Year 11s shouldn’t have finished school early

[solarlights]

www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jun/03/schools-should-not-send-exam-year-pupils-home-early-says-ofsted-head

My DD went on exam leave on April 31st only attending school for the exams that were supposedly cancelled —but not—
They finished completely on 24th May despite missing months and months of school over their GCSE course, so what’s all this about? Our year 11s have been totally let down.

If the students have been engaging with the online learning provision, then they wont have missed much, if any, schooling.

i have a year 11 ,she finished on 27th of may ,exams /tests are all done so no they dont need to be in and i would think its better for the schools to have less pupils in at the moment ,as there will be more room to spread out ,less kids on the bus etc

My Y11 officially finished last Friday, 28th May having been in full-time up until then. I have no issue with that, think the school did a great job with its remote learning provision and taught the students until they left. The Y11s have sat a lot of uncancelled GCSE exams and I was keen for them to be given an end date and for it to be fixed so there was one definite for them in what has been 15 months of having their courses messed around with by the Government.

My DC is looking forward to being able to go camping, to go on day trips with friends, to attending sixth form transition days, getting their teeth into A-level bridging work and to having a period of time when they don't have to approach everything as a potential assessment.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz doesn't that depend on whether school provided online learning provision and whether all students could access what was provided.

I know a local college is providing online work in the next few weeks but not sure how many students will actually access it and not sure what the work relates to now they have done all their tests/assessments

Still waiting to hear whether DS's school is doing anything after they finish next week

What this is about @solarlights is a group that have done fuck all for years trying to justify their existence by pointing figures at a group that has worked hard.

Ours were in till the 28th, all 'assessments' are done.

So what would you like for the schools to teach them>

What would you like us to do with them?!?

By whom have they been let down?

My ds school has organised A level prep for June and other enrichment activities.
Not full time but he will be in every day.
Not a school that has a sixth-form either.
Impressed.

Last year Yr 11s finished in March.....with 48 hours notice. I know it has been really hard year for the current yr 11s, having had a disrupted year last and this year but for last years cohort they had April-Sept with nothing education wise....and no satisfaction either to show in a prepared way what they been working towards throughout schooling. My dd still feels like her GCSE's aren't real.

Our education system is set up so that students study a curriculum for terminal exams. This year exams were cancelled so students have sat a billion assessments to determine their final grades which have to be submitted by schools on the 18th June. Schools will need at least a week to physically input the grades and weeks before that to Check/double check/triple check the data and prepare for sampling and the inevitable appeals.

Students have completed these assessments already and are frankly spent.

If we have to come up with a full time programme to occupy them for the rest of the academic year, that would have taken time to develop from scratch, time which we have been spending on the indecipherable tags process. Speilman is WAY too late to tell schools they need to keep y11, who usually leave around now anyway.

Our y11 are officially on role until 25th June and will Be coming in occasionally for a-level taster sessions and employability sessions and having check-ins over the phone with pastoral staff. This in itself has taken huge amount of work to organise alongside the all consuming tags process.

If ofsted are Unhappy that schools find it hard to educate/motivate students beyond the point of terminal exams then perhaps they should acknowledge that they have played a role in making these results so high stakes in the first place.

Ours have left - the week of half term. It actually works well as year 11 and 13 are gone so that leaves less mixing and more space for the other year groups to get back to normal in school.

I know teachers have been shat on by the exam boards and have so much work. They shouldn't be expected to continue to teach year 11s for the sake of it. But this argument is being shouted very forcefully over the top of anyone who dares suggest that the kids might still need more schooling/structure/ something. They have been back in school for less than 3 months. My year 11 DD has NOT A CLUE what to do with herself until September. There are very few jobs for that age; applications for work experience have been refused 'due to covid'. Even the library service where she's volunteered in the past have said no this year. If you're a year 11 teacher, then no, I don't expect you to keep teaching my child. But don't tell me you are doing them a favour, because you are not.

Good point raised upthread - students previously could have coasted through GCSEs and ALevels then crammed hard to revise in the month leading up to the exam.

This years students have been continually assessed all year through.

It is what it is. I feel more sorry for last years kids.

I've not said I'm doing my 11s and 13s a favour by not teaching them. But I do need to be able to focus my attention on my y10 and 12 students who have had none of their work marked for a month.
Ours would normally have left at the end of next week, with a few exams remaining. We wouldn't have been giving them work to do.
It's shit for all concerned.

They have been back in school for less than 3 months. My year 11 DD has NOT A CLUE what to do with herself until September. There are very few jobs for that age; applications for work experience have been refused 'due to covid'. Even the library service where she's volunteered in the past have said no this year. If you're a year 11 teacher, then no, I don't expect you to keep teaching my child. But don't tell me you are doing them a favour, because you are not

You seem to be directing your angst at the teachers. Who have done their teaching. All because your dd is likely to sit around for 3 months. So? How is that the teachers fault?

I do appreciate your point @Foosterin but the long holiday of y11 isn't new. And some might argue that parents might help their children to structure their time, rather than schools which are now accountable for every societal ill. As I recall I got a job and met my future husband that summer. I know job hunting isn't as easy nowadays.

Foosterin

No one is saying that we are

doing them a favour, because you are not.

But this is another last minute whinge by a government fuckwit trying to stay relevant.

If they really gave a shit they would have put plans in place months ago.

Once again, lets remember that this is not the fault of the schools or the teachers, this is down to the DfE, Ofsted and the government.

There isn't a 31st April

My Year 11 is looking forward to the break. They have had continual assessments and exams. There is nothing else for them to do.

It's hardly "early"

They only attend exams after this half term anyway when they take actual GCSEs and they usually run for the next 2 weeks after half term. So dependent on what subjects they are taking most pupils do half day 3-5 days a week until mid June and then finish.

Our year 11s have been totally let down.

No, they've been prioritised to the detriment of all other secondary year groups and the wellbeing and workload of their teachers.

They've had remote provision, additonal intervention support, 24/7 access to their teachers through technology, maximised teaching, reduced assessment, multiple chances, grades determined by teachers from their own exam setting/marking/moderating...

They've learned what they need to know and how to do and they'll have the qualifications to take forward.

Let them have the summer they always would have had and let their teachers concentrate on teaching and assessing the rest of their classes for the final half term of this academic year. It won't be long before year ten are being 'let down' by being expected to sit formal, external exams despite not seeing why they should engage or cooperate in 2020 or 2021, and not having practised or experienced this before.

Where are you OP? Schools in England this year provided classroom learning from September to December, online learning January to April, then back into the classroom April to June.

It is completely typical that exam year groups go on study leave in the month of May to revise for exams which run in June.

As exams are now not running in June, the assessments have been made based on the work they completed from 1 September to 28 April (in your case).

What purpose would being at school right now be to any Year 11/13 student other than take the teachers focus away from the year groups coming into their exam years?

No I am not blaming teachers, I'm a teacher myself. I'm just stating a) don't think the kids are glad to finish, many are just lost and b) this is not a typical summer - there are very few opportunities out there.

Unfortunately your daughter is in the same boat as everyone else when it comes to travel, work and future plans just now, OP. The curriculum is finished. The lab space etc is set up for the other year groups. The call to keep children in school when there is nothing left to teach them and they have done their work is a pitiful attempt to distract from the embarrassing education news of yesterday.

Isn't that standard anyway? I officially went on exam leave in early may back in 2005!

Bloody hell let them enjoy some free time before going back to the tedium of full time education