to want a little celebration for the lower achievers at GCSE?

[FunnysInLaJardin]

DS1 got three 6's and three 4's at GCSE. He failed history and biology.

He could have done better, but amidst the nine 9's I feel like saying a small well done to the other kids who did well - even if they didn't blow the roof off!

GCSE's are a stepping stone and as long as your DC are happy, any grades are cause for celebration.

DS1 can now move on to college and start the next stage in his life, and for that I am very thankful.

At a guess, I think that with 9 grades they are able to clarify the grades a bit more, an old C could have been almost a B or almost a D, although any system with grade boundaries can't be perfect, until the schools share the raw marks and the grade boundaries studfents won't know how close they were, either way. I think this is the first years that schools will have access to marked scripts.

If your student wants to do the A level bloody well encourage them!!

What nonsense, no-one should be encouraging a student to set themselves up for a fall, few 16 years olds are aware of the vast difference between GCSE and A level. The teacher did the right thing, scraping a higher grade isn't good enough for A level.
Hopefully the World Cup team won't be selected on the lines of Oh, but he really, really wants to play for England!

The issue I find with this OP is that the ones with 8s and 9s did put more time and effort over the years than the 4s and 5s.

Why does this thread seem to produce more utter nonsense than any other? I could study brain surgery from now until the next Preston Guild but I could never do it!

My son had mainly Bs and Cs in his GCSEs (Wales), no As, none of his papers that he was put in for allowed for that unfortunately, anyway, his A levels he came out with ABCC (His first 'A' grade and it was a science, Biology).

LOL it's years since I heard, 'Preston Guild' referenced, in fact I think it was Preston Guild the last time I heard it.

It should have been Guild, typo. Wasn't it supposed to be an event that occurred every 75 years? It was a common phrase in the NW where I grew up.

My DD was told she'd have to get a 8 in any science she wanted to do for A level and a 7 in maths to do that. She got the grades but it seemed a pretty steep offer.

Some of her friends didn't get what they needed but it was lovely to hear their friends buoying them up and pulling them into the celebrations, talking about how hard they'd worked and helping them plan for the future. DD had a party of sorts and we had guests who had everything from straight 9s down to 2s and 3s and they were all lovely, intelligent people who just happened to be good at variety of different things and also had had different backgrounds and chances.

Being academic is not the be all and end all thankfully and too much emphasis is put on those exams - I'd love to see more vocational training starting at 14 for those who are just not interested in Henry VIII, An Inspector Calls or French verb conjugations but want to fix a car or plumb a house.

@FlorettaB Are you me? I got my GCSE results 30 years ago - a string of As, a couple of Bs.... but I didn't give a damn about those.. I got a C in maths and was dancing round the room shouting "I'll never have to do maths again, I passed maths".

When DD got her results this week I thought back to my own experience and all I could remember was this absolute euphoria about giving up maths 😂

OP, I agree with you that it should not be the grade 9s that in many cases should be celebrated. Your DS has the grades needed for college which is what matters.

I failed biology too, indeed I have not got any 'ology'. So your DS has company!

Last year, my daughter passed English, Science and functional Maths.

She has dyspraxia, dyslexia, chronic fatigue syndrome, hypermobility, anxiety and depression and recently was diagnosed with ptsd. We lost her nan and uncle (my mum and brother) in that time, her uncle to suicide. Her dad split up with his long term partner (a step-mum she loves) and she changed schools twice.
Oh and there was a pandemic.

I have no idea what grades she got, and I remain absolutely delighted by her achievement.

So yes, congratulations to your youngster and to all the kids doing their best to navigate this crazy thing call life. And if you didn't pass... up you get, and try again. 😘

I just loathed it listsandbudgets. It gave me true joy to drop it. I always felt like I was right at the limits of my capacity to understand. Seeing friends who got A*s in maths GCSE struggle with some of their A Level work only confirmed it for me.

They struggled with some of their A Level Maths work

Thank you OP for recognising the lower achievers.
DS got one grade 3, a grade 2 and two grade 1.

DD missed almost all of Y10 and Y11 - anxiety brought on by undiagnosed autism. She got 5 grade 4s, and is going to study a L3 BTEC. Her new college have been amazing, so fingers crossed

I taught for many years and celebrated or commiserated with so many students over the years. The one that I’ll always remember though, is the boy who couldn’t read or write much at all, but was a genius with machinery.

We got him a place at college to do a mechanics course in Year 10 and 11 and he had a TA to support the written element. He did Resistant Materials GCSE and he support for the written part of that too. He achieved a good grade for that and for his college course. He may not have the basics of English or Maths, but if I wanted someone to take the engine out of a car and put it back with all the bits in the right place, he’s the one I’d go to.

It happens in Preston every 20 years. I was working in Preston for one, it's quite a big deal.

Being academic is not the be all and end all thankfully and too much emphasis is put on those exams - I'd love to see more vocational training starting at 14 for those who are just not interested in Henry VIII, An Inspector Calls or French verb conjugations but want to fix a car or plumb a house.

You can actually go to an FE college at 14. Schools tend not to tell you this

@listsandbudgets and @FlorettaB I was like that with English. I managed to get O Level English early and then dropped literature sp I had time to study other subjects.