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.

DS is heading to do two science A levels without finishing the GCSE syllabus

And if this is the case he will be in line with everyone else in his year group.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

Shows how out of touch of the real world you are.

A lot of them are in low income jobs, which weren’t classified as key workers, and before child care bubbles were allowed. Younger kids not allowed in child care as not key workers but parents need to work to live. Usually, kids get the free hours at a nursery but weren’t allowed in, so childcare would fall to the eldest otherwise parents can’t work.

My dd left when they broke up at half term.

I'm ever so pleased for her. She has spent the last 12+ months anxiously awaiting will there be exams/is this an exam/will this be it/oh it is an exam/having a GCSE subject removed entirely due to lack of staff.

Now she can breathe a sigh of relief.
She has worked so, so incredibly hard and I'm proud of her. She has an offer for her preferred 6th form and is excited about that.

For now.
She can relax.
Paint her nails
See her friends
Meet her boyfriend
Go to the cinema
And have some lie ins.

We have been to the beach and for meals out this week and seeing her so relaxed has been incredible.

I'm not sure why you think they should still be in?

@Evvyjb and @frippenos I don't hold teachers responsible at all. But equally it shouldn't be all "yay! Year 11s are so ready to leave school". Some might be disengaged because they never recovered from first lockdown. Many are still struggling with anxiety and depression. A long break is not the answer. I am not asking teachers to deal with it, but they should acknowledge it.

But not everyone else on the course. Some of whom will have missed nothing.

I'm not for a second suggesting that the parents use childcare. I understand that (having children of my own and working full time), the usual routes were closed.

The answer is not "stop my exam aged child from doing their work to mind my children, and have them fall behind"

Its "shit, they need to get through their exams, me and dh will have to tag team the little ones between us / I will have to work evenings/ treat certain days as if the teen isnt here so they can do their schoolwork".

We are talking exam aged teens. And children who cannot be left alone in the next room with their tablets (so...what? 5 and under?)

My y11 daughter finished last Wednesday and has really started to chill over the last couple of days. She has started reading again for pleasure and walked down to the shops to get baking supplies. She made the most impressive cake with such creative decorations today. I'm so happy to see her getting back into her passions. She is due to go to a new 6th form college in September but I have no idea when they'll be in touch with bridging work? Is it after they get their results usually? It's going to be a long Summer so a bit of work may be a good idea but I suppose she could access the A level material independently. I don't see how staying on at her high school would really help at this stage and her teachers have enough to do with the lower years. We've signed her up to the NCS for two weeks in August and I'm hoping she'll do jobs around the house and garden as well as have some fun with her friends although she hasn't wanted to meet up with anyone so far. For her, the situation has so far worked in her favour not having exam pressures.

The teachers themselves have confirmed, in more than one subject, they have not delivered the full curriculum. RE, science, Geog, tech, off the top of my head.
As pp have confirmed too, no online learning March - July.

I am not asking teachers to deal with it, but they should acknowledge it.
And we have.
It's far too late in the day for proclamations from ofsted.
We were told exams would go ahead.
We were told the content would be reduced.
We were told they'd be moved back.
Then we were told they were cancelled.
Then we were told they'd actually effectively be moved forward and - by the way - we'd have to set and mark them.
I've been busily acknowledging the shitness for months. Now it's time to focus on year 10.

no online learning March - July.

Do you mean no live lessons? Because they certainly should have been provided with work.

@DinkyDaisy

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.

The school where I work is also arranging "bridging sessions" in students' chosen A Level subjects. The idea is to bridge the gap between GCSE and A Level. It's a great idea.

@mrshoho we don't set bridging work. When we've tried it's been a disaster... too many schools feeding our sixth form so some people do it and some don't. Reading around the subject is worthwhile though.

Worksheets and 'file tidying'.

No bridging lessons. No taster days.
The disparity it seems is huge.

Foosterin

I am not asking teachers to deal with it, but they should acknowledge it.

And I have.

I can also give you anecdotes of exactly those pupils that you are talking about and the efforts that I/we/my school have put in place to support them.

Some without the help or aid of the parents and of course no help from the government/DfE or ofsted.

what really needs to be acknowledged and made a huge noise about is how little those with the government/DfE or ofsted (and those vocal groups that were calling schools and teachers rubbish) are doing.

I mean where is the Us4them army of volunteers that they were crowing about?

My friend is SLT. She acknowledges it's not been great. I agree they don't need to still be in, but let's not pretend all schools have got them exactly where they need to be.

I saw that article and thought, well it's a bit late now!!! Schools have been working hard to do what's right, maybe a bit of guidance before the event would have helped!

My school set 3 assessments for year 13s and 2 assessments for year 11s over the course of 5 weeks! That's a lot of marking to be completed as well as year 12 and 10 assessments straight after.... Need 11s and 13s gone to get it all marked so doesn't work them still being around. This year is worse than other years as teachers are doing all the marking for this. Ofsted can't expect 11s and 13s to still be in when schools are doing the work of exam boards this year.

I acknowledge the break is slightly longer. I appreciate for some students this isn't ideal.

However the last week of half term was hellish in school because year 11 knew all their heads assessments were done. They knew there was no punishment or consequences. They behaved accordingly. Multiply that over the next 6 weeks and I'd have gone off sick through stress. I don't blame the students. Being kept in school doing pointless activities wouldn't be fun.

Give the students the choice, I doubt attendance would be above 2%.

Thanks MrsH, that's good to know that not all 6th forms expect this work. I will be hoping she motivates herself to do some Subject reading over the Summer!

We've had our y11s in between finishing their assessments and half-term. I don't think that much learning took place. Most of them couldn't see the point of what they were learning (it wasn't being assessed and they weren't continuing it at post-16) and just wanted to spend time with their friends (completely understandably). Unfortunately several also took it upon themselves to disrupt the rest of the school by continually setting the fire alarm off.

After half term we have said they don't have to be in school. There are a few online sessions on various things and in school post-16 taster sessions happening. Hopefully those who just want to ruin it for everyone else won't come in (as they won't have to).

cptartapp
No bridging lessons. No taster days.

Yet you can only say this for your school, we have done these.
But then the colleges are also very proactive with their links to their feeder schools.

@cptartapp I think we've spoken before about your children's school. You need to move on and get them reading around the subjects they're doing at A level. Get them GCSE revision guides for any science/maths subjects and get them self quizzing on the content. You could even use online stuff like seneca or Khan academy. I appreciate your school has been shit, please don't assume all have.

@DinkyDaisy

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.

Same for my DS, except his school has a sixth form. I'm very impressed that the teaching staff are offering this. The school have said they are required to provide something until the end of June and DS needs to be available in case school need him. But from reading this thread I'm not sure why they are saying that!