GCSE’s are in 8 months time

[Lemons1571]

Do you think they’ll go ahead? I have my doubts whether it’s even possible, what with all the content already missed and now potential repeated isolations during the winter. What if your child has to isolate the day before the first exam? Getting 200 16 yo’s in one hall might be a challenge. Do you think the gov are saying all will go ahead, in the full knowledge that it could well be teacher assessment again?

I strongly agree with the OP.

The government should urgently be looking at ways to mitigate the risks of them not going ahead; I would suggest a three way exam / coursework / teacher assessment split of marks, so if exams don't happen or if kids miss more school (very likely by what we've seen just one week into term) they have something else to fall back on.

I am extremely concerned about my DCs mental and emotional health in what's usually a stressful year (but no year group to date has ever had to work, revise for and sit GCSEs under the shadow of Covid - it's an unprecedented strain on them).

Not forgetting of course their teachers who still don't know the end date to get through the syllabus (will exams be in May - or June or even July?). A lot of strain on them too.

I hope not

Its a nightmare all round. DD year 11 has dyslexia and school is really stressing her out as did lockdown. I am unsure what she has missed or hasn’t submitted during lockdown. Some idiot kids in the school are going round pushing people, blowing in peoples faces, sounds like SD is out of the window and kids are being verbally abused for wearing masks in crowded areas. DD went back a week on Thursday and already rumours are circulating that her best friends teacher and her science teacher has been off since yesterday and getting a Covid test. Several school pupils in his classes have also been off since yesterday. The teachers have been talking about compulsory after school clubs to catch up on missed work and certain nice parts of the curriculum such as geography field trips have been cancelled. I don’t think either she or we could stand the stress of her being at home again and struggling to work on her own from her messy, semi darkened bedroom for months on end again.

Exams have to go ahead in some form this year because nobody would take another year of teacher assessment seriously and for many teachers who don't even know the pupils would have to make predictions which would make it even worse. Even if it involves closing the schools to everyone other than year 11 and year 13 during exam season so that pupils can be at desks 2 meters apart (although realistically most already aren't far off this to prevent cheating and so invigilators can get around the desks) and in much smaller rooms than normal.

What happens if some schools have had children miss months of schooling because of isolation while others might be unaffected?

@halcyondays I would like to know this too. Seeing how well my kids have got on since going back last week, I am really worried about the current government guidance that all schools will continue with online provision to such a high quality that it is equivalent to being in the classroom. Seamless. Except it’s not is it (unless perhaps private).

I think they will go ahead in some form yes. They have 8 months to come up with a way to do it, to make it fair and possible for all students.

@halcyondays

What happens if some schools have had children miss months of schooling because of isolation while others might be unaffected?

Then there will be unfair advantages all round.

Something needs to happen (I have a ds in Y13 doing A levels in 8 months' time).

Especially with a no deal Brexit brewing...

Some idiot kids in the school are going round pushing people, blowing in peoples faces, sounds like SD is out of the window and kids are being verbally abused for wearing masks in crowded areas

Sounds like a completely ineffectual school. DS' old secondary school said they were employing a zero tolerance approach - anyone breaking covid rules or abusing others for following them would be excluded immediately.

Pretty sure they will go ahead.
Mine was told yesterday the igcse format for French & Spanish oral has changed. Students will now have to have a 10 min conversation with the examiner on a random topic. No more pre prepared questions. DC is already stressed about it. I wish the school would go back to AQA or similar.
The amount of work that is being given to the kids is ridiculous! Homework has escalated, I just can't see how it's possible for this cohort to do as well as the one that has just been through their own nightmare.
I guess time will tell.

They need to decide something now or there will be a whole load of problems next year.
They cannot leave this to the last minute. They have had ample time to come up with a plan.

Will they plan now already? They should, but somehow I doubt it. This govt seems to be 'wing it and see'. I feel so sorry for my DD.

I think CAGs would be very difficult this year - last year it was just about possible as there were year 10 exams and mocks in most cases to base predictions on. This year's year 11s didn't have year 10 exams and probably won't have mocks unless the CV is under better control by Jan/Feb. Some sort of continuous assessment between now and May might be possible still and then it won't be such a fiasco if exams can't go ahead, but pupils need to know if they are being continuously assessed. It can't be like the previous year 11s who found that their teachers were basing their CAGs some kind of retrospective continuous assessment that the pupils never knew was happening.