Y11 2025/26… come and join

That sounds like stressful year! I have DD1 doing GCSEs this year but in 2 years she will be doing A levels and her sister will be doing GCSEs. I'm not looking forward to it.
I'm teaching in a few different classrooms next year too and I have 3 new courses to deliver (well 2 new courses and 1 where I'm teaching the bits I don't usually teach). I'm also mentoring a PGCE student again this year. It's going to be busy, hopefully interesting too, but for some reason this is the first year I can't drum up any enthusiasm for the year ahead. I think it's mainly feeling that Sept 1st is far too early to be back in school!
Good luck to you and DCs

No ideas on the wall planner @Roseyposeypie but it’s an interesting idea. Can’t decide if one would help DS1 or make him more panicky. Definite impending doom here :(.
I have no idea if they keep the same teachers- I would think hopefully but sure they can’t guarantee it.
Some work has been done today! I had to sit with him during it, but that’s normal for DS1 (autistic). Think we will have to go with little and often - trouble is he forgets stuff so fast…..:(.
Back to school on Tuesday (Weds for his brother) - what about everyone else?

DS2 has had loads of work - he’s done a tiny fraction of it .. completely understand the impending doom feeling . Mine tells me almost every day he’s going to do
some studying - but the start time gets postponed throughout the day .

Ha! @FlyingPandas - same!

Oh God @Chapter2 the bloody DT coursework! DS2 also taking DT and I can already tell that the coursework is going to be the bane of my life until the damned thing is handed in!

We are heading home from holidays today and I have an impending sense of doom about the arrival of the autumn term. DS, in a fit of optimism, brought various GCSE books with him ‘to get some work done’ and of course they have remained unopened in the hotel room…

Joining. Hi all.
I am slightly dreading this year but trying to be positive. DS1 struggles to focus on revision and is not self-motivated. Hoping that little and often will work with lots of support. He got some of his DT coursework started over the summer but no other work was set by school.

I’m not sure they do keep the same teachers necessarily - I know DS1 had some changes for year 11 - I know definitely History and English changed , maths stayed the same - DS2 currently has a great maths teacher so I will be gutted if that changes

Dd hasn’t got her timetable yet. Assuming she’ll keep the same teachers as last year.

Joining :)

DS1 hasn’t had much work from school over the summer. We’re just starting to get organised for the new school year after a week away. Has anyone got any recommendations for an academic year wall planner? I feel it might be helpful for him to see the whole year set out on paper.

@UncomfortableSilence DS1 sat proper exams but there was never any stress with it because of the high flyer and very self motivated…I didn’t have to get involved at all.

DS2 is not self motivated….in the slightest, he’s going to need a lot of support.

Thanks for the new thread wonderstuff.

DD is yet again upstairs ploughing through the Art coursework!

Yesterday she was doing some Biology & Physics, tomorrow she’s out all day so a well deserved break. She is also doing a couple of days work experience this week and before we know it back to school.

Kelly - DD1 was also the Covid year so this is our first run at ‘proper GCSEs!’

@KellySeveride dont worry my DS2 had a right old mix … even a 1 in one combined science paper , we also had 3,4,5,7 … but just got 2 marks under 8 in GCSE English Language so anything is possible - anyway not everyone on these threads are high flyers

Joining 😆.

DS is not a high flyer so I’m going to be the parent here pulling my hair out as we navigate this year….year 10 mocks were a mixed bag of 3’s and 4’s so we’re just holding out for 4’s and 5’s in the real thing.

He is my 3rd dc (of 4). DD didn’t sit GCSE’s (Covid kid), DS1 is a high flyer and just about to go into upper 6th with four predicted A’s at A level. So this is my first foray into the actual stress of GCSE year despite him being kid number 3. I’m going to need all the hand holding you guys can offer 🤣

Place marking here too. DS2 heading into Y11 in September. One GCSE done this year (Latin) and he was happy with the result so
that’s good. But I know Y11 will be a whole
different ballgame and although he has an older sibling, DS1 was the 2020 Covid year so got CAGs for GCSEs and we didn’t have any revision stress, or coaxing through the whole 25+ exams trauma. I feel very much a novice in terms of GCSE support and parenting!

