Year 10 and 12 students should go back to school first

[Bewareoftheblob]

More speculation in the Hate ahead of PMQ today. Link

Exams have been cancelled for this year, regardless of the consultation suggestions of 'optional' assessments from the exam board for the current Year 11 and 13s.

Should we actually prioritise the return of Year 10 and 12 students who have missed such a huge amount of preparation time for their courses?

I know it's dreadful for Year 11 and 13 too, but they at least had a good six months before schools closed in March 2020. Still shit though.

No. Year 13 and 11 are most important and should take priority for teaching and support.

@CremeEggThief

No. Year 13 and 11 are most important and should take priority for teaching and support.

What about Year 12s who should have had exams this summer (e.g. AS Levels)? They will otherwise be assessed on a maximum of 1 term in school (obviously less for many) after a 6 month break.

I agree OP. With burst bubbles, my Y10 will have had ten weeks of school in a year. Her y11 sister has been much better catered for.

AS Levels don't count in the same way as GCSES and A Levels!
My DS refused to do any more coursework for his AS Level once we went into lockdown last year and there was nothing the school could do to make him change his mind, before they were officially cancelled. Or maybe they weren't even officially cancelled, lol!

I do feel for the Year 12s too, of course, AND all year groups, but I'm sick of the exam years not being prioritised for everything.

My poor DS was gutted the other night, realising that (his words) "a random day in December" might end up being his last day as a student in a school he started in Year 7. Which will be even worse than the poor GCSE students who weren't staying on for 6th form at their own school last year.

I appreciate your personal circumstances. I'm not suggesting we write them off. But nothing is going to change what's going to happen for our current Year 11/13. All they can do now is complete assessments/mocks as best they can and hope for the best.

How do you propose that they do assessments/mocks if they are not back at school. Online assessment is fraught with difficulty - there is not a level playing field with regard to technology, access to quiet space, internet connectivity, parental "help" or cheating. The assessments need to be done in school if at all possible.

Yes, it's shit for the year 10s too, but the disruption for them is simply not on the same scale. We need the teacher assessed grades to be as fair as possible, and in order to assess fairly, the teachers need to see the kids back in school, when it is safe for them to be there.

@KittyMcKitty

No what can happen is years 11 & 13 can go back to school and have face to face learning I would hope OP tgat your year 10 has some actual teaching and learning going on past the January of next year! Depending on the assessment framework year 11 and 13 can have a good few months of actual teaching and that is why they should be a priority.

And I'm sure they will be prioritised. I doubt very much that Ofqual et al will listen to my thoughts on the matter. However, I personally would prioritise 10 and 12, or at least have then in on a rota with 11 and 13.

@AlexaShutUp

How do you propose that they do assessments/mocks if they are not back at school. Online assessment is fraught with difficulty - there is not a level playing field with regard to technology, access to quiet space, internet connectivity, parental "help" or cheating. The assessments need to be done in school if at all possible.

When/if 11/13 return we'll have the same problems with bubbles bursting/self isolation etc. As I've said, there is no fairness here.

Sorry, to clarify my last post - I'm trying to say that in school assessment won't be a great deal better for many students and schools.

When/if 11/13 return we'll have the same problems with bubbles bursting/self isolation etc. As I've said, there is no fairness here.

So don't bother even trying?

Why prioritise and not do a rota system?

AS Levels don't count in the same way as GCSES and A Levels!

Not but if you you were unhappy with your GCSE grade in that subject but couldn't appeal it due to lack of appeal process so were hoping to get a more representative grade at AS, and you really wanted to study it at A Level but it wasn't offered locally, and it's in a subject you potentially want to study at university ... you'd quite like to not have it written off.

Sorry, to clarify my last post - I'm trying to say that in school assessment won't be a great deal better for many students and schools.

Sorry, but I disagree. My dd was lucky enough to do mocks in November/December. There were issues with bubbles bursting etc, and some exams had to be delayed, but doing them in school under exam conditions was infinitely fairer than any form of online assessment.

School's closed till March: BBC Link

Most schools closed for Easter on 26th March, not back till April. Year 11/13 will have four weeks in before teachers are asked to submit grades, if they're luck.

@AlexaShutUp

When/if 11/13 return we'll have the same problems with bubbles bursting/self isolation etc. As I've said, there is no fairness here.

So don't bother even trying?

Re-direct your energy where it can do the most good.

