Do we still think GCSE’s & A Levels will go ahead?

[Lemons1571]

We’ve been lucky. DS hasn’t had to isolate, and completed a full set of mocks in December. But so many millions of year 11 haven’t been as lucky, and have missed months of in-person schooling. Now there are rumours of lockdown and schools closing. And possibly not feasible to put them all in exam halls in June (it’s less than 6 months away and none of them will have been vaccinated). Is it even remotely feasible for kids en masse to be examined in a few months time?

Our biggest concern is the BTEC exams..... Year 12 and 13 start on the 6th January for 3 weeks (over 100 of our students) and another 60 Year 11s with exams at the star of February

They seem adament , maybe depends on next few weeks
Ds not done mocks yet due to do end of jan ??
Can't see how they can if much more school is missed unless they massively adapt them

Also feel this year worse of than last year , they had done most of content last year and nearly due to start study leave
This year missed months last year and not all schools were equal with home learning
And many have missed weeks off this year as well

So unfair to the current year 10's. They will be expected to sit exams, having missed large chunks of school from lockdowns and periods of isolation

@Whyarewehardofthinking yes my ds has exam in feb as well and if they don't achieve the minimal level pass then fail it all

For those worrying about mock grades please DONT.

Teachers tell kids mocks are really important to make them work. And of course they are- but they can only ever be an indicator.

There will never be a blanket order of ‘use the mock grade’ because-
A) schools sit mocks at different times so you can’t measure Johnny’s Nov mock grade 5 next to to Jane’s Feb Mock grade 6.
B) schools (and sometimes even depts within schools) mark Mocks to different standards- some will be aspirational, some will favour tough love, some will stick to mark schemes written by exam boards, some will make their own with varying levels of competence.

Mocks due to be sat when they go back, but I can't see how the grades can possibly be fair. I can see why they want A level grades and GCSE Maths and English. Dd desperate to sit them though.

I think SATs should definitely be cancelled and cancelled now. I don't think that you can use the same argument for SATs that there won't be anything to do if the SATs are removed. Many dc are still catching up on yr5 work and the last thing that yr6 need is more stress in their already stressful little lives. Yes they should still follow the curriculum but let's ditch the tests, they aren't publishing league tables. Yes children do surprise their teachers but I imagine that most teachers could have a good bash at predicting a child's yr6 SATs score without formal tests.

SATs should be cancelled anyway, permanently. Pointless waste of time and effort.

I have a Y11 and I think he's the only one I know of who hasn't had to self isolate (apart from private school kids) but has still had massive disruption. His school has a 6th form so he will hopefully just go to that and it won't matter too much what happens with GCSEs. Its the kids who want to move elsewhere for a levels and the current year 13s I feel more sorry for.

Whatever happens it's going to be another last minute, ill conceived shitshow. There's no excuse for it as they've had a year to plan for it but Williamson is out of his depth and the rest don't seem to care.

@SomelikeitHoth

So unfair to the current year 10's. They will be expected to sit exams, having missed large chunks of school from lockdowns and periods of isolation

Which is exactly what they are expecting yr11 and y13 to do now.

@EndoplasmicReticulum

SATs should be cancelled anyway, permanently. Pointless waste of time and effort.

Well yes, this could be their opportunity to quietly drop them and forget to reinstate them.