Year 11s and revision wars

[ILikeBeansWithKetchup]

Aaargh!! I am so fed up of the pitched battles daily to get DS1 to revise for his GCSEs. He has his second set of mocks after half term and just has no natural desire to revise. Sometimes he lollops about upstairs pretending to work; sometimes he outright refuses. If I offer to help, either I end up being his personalised teacher/slave, or he tells me he doesn't want my help. He is now shut in his room and we are all (DH. me and DS1) in a huff. I am an English teacher, DH a maths teacher ; I am sure most kids would love that level of expertise available on tap... or maybe not. Any advice/sympathy gladly received...I know this is hardly a unique situation across the land!!

Oh Cider that sounds tough. Just wanted to throw in exam concessions . Can't remember how old your DC is but , fi you haven't, you really need to get the school to sort proper exam concession and a specialist to write a letter to the exams officer. You may well have done that but thought I should mention it as I keep hearing of people not being told all this. Your DC will be entitled to rest breaks and if they have a migraine on the day of the exam, special consideration, with the right doctor's letter.

To be honest, with mine I don't think it's really the money- it'smore the added sense of achievement "I did well AND mum's paying for my IOW ticket!"

But it depends on the child, of course. I came up with my scheme because if anything did go really badly wrong they would still get the reward, and if I thought they had done badly through no fault of their own, I could just quietly forget to collect the money.......

I am, however pretty hardline - I reckon that by 16 they should be powering through the "not feeling that well/being tired" on the day thing. Serious stress and mental health issues are, of course, a different ball game.

But it depends on the child, of course. I came up with my scheme because if anything did go really badly wrong they would still get the reward, and if I thought they had done badly through no fault of their own, I could just quietly forget to collect the money.......

It would be hard to decide whether or not they had done badly due to no fault of their own though, wouldn't it? Have you ever not given the rewards?I bet the great majority of parents do give it to their children anyway and the children know it..

Well, I've only done it with one child so far and she got 1 B and I collected the tenner!

If you decide on what's achievable then one happens if you have a younger less academic child? Do you decide that they don't have to achieve as high grades for an award? I'm not sure how fair that would be, as it may be that the younger child has never worked as hard as the older child. Whether or not you feel you are being fair, one or both children may not see it that way so I think that the whole system has the potential to cause huge resentment.

ILike - yes we are aware of exam concessions thanks. He did a GCSE last year in the medi Centre with a migraine and the school applied for concession for him. His housemaster has spoken to th school exams officer and we will chat next week to see what they suggest.

"I think that the whole system has the potential to cause huge resentment."
Blimey. If it did, I reckon I would have much bigger problems than the occasional tenner off a festival ticket!

Blimey. If it did, I reckon I would have much bigger problems than the occasional tenner off a festival ticket!

I was thinking of larger incentives that a tenner e.g. one of my friends was given a car following A level results whereas his less academic step brother (same age) got nothing. Obviously, an occasional tenner off a festival ticket won't cause huge resentment but it isn't going to have any impact on whether a student works for their exams either so pretty pointless.

Oh, sorry, the whole reward system. I thought you meant specifically mine. No I don't suppose mine makes them work much harder- but it is a way of rewarding achievement with a nod to doing their best. Frankly I don't think the offer of a car is going to make a kid who isn't going to work start working.

Honestly, going away at Easter was great. We had a really good time and it was the only way we would have got through the syllabus. I just got a cheapy hoseasons deal. Cider...you need to contact the school re rest breaks or extra time. It's past the date for applications but if you get a hand signed letter from the Consultant NOT the GP on headed paper then that's is ok. Talk to the SENCO about it. The school will go with rest breaks as thery don't have to apply to JCQ but might kick up for extra time. However, if the consultant writes that the medication is slowing down his processing then that might do it. Also, have you seen a behavioural optometrist. Look up Irlen Syndrom and see if any of the symptoms ring true for your son.