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.

Yes she has. She said exactly that on another thread

People on this thread aren’t bloody psychic!

If you have to quote from another thread at least clarify!

FFS people! Get a bloody grip! I now it’s upsetting for your children, but it’s an opportunity for you to teach them about social responsibility and seeing the bigger picture. This is a temporary interruption in their lives, that will be sorted in time and will not have a long term impact on the rest of their lives. The lives of any vulnerable people that could be affected by them going back and forth to school, including the cleaning staff that have to risk their own healths sterilising after the children and teachers/tutors. One of my young clients has special needs and has to travel by public transport to clean a school. I’m more concerned about his risk of dying from this.

Know*

I’m so sorry for all your children who are having their education interrupted so badly. Mine are younger, so not the same impact. Everyone is in the same boat, hopefully knowing that will bring some comfort. Really feel for you all.

@RufustheLanglovingreindeer I was replying directly to the poster and they know what they've said

I’m sorry to be the party pooper but these kids will get over it. They have years ahead of them. Those who are worrying about getting into University- don’t you all realise the universities are well aware of all the difficulties? They’re not operating in a different bubble away from all this. So what if you miss a year? Your lives won’t end.

Seriously, if this gets as bad as in Italy then exams and ‘art portfolios’ will be the very last thing on their minds.

I’m more concerned about those elderly people who are terrified and not sure what to do. Maybe the youngsters who are ‘heartbroken’ about exams - which will come around in time - could do something useful like supporting community food distribution to elderly people living on their own or helping out at food banks?

I’m a nurse on nights and called at the Asda to get some bread and milk on my way home this morning. Asda was already heaving at 6.30. Thank goodness restrictions are in place stopping all the stockpiling. I saw a very elderly gentleman on his own with his little basket - not a great big trolley - with his single loaf of bread in it. Poor old love was bring pushed and shoved all over and he looked both bewildered and terrified. He told me he’d come early because he’d been the day before and hadn’t been able to get anything. The shelves had all been empty. I helped him get his few ‘bits’ - his milk, eggs, a bit of cheese and some food for his cat. He said he didn’t need much but just needed to be able to make a sandwich.

THAT was truly heartbreaking 😢😢

I nearly cried last night...

I got a bit worried That they might take mock results...but dd is only a grade off her predicted so i calmed down

Xenia thinks that the only things that matter in life are A grades from expensive private schools, which of course she never fails to remind us her DC achieved/went to. If you don’t get A grades in everything at 16, you life is completely pointless and worthless and you will never amount to anything. There will NEVER BE ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY to try again, or just not give a shit.

I believe Scotland is keeping them going.

I don't think a decision has been announced yet, should be soon though.
dd is doing her Nat5s this year (or maybe not).

My heart lurched when teen ds asked could he see his friends. It’s hard but I have much sympathy for exam takers.

There will be a future after CV become a distant memory.

So, close schools, lessons from home, then exams held in halls/classrooms in far lower numbers and across more locations than usual, alter marking to reflect lost teaching time, perhaps even reschedule to be sat in September?

its not beyond the wit of man to devise a relatively safe environment for exams to be held, after all we aren't limiting access to supermarkets and they are jammed with people atm.

Anyhow, what happened to that fuckwits advice that schools should stay open because the medical opinion was that that it would make little if any difference to the spread????

I wonder if there is a way to bus children to Scotland to sit GCSEs there or where course work/modules allow let them sit international GCSEs instead in England just as Singaporean students sometimes might sit English GCSEs in Singapore?

Fantastic idea. When would you like these kids to learn the Higher and nation 5 curriculum?!

DS was due to sit his A levels and is thrilled he won’t have to take exams. He also hoovered his bedroom without being asked yesterday.

and they know what they've said

Thats why you got the responses from me and the other poster

It wouldn’t have been difficult to say ‘ on another thread you said...’

Anyway I appreciate that you’ve clarified And i now understand where you are coming from

I have a relative in hospital with pneumonia and suspected CV. In her 40's. I also don't know if I will have a job by the end of this week.

I do understand teenagers being very upset. I also understand adults crying over everything that is happening.
I think some of the comments on this thread are bordering on hysteria.

I cried too when I heard. So gutted for my twins.

They are pretty laid back though and this morning have got on with the work their teachers have set online. Some quite emotional messages from some of their teachers on there, they are just as gutted.

I've stressed to them the importance of keeping up with the work, they'll need it for A Levels or whatever happens next.

i wonder if there is a way to bus them to Scotland to sit their exams

Now I have picked myself up off the floor I am nominating this as the Are You On Glue comment of the day.

It will be hard to beat, so many levels of weirdness.

If they have put in loads of work, then they now know that stuff, which is the real purpose of education.
For GCSEs nearly all of them will end up doing what they planned at 6th form or college based on the teachers predictions. There will be a tiny number who will have to argue their case, and a similar number who get onto a course they might otherwise have not qualified for.

Not the end of the world.

You could argue the y11s are 'lucky' because they have had their education completed.
They can go onto their next courses as if they got the grades needed. No one would be stupid enough to put themselves onto a course way out of their reach as they'd be setting themselves up to fail.
They can all sit Maths & English (at their old schools?) in November so they have that.
Once they have A levels / BTECs / Apprenticeships the actual GCSE results will seem to matter less, I guess.

support him, cuddle him, reassure him - it's a once in a generation emergency - if he's the student who has put all the hard work in - the school should give him the grades he deserves.

For A levels, the unis generally give offers to those predicted to get their usual requirements, expecting some to not achieve them.
However, there are usually places going spare in clearing, so it probably means some students will end up at their first firmed choice instead of second, and vice versa. Again not the end of the world, but individually distressing.
It's better than being sent to a war at the age of 18.

It is sad, but they are old enough to understand what is happening to the world and get some perspective. It is our duty to educate them.

I have two at home whose university has shut. If they complain I am going to show them my late mothers teenage diaries showing what happened in the Blitz in London when her and her family were being bombed many times through the day and night. She was 16. They got through it, life went on and she raised a family - me and their uncles.

Remind them that if we do nothing then as many people in the UK as died in WW2 will die from this - just think about that.

Its ridiculous! Surely there must have been a way for these pupils to sit their exams, perhaps using more rooms, spacing them out further apart. It means more invigilators I know. They've been in school all this time hoping that we get a measure of herd immunity in the country and now to rob them of this opportunity
Is there a chance they could do them later perhaps? I feel for them really I do but sending them north isn't practical.

I cried too last night. I think it’s not just about exams, it’s the build-up to this where everyone has been quietly making little adjustments, adding extra stuff to their trolley, setting their parents up with Skype. And this is a massive shock. It is really serious. Things won’t be the same. Really difficult decisions need to be taken.

And the sense of what we are losing has just been made real. Life will not be carrying on.

Yep my DS is year 11 and absolutely devastated.. my heart breaks for them all 😢