Finishing Y11 content

I think my subject may be one whose spec began in 2017. From a meeting pre-Covid, AQA told me that each spec has a shelf life of 5 years which is why I think they are quite old now. I’m just waiting to be told it’s going to be all change again.

@YesYesKitten but 12 missed hours isn't much over the two year course

Thats 6 full day trips wiping out lessons per year over year 10 & 11. Or students on a sports fixture in the pm leaving only half a class. Or a fire alarm drill or lockdown. A special assembly or speaker in during that lesson time. It's possible that these could all hit one subject. & Teacher illness when cover work is set and needs reteaching. It soon adds up.

There is another thread where a parent is claiming to have covered the entire syllabus for one GCSE in 12 hours so...

Anyway I think this can be an issue but careful planning should make it less common. Trouble is any school can be hit by staff illness or shortage of specialist staff. I recall getting frustrated when I was trying to finish off the syllabus for GSCE German before Christmas, only to have to revise my plans as students kept missing lessons for mocks (so obvs I couldn't get the work covered with half the class missing).

At least it's been flagged and something is being done.

Btw @Wishihadanalgorithm there are changes in the pipeline for some GCSEs but the current spec has only been in place for exams from 2018 (2017 in the case of three subjects) so not really that long.

It doesn't work that way. In my subject (not Biology), we have been telling the exam boards for years there is too much content to cover (in both A-Level and GCSE) and nothing has been done.

I teach biology and this shouldn't be happening. Poor planning from the school. Year 11 shouldn't be taken out on trips after a set date and other subjects shouldn't be taking out students for coursework when science has its own required practicals to complete. Any student being taken out should rotate so all subjects are hit, not just one. And lastly, the whole GCSE science content should be mapped out on an overview sheet and shared with the department so everyone sticks religiously to the timings.

Yes, my DD1 had this last year for history and all 3 sciences. I think it just meant everything was covered properly. She did incredibly well so it wasn’t a problem.

The content for GCSEs is crazy these days. (I think GCSEs are due a shake up as the cure t specs have been in place a long time).

Even the most competent of teachers can struggle to get to the end and have time for revision. A super bright class can cover content for themselves and then practice exam skills and application in class but if you have an average group, or one who struggles, then the teacher will need to go much more slowly.

It sounds like the school is aware of the situation and dealing with it. Just support your DC and help them manage their revision on top of new content leading up to the exams.

It was ever thus; two of my O levels were affected like this; one of my DC had two GCSEs affected like this and, for another DC, one of their A levels.

All you can do, at this stage, is be positive and emphasise that the school has acknowledged the issue and is putting a plan in place and that at least recently taught material will be fresh in the mind; encourage your DD to have an overall revision plan that strikes a balance, as best as can be achieved, between the catch-up subject and other subjects, esp key ones like Maths and English Lang.

Because of my experience at O level, I encouraged my DC to familiarise themselves with the syllabus and their progress against it, so they could feel a bit more in control and could (like me) decide whether to take mitigating action. At least these days, specifications and self-study materials are more readily available.

Obviously none of the above is ideal and, with retention and recruitment issues, may get worse. I agree that schools can be late in declaring there is a problem; in a backdrop where there is a lot to teach, a problem in, say Autumn Y11, may well escalate things very quickly without elapse time to address it.

My school did nothing to address the syllabus shortfall for me; it was down to me to sort it. At least, for my DC, attempts were made to assist with catch-up and that sometimes meant other teachers stepping in with extra lessons, for which I was grateful.

Students being taken out can be SO frustrating. In my case it’s basketball. It seems to always affect an afternoon I’m teaching them (never their games afternoon) and a large proportion of them are students who NEED to be in the lessons.

I should perhaps have added the main reason we can finish so early is that we can trust the students to read the texts at home so don’t need to read a whole nineteenth century novel in class.

Yes, Biology is almost impossible to cover if you have a lower ability cohort and need to spend any real time on anything.

You also have students missing lessons for trips, or taken out to go finish their coursework on other subjects. Which puts added pressure on other subjects teachers.

Is it Biology? That’s often close to the end as it is so content heavy?

We work at break-neck speed (in limited curriculum time) and are usually finished in time for January mocks. I’ve had some issues with chest infections over the last term though so still have about 3 or 4 poems from the anthology to cover. The exams seem to get earlier every year though. And we will be starting study leave a week and a half earlier than we did three years ago (which translates into 5 hour long lessons vanishing for me).

It's not ideal but it happens.