To want 9s not 7s for my child in their GCSEs?

[ZeldaFighter]

Child is a model student and no problems with behaviour or attendance. Definitely seems intelligent and diligently completes homework, often without prompting.

Report is 6s and 7s. Husband is pleased and says they're As and Bs. He thinks only kids in private schools doing extended papers get 9s.

I got As, Bs and Cs many years ago but I always strived for As. AIBU to think they should be getting 9s or at least striving for them?

I agree. DC should be aiming for the very best grades they are capable of with hard work- for some that will be passes, for others all 9s.

What year are they in? No students get their end grade throughout years 10 and 11. They are usually trailing 1 or 2 grades behind because of numerous reasons; don’t revise effectively for assessments, don’t have the full range of exam technique yet, timing, misconceptions with content. They can still achieve 9s but I certainly wouldn’t be piling that pressure on them.

Jumping in a bit but yes, at DC's academic school (indie - but most of the kids either did pass or passed selective/super selective) probably about 20% get all 9s. A large majority of these kids also do jultiple extra curriculars including sports, Saturday jobs and music/LAMDA etc. Very much more scheduled lives than when I was young but they seem happy still and with social lives/parties. The rest get a mix of 7/8/9s. Can be tough with those achieving less than this but, frankly, most were asked to leave in late primary if they were not up to working at this level Which is pretty harsh too.

There are a few who are super anxious and put pressures on themselves (or it's through parents). Think some of it is cultural or some, tbh, is because their parents are teachers. I think they emphasise effort instead of results which should be the way to do it but somehow they still seem quite unhappy/anxious. Anecdata though!!

Bottom line - you do want your child to be happy first and foremost. But also be prepared to gently support them to achieve THEIR best or THEIR potential. Which may be 5s or 9s. Boys in particular can be a bit lazy but those who are seem to eventually get it at A-level. Phew!

Level 9s were put in place to separate the best students and the elite. In my subject (Art) we are told to expect to see a handful of 9 students in our career. This isn’t the same in other subjects, but when the grading was changed, it was supposed to separate the top 1%. In some subjects it’s more like top 5% statistically.

Aim high, but be realistic. Your DC will not thank you for piling the pressure on, when 6s and 7s is already a great set of grades.

You can want, doesnt mean it wlll happen.

I grew up with a parent always wanting me to do better and achieve higher grades despite me trying my best and doing very well as it was. Don’t be that parent. Your child will always think they’re not good enough.

Child is a model student and no problems with behaviour or attendance. Definitely seems intelligent and diligently completes homework, often without prompting.

If this is the case and they're predicted 6s and 7s, how exactly do you propose they achieve 9s?

The main point to consider is whether your child is trying their best and doing what is asked of them. If yes, then their grades are fine. If your child is being lazy and is capable of 9s, then their grades are not really very good.

Sadly, I taught some lovely, hardworking, motivated students, who could never have achieved the highest grades, although we all did our very best to support and encourage them. But they and their parents usually realised how well they had done and praised them for their achievements. It was enough.

There’s no such thing as an extended paper. The exams are all the same. As someone who works in an academic independent day school I think too much pressure is not helpful. The teaching/school environment can have an impact but too much pressure is damaging.

Leave your kid alone. 7 is an A and it’s the rare child who can get 9s in every subject.
One of mine is likely to get 9s in a couple of subjects that they excel at and I mean EXCEL at and have been studying outside of school since the age of 7/8’on top of having talent and aptitude.
The only student I know heading for all 8/9s has a form of autism and can’t look people in the eye when talking to them and is oblivious socially. Probably be running NASA in 20 years though …

My son attends a grammar school and is bright - but very lazy! He put absolutely no work into his GCSE’s and admitted on the day we went to pick up his results that he wished he had worked. I didn’t put any pressure on his because there was no point. He got 7s&8s and I know he was disappointed. Here we are two years later and his A levels are looming. Again I have no idea if he is actually doing much work at all but he’s 18 and it’s up to him. He is however happy, very sociable and has held down a good part time job since he was 16. There is no point in nagging him as he’s so laid back it makes no difference.

