Do grade 9s matter that much?

I would be careful of falling into the trap of looking at the mark scheme and thinking the exams are really quite easy. This year, of the 16-year-old students who took 7 or more GCSEs, 45.8% achieved all grade 4 or above, 5.5% achieved all grade 7 or above and 0.2% achieved all grade 9. If GCSEs were easy these figures would be far higher.

EOTAS/EOTIS absolutely can work. Where it is appropriate it doesn’t have to involve being at home alone either. There are possibilities for interaction even if school is legally inappropriate. Trips out can (should unless it is inappropriate) be part of a proper EOTAS/EOTIS package. Inspirational teachers are just as likely, if not more so since parents often have greater input into who is working with their DC (e.g. because they have direct payments), with EOTAS/EOTIS as they are in schools.

Often the love of a subject comes from having an inspirational teacher and good discussions in the classroom, topped up by school trips and a sense of all being in it together. Not sure being at home alone can provide any source of true inspiration. So that must be very difficult. I hope he can find a solution to go to college or sixth form for the next stage. Then he will get the reassurance about grades, that he seems to need.

Wow @AGoodDayToday I am amazed tbh it’s not a selective school. At least if it was (depending on how selective) you might expect the majority of students to achieve 6+ in their GCSEs.

Goodness. It sounds like a truly toxic environment. I taught in a comp in a pretty disadvantaged area and I can clearly recall students of mine getting a C (old school) or a 4/5 and they are I were really pleased. For many students, grades 4 and 5 represent a massive achievement.

And students who don't achieve all 9s or even all grades 7-9 can still be useful and purposeful members of society. They can go to college, get a job, earn money. Actually after many many years in the workplace in a variety of roles, the qualities I value most in colleagues are empathy, a sense of humour and the ability to tackle a challenge. Not so much with the starry academic career. But you know this I am sure :)

If he's serious about wanting a degree apprenticeship in software engineering (DS is doing one and loves it) then it would be worth him looking at extra curriculars that he will be able to put on a cv and talk about at interview rather than just focusing on exams. They are very competitive and he will need to stand out, they won't worry if he hasn't got all 9's at GCSE as long as he has decent grades, but they will want someone who can demonstrate a genuine interest in the subject and work as part of their team. The schools obsession with grade 9's is just about their own stats and nothing else.

So doing things things like moocs, youtube tutorials, free courses, Unity Junior programmer, making his own games and having a Github account to show their development. Relevant voluntary work, examples of teamwork (there was always a question on working as part of a team at DS's interviews), an EPQ in an area of interest (DS did quantum computing/cyber security related one), a really good NEA as part of his comp sci A-level (DS did a game with simple AI) and/or a part time job to show reliability.

Coming out of uni with a degree is no longer enough to get you a job, employers want to see much more than that - and at that point they're not going to care less about what grades you got at GCSE as long as you have maths and English. Much better to be able to also demonstrate you have all the soft skills they are looking for than and a variety of experiences to talk about at interview than to focus solely on exams and academics IMO.

@AGoodDayToday honestly I don't think it is like that in most schools. Certainly most state comps (I assume this is a selective school). After all the majority of DC in a state comp will not get all 7 and above never mind all 9s. DD's friend in the year below her got 999999888 IIRC, she is super smart, the school celebrated that of course as the best result from that year group. But it also celebrated a student who gained 4s and 5s that they had worked really hard for.

I meant to say before – They ask essay questions and I am bracing myself to write an essay that would grace the front page of the FT, and then when we look at the marking scheme, it's really very basic information that is called for. – do be aware that the mark scheme is important.

I have known DC write loads for their English lang exam but bc they didn;t write what the MS wanted, they got very few marks. I am sure that's not your son! but just to be aware that to some extent GCSEs are an exercise in box ticking and passing an exam at the highest grade you can, rather than enhancing your knowledge for the love of a subject. Sadly. Though of course you can do that as well and why not!

Grade 9s matter a hell of a lot more for the schools than they do for the kids. (I'm a secondary teacher)

Our DCs' schools had a pretty healthy attitude - 9's are for bragging rights.
Great if you get them, absolutely does not matter if you don't.

And actually - one of the greatest lessons to learn early on (unfortunately I learnt it quite late in life) is that even totally bombing out on an exam/s does not matter - the world keeps turning.

My favourite quote from a Tesco greetings card:

'Life is rarely who can run the fastest or jump the highest - often the most valuable skill is how well you bounce'

I think it's very weird that it's dwelt on constantly like this in schools now.

Tbf I do think that your DS unfortunately went to a relatively unusual school, in that the message was given that a grade 8 was not OK.

That's not been the case in any school I worked in (I mean before, it was Astar but still the same thing) nor in my DCs’ school.

In fact the one YP I personally know who I know got all 9s (yes, just one) was certainly not telling anyone when they did – they went with “yes I did really well thank you.” So I really hope (politely) that you are wrong and it is not dwelt on in schools – hopefully those on here who have had similar experience to your son are the rarities.

If he's interested in data, you could explain to him that the targets are reached from estimates arrived at for what somebody attending one of the top 5% schools in the country could get if everything goes perfectly for them from the day they start infant school until the day they sit the exams - and that a lot of people in schools don't necessarily understand that, they just see a target on a download for what is termed an 'Aspirational Minimum Expected Grade' (2 grades above students in 50% of English schools having a perfect education and exam days) and assume that is the only acceptable outcome (or they're told that by other people, such as those who run academy trusts, who don't necessarily understand it either). So their saying that only a nine will do means that they don't understand what the data was telling them - or they didn't want to.

The sort of conversations that go on in murky data offices are along the lines of 'Remind me why we pay a shitload for all of this stuff when anybody can estimate a grade and then add two', because that's what the aspirational minimum expected grade is - a kid who is absolutely capable of a seven, just with another two grades lobbed on top for good measure. Unfortunately, it tends to be somewhat career limiting to ask executive leadership 'Are you perfect? Are you? What about you? No? How about being more than perfect? No? Then why are we telling kids that they have to be more than perfect and anything less than that is a failure, then?'.

they don't matter a jot in themselves, but they're useful as a predictor for A level, which is pretty much the entire currency for university admissions.

like, if you genuinely know you're grade 9 standard, then potentially having a bad day and nothing getting a 9 won't matter at all. but if you're not grade 9 standard then you're likely not A* standard etc which will slightly reduce your choices in terms of the very top universities.

Poor lad, so so much pressure. My son completed his gcses last year at a ridiculously high pressured state school. The whole thing was a nightmare. He did very well but at huge cost to his mental health. The whole system is madness, on the grand scale of things none of this matters, his life is not defined by getting grade 9s is exams at age 16. No one will care after results day. So pleased you are being supportive and not adding to the pressure. Maybe he could talk to slightly older students who may help change his opinions.

We don’t even have 9’s in Wales!

The highest you can get with WJEC is A star which why I think 8/9’s aren’t differentiated by universities.

Comparing sciences to other subjects is more difficult, for both GCSE and IGCSE, because candidates will sit different sciences.

So using Pearson IGCSE as an example, some will sit single science award, some will sit double science, some will sit separate science. Within the latter some will sit all 3 (bio, chem, physics) and some only 1 or 2 of them. Then there is human biology. It makes comparison hard.

The statistics for 2025 are here. A tiny number got all grade 9s. Although if you have EOTAS/EOTIS, DS may sit some IGCSEs instead of GCSEs and the statistics don’t cover them.