My son is crushed. Just crushed.....

[yomellamoHelly]

Year 11. Spanish oral exam on 1st April. Drama performance within next month. Art coursework still to finish off. Written exams as per schedule.
It's all hit him as he looked at his Class Charts this morning and all the work that's due / been set. It's all revision / prepping for upcoming assessments. The enormity of the change has hit him.
I know something will be sorted out eventually, but so so sad for him. He's upstairs sobbing.

child jail

@gingersausage I'm really pleased that your children could doss around and still scrape by.

My son has autism and a learning difficulty, he couldn't just doss about, if he did he would fail. He wants to be like everyone else, but he has to work harder to get the results that come so easily to others. He is not the only one.

He is feeling better having gone into school and now we know a bit more about what will happen. That was a big part of the problem yesterday, the lack of clarity. I work in the civil service, in the Dept for Education, and am quite used to decoding official announcements, but even we were unclear.

@Xenia - I’m a teacher and none of those ideas are practical or possible. Scotland has a completely different system to the UK and you can’t suddenly switch to IGCSEs - the syllabuses are completely different.

Obviously I wasn’t talking about children with SEN. I can’t believe I actually have to write that.

@Gingersausage. Lucky you having bright children that scrape through with reasonable grades having dossed around.

Unfortunately my kids take after me and have to work hard to get average grades. But working hard is a good foundation for when they get jobs so I would never mock people that work hard.

We have been told today to keep all books and coursework in case you want to appeal the grades they give .

We should be asking why the hell we're making our kids so anxious over these exams that they end up in tears when they get cancelled

Totally agree 100%

Well, my dd is not you or your friends. She’s at a competitive grammar and is very focused and conscientious. The last two years have been totally focused onn the exams. It’s what the whole of secondary builds up to. Her teachers have been telling the girls how important the GCSEs are for years. And now this

And you've been supporting this attitude that it's all about the grades?

How sad that education has become like this. My dd was also a top girls' grammar but luckily for her, I don't believe in grades. I have always encouraged her to enjoy learning for its own sake. Makes me so angry that schools start harping on about GCSEs in Year 7.

My dd was also a top girls' grammar but luckily for her, I don't believe in grades.

Having a girl in a top girls grammar rather means that you have the luxury not to need to, doesn’t it?

I was gutted by the news, trying not to let dd1 see how upset I am. She’s confused, she sat mocks today, last ones tomorrow, she’s being set work but doesn’t know if she really has to do it, if they are not sitting exams why do they need to continue working and revising?

Dd is predicted 8’s and 9’s and I’m pretty sure she will be given good grades if exams are not sat but I think she feels bad that she will not get to prove herself in exams, she’s worked so hard 😢.

Ah, it's horrible isn't it? Poor kid.

This is a huge thing for all of us, but maybe more for the younger generation who are that much more removed from the generation who went through ww2 etc.

I feel really lucky I can draw on my first hand conversations with my grandparents about what their lives were like between 1939-1945. So glad to have known them - not least because knowing they also went through something awful (much worse in many ways) gives me the strength i need to see my own dcs through this. I'm sorry if that's off topic, but hopefully you see what i'm saying.

No that's not true @noblegiraffe My point is that we have become so obsessed with exams and grades in this country, our children are being taught to pass exams rather than develop a love or interest in a particular subject.

We’re not making our kids anxious this shifty situation is. In the space of 2 days our dc have lost their friends, teachers, school, a proper goodbye,potentially their future as they were expecting, clarity and yes sitting exams they’ve worked hard at for years. A little bit of empathy wouldn’t go amiss.

Shitty

Oh for goodness sake they’re not that bright, that’s the point. They’re average. They got average grades by doing an average amount of work, with no histrionics from me. Three years later, it just doesn’t matter. My daughter hated college (she found A-levels too difficult) so she quit after a year and she does a crappy retail job. Unlike the typical MN mother, I don’t take that as a personal insult or a reflection on my parenting. I’m glad she’s happy. My son got a crappy job too and worked his way up to management in the space of two years, completely off his own back. I don’t understand the levels of vicarious living on here.

Very difficult for Y11&13 to process this. Back in the Middle Ages, I was predicted an E in one of my A Levels based on mocks - I got an A (I was also suffering with undiagnosed at the time glandular fever when I sat my mocks).

My DD is in Y10, I'm also worried about their year and Y12 who could now potentially be losing a whole term's teaching. I'm worried they'll be asked to drop a GCSE in order to fit the curriculum in.

My DD is in Y10, I'm also worried about their year and Y12 who could now potentially be losing a whole term's teaching

My middle dd is in Year 12 and is also worrying about this especially with so much A Level content these days. But what I imagine will happen is that exam boards will cut the syllabus to allow for missed work. It's all be ok.

Emma- I actually agree. I am more concerned on the impact of on my Y10 boy who will miss possibly months of teaching but will still be expected to sit exams, than I am on my Y11 girl who has nearly finished the learning, won't have to sit exams and will get grades that are at least close to what she would expect anyway.

twosoups - they can't really cut the syllabus though, as different schools will have taught different parts of it. I guess, though, they could put in a question on each topic (say 7 topics) and require students to answer 4 of them.

@oakmaiden yes that’s a good point. But I’m sure they’ll come up with a solution.

gingersausage

I agree with your comments.

What happened to all those teens who want to save the plant?

Can't they turn their disappointment into some positivity and work out how to save Nature and a few vulnerable people in their community?

I feel sorry for all students that are unable to take their exams, this time, they will have another chance.

But not as sorry as I am for all the people who might lose their incomes and homes.

DS is an A level student and is delighted!

Standard lazy teenager happy he doesn’t have the stress of exams.

His school used a combination of an IQ test and class tests to do their predicted grades and they are adamant they are already reliable before they are sent to the unis so I’d expect he’ll be awarded his predicted grades

@Xenia we don’t do GCSEs in Scotland & all exams have been cancelled here