GCSE '18s (20) - half term beckons!

[mmmz]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/further_education/3355907-gcse-18s-19-new-beginnings

I know dd's school is very different but as ds's school there are 5 option columns but they choose 3 A levels (or 3 btecs) and an enrichment.

Enrichment does include a few AS levels (Further Maths, German & Music) & the EPQ or it also includes EPQ and Work Expereience

Dd back from sixth form college (an early finish on Wednesday) and is licking her wounds. An impromptu test was held in biology with no forewarning. Her dyslexia means that she doesn't have a hope in that scenario - she doesn't easily retain information and has to revise and revise in order to transfer information into her long term memory.

Everyone then had to shout out their scores to the tutor - she got 3 marks! the average was around 10

I'm not sure why they can't just give them a few days notice for tests. Had she prepped she would have reached double figures as she has no difficulties with comprehension - just recall (if there has been no opportunity for revision). Pondering whether to say something.....

Alex That sounds similar to DD's college. The 4th A level seems to be either maths if they are taking triple science with an interest in medicine, or further maths if they are taking 2 sciences and maths. The enrichment activities range from art based, theatre based, business & current affairs, languages and so on, with sport thrown in on top. Everyone has to take 2 enrichments. This has given some of her friends the opportunity to do stage management as an enrichment without wasting an A level on something like Film Studies when they really want a career as a surveyor but mess about on stage in their spare time.

I would like to caveat my earlier statements by saying that there is no scientific evidence of University Admissions theorem so please don't blame me if your DC all have to get 4 x A*s simply to get into a former poly. I am simply looking on the bright side today.

Limits try not to let it knock her confidence. Remind her that if she starts low, they will be even more impressed when she has the opportunity to show what she can really do.

@Stickerrocks - that's pretty much what DDs school have said too. My punt is that even the RG Unis will make a lot of unconditional offers this year and next. The conditional offers would go out with the 'normal' grade requirements (they can't be seen to be lowering them) but then a there will be a glut of spaces at clearing

It's going to be interesting on results day. For example if you have accepted an offer but on results day you look at what's available in clearing and find a course that has had the entry requirements dropped to the extent that you now qualify you can still ring and get an offer without a clearing number, ring your accepted Uni, ask to be released and then accept the new course.

It will take nerves of steel though.....

I wonder what happens to the bottom league Unis? If there are more places than candidates, plus Unis are increasing the number of available places on courses and then everyone chooses the best university possible surely this will leave some courses at lower ranked Unis virtually empty!?!?!

I guess so Sticker - scores can only go up. Just wondering if I am being a helicopter parent if I go to Student support and request that dd receives a heads up on the QT if a test is on the horizon

Quick question re Tassomai for those who used it extensively. We were late adopters (early May in Y11) and so had a taste of it but didn't get the full benefit - but from what I could see it would have been really beneficial if we had subscribed early. I am wondering how early is too early? - was pondering whether there is any merit in signing up at the beginning of Y10 (for my ds) - or whether that is just too soon?

@LimitIsUp - wouldn't it be better to get your DD to talk to the teacher herself?

I know my DD has been to see her teachers with her independent learning plan, going through it with each of them individually and getting them to sign it. She also had a lot of input into it and added things like photographing the board, all homework to be emailed, recording lessons etc

I think historically her SENCo would have been the person to talk to the teachers but this year she is required to 'own it'.

I probably wouldn't Limits but could DD be really brave and have a word with her tutor herself? Something along the lines of "I don't think I was able to do myself justice in that test because …. Any chance you could give me a heads up in the future, because it is putting me at a disadvantage and making me anxious." They are more likely to respond to it if they are faced with a person, rather than getting an email via student support for a faceless student.

Bpi There is a clear risk of a number of lower ranked universities dropping courses and potentially entire departments to concentrate on the money spinners. There was an article in the Observer some time ago which highlighted some which could feasibly go out of business or need a fundamental overhaul. It is possible that a student could sign up for a course and then find themselves with limited options in later years or even being shuffled into a different course to the one they initially signed up for.

