Thread 17 - Corona Cohort Summer Vacation to Yr 13, Finding Freedom?

[Orangecinnamon21]

PLACEHOLDER FOR NEW THREAD ...PREVIOUSLY TO BE FOUND IN SECONDARY EDUCATION

Woah, I had no idea

..... we were moving to numbers! How did I miss that?!

I don’t want numbers, it’s just so they can divide it up even more and set those with average grades lower than they are. Just as a 9 has massively distorted an A.

inews.co.uk/news/a-levels-ministers-consider-a-switch-to-a-numerical-grading-system-1100624

@Shimy are you referring to this? Seems a bit vague and no dates mentioned.

There is a consultation about next year, but I haven't had time to look at it properly yet. Closes 01 Aug.

www.gov.uk/government/consultations/proposed-changes-to-the-assessment-of-gcses-as-and-a-levels-in-2022?ck_subscriber_id=537779207

I can see the point, I have been wondering what they are going to do about the 2 years of grade inflation. They can't possibly change it for next year, there is not time, but I don't see how they can give fair grades to students in schools which have not managed teaching so well in the pandemic without another year of grade inflation. Otherwise even more than usual of the A/A* grades will go to private/grammar schools. What a mess!!

@Zandathepanda Do you think Introducing more interviews might create more bias as in what we see with Oxbridge currently? some present better and it will favour the privileged again.

@PaddingtonPaddington Not that particular article but it's been in a few news papers and ds said he heard it mentioned on the news, so I think they are thinking about it very seriously.

Unfortunately, I didn't take note of the newspaper online I read that mentioned, for '2022' so I can't quote it. I was horrified when I saw how soon they were thinking of but if not, I will sigh with relief!

@EverythingDelegated Thanks for reminding about the consultation. I have it open on one of my browser tabs, got distracted and forgot all about it.

@Monkey2001

There was also mention in the source I read that they are thinking of a grading system by area (dependant on how severely the area was affected by COVID). How on earth this will work I don't know. It means A grade from Cornwall will be lesser than an A grade from Leicester??? (Cornwall less affected by COVID).

They want to introduce a Grade 10, fair enough this was always in the plan hence why they made 9 the highest grade so they could add on to it in future but I feel it's too soon. We've barely got to grips with the 9s. This will cause even more mayhem and like you said, further degrading the lower down grades. It's all a bit of a joke to be honest.

Ridiculous to think about a grade 10, most universities are still treating 8/9 as A* with no differentiation, including Oxford. For medicine I think the only ones treating 8/9 differently are Nottingham and Queens, Belfast.

This govt boils my piss the way there's around with education, so annoyed

they mess around

Ds3 said 7 in his year (year 7) were sent home today. That's the first I've heard of anyone in dc's years being sent home for covid. Ds2 hasn't had any cases in 6th form yet. I'm getting worried about our holiday now. They finish Tuesday. But ds1 has a full time summer job here. Ds2 is starting a job 3 days a week next week. So I'm hoping they don't bring it home.

As for driving, ds1 wasn't allowed friends in the car after he'd passed his test, he also wasn't allowed in anyone else's car. 3 lads from the village were killed in a car crash just before Ds1 was learning to drive. (Drugs and speed said to be involved) So ds1 agreed on the no going in cars idea. I found out he was collecting 2 lads for school a while later. But he didn't collect them until he'd been driving a few months. So I said it was fine but still not to do it on an evening out. Also he was told one drink and he's not to drive. He's stuck to that too (as far as I know)

Shimy I have 2 state-schooled-good-at-interviews Dds so interviews would be great! It was year 12 Dd that was chatting about interviews. We have no idea, because of her health, how she’s going to do next school year. Could be top grades or nothing. However, if someone interviewed her on a good day health-wise she would come across as brilliant in the subject she wants to do.

Just to increase my grey hair percentage, she has decided to only apply to one university that wants AAA grades. This would be fine if it was teacher assessed (excepting that she slept through one mock). She will be deferring a year to get some specialist treatment so that gives us time. She hates school and will not repeat a year so finishing next year is the only option. At least she knows exactly what she wants - although that can be a curse as well as a blessing!

I wonder if the government will be more lenient if loads of pupils get long covid? Particularly at GCSE they would not have the stamina. I did notice in that government survey it talked about spreading exams in each subject apart on purpose, I think implying that they could extrapolate results from one exam if pupils missed others. Obviously this isn’t fair in content heavy exams such as history, as you could hedge your chances on using all your time in only revising your strongest part of the course.

We have got the email saying they are on line for the last 3 days next week. Not surprised that they don't want them in if everyone stops wearing masks. I feel we have slipped through the looking glass where totally illogical things are happening. Maybe the remaining schools will make that decision over the weekend.....

