Any schools not give study leave in year 11 for GCSEs??

[studyleavegcse]

Our school have just announced the kids have to continue at school for lessons until the end of May in between their GCSE exams which start on 3rd May. We are in England. I have never heard of this before at any local school and definitely not at this school. Last year study leave started the week before GCSEs started.

Different students will be in each lesson as they have exams on different days and some will have exams on the official leaving day.

Is this just our school or a regular thing or a new government policy?

Can I ask what you mean by this please?

It’s the other way around where I am!

DS did his last year, broke up for study leave at may half term, had done a fair few exams by then

I was very unconvinced by the lack of study leave (our school switched after covid), and they are expected to attend until the last week of exams. But it actually worked quite well for DD (who sounds similar ability-wise to your child); she enjoyed the routine and was able to access support from her teachers when she needed it.

In practice, the people it didn't work for tended to quietly drop off - some without the school's consent, but quite a few with an agreement that that would work better for that child. I know of other schools where that's been the case too. If you really think your child will do better studying at home, I'd approach the school about it.

OP, your child's school won't change their mind now I think. But you could ask them if your child could revise at home. You might find they are happier to approve this after exams begin.
My school allows a fair few students to work at home, usually a mutually satisfactory agreement. It's always done on a case by case basis.

This was a bit of a shock to me when I switched from independent to state a couple of years ago tbh!

As well as the focus on results (and some students simply do not/cannot revise unless you're there nagging them) schools are of course concerned about the possible effects of releasing hundreds of teenagers "into the wild" so to speak.

I can entirely see the point about 9s getting 8s in the typical mixed ability class.

No study leave here. I think it's better all kids are in school.

DS1 didn’t have study leave last year, they went into lessons but often were allowed to revise what they wanted in each lesson ie if they had a maths exam they could do that instead of the English lesson they were in.
mot would be ‘easier’ for schools to stick to the study leave model - just send them all home and forget about them apart from checking they are coming in for exams so they must believe that not having study leave is better all round.

there are many advantages I can see

• years ago it was more likely that a parent was at home - now most parents work so no-one at home to make sure they are doing revision (although that is probably different now with WFH)
• presumably if kids are getting to school for 9am they are less likely to be late for exams as already on the premises
• kids have access to the teachers for last minute queries and reassurance (our school also does revision sessions in Easter holidays and after school for thoses that want it
• easier to keep an eye on kids from a well being point of view - can see if anyone is extra stressed etc

In our case the logistics of getting to school would have been a problem if study leave was allowed. The school is in a small market town with pupils being bussed in by school buses from rural areas. Without dedicated school buses they wouldn't have got to school.

Well, that’s where you’d be wrong. Are you a teacher? I have taught for nearly twenty years, specifically in the sort of very challenging schools that OP’s DD seemingly attends.

You might not realise it to read MN where everyone’s child apparently achieves a rash of 9s but they are rare, and account for approximately the top 5% of the national cohort. It rings an alarm bell when a school predicts a full set of 9s for an individual student as this is very very rare indeed - last year just over 1000 students, roughly 0.2% of the whole cohort. Of course it’s possible that OP’s DD is in this genuinely exceptional group but there are few schools, even highly selective ones and independent schools which have a tendency to be more bullish with their predictions, who would feel confident predicting straight 9s for a student at this point in year 11.

Teachers have access to the syllabus but especially in subjects which require subjective judgment of marking, such as History and English, there are very few grade 9 exemplars and very little guidance on what it looks like, because it’s often based on a quixotic concept of ‘flair’. Unless they are engaging with wider moderation activities it is very hard for teachers to predict a true 9 in essay subjects. Maths and Science are much more straightforward and I would always have more confidence in these internal assessments.

The simple truth is that few individual schools have a cohort which reflects the full range of the national picture. Most schools recognise this and engage with wider moderation to help them to peg their judgements against the national bell curve.

There is also the increasing issue of whether the examiners can actually spot a grade 9 answer...