To give a little more context to what some other posters have said, there are two main points to consider here.

1. Since Gove’s 2015 curriculum reforms many GCSE subjects are significantly harder than they used to be, for two reasons. The first is the increase is subject content and, by extension, the increased difficulty of content covered. The second is that many subjects no longer have any form of non-examined assessment, so where in the past students could ‘bank’ marks before the exam for coursework and controlled assessment, it now often all comes down to exam performance. The exception to this is private schools who can opt to do IGCSEs, which often have a significant coursework element, meaning that GCSE and IGCSE grades aren’t comparable.
2. Grade 9s were introduced to take the very top slice of the old A Star performers. I think the logic was to give greater differentiation between students for university entry etc. As others have said, a 9 is like an A Star Star (apologies for writing that grade long-hand but using an asterisk just bolds the text and loses the ‘star’).
3. It’s hard, as a teacher, to confidently predict a Grade 9. You tend to have a gut feeling about a student’s potential, i.e. that it may be possible, but there are many variables, like movable grade boundaries each year and slightly subjective marking in some subjects. Even if you’re absolutely convinced that a student has the skills and knowledge and is doing effective revision, it’s hard to have certainty.

So, in summary, GCSEs are now quite substantially harder than before, and your old A grade is not equivalent to a 9, not even close. More like a 7. Only truly academically exceptional students get 9s.

I hope that helps.

Howard Gardner has a theory of multiple intelligences. He thinks schools tend to cater for quite a narrow sort of intelligence involving language and logic. That means rather a lot of children are short-changed. Once you go out into the world you realise being that sort of clever isn't the only way to be clever - whatever people who excel at language and logic would like you to believe!

You can be a model student and work hard, it doesn't mean you're capable of getting 9's.

Presumably they are working to the best of their ability so you need to lay off the pressure.

It does not matter.

not one employer will think of my goodness. They got a 7. Not a 9!!!!!

after the age of 25 I haven’t since been asked my GCSE result and they really don’t mean much.

all they really mean are you can retain information and copy it back down.

As long as they are working hard and achieving potential, please don't push for more.
I got 6A, 3A's, and 1B, in the days when A was highest could get. My mum focused so much on the 1 B, went to my school asking for it to be submitted for re marking, there must be a mistake etc etc. I worked my absolute arse off for those grades as I was aiming to get into medicine, so for the focus to be on that B was really frustrating

Yeah. All those people who say yes mine got all 9’s and now go to oxbridge but it doesn’t matter!

I regularly hire people in my job, and I’d rather a more rounded candidate. Nobody’s looking at their GCSE grades after A level / college, it’s merely the key to the next level.
Far too much pressure is put on children to be the best. Straight 9’s is no guarantee of happiness, future wealth or anything else.

That's still much better than average. Not going to disadvantage them in any way!

We're kind of having this struggle at home as oldest DC got all 7s-9s and DH is having difficulty accepting that youngest, who is bright but has ADHD that makes learning challenging, is not going to be in that bracket and may even not pass every exam (but I predict he'll manage 4-6s). The only worry is that we both come from families where everyone just got top results, went to good universities etc and we're not necessarily used to following another path, as we may have to with youngest, particularly if he doesn't get the minimum grade for 6th form in English Language which is my personal biggest worry, although I know there are options.

But your DC is not even looking at results that will cause issues for next steps.

YABU
Don't pressure them !
As long as they get what they need in the subjects they want to move forward with those grades are fine

YOU can strive for 9’s as much as you like but YOU aren’t sitting them.

Learning how to pass exams is the secret, boring but true.

7 -9 is brilliant. 6 is also really good. Students achieving 4 or more grade 8 or above are top tier.

Why “should” they be getting 9s?!

Are you living your life vicariously through your kids @ZeldaFighter ?