@AlexaShutUp

Sorry, to clarify my last post - I'm trying to say that in school assessment won't be a great deal better for many students and schools.

Sorry, but I disagree. My dd was lucky enough to do mocks in November/December. There were issues with bubbles bursting etc, and some exams had to be delayed, but doing them in school under exam conditions was infinitely fairer than any form of online assessment.

I'm glad they got to do their mocks, but their results won't be any different to students who didn't complete mocks.

Year 13 need to do some assessments in school so that the teachers can verify they are not getting unfair help from parents. They also need to finish their courses so that they are ready for uni.
Year 12 need to keep up some momentum, and those doing courses with practical elements like drama etc, need time in school for those.
I have daughters in both years. If i had to pick a higher priority year i'd pick year 13, but i would prefer them both back on a rota system.

You have a point, @RedSkybyNight, but I do think if DS's school placed more value on them, they would have been stricter about asking him to stick in with his coursework, instead of just accepting it when he told them he didn't see the point and he had no intention of catching up or doing any more work for it. I have to take the fact that they didn't even try to speak to me about it as proof that it wasn't seen as priority.

Honestly?

Poor y10!

My child was a y10 last year and missed 1.5 terms, just like current y10.

Will y10 parents be happy if the same happened this time next year and their y11 kids were written off?

Disgraceful attitude

Seriously OP, unless you have DC in current Year 11 or 13 you have absolutely no idea what they have been through.

They should definitely be the priority at the moment. Hopefully, the current year 10s and 12s will have an uninterrupted academic year from September which is far better than the current Year 11s and 13s who have had 2 very disrupted years.

Most schools closed for Easter on 26th March, not back till April. Year 11/13 will have four weeks in before teachers are asked to submit grades, if they're luck.

Well, four weeks would be better than nothing, but actually, the consultation about when grades should be submitted is still open as far as I know. It may not be as early as mid-May.

I'm not worried about dd personally, as her mock results were excellent and her predicted grades have been great throughout. However, the same cannot be said for everyone else in her year group.The standard of online education in the last lockdown wasn't remotely comparable to what is happening now. Not blaming schools for that, as they didn't have time to plan for it last year, but the reality is that a lot of the current year 11s lost out on a huge chunk of their year 10, as well as having to study online again now in year 11 and being denied the opportunity to do their exams. The most disadvantaged amongst them are the ones who will have suffered most.They need to be prioritised.

If schools go back in early March, the current year 10s will have only missed a couple of months, with much better online provision. That's less than the current year 11s missed last year, without even accounting for what they're missing this year. Even if they go back after Easter, they will still be in a much better position, and they will hopefully have a clear run in school from then until their exams in 2022.

@Bewareoftheblob

School's closed till March: BBC Link

Most schools closed for Easter on 26th March, not back till April. Year 11/13 will have four weeks in before teachers are asked to submit grades, if they're luck.

Have you read the Y11/13 consultation?

Under this teachers are being asked to submit grades by mid June. So if we can get these cohorts back on 8/3 they have a lot more than 4 weeks to get assessments etc done and also to consolidate in anticipation of their onward education.

I have a y10 and y13

Exams being cancelled doesn't mean that there's no work studying and assessing to do. OFQUAL doesn't announce how final grades will be calculated until after their consultation ends on 22nd Feb and if newspaper leaks are to be believed, tests set at school may be the solution. That's going to need revision sessions with real teachers.

I'd like my y10 to be in at least for practical classes that can't be done at home. It's worrying that practical GCSEs have stopped completely unlike some other lessons say English poetry analysis being able to be done online to some extent.

Re-direct your energy where it can do the most good

OK, that'll be years 11, 12 and 13 as the priority, then. They are the year groups that will have suffered the most in all of this, and focusing our energy and resources on these cohorts will have the maximum positive impact.

I doubt very much that Ofqual et al will listen to my thoughts on the matter.

Thank god irritating enough on here

I completely see where you’re coming from OP so I find it hard to disagree really, but Y11 and 13 have only got a tiny bit of time left to experience any learning at school before they’ll have lost the opportunity forever. Plenty of Y11s won’t do A Levels so if they don’t go back to school soon they won’t go back to school ever.

Y10 and 12, as shit as it is for them, still have a good chance of getting some school time next year.

It’s not all about how the teachers can assess them and the grades they end up with, it’s about the life experiences that are offered to each child. I think it’s most important to keep that as fair as possible. I think Y6 should be a priority for the same reason, they deserve to have some closure to their time at school.