Exams

[MrsElijahMikaelson1]

DD is distraught, she has worked so so hard. I really feel for this cohort of students who won’t have their chance to shine and will miss all those special times.

The reality is that however upset or devastated the children are, we are in the midst of a pandemic , which will only get worse.
My dd is disappointed that she will not be able to take her GCSES. She has fantastic predicted grades, but actually wanted to take her exams. She is wondering what she is going to do with herself over the next few months
Tbh honest, I think that predicted grades are unfair and puts the students at private schools at an advantage.

@MrsElijahMikaelson1

It’ll be OK and you never know! I hope my school will hold a prom for year 11 when we come back to school. Even if it’s in the damn hall. Hell, I’ll bake the cake and DJ (though that might ruin the party - all that country music I’d be playing 😉)
I’m sure heads of year won’t let the year just end this abruptly. We usually have our awards ceremonies in September too.

Waiting to hear how it will affect uni offers. Yr13 DD has got one offer but 2 interviews have been postponed until things become clearer so she doesn't know if she will get another interview opportunity or any form of offer on those courses.

I suspect you’re right @Duchess but DD was desperate to know that her hard work had paid off rather than have a guesstimate, however good they might prove.

They’ve certainly got a lot to pack into the next two days, it’s going to be an emotional time...

DBML would you take into account mental health issues?

We spend all their lives banging on at them about education - pandemic or not, it makes complete sense that this will throw all year 11, 13 and final year uni students off hugely and potentially affect their lives possibly detrimentally (or benefit).

Not through any fault of the government or teachers, but the nature of the situation. It’s ok to discuss this and worry about this. This is their future and we just care about our children’s education and health. You can worry about both

@FlowerP1cker

To an extent, but sometimes mental health issues do cause so much disruption to a subject (for instance if the student is pulled out of the lesson long term) that teachers have no choice but to realistically predict the grade.

So for arguments sake, if a child doesn’t attend my lessons for three months, perhaps attending an alternative provision for that time...I can’t predict their grade based on what I think they might of achieved IF they’d attended lessons. I can only predict based on the actual work they’ve done.

If they’ve had a few wobbles and maybe their class work is great, but they didn’t do so well in the latest mock, but did exceptionally well before Christmas, teachers can use their common sense.

My ds hasn’t missed any school but has had a shit year though no fault of his own. We were making progress and I honestly think he’d have pulled good grades out of the bag,maybe not a full house of predicted grades as they were high but decent grades.

It was a case of just learning content at this stage.

@Flower

Without knowing your son, I really couldn’t advise.

I will say that sometimes exam boards have measures like ‘extenuating circumstances’ which deal more specifically with individual cases and it may be worth chatting to your son’s head of year.

Dd is sad that Friday will probably be her last day at 6th form. A bit of an anti climax. She has many options including not going to university, so she is quite pragmatic about all that. Waiting to see what happens with qualifications, but to be fair, in the grand scheme of things , this year they are just not that bloody important.

Distraught? I would have thought it was the best news ever for most kids.

This is the sort of thing you wish for as a kid, isn’t it?

Sorry if that sounds insensitive, but let’s have some perspective, please. For most kids, this will be like all their Christmases come at once!

@EYProvider

Maybe you think you are being hilarious but yes, some kids are actually distraught and upset at having worked hours and hours a week on art and projects and coursework and homework and learning and then have no idea if they will sit an exam, if they will get into the next stage of their life, what will happen to them, where they will end up etc etc

Pretty insensitive to suggest ALL teenagers DGAF

I've cried over this today. I teach young people and adults GCSE maths. Some of mine did terribly in their most recent mocks but have worked so hard since and have progressed way beyond my expectations.

Some have nursing placements resting on them passing. I'm genuinely devastated.

My dd's predicted grades aren't good - we were really hoping for the next couple of months to get her a couple of grades up. I don't think any of the sixth form she has applied for will take her. I know there are bigger things going on, but this is looking really bad for her.

Am quite the fan of the ol’ Country musack @DBML!🤣

Well we’ll at least have a good time at the prom then @MrsE!! 🤠 🌾 🍻

Devastated DS18 here, he has worked and is working so bloody hard. I think it was irresponsible to make the announcement without being able to tell them what the plan is. Contrary to popular opinion most young people work bloody hard for these exams (GCSE&A level) and they care deeply about the results. We have spent the last 5 or 7 years drilling into them that this is what it all leads up to and then it’s just pulled away from them!

"Revealing the shutdown of schools in England, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson told MPs assessments or exams would not go ahead this year and performance tables would not be published.
But he said officials were working with exam boards "to ensure that children get the qualifications that they need"."

Yes, distraught. Because some kids have a vision of their future, and they've been working their arses off to get there. It's not every kid's dream to have time off, particularly at this age, they're beginning to understand that what they do now affects their future potential.

@EYProvider that’s terribly insensitive and you clearly don’t have a child in these affected year groups. Imagine you had been working on a project for 11years of your life and to suddenly be told that no one wanted to look at it...might give you an idea. It definitely isn’t all their Christmas’s come at once. DD wants to do medicine and GCSE results are important for that.

DD is being very calm. However her results are derived they are likely to be sufficient to move forward to the next phase of her education. There are friends she may never see again, which saddens her but the ones that matter will stay in touch. Prom will probably be rescheduled.
But she listened to the whole education debate this evening and is in bits about the children for whom school is their security, support, warmth and a full belly. Their safety affects her more than a GCSE grade here or there for her. I think she is growing up fast at the moment.

My DD is in year 13 and is also feeling very sad and worried about how they are going to do grades. She is predicted As but got a C in one of her mocks. She just asked what she is meant to do with her Artwork she has been working on. She understands its a serious pandemic but just a week ago she didn't expect this week to be her last in school.

Am not familiar with the UK system, butbI would think if a student was unhappy with the predicted grade and felt they could do better, there is a possibility to repeat the year?

Sorry to disrupt the chat but how about year 12s? These were supposed to my dds grade predictor to apply for uni? She can’t be predicted a grade from previous exams as it didn’t cover hardly any curriculum ?

Any ideas?