Bpisok - yes I see what you are saying. DD did to her credit, speak to the tutor afterwards and explained that she would not do well in impromptu tests and why. Tutor was pleasant and reassured her that the tests would not matter - but I don't think the tutor quite got the point, that it may not matter to her but it does knock dd's confidence.

@Stickerrocks - yes, it was the financial viability that was going round in my head too.
A real doomsday scenario is that an institution fails and the 2nd and 3rd year students find themselves with no course and 2 years worth of student loans.
Shuffling them off to another Uni at that stage isn't going to be easy - even if there was space on a course the syllabus wouldn't be the same and they would still need to find some kind of accommodation.
I guess there must be a precedent for this eventuality somewhere, it's just something I haven't considered before.

Limit - I signed ds up a couple of weeks ago and so far its been great. you do have to pause a lot of the topics they havn;t covered yet but he is a reluctant homework/self studier but 10 mins of Tassomai a day suits his way of working.

Bpisok - It has happened to a couple of dance colleges in the past few years (though those courses were not student loan funded). It's horrible when it happens and the students had to scrabble round trying to find other colleges who woulod take them on into their 2nd and third yers.

Thank you mmmz
I'm still here.
Information / welcome evening for parents of Y12s this evening. I'm sure it will be useful and informative...

In that case I'll take the plunge and sign him up Alexander. I think he will enjoy the interactive quiz format - cheers

LimitIsUp DS1 used Tassomai for 6 weeks. 3-6 months would have been ideal. 20 months would have been painful.

at 20 months would have been painful!

I think there will have to be a change to the scrabble that results from pre results admissions offers at the moment. Maybe the system will change or uni s will begin to specialise more and offer fewer courses. Not in time for our dc though and it could be nice if having suffered from being guinea pigs for gcse s they now get the benefit of a buyers market at uni.

I hear what your saying Sticker but is the huge workload for EPQ worth the effort for a one grade drop in offer - surely those hours could be used to make the higher grade more achievable (unless there are of course other valid reasons for the EPQ)

London Met was the closest recently, but finances are very precarious in some places.

The EPQ didn't exist in my day, when you only had to wear a prefect badge and have done something outside of school to get an interview and then charm them with your personality. There was also not this obsession with RG universities, because you either went to a university (academic) or a Poly (more vocational). The universities were tiered Oxbridge, Oxbridge rejects(Exeter, Bristol, Durham, LSE & KCL) and then all the rest. You could still get a perfectly good graduate job regardless of where you went. It's been sold to us as something to occupy the brighter student's time where they would previously have been fretting about AS levels or to show a genuine interest in something if your A levels haven't necessarily covered it. I hadn't heard of it until this time last year.

To clarify, I am being VERY facetious with my Oxbridge rejects comment. At my school you were told you might have a glimmer of hope of getting a place at E, B & D if you wouldn't have a hope of getting the grades for Oxbridge, but you interviewed well! How times have changed - Cambridge is even running an event showcasing alumni from ethnic backgrounds!

In that case I'm a proud Oxbridge reject alumna.

Hello all. Nice to see a new thread. DD1 is another doing 4 As and beginning to find out how much work it is. She's lost that sense of refreshment from the long summer and started saying how tired she is all the time. A bit like her middle aged mum!

Realistically, the only one she could drop would be FM and maths is her comfort zone so I think she's just going to have to find a way to manage.

Anyone else's offspring (in the South East) going to a universities and careers event at Emirates Stadium this week? Her entire sixth form is going and she is feeling very stressed about how crowded it will be.

Thanks for new thread.
DS working hard, while trying to keep the Sport and Music plates spinning too.

He tried to help DD with her Year 10 Physics homework last night, only to find that the necessary facts must have been stored in exceedingly short term memory!

DS working hard, while trying to keep the Sport and Music plates spinning too.

Quite relieved that DS2 isn't sporty. The four A-levels, daily music commitments and two concurrent D&D campaigns are quite enough to be going on with.

I know the feeling TheThird. I love that he is getting in to music/dram/CCF having been too shy and lacking in confidence to fully do so earlier. I also love that the school values all round activities and extra curricular and is not an 'exam factory' and it is the extra stuff that makes him love school so much. But I then have to remind myself of that and stop myself from commenting when he isn't working as much as I would like or some of the teaching gets put aside for other stuff.