Y11 2023/24 thread 5 - results!

My ds doesn't seem to even be thinking about his results (either that or he's really good at hiding it)

I'm falling apart, even dreaming of his results. He is so clever but his mocks in certain subjects weren't great (to say the least!!) And English is his worst subject and needs a 4/5 to get on any of the courses he wants to do (got 3 in mocks)

DD thinks that because she has attended the main school, the 6th form will be lenient with their entry grades.

This is her personal opinion 🤨

I'm just fuming because if he doesn't get in, he's got nowhere to go come September and it's potentially a house move for us.

Nearest private school is hour and a half away, I'd be surprised if any of the pupils live in our area, can't see them travelling that twice a day but I could be wrong. The grammar school has a sixth form but you can only go if you went to the school, the other sixth forms work on catchment basis and the two colleges turned down DS application, along with lots of others as they can't offer places to everyone.

What's more stressful nhs we can't do anything till September if he doesn't get in

There's a huge backstory that I've already posted but basically they encouraged all pupils to change subjects after their offers had been made and gave them till 28th June to do so. They've told me in multiple emails that changing subject won't affect their application then the last day of term they announced that actually if you've swapped subjects and don't get any grade to study any of them, you lose your place. Prior to that, you could change to another subject but would be on a waiting list until the places were filled by students who chose the subjects first.

@YellowphantGrey Sorry to hear that. I guess with VAT on school fees, there might be more private school parents choosing a state 6th form. Unintended consequences.

DS's place is conditional on his results as well, but I take anything that cheers him up now.

Ours are on too and another sixth form.

We've had an email to let us know that if grades aren't achieved for chosen A levels then offers will be withdrawn due to the demand for places. This year, because of demand, they won't be offering alternative subjects if you fail to meet the criteria for the ones you have chosen on your application form.

A lot of angry parents on the Facebook page today

Hi all, DD currently painting her room... I don't know if I want Thursday to hurry up or not! Good luck to everyone

Its awful that so much pressure is put on 16 yos by schools. There is so much time ahead of them and I wish they realised that even if they don't get to do the courses they want immediately there is plenty of time ahead to achieve their dreams. Its crazy that for one college they need an 8 to do Maths A level and another a 6/7, another post code lottery I guess.

I hope whatever happens they all manage to sort a good option that suits them.

DD is away at the moment which is so relaxing for me (not about results, other difficulties in her life at the moment). Not sure how she’s feeling now the results are nearer - she was very chill about it last week - ‘it is what it is’, she said…

DS is stressed about results, too. Good luck to all of us!

He has, however, discovered that his timetable is already on the parent portal (he is staying in the same school for 6th form). He is very pleased with his teachers. 😁

Another wobbler here too

She's dreading being one of those whose results aren't what she would like/needs for next steps especially surrounded by her peers. And school are obsessed every year with the Ace Results contingent and make a big fuss with photos etc.

If it wasn't for the fact that my gut is telling me we'll need to hang around and quickly grab a SLT member to sort out/negotiate back up plans we'd just grab the envelope and bugger off.

On a more positive note she seems to be slowly warming to her second venue choice which has lower entry requirements and only asks you do 3 subjects compared to 6th form at school which demand 4. I really think this will be better for her. Although it's a big college campus so lots of unknowns and coming b out of comfort zones.

This week can't go quick enough

The school have definitely stressed a lot of the pupils out. I think we would take an other option if there was one.

I don't remember this much stress and pressure at 16. When I went to sixth form, you literally collected your results then went to the Sixth block to enrol on the course yky wanted. If you didn't have maths and English then you could sit the equivalent key skills alongside your course

DD and friends are in a spin about maths in particular. They need 8s in maths to do maths, sciences or economics at A-Level. A lot of WhatsApping is going on as they guess at grade boundaries etc.

I’m very wobbly! Friends DD got her A level results and not as expected which was an enormous shock. That’s thrown me!

That is hard with the friendship issues, but you are right that she will meet and make lots of new friends at college.

DS seems very calm. I am getting nervous (but not showing it to him). All that really matters is he gets enough for next stage, and he should, but I suspect he will be disappointed if has lower marks than mocks.

Oh well, not long to go until it's old news.

DD is a bit of a mess over the results. Having friends issues too, a group of them are meeting almost everyday without her and obviously it’s upsetting 😡 Thankfully she’s going to college with 100s of new people. I’d almost forgotten what living with a stressed out teenager was like after weeks and weeks of chill! Time to get on with the new academic year please!

This would definitely be enough to stop my dd staying on!!

