Corona Cohort: Statements Scripted, Grades Predicted

[Monkey2001]

This is a thread for supporting all young people post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting. It is respectfully requested that all are supportive and helpful to each other. If you want to start a debate, e.g state vs private, please don't within this thread. Please also be sensitive when responding to threads about grades.

Some of us have been here since first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. Everyone is welcome. It is hoped this will continue.

From OrangeCinnamonCocktail:

Our DS/DD may go down various paths (such as employment, apprenticeships, higher ed) We have decided for anyone interested they will most likely find us within the Further Ed board.

Previous thread - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/further_education/4339233-Thread-19-Corona-Cohort-Enrolling-on-Year-13-hopefully-NOT-unlucky-for-some?pg=1

‘Insight’ to add, not Ngo.

Very pleased to hear about your dd's small steps Buoni.

Just wanted to send some love for those who have difficult things happening in their lives @Fferny1 @OrangeCinnamonCocktail @Monkey2001 @ZittiEBuoni and anyone else needing it.

Great news Zitti and hopefully your super brave DD will make that next breakthrough next time.

I’m also very sorry to hear about the difficult times some are having.

I’ve also been lurking on “that” FB page & it’s sad to see so many unhappy young people, not settling in. I truly feel that the trend in this country to go far away from home for uni is not good for everyone.

I totally agree @decorhate, it's definitely not ideal for lots of personality types. It seems very odd to assume that an 18year old is ready to suddenly live independently 200 miles from home without any transition! Obviously lots cope and do fine, but it shouldn't be an assumption that it's the right approach for everyone. It's not the same on the continent is it?

@Decorhate ds1 is in third year at UEA which is our nearest university. He lives there. It is about 45 min drive. He really regrets staying so close to home now. But he's the oldest, I think he felt safer to be close to home. After a few holidays with the school where I think he was a bit bullied, he thought if he didn't like it then he could commute. But having him so near when the first lockdown was announced was great, I just nipped out to get him. But had he been hours away it wouldn't have been so simple. But I can understand why he wishes he'd gone further away. I didn't really feel sad at him leaving, all the Facebook posts from parents saying they are heart broken. I think the fact he was so close still, plus I have 2 dc's at home, maybe that's why I didn't feel sad (or I'm just a bad mum)

There's an applying to uni thread in HE now. Bit conflicted about joining it! Not sure I can manage 3 very similar threads and the water is nice here...

I think lots of people are happy that their DC have gone to university as long as they are thriving. Maybe the ones struggling are most likely to post. My DS is very happy 450 miles away and DS2 wants to be 300 miles away, but I am seeing that as a good thing and feel relieved that they are confident enough for that. I remember wanting to be between 50 and 100 miles from home.

A few friends have stayed in Bristol, and are glad they did, particularly for the Covid year. Mine definitely want to try living in a new place.

@crazycrofter It’s definitely the norm in many European countries to stay living at home but then perhaps there is less choice of places to study. Nephew & niece have just started at their local uni in Ireland. There is also less of a league table thing - the original main unis were effectively colleges of the one university so similar just in different locations.

Weekends can be pretty quiet at all unis. So I’ve always encouraged mine to make plans/visit friends elsewhere/ come home if they want.

But having said all that my older two have both gone a fair distance away and been fine. It can also just be down to luck & what your hall/flat mates are like.

I think it can be very limiting, only going to university within one's local area. Secondary school in my opinion, is the ideal time to school 'within catchment' but after that, it's not a bad thing to broaden one's horizons. Perhaps it would be fine if all universities were the same and offered the same experience & graduate outcomes but they are all so different, also what happens when they eventually graduate, do they just look for work locally too?

Just pressed pay and send!!

Well done!

Well done!!

Out of interest I looked at the grade statistics for 2021 and 2019 for PE A level.

2019 - 4.1% A, 15%A/A
2021 - 19.9% A, 43.8% A/A

If 2022 is midpoint of those years it will be:
2022 - 12% A, 29.4% A/A

It is all nutty, but happy to take that!

Maths (Edexcel) was 16.6% A in 2019, 28.4% A in 2022, so should be 22.5% A in 2022. Again, a silly outcome, but makes an A comfortable here!

Well done Seeline! Hoping that will be DS soon, think one of his grades is being looked at and then he is ready.

Monkey I was expecting them to say they would pin midway bit hadn’t looked to see what that would be in reality. I’m ok Witt those figures.

Be interesting to see what happens about when universities make offers. Maths was late from some this year, Bristol and Bath waited until May. It’s the main reason I want this form in ASAP, just in case there are any early offers to be had. Had been thinking that maybe he should put Durham and Warwick for his final 2 depending how MAT and TMUA go but having done some reading am not that keen on what I have been reading about Covid experience so I think I will suggest Birmingham and Southampton as hearing better things about them and I feel currently that is more important to us than reputation for subject.

