Y11 2025/26… come and join

Yeah I don't remember ever drinking anything at school. DD says she couldn't possibly.go without water for 2 hours.

DD has mocks starting first day back in Jan. She said she was going to have as much relaxing over the holiday as she can, but did 3 hours revising on her first day off which I was very surprised about. Has just done 2 days of outdoor activities though so I think she'll keep a good balance. Just awaiting the tears on the last weekend 😞

Well done . We were late sending forms off so won’t hear for ages yet

@Tebheag Her very nature means she was a little hard on herself! She’s at a Catholic school so RE is compulsory a language is also compulsory then she is doing triple science plus her 3 options Art, History and Comp Sci…it’s a lot. Well done to your DD..so close to full marks is an amazing achievement.

@36and3sounds like utter bliss, enjoy. Much more preferable to my afternoon trying to track down a leg of lamb and at every given moment saying next year we are definitely going away

We’re in the Caribbean for a well deserved break and dd bought revision books! I’ve told her no way, this is your time to totally switch off.

@Ursulla42 congratulations on the conditional offer.

Hope all the DDs and DSs have a great Christmas new year before the hard graft next year. And good luck with all the applications for the next step.

@UncomfortableSilence big congratulations to your DD excellent results especially when doing 11. Hope she is not too hard on herself over the lost marks my DD missed out on 2 being 100% papers due to silly mistakes dropping 1 mark on one paper and 2/3 on another.
My DD only does 10 gsces though. 3 science 2 Eng, maths, geog, Spanish RE and finally electronics. Had no chance of doing any extra.

Well done great results here.

we have a conditional offer from xaverian college which is first choice so just need the results now.

happy Xmas everyone hope all of yours getting a break from the studying

Thank god that term is over! Felt like the longest for many reasons.
DD got her results back, 7 9s and 4 8s. She was one mark off a 9 in 2 of those, haven’t told anyone her results so will share here and say how unbelievably proud of her we are. She says she knows where she dropped marks so is focusing on that over the holiday and also the endless slog that is Art.

She is so focused but I am a little worried that she is going to burn herself out she looked bloody exhausted by the end of term.

We have parents evening the first week back and we need to get her VI Form applications done over the holidays as she was still deliberating over the last option.

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas and your DCs get some well deserved rest.

Yes our parents evening is also mid January. They then have “mini mocks” mid March. Dd did revise but knows what she needs to focus on now thankfully.

I didn't know that was a thing. Water bottles definitely weren't ubiquitous back in the olden days when I did GCSEs.

Bought DD a clear reusable water bottle for her stocking this week as she has mocks in Jan! No last minute panic water buying this time 🎅

Same here, will be finding out key areas of focus in the parents evening. DS did revise to be fair, so will be good to get some clarity on it.

Yes, definitely. We have parents evening the second week back in January so I'll be asking lots of questions. TBH I suspect the lack of revision is the main factor.

It might be worth talking to his teachers about test technique. My DS was working at grade 7 level in his summer report for geography and history, yet got 5s in his mocks in December. He was disappointed because history is ‘his’ thing. His teacher said that he needs to have more depth, detail and key info in his answers.

Results day for DS today. He aced business studies with a 9 but got 6-7 for everything else, including a 6 for maths. It's his favourite subject and he wants to do maths and further maths at sixth form so he's pretty disappointed. I'm hoping this is the reality check he needs to get his head down over the next few months.

Similar story with my dd’s History result. She got a 4 in the mock, and her teacher said she is capable of 7-9 and she gets full marks in class work - crucially tho, that’s when she has access to the key dates and knowledge. Being really honest with herself, she did revise but did not revise ENOUGH to properly memorise the crucial knowledge for history.

Some insight I can share as a teacher myself (English) is that on Seneca, they really should be getting 100% for it to be meaningful. The way Seneca works is it shows you the correct answers for the bits you got wrong, then the idea is you retake those questions and get them right. That’s how it becomes a revision tool. So if he’s stopping at 75%, he’s not filling in his knowledge gaps. Also, check the data for how long he is spending on it. I often hear plaintive cries from my students of ‘but I did my Seneca! I got 60%’ or whatever, and I’m like yes love, but I can see that you spent 7 minutes 35 seconds on it, which is why we set 80% as a bare minimum 😆

@fluffythecat1 - does he like all the topics ? DS1 did significantly better in the topics he has a life long interest in , not so much The Elizabethan’s !

That’s what I don’t really understand about the grades, because he did revise (the history teacher sets them loads of work) and I can see on Seneca that he did 75% of the geography revision. Got 5s, however 6/7 for combined science, 8 for computer science.

@fluffythecat1 they are massive content subjects DS1 was predicted a 9 in history and literally only just got a 6 . He got a 7 in Geography . DS2 is doing both and I’m considering asking school not to enter him for one of them (he got a 2) and concentrate on the other 8 subjects .Need to discuss it over Christmas . If he wants to do them at A level then he probably needs to commit to serious revision .

Just wondering people’s thoughts. DS got decent mock results, 4-8 (the 4 he misread the paper and only answered half the questions), however I’m a bit bamboozled by his history and geography marks. His ‘target grade’ for these is 8, and he was working at 7 level for both in June, however he only got a 5 in the mocks. History teacher has said he needs more depth/detail/keys facts in his answers and geography teacher said to focus on amendments to his coursework which he’s doing over Christmas break. Anyone else had this? He is looking to do these subjects at A level, but actually got better results in the sciences and English, so wondering if he should change.

@wincher My DS wanted to camp somewhere similar after his GCSEs.. I said absolutely not to wild camping (he accepted this as I pointed out it was illegal) and they had to plan which campsites etc. In the end they didn't get organised or sort anything out and so didn't go! I think they like the idea of these things and then realise the whole thing eg getting there, finding where to stay is just too much effort!

Place marking

Wow top of the year in Maths is amazing @Tebheag .

A friend went to look around Harris Westminster a couple of years ago, and Liz Truss was looking round at the same time 😅

You can apply to as many as you want @wonderstuff and as far away as you want. it feels very weird in London compared to catchments for primary any secondary. I think we'll probably do 5 or 6 and then decide on taster days and results day as we missed most of the open days for various reasons.