@Zandathepanda

I think interviewing tends to favour private/grammar school students generally speaking although It doesn’t seem to work for ds1 who was privately educated in which case perhaps it’s more natural ability or personality traits that win over at interviews.
Re. Uni grades, what Unis advertise as their requirements and what they will accept on results day are usually two different things so perhaps your DD isn’t being quite so unrealistic with her aspirations. I do hope she gets the specialist treatment that she needs and it works for her, so you can all put this behind you. We have been lucky that DS has been called up for CBT on the NHS finally this year( first asked for it 5 yrs ago!) and he’s now getting some sessions. We have been paying for it privately and we were at the point of just accepting defeat because we could just no longer afford it, when CAMHS came through.

Shimy I was privately educated and was terrible at interviews. Dds have always been in school plays so I think this helps.
That’s great about the CBT on camhs. Someone told me it’s a 4 year wait round here. Our school did have a wonderful school nurse but they got rid of her in a cost-cutting exercise as they needed another ‘executive’ layer of white males when the school became an academy.

It's worth checking your employee benefits if you haven't in a while. DH paid into a Benevolent Fund for years and we managed to use it to find some CBT for Dd. His workplace apparently provide free counselling for the whole family too.

Oo Dd has just looked at her course and found it has gone to ABB in clearing!
I did find it was useful to know this with her older sister as well.
For those DC who have a fair idea of what they want to do, it is worth taking screenshots of what the universities are prepared to accept in clearing.

Can anyone explain Alis grades to me, please?
DD got her school report today, with Alis grades of BBB, but I’m a bit confused about what they actually are; according to the graphs, she’s more likely to do better not worse than the given grades, but what’s that based on?

We’ve definitely decided to look at unis that have attainable requirements, not aspirational, with the plan that she can take a gap year and reapply with grades in hand if she surprises herself.

I can't seem to find clearing grades, is it through UCAS or the universities own websites? I just keep finding pages that say phone us to discuss.

You can see the UCAS points that students ACTUALLY had if you look at the course on DiscoverUni.com

@Zandathepanda ah! The school plays. DS was so awful at school auditions he never got picked, so we signed him up to our local drama school. It was an awful experience, excruciating to watch. After 3 months we gave up so I still think your DD is inherently good at interviews and plays because of her natural ability .

It’s a shame your school nurse was got rid of. Our school nurse was a life line for me during the younger yrs when ds2 had so many behavioural issues and was being diagnosed. We had a SEN person as well but absolutely useless. Sorry if there’s a SEN co ordinator here but I still feel bitter about it. The nurse was a gem and every school should have one.

@Alsoplayspiccolo I’d assume they were based all her work to date and any exams /tests. Did they do end of Yr exams? Sorry if this is too simplistic but that’s how ours were done.

@EverythingDelegated Agreed. Very few of the show the Clearing grades and ask you to ring up #Annoying. Some do though so it depends on the uni. I think they like to keep their lower offers tantalisingly dangling.

@Alsoplayspiccolo are Alis grades the same as ALPS grades? If so I think they’re just extrapolated from their GCSE grades somehow? DD’s are A* x 3 and she’s not likely to get that!

DD’s year have been online all week and she knows of 10 with covid now, including 2 of her close friends . She seems fine but she did have it at Christmas so hopefully not again!

@Alsoplayspiccolo

Can anyone explain Alis grades to me, please? DD got her school report today, with Alis grades of BBB, but I’m a bit confused about what they actually are; according to the graphs, she’s more likely to do better not worse than the given grades, but what’s that based on?

We’ve definitely decided to look at unis that have attainable requirements, not aspirational, with the plan that she can take a gap year and reapply with grades in hand if she surprises herself.

Alis is part of the CEM suite of computer- adaptive baseline tests Dd did MidYis in Yr7 and Yellis in Yr10 at old school The standardised score for MidYis was given in Yr7 and then the Yellis standardised score along with the ‘chances graphs’ for DDs predicted performance at GCSE which showed the ‘percentage chance’ of her achieving all possible grades in the exam proper- based on all that had taken the tests to date and had achieved a similar score to her in the adaptive test- if that makes sense? Do you have her standardised score? DD sat Alis at new school at the start of 6th Form but they haven’t reported her results so far

Crazy, not sure if they’re the same as ALPS. From what I can tell, they’re a combination of grades taken from GCSE results and tests taken in the first week of year 12.

Proggy, her baseline score is 103 - is that her standardised score?

Her end of year grades were BCD, so BBB feels doable.

Can someone post the link again that should the courses in Clearing please. It was a great link but it seems I didnt' save it.

Thanks