All 9s at GCSE….

[CurlewKate]

Less than 1.5% of candidates get all 9s at GCSE. I wonder why so many of them seem to be Mumsnetter’s children! 🤣

If they're happy as they are, that's fine. If they're not, then they might want some help. If they do, then believing that they are where they are because of racial characteristics will not help them.

Race and culture are two very different things.

I agree.

People on threads like this often cite the children of immigrants into the UK having high educational achievement regardless of wealth or class, forgetting that immigrants are by definition high achieving people who have learned how to deal with bureaucracy and who are committed to improving their lives. And who are often, despite their position in life NOW, well educated people
from their country of origin.

That's oversimplification. Corner shop owners or bus drivers from the Commonwealth were not necessarily well educated people. Ukrainian refugees come from all walks of life too, including not so well educated - they haven't chosen to emigrate so there is no self-selection. The Chinese make their children work very hard in their home country too so there is no immigration bias in this cultural attitude. The Poles have Catholic background even if not observant themselves, it's still a very different culture with more focus on discipline. Etc etc

I disagree. I really do believe certain Asian cultures, in particular, have very strong underlying educational values that drive academic success from an early age. My kids went to London grammar schools so we have experienced it first hand, every day. It is enshrined into every day thinking and child rearing from a very early age. There is also typically far more parental control in teenage hood over bad elements like excess screens, alcohol and more respect for elders including teachers. The parenting matters far more than is openly acknowledged by the entire education system. It is almost a lie constantly over focussing on the 6 hours a day kids are actually in school and making everything the teaching professions problem, when they spend 18 at home and the early years are critical. Every teacher will tell you how important parenting and parental support is, especially at primary school age.

Absolutely. Either they’re bonafide genius or have undiagnosed fill in the blanks. Rarely see coasters or kids who try their best here to achieve mediocrity.

I think only the Oxbridge threads are all kids with 9s or 8s. Head over to the supporting Year 11s and the tone is much more tearing hairs out, because DC getting up at 11 and on Fortnight and did 15 minutes English revision today and went back to bed!

Yep. I haven't seen any posters with all 9s kids, clearly I'm on the wrong threads! 😂

I suspect @CurlewKate might have misinterpreted some posts from people saying their child had been predicted straight 9's. That's very different to actually getting straight 9s. It's a common circumstance on threads where admission to selective sixth forms is being discussed. Our local super-selective tends to be oversubscribed by applicants with straight-9 predictions, at least for the most popular subjects.

My DD was predicted straight 9's in 2020, and was lucky enough to actually get them, but only because the exams were cancelled that year and she was given Centre Assessed Grades. She may not have been so fortunate if she'd sat the exams. She was perfectly capable of a 9 in any of them, and school had the evidence to back that up, but luck is always a factor on the day of an exam.

Very many other students would have got straight 9's in 2020 and 2021 for similar reasons, so it would be interesting to know which year the op's 2% figure is from.

It’s a bit worrying that someone so anti and prejudiced against them is marking them!😬 Poor candidates!

@Araminta1003 my children grew up in a small village with a significant sikh population. the children were moderately controlled against mixing with european heritage families (they did have several family and religious get togethers), the girls especially restricted from going out as teens about town(reputation very important) and all pushed to perform well at hs and accompanied to university to maintain high grades (most often gran or family already living in a city). why? for family financially secure marital matches. the girls with better grades had much better options from which to choose but have no doubt it was all financial based and family finances were a family affair. marriages were all delayed until after graduation from university but all married not long after. the boys seemed to have more freedom both socially and course options, many often married women of european background. i'm not aware of any of the women not marrying within the culture.

ps this info from 12 years ago so not ancient history. i had several sikh work colleagues (saving for daughters wedding huge saving and shopping sprees) and two work mates who had to choose potential suitors (they had a solid amount of options and the ability to decline further dates if the first few not satisfactory) very clued in on finances.

I think culture is a huge part of education. Obviously there are families in areas who do not value education because they never paid it any heed and have managed to survive. Personally I think it is evolved from the factory mindset of the industrial revolution, where "men were men" and often the families that have traditional values are the ones still thinking along these lines. Who needs an education if the son is going to be down a mine/being a bin man/brickie etc. We all know these families. The mum is usually stay at home to cook and clean and possibly stacks shelves at the corner shop or cuts hair on an ad hoc basis. They don't want to be "la-de-dah" and are happy to be on benefits because they aren't starving and don't see the point in doing more - they are not driven to help society or others and are more likely to be inwardly focused on their family than the community around them. It can be put down to ignorance, education, morality or culture but these people are unlikely to change habits learned over generations. They are happy surviving and not being aware of the "bigger picture" because it doesn't concern them.

667,340 16 year olds took GCSEs in 2024 according to the government. 1270 16 year olds got 7 or more all grade 9s according to government stats. think it’s not 1% or even close. Far fewer.

And yet more evidence of grade inflation.
In 2019, when my DS2 took his GCSE exams, there were 837 candidates within these boundaries.
Give it a few years and we'll need a 9* or a 10 grade to 'differentiate'.

Pupil numbers have increased since then. The population of 16 year olds in the UK increased by 4.6% just between 2023 and 2024.

Grade inflation is protected against by the system of comparable outcomes.

Number of GCSE exams taken in England between 2019 and 2024 has increased from 580,850 to 667,340 - a percentage increase of 14.89%
Pupils getting all grade 9 results (for 7 or above GCSEs) has increased in those years from 837 to 1270 - a percentage increase of 51.73%.

Not convinced that kids have got better or teaching has improved that much in the last 5 years?

Interestingly - the actual number of students taking 10 or more GSCEs has dropped between 2019 and 2024.
Perhaps schools are reckoning that nine straight grade 9s look 'better' that nine grade 9s plus one 8.

It costs more to deliver a wider curriculum. Schools are struggling for cash.

Or they're deciding that the pressure upon students is such when mental health outcomes and wellbeing are such a concern that it's less important to go for ten or more when nine represents

English Language
English Literature
Maths
Physics
Biology
Chemistry
History/Geography
French/Spanish/German
Art/Drama/PE/Computing/Business Studies/Psychology/Economics/Food Tech/DT/Music

(with -1 science for Combined, add one other from the bottom 3 lines)

It's like the target 9s - it's not beneficial for significant numbers of high achieving, often high anxiety, students to have perfection as the minimum expected, as that makes an 8 a failure in the eyes of many students and/or parents. It's more humane (as we are dealing with children here, don't forget) to have a target of 8 as a maximum and every single 9 is felt to be even more of an achievement than it is already.