For those who have kids doing GCSEs, are you giving them a gift when they finish?

[JenniferEckles]

Festival ticket, bag of sweets, holiday in the sun, family dinner out, new Range Rover, kick up the arse to get a job...

My first of three kids is just about to finish and I wanted to do something for/with him to celebrate but I'm not sure where to pitch it (it won't be a RR, that's for sure 🤣).

What's everyone planning?

Not this year, but I've had 3 do GCSEs, and 'no' to giving them a specific gift. But we did fund prom (ticket and outfits) which was quite a few £££.

They were happy enough to have finished

We went for dinner after exams and will again after results

Still to work out a reward /gift, we gave my eldest money but my youngest isn’t likely to do as well so not sure what to do

When I sat my GCSEs back in the day I got hee haw. But my neighbours gave me a card and stationery set after getting my results which was sweet. I don't think I'd do payment by results but if going that route I'd do x amount for getting the predicted grade, more for getting higher.

Out for a meal after final exam then 3 nights in London for a festival to see her favourite singer and a west end show. I’ve made it very clear this is to reward effort and not results. I don’t think it’s fair to pit my two very different DC against each other. Eldest is autistic with very high anxiety. We’re incredibly proud she has managed to sit the exams and done well in her art college interview. Payment by results would be massively unfair as sibling is academically able and is forecast some really good grades.

I never pay for results. Their results are for their own benefit, not mine. They give them choices in life , not me. Eventually they will help them into a better / well paid /more rewarding job that will benefit them, not me. They are not doing me ( or their teachers ! ) a favour.

All my kids have been fortunate enough to attend one of the best schools in the county , thousand of kids in the UK would love that privilege. hundreds of thousands of young people their age around the world don’t have any education at all. Some kids risk getting shot just to go to school ☹️

I want then to be grateful not entitled, if anyone should be paid it’s me for everything I’ve done / am doing to support their education 😬

I know this viewpoint probably makes me in a minority of one on Mn but I don’t care.

We do celebrate end of exams and results , by doing things together or small gifts , or I give then money to do things with their friends. Not huge amounts , perhaps £50-100.

We gave both Dc money after their GCSEs. Not after results, but after the exams had ended. Rewarding for effort, not results.

I'm trying to organise a week away in the sun.

I'm hopeless at booking foreign holidays. Good at the UK, but too little experience at booking things abroad. Definitely need more practice to judge whether he will have a good time or not.

We are doing a meal and will give her some cash for each pass and ever for every grade above that, her stepdad and big brother are doing the same. She has worked super hard and really turned things around and wants a new wardrobe for college so this will go a long way to achieve that x

A new laptop for A Levels and a watch, which is a bit more personal.

Nat 5s finished in Scotland and we took DS to London for a few days in the break before returning to school.

We said that we would pay £10 for each grade, so £80 for grade 8 maths, eg. It works out at £900 for a full set of 9s and we'll round it up to 1k if he does. He's asked us to use it for a laptop rather than give him the money, so the better the results the better the laptop.

We gave each grandchild the same amount of cash just before exams as a reward for the effort put in - one v bright book reader who excelled at GCSEs and the 2nd one has struggled but worked really hard so fingers crossed - academically not as able.

Both of mine had a mini holiday straight after the end of exams while it was still cheaper than the normal school holidays.
That was a reward for their hard work over the course and revising hard.

We'll have a meal out or takeaway and DD can choose which. But tbh she's got lots of fun things coming up anyway (prom, D of E expedition, family holiday) so not planning anything specific.

DD has worked incredibly hard (A levels not GCSEs) and really tried her best. Not sure if it’ll be enough for her dream uni, we will see. She’s got a very spiky academic profile (no SEN) and has to put a lot more work in than her sibling.

So I’m rewarding her gargantuan effort with a meal out (tonight, yay!) and giving her £150 to spend on clothes for her upcoming girls holiday.

I definitely wouldn't pay for results. I think getting the results is the reward. However, if I could afford it I would probably take them on holiday somewhere sunny. (It would probably be our last family holiday together!)

Agree with rewarding effort not results. We will celebrate results.

Some nice ideas here. This will be my ds next year(although he's had a few actual gcse exams this year too), so I'm following this. We might go away for a few days, somewhere of his choosing, plus give him a small amount of money, still thinking what to do.

Meal out and bra shopping for mine 🤣🤣 probably a few extra treats as well for her x

Goodness things have moved on!
I didn't really do much for ds1. I bought Reading tickets because he asked. With ds2 I won't do much either. A big cuddle and a creams waffle visit is what he likes!

I'm taking mine away for two weeks, off to Corfu in early July. Booking her some karting experience as she is F1 obsessed and desperate to start driving. She's the last child at home so from this Friday when she has her last exam, I officially don't have to any kids in school. No more school run, no more uniforms. 22 years of juggling school plays, non uniform days, parents evening for4 kids and it's finally OVER!!

Chinese for dinner on Friday- she's been avoiding greasy food for the exam period so I think it will be the full shebang!

She's going on holiday with my DM in a few weeks - I work in education so can't benefit from the early summer holiday unfortunately!

Ours is next year but as an ex teacher I completely disagree with payment by result. I actually think it's awful! After 9 years of school and the constant pressure to do well and achieve GCSEs are such high stakes and it can feel like you're branded with those grades as some sort of value statement of who you are. Even more so if parents reinforce this!!

We want our kids to be proud of the effort they put in and the work they've done, not to be dismissive of it all because it was a B and not an A or they missed their target grade because it was a trickier paper or they had a difficult morning.

We will be celebrating end of exams probably with a meal and some form of treat (I'm loving the alton towers suggestion). We'll also celebrate results but absolutely not make those the focus or meticulously reward depending on grade so that they feel disappointed with their 2Bs on a sea of A stars (personal experience...)

I offered a take-away pizza but he's not interested !!
I am hassling him to start looking for a summer job.

Wow things have changed. I got no gifts doing exams or the results for gcse or a level.