If they f***ING delay the GCSE results I will not be accountable for my actions

[ScrapThatThen]

They need to sort it out before Thursday or allow centre assessed grades.

I work in children's mental health. Stop heaping unfairness on unfairness and uncertainty on uncertainty. Give them 2 weeks notice of where their life goes next fgs.

nnn

neutralintelligence

If the government allow appeals.

They have done so many twists on this already I am not sure what is even allowed anymore.

Ds has had enough to cope with without the fuck up of his GCSE results, he has been coping with me being ill since October last year, not knowing what was wrong, being unable to see a consultant until July only to be told that I may have MS, he has been the one who has taken me to hospital appointments, pushed me in a wheelchair, helps me to get dressed every day, he already has his dad having MS & being severely disabled by it. He has had a crap 2 years losing his grandad who was his best friend who he was so close to last year, his dog who he loved was put to sleep in June this year as well as having two disabled parents & the uncertainty about where we will be living because we need to have an adapted house. He has worked so hard despite these difficult circumstances to be told three days before results day he might not get his results until the day he should be starting sixth form. He is shut in his bedroom at the moment, we have already had tears this morning before we read that results may be delayed, I am worried sick that his mental health may be at breaking point now.

@FrippEnos indeed. Obstacles placed in the way of appeals, appeals being made into a 'lowest grade applies' situation, appeals having 9-stages, appeals having to done through the school when the school might have certain negative consequences for appealing.
Abhorrent approach to appeals processes.

@Nat6999 your poor DS. I feel so sorry for him and you.
The contempt for the individual child in all this mess is horrifying.

mrs My child had been having an awful year 11 before covid and lockdown hit. For the last couple of years he has been completely let down by his school and the NHS and still continues to be. Through all of his difficulties he has amazingly managed to maintain pretty good grades, so if they are taken away from him as well, then yes we will want to appeal.

@Punxsutawney agree, same here. Adolescent mental health services were already inadequate - months of waiting for appropriate treatment. This has just been made very much worse as in my county all the young people receiving help have just been discharged so they (local NHS/government?) can say there is no waiting list and anyone new needing help can access it.
The trouble is that those they have just discharged to make way for all that had not even finished their treatment, were not better and are now at very serious risk.

@SmileEachDay

HipTightOnions

So did many schools. This will have been obvious from the data. In JULY. At that point Ofqual should have confirmed the results for those schools and challenged centres that clearly hadn’t.

Agree.

Sitting and hoping people will say "well it was different this year and you didn't take your exams" to students with massively reduced grades against their achievements was at best wishful thinking and at worst neglectful.

@neutralintelligence, it's awful. Ds was diagnosed with autism last September, two weeks into year 11. In January Camhs screened his referral from the GP and said he did not meet their criteria, even though he was talking about dying and how it would happen.

I've asked every professional possible for support and I only ever get directed to websites. Ds has let down by everyone including his school.

I'm hoping that Thursday's results are okay.

Punxsutawney

I hope Thursday goes good ok. What does your boy want to do next year?

@DayB1Day same here. Had to battle to even access CAMHS, battle school for exam access arrangements, then battle CAMHS not to discharge him (lost that one, mental health services can be surprising slippery and dishonest). Now yes, battle Ofqual, exam boards, government, maybe even school.
Ultimately it is just not fair on the children/pupils.

Also I thought we were still a United Kingdom? It is not reasonable that in Scotland A levels were awarded on CAGs and in Northern Ireland GCSE's will be awarded on CAGs but not in other parts of the Union

As people have pointed out to you and others Scotland doesn't have A levels. I dont need to live in England to understand they have a different education system to here in Scotland.

Smile given the choice he would stay in his bedroom forever. He doesn't want to do anything, he thinks he has no future. He struggles hugely with social communication so it all seems overwhelming.

I'm trying to get him to move to a different school for sixth form as he has also been terribly bullied at his school. His autism means that he hates any change so he's very resistant. Covid meant that there were no induction days either.

He had decent mock results even though his anxiety was sky high so I was thinking that the results this week should be okay, but I'm not so sure now.

I still have no idea what he will be doing in September.

There's going to be some sort of announcement (don't know if A levels or GCSEs) at 4 today. they need to sort this asap. Utter shower of shites.

Punxsutawney

That’s really hard. Does he like the actual learning bit?

gnushoes

Is there? Where did you see that?

@ScrapThatThen

I read the title and wonder exactly what would you do if they delay the results?

@ScrapThatThen

They need to sort it out before Thursday or allow centre assessed grades.

I work in children's mental health. Stop heaping unfairness on unfairness and uncertainty on uncertainty. Give them 2 weeks notice of where their life goes next fgs.

No - you need to get a grip. It's more important the right grade are awarded than you having a paddy.

At the end of the day, it's impossible to be "fair" to everyone. What is more important is that there are options/flexibility for those who have suffered to get back on track.

After all, 3 million self employed people fell through the cracks of the covid support/furlough schemes and have ended up bankrupt, losing their homes, losing their businesses, etc., but the Govt have basically said "tough, we can't help everyone". Why aren't the media all over the 3 million self employed who are really struggling at the moment and have relatively few options/flexibility for getting back on track??

But what is the 'right grade' and how is it calculated. The algorithm grade, mock grade, or CAG? The average of all three? There is no 'right grade'. For me the best out of a bad bunch is CAG.

Good article

@Macguffin69

But what is the 'right grade' and how is it calculated. The algorithm grade, mock grade, or CAG? The average of all three? There is no 'right grade'. For me the best out of a bad bunch is CAG.

But if more people get higher grades, how will Unis, employers, etc choose who gets the places? If say, a Uni has offered 250 people for a 200 people course in the historic experience that 20% of those offered places will either change their mind or not get the grades, how can it find enough places if everyone gets the forecast grades and want to accept their position on that course? They'd have to have some kind of process for withdrawing offers from 50 of them, which is just as unfair. There's no easy answer to any of this.

We need to be concentrating on options and flexibility, i.e. A level students looking through clearing at their alternatives, some of which are likely to be better than their original choices, schools/colleges should be offering re-sit support and options to re-take the final year, etc etc.

Smile he used to love learning, not anymore. It's sad to see how things have panned out for him.

The whole secondary school experience has been overwhelming for him. He has poor executive functioning skills and struggles to plan and organise himself.

He's more than capable of A Levels but I'm not sure how well he will cope, especially if he doesn't really want to do them. I'm worried though that if he doesn't go to sixth form he will be more isolated than ever. University seems impossible for him at the moment as he can't leave the house independently.

Punxsutawney

If he is academically able and has loved the actual learning then he may well find Alevels much more suited to his needs.

I don’t want to generalise because all children are different but I know that’s how it’s worked out for many children with ASD that I have taught.

The smaller classes, more focused students, greater scope to really get into subjects they enjoy...it’s also worked well socially because the children in class have interests in common and the academic stuff becomes social currency.