Marking exams pays rather badly! I would have to be financially desperate to mark GCSE.

Thank you, yes very aware of the marking issue as just had A levels remarked and graded up for an older DD and that was in sciences not humanities!!

At my DD's school we just gave our kids we knew were capable sick days as I spoke to other parents.
My DD struggled at school very intelligent great predicted grades couldn't wait to get away. She would have been distracted in school so she stayed home a lot. They knew when we were ringing with "migraine" "stomach pain"
Ok if you need to send your child in as it helps them why not have the option of choice.
My DD's school has recently sent home information on how they want to start teaching them "character" another new waste of money buzz topic.
How about you actually offer some interesting GCSE's.

Indeed. The quality of external marking nationally in my own subject of English is an absolute embarrassment. I and many of my colleagues are markers and we mostly do it for the PD and insights as the pay is dismal.

Why? All.teachers have access to the syllabus, mark schemes, model answers etc. You sound like a snob.
I don't think they do sound like a snob. I'd agree with them.

ThanksItHasPockets has explained it well.

Predicting straight 9s would be a concern to me because it's something that I didn't see in any of the high performing schools I worked in. We were always very cautious in our predictions because we knew we taught a lot of very intelligent, well-motivated students, but the number of students getting straight 9s nationally is tiny.

Yes thank you. I have 2 older DCs. I am well aware these predictions are a concern and very well aware of marking issues both internally and externally. However Dd is aiming high and wants to revise and doesnt want the ongoing disruption of lessons for any longer than was anticipated regardless of the likely grade. A mix of 7s and 8s would still be a great outcome for this school with the non teaching in lockdown and recruitment issues since

This has been the norm for years in DDs school, and most of the schools in the area. We're in Wales though so England may be different.

I don’t want to dominate this thread any longer but you just need to talk to the school, OP. They are outliers in terms of the national approach and exceptional outliers in terms of the usual approach taken by schools in challenging circumstances - back in 2005 at my first school we didn’t have formal study leave and hung on to year 11 for as long as we possibly
could.

The school is going to follow the approach that works best for the majority of pupils, even though that may not be what is best for your DD. They might be open to some kind of flexi approach but don’t get your hopes up; Easter is early this year and they will be reluctant to let her go too soon, plus the consideration that once it gets around that an exception has been made for one, the floodgates will likely open for students who are not as motivated or as diligent as your DD.

My school let them have study leave from May half-term. Until then we are still doing lessons. Will finish teaching the content by Easter then the pre-released booklet after Easter. After that it’s revision, but this is very much taught and focused. We do lots of past questions but these are taught and gone through in detail. Mark schemes are used as are model answers. I’ve taught mixed ability at GCSE for 18 years and it’s just not true that everything is focused at grade 4. All ability levels are catered for and we achieve excellent results. This focused exam practise is really valuable and the pupils can’t do this the same at home - they need me! I can’t really comment on behaviour because the pupils I teach behave very well so the working environment is purposeful. I honestly don’t think the pupils would do as well if they went on study leave earlier. Just for reference my school is a good faith school, but not private or grammar. There will be plenty of other schools all over the country which are similar to mine.

Yr 11 study leave starts May 7th for my eldest. Much too early in my opinion.

My daughter school did the same (5 years ago). Timetable changed for revision sessions in between exams.

After May half term it was then sort of study leave & optional revision sessions. And the optional sessions had near 100% attendance to them.

I thought it worked very well. The school has a wide catchment area and a number of the pupils have to use public transport. This approach meant the school reduced the number of pupils not turning up for exams as they on site.

To be honest sadly the pupils who aren’t that interested wont turn up to study sessions so it probably means that your daughter will get some good use from the focused study time?

Dancemumtaxi - I have 3 DC at other schools/left school and am very well aware that many schools teach to the top and mixed ability can work well especially if there is control of the class and my DC have excelled and been taught at grade 7-9 level in mixed ability classes. This school is definitely not like this!!