Our sixth form, all students have to do an enrichment course (AS level when I was at school) and core maths is one of them along with psychology, can't remember the others)

Core maths is compulsory if you get a 5 on maths, regardless of which A levels you are doing. You can pick a different enrichment course if you get a 6 or more in maths.

Nerves are showing here but we are going on holiday today so that will offer some distraction till results day. Think the nerves are more mine!

Morning. Another wobbly one here.

He's never been 100% about his last choice of A Level and he's flip flopping all over the place now. He is allowed to request a change on results day but it's not guaranteed.

He's most worried about the English Language result as he can't compare to past, similar, mark schemes to approximate his scores. It's quite odd to get het about about this one as it's always been one of his strongest subjects but wobbles are rational are they?!. Luckily he's volunteering until Wednesday and doing the online work for his coaching course so he is pretty busy.

I do like the sound of Core Maths @Tebheag Apparently it's aimed at students who are taking sciences but want some additional maths. Although, having read the AQA syllabus and spec.it seems more practical. It's not offered at all near us so if DS want to do it, it will have to be private entry. I hope your son gets on it if he wants to do it.

I have another wobbly one. She's wanted to do History forever, wants to read History at University but one of her older friends has spooked her about the A Level content so now she's decided to do 4 A Levels in Y12 with option of dropping one (History!?!) in Y13.

I've told her not to do anything until Thursday. She wants to stay at her school sixth form (all girls selective - limited boys in sixth form) but entry criteria is high so it's touch and go which I know is the stressor - she doesn't care about the numbers on the paper, just that she can stay on there. Fall back option is local FE sixth form which is good but a very different environment than what she's used to! I actually think the FE sixth form college would be a good transition from school to university so I'm not stressed either way on that front!

My DD is a bit wobbly too. It might help your DD to know that most 6th forms allow movement between subjects in the first half term. So if she has a change of heart, she will probably be able to change A Levels (assuming option blocks allow).

Morning all,

How is everyone doing?

My DD is starting to wobble now, she told me yesterday she isn't sure of her A level choices now as doesn't know what she wants to do for a job. Before she had leaned towards dentistry, and has always enjoyed chemistry and maths. Now she is questioning everything but I am sure it is a fear of results day and what might happen.

I've just tried to reassure she can choose what she wants on the day (she has to go and enrol at new 6th form on results day) and we will work around whatever happens.

I know logically it will all be ok but I hate seeing her so unsure of herself and her abilities. Even though I've been through this with a much older DD so know things work out regardless, I am still worried about Thursday.

She is working today and tomorrow (as am I) so hopefully we will be a little distracted.

Finally got a response from DS he would like to stay on to 6th form but would like to do core Maths been warned it has been oversubscribed from the school not sure how they pick the students to offer the places too.
He will go to city 6th form if he doesn't get a 5 in English. I know city 6th form does resits for English so worst case he will redo it.
Still can't get over the vast difference in school admissions. DS school is also one that treats 4 as a fail.

I am honestly shocked at the lack of choice and the school's attitude @YellowphantGrey I do hope your son gets the grades he needs on Thursday. Horrible situation.

In my area we had problems with school spaces for the rising 5's but this was fixed by the time the cohort reached secondary age with a new school being opened. This is the school DS attended. It opened two years before he joined with a 240 PAN and was full and put on an extra class (taken from accepted appeals) almost for 2007/08 year group as it was so large. However there isn't an issue for sixth form as there are colleges - both FE and sixth form - as well as the school sixth forms. DS' second choice is the best performing school in the borough and always oversubscribed for year 7 but loses around 40% of the cohort after year 11 as they go to other colleges so there are always spaces for new students.

Today has been an up day - we're off to see Taylor Swift tomorrow so exam results are a distant thought!

DD has decided this week that she wants to do a 4th A Level as well as an EPQ

Phrases used by the Teaching staff include "if you don't get into sixth form because you've failed your exams" or one that come home in the newsletter was "....anything below a 5 will not be considered a pass...."

It was a huge birth rate year (2008) the school we are at has 10 classes per year with 30 children in each. To start in year 7 there was nearly 2500 applicants to the school. Many children didn't get any of their choices and are in schools an hour away despite some living at the top of our road but out of catchment.

As it stands, all sixth form places are allocated to students and external students. Someone I work with, their child went to a different school with no sixth form so they've applied to ours as within catchment and they are on the waiting list. They asked what position on the list they are and they don't give a number after 100 so the waiting list is huge.

They can afford to pick the very best pupils because places are in demand

It's annoying because we aren't in the middle of nowhere. I can get a train to London in 1 hour 20 mins but where we leave is just crammed full of 16 year-old all competing for places.