DS2 is academically very able but tends to coast on natural ability and I often feel
like I’m banging my head against the wall trying to encourage him to develop good study skills (which he is going to need at some point regardless of GCSEs). He plans to stay at school (v academic indie which he loves) for sixth form and hasn’t even considered anywhere else so he’s going to need decent grades. Bracing myself and looking forward to sharing the journey with you all!

(I have done nothing to prepare for Y11 other than nagging. Which has achieved very little!!)

Everyone sounds so organised! We haven’t really done any back to school prep yet - next week’s plan. Slightly afraid they have all grown over the summer….
I am somewhat scared of next summer - it will be 20 papers if he retakes the papers from this summer/ the autumn. That does sound very very full on. English Lit I think we are giving up as a bad job otherwise it would be 22. I can see why the school gets them to do some papers early but he’s maturing in terms of exam technique and just generally so much I think he could potentially do much better in a year’s time. Tough call though. If he does no retakes at all it could go down to 13 (I think), which sounds so much more manageable!

Well done to everyone's DC who sat a subject or two a year early. The DC's school used to do GCSE PE in year 10 but stopped that last year, so DS has the full set of exams next year. He got English and Maths homework to do over the summer - he claims to have done it already when I wasn't looking...

I've tried to pack in as much accidental revision as possible with our choice of holidays and days out. Hopefully some of it has gone in and stuck. Stationery shopping is done, uniform audit complete and I just need to get both DC school bags. They claim to need new shoes as the ones they both needed at May half term aren't sufficiently fashionable 🙄I've told them they can buy themselves new shoes with their pocket money if the ones they chose in May aren't up to scratch.

It’s been really mind concentrating for us as DS1 just got his GCSEs - he matched his mocks but was well under his predictions . He’s a good kid and worked hard ( though I’m not sure effectively ) . DS2 will now either stay where he is or try and join his brother at the local grammar if he makes the grades ( it would be a pleasant surprise ) . I knew in my gut what was going to happen with DS1 . Doing 11 subjects was frankly exhausting - he had about 23 exams - way more pressure than our day . Mocks also were targeted at specific topics not the whole curriculum- so not truly representative . My advice would be lots of fingers in a few different pies for onward study .

Thanks for the new thread @wonderstuff.

Dd1 seems to have done very little this summer but think she's only got Art to do. She needs to go back and fill in bits of her book as got a 7 in mocks but hadn't completed all the writing up. Art continues to be far more work than any of her other subjects.

Not sure about A levels yet - if she stays at her school, she has to do 4. So far she's thinking Maths and German, and maybe Art & FM. I'm quite keen for her to visit a 6th form too that has a broader range of subjects just to keep her options open. She's at grammar school though so not sure it's worth moving.

Hi, DD is about to start yr 11. She had a fairly rough time socially at the end of Yr 10 so I'm keeping everything crossed things settle in Sept. She was planning to stay on at her school for A levels but all the upset has made her rethink and she wants to look around different sixth forms. She's even considering performing arts college. Its no bad think to have a good think about what she really wants but having no plans isn't helping with motivation - she's done no work all summer and is already complaining about all the revision she'll have to do next year 🙄. She's a lovely girl and generally works hard. I'm probably worrying too much, I just want her to be happy and don't want friendship issues impacted her GCSEs.

Dd will just stay at school for sixth form. She wants to do biology, psychology, history then teetering between chemistry and English. They have to pick four.

I’ve done the uniform/ shoes and stationary haul. She knows this is it now!

@wonderstuff good luck with yr 13 , I also have one starting yr12… so four years of exams on the trot - though a yr11 and 13 at the same time sounds tough

DS had lists for all subjects - he’s done an hour a day most days in August and has nearly finished the maths . Upside he got a 7 for his English Language taken a year early which I hope will give him confidence . Mocks were a bloodbath

Thanks for sorting the new thread