Y11 2025-26 Results Day and Next Steps

DS2 started bridging work today - only about an hour spent … however he seemed genuinely interested and was asking all sorts of questions I couldn’t answer .. thank goodness for Google 🤞

Good luck to any going for remarks.
DD is planning to start bridging work tomorrow. Hoping its not been left too late.

We’re in a similar situation with Lit. Dd got 80% on Paper 2, 50% on Paper 1. She’s never got half marks on any English work or mocks before. School have requested papers back so we shall see. She might have just had a bad day, but I want to see if somethings gone awry with marking. I’m an English teacher and have been a GCSE examiner and it seems quite odd to me. Wonder if she will let me look at the papers…

I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you! We’ve had DD’s paper 1 back from her HOD as she’s only one mark off a 9 and the teacher thinks she can see 1/2 extra marks so it’s been sent off now and we’ve been told it’ll be max 20 days before we hear. That and a physics remark too. I feel like I’ve got to mentally build up again fkr another results day!!

That’s great that her teacher is looking through it - our school won’t engage with that so it’s up to us to figure out whether it’s worth submitting for a review or not. If the AI marks are that far off I would be tempted to submit - especially if you’re fairly close to the upper boundary and so not much risk of dropping a grade. Out of curiosity, can I ask which AI markers you were advised to use - as this will be our only option once we get DDs scripts given the teachers won’t help review :(

Thank you so much. She is a hard worker and seems to 'thrive' under pressure.

She got a 5 in her mocks for maths (which shocked her), her teacher said it was a blip and she got a 7.

She went from a 3/4 to 8 in Spanish, after the teacher suggested she do foundation Spanish.

She seems to want to 'up' her game if challenged, and seems to 'zone out' if it is too easy, or boring to her. My fear would be if she chose RS/Politics and found them boring, then the grade could be worse, through lack of engagement.

Her school suggested maths as an option, we knew she qualified, but I was more cautious.

My mum and son are against it, and I am trying 'not' to let their negativity affect her.

She may be fine, she may not. But I am inclined to let her try (she has two weeks to change), and it was one of her first choices originally anyway, and she seems most excited about that than the others.

She knows it will be hard though, which is good, as if she thought it was easy, she may 'zone' out.

DD also didn't start working until Easter, as she didn't want to "burn" herself out!

She also confessed that she looked over the last topics, not the whole course, so has now decided that she needs to knuckle down and keep going over the earlier stuff all the time.

Unfortunately she can only do three. She is doing English Literature and Sociology as well (really wanted to do Spanish, but it clashed with both Lit and Sociology).

She looked at core maths, but refused all other options offered.

She is ADAMANT she wants to do it, and has spent most of the weekend doing maths.

Physics was by far her best science, and the teacher said she did best in the maths questions of that (afraid I am really clueless about both maths and physics as I had a mental block against them both).

Signing in to the new thread. We went camping with some friends who also have a GCSE kid so it was nice just to escape and spend time outside.

Great to read all about the different paths people are on.

I got DD's Eng Lan scripts on Friday but only just looking at them and trying to understand whether it's worth a review. She doesn't need it but was consistently predicted higher. She's only 1 mark off a 7 so it feels like it's worth a shot.

She's enrolled in 2 schools at the moment and needs to make a decision. One is her current school which is very academic but a couple of close friends are leaving and it's quite far away. The other is closer but more of an unknown as she wouldn't know anyone there. She's waiting to hear whether she can do what she wants there.

Current choices are German, Maths, History and Eng Lit.

