Mocks 5 weeks after going back?!

[Mumtoteen77]

My son returned to year 11 a week ago and found out the school are running their official mock GCSE exams mid October, I was gobsmacked. With all the different rates of learning over lockdown how will this be fair? My son did fuck all work, I encouraged, supported, and then nagged but nothing worked and he did not do the work set online by the school.
There was no interactive learning, no zoom or google classrooms they were just expected to get on with it all.
I’m sure some did and they will do well in the mocks but it seems very premature to be doing them so soon. The results will be used as a basis for recommended grading by the teachers (as exams could be cancelled again!) as well as for college applications.
The school is also concerned about their well being!
Has anyone else got this happening now?

I didn’t post wanting an argument about this, this is in chat to see if anyone else is in a similar position. Lockdown was a huge challenge for many adults and children and now those in year 11 are having to cope with the effect it has had on their GCSEs . I just want to be supportive in a way which doesn’t antagonise him and having his mocks so soon is challenging, I do wonder where kindness is hiding on here these days

Totally agree.

I wonder how many adults on here would have been as effective at their GCSEs if they had a similar situation.

Sit at home, try and find resources on the internet, figure out what they need to learn, try it, get feedback if possible on their learning. All at home, whilst there is a pandemic in the background, they aren't seeing their friends, they aren't getting the interaction from a teaching professional in person etc etc

There is a lot to cover in the curriculum. And there is no way that pupils will have been able to do all that at home under such conditions.

Extreme views? What’s extreme about expecting kids of this age to be able to have actually worked without having to be spoon fed?

If your son isn’t able to handle independent study then university is out and you need to look at other options. His sex is irrelevant and you can’t excuse his laziness with “he’s a boy, he found it hard!”.

This is the same at my DCs school.

By having mocks now they might be able to squeeze in another mock after Christmas and they know who needs the extra help. I do think though that if the example of the year above and the need to work consistently hasn't hit home then your ds does need a wake up call. If he wasn't planning to catch up now when was he planning to catch up with those in his classes who had worked solidly all summer? I don't think that you can just blame the school for provision during lockdown, at least from these exams they can see what they need to cover in more detail and who needs to catch up.

Perhaps you can sit with him and draw up a list of his subjects and priorities- which ones does he want to do for A-level/ need for college. Then add in English and Maths. He has had six months off so needs to catch up now, others have worked more consistently so can afford to relax a little, although realistically will probably be revising furiously at the moment. When does his school traditionally do mocks? I know some schools do their mocks around that time anyway to motivate the children to revise. They also missed the yr10 exams so need something to base predictions for college/ other sixth form.

Please leave your son in no doubt that the effort he makes while school is open NOW could dictate his actual gcse grade, depending on how coronavirus progresses.

Kids have never had equal opportunity in exams, this is unfair and the current situation has brought it sharply into focus, but he can control how much work he does now. There is no shortage of resources out there.

It’s the only thing likely to scare some of them into pulling their socks up!

When my sons were in year 11, they did so many tests, every 6 weeks or so just to see where they needed help. This was over 8 years ago.

If your son isn’t able to handle independent study then university is out and you need to look at other options

FFS

There is a massive difference between being someone in year 10 (14 yrs old for many) to the age that you go to University.

There is a massive difference in maturity, attitudes,motivations etc

As I said, how many people on here would have been so perfect at that age, sat down at a keyboard from 9am to 3pm everyday, studied independently and learnt what they needed to - when all you would have known is school based, teacher based learning in many different ways.

There is a massive difference between being someone in year 10 (14 yrs old for many) to the age that you go to University.

chomalungma He’s year 11, not year 10. And if he isn’t showing any independent aptitude now (and he isn’t if his mum is having to nag him and he’s still not bothered) then he either has to pull himself up sharpish or find other options.

He’s year 11, not year 10

Still could be aged 14 for most of it - and her son would have been in Year 10 for the lockdown learning.

then he either has to pull himself up sharpish or find other options

I suspect that a lot of teenagers in year 11 in normal times find Year 11 a difficult year and start to take it seriously - especially when they have mocks.

A teenager who has just been through 6 months of lockdown is going to have had a difficult learning period.

I am not sure if doing mocks so soon is going to help - personally I think there should be more actual learning instead of taking tests.

Because a lot of pupils won't have had an effective last 6 months of education.

Yes but most teenagers will have had yr10 exams cancelled. These are effectively yr10 exams. The teachers need some data to base their assessments on.

What about all the other children who maybe had limited access to resources, who struggled with online learning, learning at home, who preferred to be in a class environment to learn, who had parent issues at home etc

What about them? The OP said that her DS had plenty of opportunity to do the work and didn’t, despite the support of his parents.

She also says that he isn’t that worried about these mocks which probably means they could be another month later and he still wouldn’t have knuckled down enough to make up for 6 months of not doing any work.

The problem isn’t with the timing of the mocks.

This is a sensible time to do a round of mocks. It establishes where the cohort/ individuals are at for forming priorities and strategies.
It gives them time to do the usual round around Christmas.
It's a fallback of formal data if individuals/ the cohort are unable to complete mocks and informative if teacher assessment comes into play again.
Least importantly, it's precious data for the school to work with to justify its existence with continuous progress.

Calling it mocks is important to movivation to kick some students into action. In normal circumstances, too many leave it until the dying days of the course to wake up. Having lost a third of teaching time, there isn't time for lazy, complacent students (not a criticism of your circumstances with lockdown difficulties; I've been through the daily battle with a 9yo with SNs, but there are some like that in every cohort).

Maybe they are using the word mocks to focus the minds...
Dc school doing assessments in all subjects next week! So less than 3 weeks in..
Usual end of term tests in Nov and formal gcse mocks in Jan .
Well thats their current plan......they don't usually test in September but want to get an idea of where the kids are at which makes sense to me..as so many will have had different experiences over the summer

Maybe talk to the school about their plans...book a call in with form tutor or head of year...

Yes the kids need to work and independent study n all that stuff but its been shit time for a lot of them so adding lots of extra stress is not the best approach I think..