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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask if any secondary school teachers...

15 replies

stuffthenonsense · 05/02/2011 10:02

can pacify me as i am feeling pissed off and worried.
i received a letter from my yr11 dds school today. it is telling me that she has not completed her chemistry practical isa satisfactorily and will need to resit, on MONDAY, wednesday and the following wednesday.
this was a total shock as she is on target for A* and at parents evening last week this was not mentioned at all, just praise given that type of thing.

have spoken to dd this morning and she tells me its ok, she was expecting it as she was one mark of the A* in this but doesnt understand why her friends have not been asked to resit despite being a point or two below.

she is of the impression that the examining board take your best mark for the exam not the most recent (seems odd to me we would all be resitting constantly) and i am concerned that with no revision time she will not do so well.

i do not demand that she gets A* and will be happy that she has done her best, she is the perfectionist who is upset if she doesnt do so well.

so please, can anyone put me straight before i march in to school on monday to complain about their ridiculously high demands and lack of notice.

OP posts:
noblegiraffe · 05/02/2011 10:07

In maths they take your best mark for a module not the most recent, so I assume it will be the same for science.

It is possible that your DD has been asked to resit because she has a target of an A* and has missed it where her friends have a target of an A and have met it.

If your DD is ok with it and wants to meet her target, why are you going to march in to complain?

chibi · 05/02/2011 10:29

You wouldn't revise for an ISA as you would for an exam

Which exam board is it?

For ours, i tell my studens theyshould revise the how science works key words (accuracy, reliability etc) and be able to identify flaws in a method or data, and suggest ways to improve it

with that in mind having the weekend is loads of time to prepare, and she has the added advantage of having done one previously (although this one will of course be different)

Really, don't panic Smile

BreconBeBuggered · 05/02/2011 10:32

I'm not a secondary school teacher, but went through the same thing last year with DS1, looking for that one extra mark on the practical to put him into the A* zone. It seemed bizarre to me too, but it's normal. Apparently.
At least you got notice. DS1 kept his letter at the bottom of his school bag.

Original poster
stuffthenonsense · 05/02/2011 10:35

aah, well the complaining bit was to be about the fact that we received notice today for an exam on monday and for the fact that it wasnt mentioned at parents evening last week. if it had been we could have discussed and would happily accept it but with it coming out of the blue so soon after all the praise it was a real shock and i am very aware that i am unlikely to be able discuss with the teacher involved before the exam. i did not want to just say yes and get it wrong, equally i dont want to just say no and get it wrong.

and i did not appreciate that the resit was not because she was about to fail the subject but to get her that extra mark, it was a kind of mothers maternal blindness shock thing.

thank you for your response

OP posts:
troisgarcons · 05/02/2011 10:40

Exams? now? the Winter session ended on 1st February.

If it's an ISA - then this smacks of having to re-write the experiment she's already seen, which is in flagrant breach of the terms of the controlled assessment.

There are only a potential for 2 ISAs - and an application for a reserve 3rd which is frowned upon by the exam boards, but would of course be used in dire circumstances where you had a long term sick pupil who missed two class sittings.

Still, all schools manipulate their results.

austenreader · 05/02/2011 11:42

Same happened to my DD last year. All sorts of things can go wrong in a practical- sometimes not the student's fault - and she's being given the chance to get it right.
Be pleased.

stargirl30 · 05/02/2011 11:52

Don't panic about it, they probably just want to make sure that she is safely within the A* boundary. Other friends may not be redoing it as they are too far off to be able to get there. If she did some examinations last summer they will take those into account too so perhaps her friends didn't do as well as her?
troisgarcons may be talking about a different exam board, but if your daughter is doing AQA then doing another ISA at this stage is perfectly legitimate and normal. It doesn't mean she's done anything wrong or not worked hard enough.
Your daughter should be experienced enough in doing ISAs now to know what she needs to do to improve, she will have done them several times before.
Hope that helps
stargirl

noblegiraffe · 05/02/2011 12:15

The more marks she has in the bag now, the less she'll have to stress about the exams in the summer.

CapsizeQueen · 05/02/2011 13:39

I'm a secondary science teacher.

Yes the best mark out of (normally) 2 ISAs are taken. Maybe this is her second?
She will be probably be taking it as she is on the grade boundary borderline and the ISAs can make a huge difference.

It is not an exam in the normal way of things having a set date, but is controlled assessment completed under teacher supervision in class time so will be rescheduled for teacher/department convenience.

I'm very surprised if she is retaking the same one as before as this is strictly against exam board rules.

CapsizeQueen · 05/02/2011 13:41

Oh and they may not have said enything at parents evening if the ISA was completed in lessons this week as it would not have been marked yet! (teacher- marked)

Original poster
stuffthenonsense · 05/02/2011 17:07

aah you are all so helpful thanks.
yes i think it is AQA
and i think its the first of 2 that she needs to fix. it doesnt say whether or not its the same one, i doubt it as the school are usually real sticklers for rules.

i am feeling much happier about it now i have had everyones help

thank you

OP posts:
ravenAK · 05/02/2011 17:43

It happens a lot - I teach English to the top set, & they're always having to re-do bits of Maths & Science because they're one mark off an A*.

& they take the English GCSE in November, then re-sit in February, unless they've managed to a) get their target & b)get absolutely nowhere near the next grade up!

Crazy, stressful system, but you can bet every other school is at it too.

ravenAK · 05/02/2011 17:45

Not February...d'oh. In the summer, obv. Although if there was a Feb re-take option, we'd be doing that too...

NorthernerAtHeart · 05/02/2011 17:56

We are in the process of sorting this out with our students (Chem teacher here).
Students who have underperformed are being given an opportunity to re-sit (well not re-sit, do another, different, test).
We are having them in for 1 lunchtime for a general revision session and then another lunchtime to do the actual IAA.
And as someone else said, it probably wasn't decided at parents evening - we only did the department moderating late last week.
Hope that helps.

olduninBoden · 05/02/2011 19:58

Are they allowed to have 4 bashes at it.Our school says they're only allowed 2.

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