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Further education

You'll find discussions about A Levels and universities on our Further Education forum.

GCSE'S 2019 Done, Results Received, Moving on to 6th Form and College

473 replies

ArthurtheCatsHumanSlave · 04/09/2019 14:06

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3671029-gcse-2019-support-thread-6

New Thread for all our DC's moving on to 6th Form and College to do ALevels and BTEC's, and anything else exciting and new.

OP posts:
ROZ12 · 12/10/2019 18:12

Lots of homework three essays and test revision for all three a levels, many frees have to be in school all day thou. Lots to do in frees like making flash cards.

No free time at all.

MollyButton · 12/10/2019 18:26

Surely the college will contact you if they are worried? If you are worried then contact them.

thetideishigh · 12/10/2019 23:35

@SunshineAngel

What A' Level subjects is your ds taking ?

DC is doing all Maths/Sciences combination and has had A LOT of homework so far.

Theovertoad · 12/10/2019 23:37

Contact college if you are worried.
Surely his going in late has been noticed?
Doesn’t seem like he wants to be there .. or feels settled there yet..has he made friends?
Don’t leave it

ROZ12 · 12/10/2019 23:52

Eng lit , psych and media here and lots of essays

pointythings · 13/10/2019 13:29

DD2 is doing History, Psychology and Biology. Lots of homework and tests already. She's using her free periods well though, is keeping up and getting some damn good scores for early Yr 12.

soggypizza · 13/10/2019 14:41

Mine have told me they had loads of homework, no idea what though, I don't tend to get that involved - but the school have told us that if they said they weren't getting any/much, you should be concerned because it wasn't true.

Timeywimey10 · 13/10/2019 17:25

I'm having similar. DS doesn't go in late when he has early free periods, but he has come home early a few times. And does no homework at home. He is "only" doing 3 A levels and hasn't yet signed up for any enrichment, so it might be ok but I am not completely convinced either.

I do have access to his college email though so I can see if he gets told off!

Hoooo · 13/10/2019 18:43

Ds has had 3 assessments done already and has done well so whatever he is doing it seems to be working :)
He does his revision/homework in his free lessons afaik.

ROZ12 · 14/10/2019 19:29

Peer marking essays? Is this a good idea or lazy a level teacher?

Also due to random peer marking my dds essay got lost. I want to complain but dd asked me not to get involved. I’m just so mad as she spent so much time on it. Teacher apologised and said he won’t do random peer marking again and next time to take the name of person doing the marking. Someone has lost her essay and not owning up. Teacher gave her a sample essay to make up for it, should I email the teacher or leave it ?

MollyButton · 14/10/2019 21:38

DD doesn't get as much homework as she expected (and she is pretty conscientious), she has produced some revision materials in her spare time. She is also exploring enrichment opportunities outside college - so we have a trip to Leeds already booked for December.

Peer marking can be very valuable - giving the marker a chance to see a different approach to the question, and both parties can develop their skills in seeing what the examiner is looking for. It is also a helpful skill for University where self organised study groups can really help with grades.
However this early in the year - and allowing the "marking" to happen outside of the classroom could be a real mistake. The teacher didn't know yet that there was a student who wouldn't take the process seriously (within a month or so they should be able to guess exactly which student had "randomly" got the essay when this kind of thing happens).
It is probably the students fault - but it could be that someone in that class is dealing with a really chaotic situation outside the classroom. I knew of one student who it was discovered that her alcoholic mother was deliberately deleting her homework on occasions - which is why she was handing in scrappy work, as she hastily tried to recreate it.

Hoooo · 14/10/2019 21:42

I would be raging very unhappy about that roz

ROZ12 · 14/10/2019 21:51

What should I do ? Or leave it to my dd? She Asked me not to get involved

Hoooo · 14/10/2019 22:00

Tricky.
If dd doesn't want you to get involved then you'd have to respect that I guess...
I'd be livid though.

ROZ12 · 14/10/2019 22:42

I’m am also raging but dd wants to handle it and doesn’t want to cause issues. Sample essays and name of student next time is an apology to her .

Hoooo · 15/10/2019 08:26

Hmmm.
I guess if she's happy with that but the whole thing seems very poor practice to me.

ROZ12 · 15/10/2019 09:38

Not happy dealing with it , what else could she do?

Hoooo · 15/10/2019 13:37

If she's asked you to leave it I guess you have to but it's very poor practice imo.
What are the steps being taken so this doesn't happen again?
Having the markers name won't neccesarily mean it won't happen again...

ROZ12 · 15/10/2019 17:01

Well no more random marking ! Sample essay given and take pics of yr essay

Foslady · 18/10/2019 09:12

Another mum fizzing here! Dd’s School/6th form after a TV debate have declared no watches on exams, only problem being a) you can’t see the clock in the exam hall from all desks making a mockery of time planning and b) 2 years ago she was accused after completing an end of year test of cheating via non verbal communication because her and another girl looked at the clock at the same time, looked at each other and both rolled their eyes and shrugged! The teacher after marking then decided she hadn’t but this was after bawling at her in class in front of everybody. When he decided she hadn’t cheated (which if you knew dd would know this is the last thing she would do) I asked if he was going to apologise as loudly to her in front of the class.......which he refused to do.......Hmm. It was a hellish week as dd was Really worried about any knock on effects as well as a zero score when she had been revising hard. All the class actually stuck up for her (teacher had a reputation throughout the school for this kind of thing).
6th form council are going ballistic over it, I’ve told her if it’s upheld I will be emailing regardless on this one........

ROZ12 · 18/10/2019 09:39

It should only be the smart watches?

Foslady · 18/10/2019 09:41

Exactly @ROZ12, but they are saying all watches to be on the safe side!

ROZ12 · 18/10/2019 10:14

Maybe the school council should suggest a check before exams of normal watches and parents to check too for reassurance . I understand the clock thing as well, my dd wears glasses always sat the back and cants see the clock! She panics .

thetideishigh · 18/10/2019 15:32

waaaaay back when I did exams our school had some extra clocks on fairly crude wooden stands around the exam hall to ensure we were all able to see the time clearly and this was before mobile phones. Could this suggestion be taken to school council.

DC's school have 3 drop down screens in the hall, all at the front but to ensure visibility whether you're sitting in the middle/left/right of the hall. Used for assemblies etc. A real time clock face is projected onto these during the exam so everyone can keep an eye on the time.

Theovertoad · 18/10/2019 19:15

Dds school do huge projection of clock onto wall at front of exam hall