Year 12 #1 - GCSEs are sooo last year!

[bpisok]

New thread to see us through to Christmas?

I’m in my mid 40’s dnd both dh and I took 3 years to do A levels. In dh’s case he was ill in his 2nd year & repeated a year. In my case I had a complete change of mind about what I wanted to do & so took an extra year to take another A level in a different subject.

All of these are really reassuring. Thank you for sharing these. Yes I agree slow and steady. One day at a time that's all we need to do for now knowing that there are options in the future.

Love the support and help on this thread, and the corresponding one for DS, who is a fresher. I genuinely care about 'our' kids!

Thanks for support all

returningtoschool I wish i had something useful to add, but I don't.
The only thing I know about has already been said i.e. try to arrange his return so that it isn't overwhelming. Just small positives steps, one day at a time, so that he can build on it and get his confidence back.

It is a horrible, painful condition. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. It must be awful for you, too. He can and will recover though, and also recover from a few lost weeks. It won't change his future. he'll still be in the same place age 22 that he was always going to be. His future is still as hopeful.

Returning I don't have much to add but I do know that heading back to school after any time off can be absolutely daunting (or going back to work for that matter) and I totally agree that a phased return is best. I do think he can catch up but not to try to catch up on everything at once. Three-year sixth form is definitely doable - I know someone who did this because the initial choice of A levels turned out to be a mistake. She graduated last year, works as a teacher and loves it.
Finally, there is also the option of gap year and/or Access. No one has to go to university at 18 and every year I see older students, many with similar experiences, head off to top universities. It was definitely a lot easier in my day when there was less pressure to go!
Sostenueto your DD definitely doesn't need 4 A levels and no university will be expecting 4. DS is doing 4 AS levels but will drop one this Summer. I would be completely happy with him dropping one now, to be honest!

Haven't been on this thread for ages - sorry haven't had time to read back through yet.
DD still loving Sixth Form and got 3 essays back with 95% on each for Sociology.
We went to visit Edge Hill University a couple of weeks ago and DD LOVED it. We got a really good feel for the place and a free lunch!
DD has her knee surgery on 19 Dec so 6-8 weeks off dance and crutches for Christmas!
Hope everyone's DC are doing ok x

Good luck with the knee surgery. Is it for a dance related injury or something sustained elsewhere.

I can wholeheartedly reccomend the services of any of the NIDMS NHS Dance clinics located in London, Birmingham & Bath for any recuperation requirements. They are fantastic resources.

Hi Jufus, so glad to hear enjoying sixth form.

Vital question - will we make it to Christmas or do we need a new title

I'm dancing a little jig of excitement because DD has messaged me to say she has been given a place on the Cambridge HE+ outreach scheme for history. I knew there must be some benefit in being too lazy to move from our house in a dodgy postcode area!

We must definitely have a Christmas related thread title for the next one.

Great news sticker. I'm smiling this morning too - I know DS is coasting a bit but just got great effort grades so his teachers must think he's doing enough. I can relax and let him enjoy life.

Was thinking Christmas title too - but will we be sick of it come January :)

DS1 is struggling at school. His latest test results are not very good and he is clearly stressed (which I think might have caused the bad results rather than the other way around). He just looks worn out. I'm worried about him.

Simultaneously DS2 is struggling with memorising vocab in French. His pronunciation is awful too ("chez" becomes shez not shay).
Does anyone have any good ideas about how to memorise the French vocab for GCSE, particularly how to conjugate verbs? DS1 didn't need any extra help, but DS2 clearly does.

Stickerrocks what a great opportunity for her.

Sorry to hear that whistl. Is it worth speaking to the school as they sound like they know their dc. Also you don’t need to do well in every rest A levels aren’t awarded for marks over the 2 years but what level you hit next June. It’s the overall build up to that level that counts even if some peaks and troughs on the way.

Only advice on French (tho probably not helpful) is does he really have to take it ?

Sorry to hear your DS1 is struggling whistl. What have the school said? Is he getting any extra help from them? Does your DS2 use any apps for his French? I know both my DC use one for Spanish.

DD is find this half term tough and is exhausted. Work wise she's doing great but she's still crying most day over her broken relationship (8 weeks on) and can't get an appointment with the school counsellor until January. I'm at a loss as to how to help her.

