someone w older kids - do we need to be home for GCSE results day?

[sunshineandsuddenshowers]

We are trying to balance up all sorts of things for our summer holidays, and I'm trying to work out how important it is that we are at home for GCSE results day.

Is it important to go in on the day? Do we need to be around in the days after to do stuff immediately (likelihood is they'll be changing schools for sixth form)?

I'd assumed that it was 100% necessary, but it'd make a big difference to holiday plans if we didn't need to be around... Advice??

Mine wasn't bothered about collecting them in person, and so we were away. Would have bloomin helped if he knew how to access his school email from his tablet though! Sixth form just gave him a call a couple of days later to check through everything

Our school you have to collect in person (been timed slots since covid).
When dc got results he then had to ring the college he had applied for and book an appointment to go in the following week (think he had a choice of two days). He then had about 14 days before starting course.
It was different for his friends depending on sixth form college/further education college or school sixth form they all did it differently.
I think you'd be best asking the school and where dc are wanting to go onto afterwards.

I'd say you don't need to be.You can get the results online and compare with friends on WhatsApp or something. Everyone went in at different times anyway, so it wasn't like all their friends were together when they opened them.

I think it's always better to be in person. I know lots of people that don't but whether you do well or not, it helps to be there. It's a very memorable feeling and if they do really bad, they need the support for next steps.

Was really important to mine that they got theirs in person on the day.

We've done it twice for GCSEs (so far...2.more to go!) We were here for one and away for the other, but both times were TAGs as it was in Covid so we were fairly confident of the results, and they couldn't socialise anyway! (Plus neither school will email so one child had to have a friend collect on their behalf).

Now, I think we would be here as the post exam celebrations are important to them, and if you are changing schools, you may have to be on hand - that happened to a couple of friends children this year..we definitely were here for A levels last summer and will be for this, although it's a but different if you need uni grades etc.

I worked in a school for a few years. While you don't need to be at home, when results are as expected, the process of negotiating places or finding new ones takes place in the days after results out, and if you're not around, it can be tricky/ you can miss places. I'm not trying to say your child might not achieve what they hope to, but last year when some results didn't my come through, there was a lot of speaking to next institutions. While this was possible for those who weren't around, it was harder for them, plus it meant they didn't have very relaxing holidays.

If you are confident that DC will achieve the grades needed for their next stage then being away will probably be alright. Any doubt at all then you should be around for them and to support looking around and making plans. We were away for two of my DC but the other one picked results up at school and went out with friends afterwards. Yours might see that as a rite of passage, as per pp schools and cultures differ.