DS2 didn’t work until Easter and if I’m honest wasn’t particularly consistent - can definitely see the difference where he worked hard though . His best friend worked like a Trojan and has got a selective place elsewhere . I learnt you need to work at this age and I’m hopeful DS2 has too 🤞

This is my daughter exactly. Did absolutely NOTHING in Y10 (even her Art sketchbook was mostly blank) and only started revising last minute after mocks. She also hated the Biology papers this year and went from a predicted 8/9 to a 6 (although 1 mark off a 7) but her Biology teacher also left midway through Y11 and the replacement was terrible and she realised when revising that they never covered big parts of the curriculum. She still wants to do it at A-level so fingers crossed it will be better if she starts working earlier🤞🏻

I’m a little bit worried about DD doing two Sciences with 6s… but they were so nearly 7s and still might be if she picks up a couple of marks on the re-marks. And, she said, she’d have easily got the 7 in Biology if it hadn’t been for the fish farming thing being so much of that paper (she is still bitter about that and the lack of questions on the bits she’s stronger in). She is so strong in Maths that I’m hoping that makes it a bit easier for her.

Also, she spent all of Y10 messing around / not engaging with lessons, and didn’t really start focusing until after the first set of Y11 mocks, so I’m hoping that two full years of being focused means she gets the grades she’s capable of,

@Kindflowe26 @Curlyfrizzball this is always have I’ve felt. Break away and be you. Not who you were at primary & high.
She’ll still keep in touch all the time with couple best mates and they all still local!
halfway house to uni if they go

@NotDarkGothicMama I got DD to put an application in for a third choice last minute. Popped into open day. She wasn’t fussed but I was impressed. Did interview eve not thinking she’d go but out of interest. Has huge wait list so no me gets in late who didn’t apply at first..
Now I’m so relieved we did as it’s her best option based on her grades!!
Most of her mates didn’t bother and some now in a pickle

@Curlyfrizzball my DS is the only one from his school going to his chosen sixth form. I signed him up for it sight-unseen just to give him another option and, if I'm honest, to expand his social circle. He wasn't best pleased but actually really liked it when he went for his admissions interview. It's in another town but there's a possibility that some of his teammates from football will be there so he won't be starting completely from scratch social-wise. We took him for lunch nearby on Thursday and since then he's been talking about how much he likes the town, looking into bus passes etc.

Good luck to everyone waiting for confirmation of next steps!

Daughter is going to be doing A-level Chemistry, Biology and PE at the boarding college and Russian outside of college. She will try to do Russian in a year and take it in Y12. We also have the crazy idea that if she takes Russian in Y12, she might have time to also do Photography in her own time as a private candidate outside of college, but that's a bit tentative 😬

@Curlyfrizzball She also doesn't know anyone at her college, but apparently there's a WhatsApp group she managed to join by following some new joiners online. Most on the group aren't doing A-levels though, so she doesn't know anyone on her courses. Someone from her yard goes to the university connected to the college, but that's about it.

@Curlyfrizzball , DD also goes to a college where she doesn’t really know anyone. She actually prefers it that way because she wants a completely new environment. She really enjoyed her GCSE school, but she just feels like she wants something new — a chance to reset and restart. I’m actually quite ok with it, as I think at some point they will have to go into a completely new environment on their own anyway. I’m sure your DD will settle in and make lots of new friends too. ❤️

Hi all. Only just discovered this thread but I had the anxious lack of sleep on Wednesday night! DS got 8s in double science and maths, 7 in computer science (he’s apparently 1 mark off an 8 but we are not going for a remark), 5s in drama, Spanish and English language, 4 in literature and a 2 in RE. He’s hoping to do maths, physics and computer science A levels, so hoping the 2 in RE doesn’t scupper that. In my head I know it shouldn’t, but until he’s actually enrolled next week I doubt I will relax!

@Anonymousemouses - it is there decision now I think - just be ready to support if need me

Thanks all - it’s good to know that there are others going in not knowing anyone.

@Anonymousemouses I think if her teacher thinks she can do it, she is the best placed to say. If it’s a grammar school and they have high requirements, I doubt she would say it unless she really thought she could cope. However, I know very little about ALevel Maths.

I do think the suggestion of starting with 4 if allowed, is a good one though.

How many is she doing plus maths? Can she start with four subjects so she’s got some flex to drop one and therefore give her time to “trial” it? Or have you considered core maths?