that across the papers, she can see a couple of missed marks but that she would expect them to declare it fairly marked (it is) and stick with their 8. She says it's not worth it as each missed mark is in a different paper iyswim so you'd have to ask for all of them to be reviewed and if it's only one mark out, it is still a fair mark of a subjective paper. We are going with her expert opinion and leaving it.

Ask them to get the scripts first and see if there are obvious marking errors. Reviewers are not looking for extra marks

Hi we've had a response from DS school and they've suggested we could consider a review for one biology paper (still waiting to hear about history and geography) - he's one mark off the higher grade boundary.
Money aside - should we go ahead on this basis? Just looking for others opinions. Thanks.

To those taking A level German or any MFL - agree that it's a great idea to write down any vocab as you come across it. I would also advise a good bit of revision of grammar and vocab basics now. Ideally work should have been going on on this throughout the summer, but even a few days' work will help.

There's not loads of lit - usually one book and one film. The film in German is usually Goodbye Lenin! or Leben des Anderen, both great films. And the book is often Besuch der Alten Dame (a play, fairly easy language) or Der Vorleser (The Reader - made into an English film with Kate Winslet). Find out which before rushing to buy tho! More than 50 pp sadly but not too challening, English-wise. Those books and films are the ones with a revision guide available btw.

I am also embarrassing so I will not be attending the enrolment

I was the same. Loved gcse German and took it at A level. But after a couple of weeks I realised how big the jump was and ended up changing for English. But that was a long time ago so no idea how things have changed.