That’s tough, really sorry. This term is always a long slog so they don’t really need additional things to cope with

Whistl so sorry to hear DS is struggling - what kind of support are the school offering.
Alexander Yes it's following the knee dislocation last year - there is a small piece of chipped bone floating around in the knee and it catches on the cartilage and makes her knee lock. This has happened a few times in class and at comps. So she is having keyhole surgery to remove that piece of bone. I just want to get rid of the knee brace but this surgery will not do anything for that.

French: find films like Pixar movies or SpongeBob SquarePants (ie stupid, silly content) and watch them with the dubbed version. Great tip from DD's Spanish teacher who was despairing of her this time last year. We saw him last week and I told him that I was prouder of that grade 6 than of her other grades.

Secondly, we were realistic and decided that a grade 5 in a subject she lacked natural talent at was a far greater achievement than (say) a grade 8 in PE, because of the resilience and determination required. Rethink expectations and look at it in the same way as a trumpet exam rather than a regular GCSE. You either have the talent or you don't.

I wonder if DS1 is suffering from a crisis of confidence now that he is surrounded by people of a similar level of ability in his chosen subjects. I see this everyday with my own students. You spend so much time worrying that everyone else is doing better than you in a test that you forget to do the obvious thing and start writing things down, then you panic and it gets even worse. I some respects it is good to get it out of your system now rather than later, but it is stressful at the time. He needs to go back to basics and show what he knows rather than worrying about what he doesn't know.

Just caught up on 6 pages. Well done on the grade 8 in piano / various school prizes, great results on graded work, and outreach programmes for Cambridge etc!

Gutted I missed the deleted comment a couple of pages back.

Sorry to hear that ds1 isn't doing so well Whistl. He's a really bright boy so its hopefully just a speedbump. Do you know why he might be stressed? Is he opening up about it?

Dd is doing fine. Got her 'first response' in Art (all the work that they have done since September, culminating in a formal piece) marked as 1 mark under an A, and from the feedback knows how to consolidate and get an A by the next marking threshold. Apparently her teacher said she has awarded an A to only two students out of her entire year group (I'm guessing that she has 3 or 4 sets of 20 students each set). Dd is quite pleased - didn't stop her leaving her Art sketch book on the bus when she got off today though! - I picked her up from the bus station and she realised her error almost immediately so we had a fun half hour of follow the bus - back to where she came from virtually (not many passengers embarking so it didn't stop at any of the request stops ).

Hello all. Been lurking here on and off - my year 12 DD has GCSE grades that are averagely respectable (think mostly 6's) rather than stellar so I feel a bit out of place . One of her options is Biology. She likes the subject matter well enough but is not keen on the teacher and his reliance on Moodle to check knowledge is driving her round the twist. She tells me that each question is timed (which makes her panic), it then disappears (so she can't check her answers) and worst of all, it locks you out for 48 hours once you've done it. So if she's got under the threshold and has to redo it, she gets a snooty e-mail from the teacher telling her she hasn't completed the quiz. I keep telling her she has to raise this with the tutor as it isn't helping her learn. What do you suggest?

Gallicos wellcome. don't feel out of place please. I think there are a number of us here with Dc with varying grades and although I have a higher achiever in this year group my older 2 were, well, how do I say less distinguished.

I haven't come across the system your DD is having to use but it seems a bit strange to not be able to read through it. Can she access it later otherwise how does she have a record of what she has done.

If she doesn't feel confident in talking to the teacher could she put it all in an email. Leave it a day or so, reread it to check it wasn't too critical/emotional on first draft and then amend (if necessary) and send. Alternatively does she have a different teacher for the same subject that she can approach? DS seems to have 2 teachers per subject and it may be that a word with her other biology teacher (if there is one) might help or they may be able to guide her how she could deal with it.

Gallicos - my dd got mostly 7's with a couple of A*/8 and a 5 and a 6, so good solid results but nothing stratospheric

GallicosCats there is a place for everyone on this thread. I have an older child who got BBC in his A-levels (and we were v.proud of him), and younger children hoping for 6s in their GCSEs) possibly the occasional 7 if the wind is blowing in the right direction). DS2 is my outlier.

And I can't use parentheses properly. 🤣

Hi Gallicos. My DD is doing a slightly quirky combo of subjects without any sciences. What else is yours doing? I think she needs to explain to her teacher what is happening, by asking him how she can sort out the timed out issue. She can't be the only one, so she needs to ask for help.

Limit Your DD must be chuffed. A storming performance so far.