@Volterra I know somebody with DS going into second year of maths at Durham, can find out whether they recommend.

@Piggywaspushed - I joined in on the HE thread - it's not as warm and fuzzy as this one though :-)

I have to admit I am struggling to see the major downsides of the grades announcement, but I know I may be missing something, especially not being close to the system? I get the fact that there is a risk that the disadvantaged divide from both absence due to covid disruption and poor learning environment could grow further, but that the reduced content/heads up to topics went a little way to mitigate?

My head struggles more with the devolved nations still doing their own thing, and yet all students are competing with the same places.

Pleasing everyone is such a challenge, given that the 2020 debacle started this mess, but some form of credibility has got to instilled for A levels to gain back some credibility.

It doesn’t get addressed as much as the voicing of grades inflation abuse from independent sector vs state, but the bigger focus should be on how to send students into HE with knowledge gaps well plugged or else they struggle with the new learning environment from the start/spend much of year one re-learning A level (or even GCSE) material or feel behind vs their peers. Less about which sector they came from but more identify and fix quickly. Unis may still have to introduce their own assessments or continue to creep up the grade requirements for courses, especially until the bulk applicants from inflation and deferrals are flushed out the system. As for our cohort competing against last year’s, such is life, none of this is fair but they will get through this with our support.

Yes please Monkey that would be helpful, thanks.

I do think you gain an awful lot of life experience living away from home at university but it doesn't need to be far away, I went to one that was easily commutable but lived in the city for the whole course and didn't go home any more often than other who lived further away, in fact I was less inclined to as I knew I could pop home any time if I needed to. I did a year placement further away and then moved away again on graduation. It possibly would have been nice to go somewhere totally different though, if I had my time again I probably would have done. The FB page is a bit worrying ATM but I am hoping that all the parents of happy students aren't posting for fear of rubbing it in for the unhappy ones.

@Monkey2001 I remember someone posted a helpful spreadsheet of grade increases per subject since 2019 but I can no longer find it. Could you repost the link if you have it?

I don’t have direct criticisms of the plan which I think is better than allowing grade inflation to go unchecked and ending up with A double and triple stars. I am sad for what this means for the state/private attainment gap, though. My kids include one yr 13 and one yr 11 so I have both GCSEs and As this year. Both privately educated and have had seamless, high quality, live-taught and interactive online lessons from the first day of lockdown. When they had to isolate on return to the classroom (and my DS has never had to - DD did for 2.5 weeks in total) they joined the class in the classroom remotely. They have all the tech and internet they need. The only reason they may be slightly behind on a normal year is because online learning just isn’t as good as classroom learning, and because of lack of motivation during lockdown and general stress, most of which has lifted now they are back in school and socialising with peers. Most good private schools have managed the same, as have the better state schools. But for kids at state schools that had almost no effective teaching in 2020, or kids with inadequate tech and crowded living conditions etc- the playing field was never level but now it is tilted so far as to be a totally unfair competition. And the suggested mitigations aren’t going to be enough, as the mitigations apply to all kids, so the kids at private schools and good state schools are delighted to only have to revise certain topics because they have studied them all. The other kids might be told in Feb that they will be examined on a topic they haven’t even studied yet.
Contextual offers will help a bit, but only a bit. I fear for a whole slew of kids whose education and opportunities will really suffer because of how ineffective their schools were in teaching online.
So I find that all very depressing.

[quote Delphigirl]@Monkey2001 I remember someone posted a helpful spreadsheet of grade increases per subject since 2019 but I can no longer find it. Could you repost the link if you have it?

I don’t have direct criticisms of the plan which I think is better than allowing grade inflation to go unchecked and ending up with A double and triple stars. I am sad for what this means for the state/private attainment gap, though. My kids include one yr 13 and one yr 11 so I have both GCSEs and As this year. Both privately educated and have had seamless, high quality, live-taught and interactive online lessons from the first day of lockdown. When they had to isolate on return to the classroom (and my DS has never had to - DD did for 2.5 weeks in total) they joined the class in the classroom remotely. They have all the tech and internet they need. The only reason they may be slightly behind on a normal year is because online learning just isn’t as good as classroom learning, and because of lack of motivation during lockdown and general stress, most of which has lifted now they are back in school and socialising with peers. Most good private schools have managed the same, as have the better state schools. But for kids at state schools that had almost no effective teaching in 2020, or kids with inadequate tech and crowded living conditions etc- the playing field was never level but now it is tilted so far as to be a totally unfair competition. And the suggested mitigations aren’t going to be enough, as the mitigations apply to all kids, so the kids at private schools and good state schools are delighted to only have to revise certain topics because they have studied them all. The other kids might be told in Feb that they will be examined on a topic they haven’t even studied yet.
Contextual offers will help a bit, but only a bit. I fear for a whole slew of kids whose education and opportunities will really suffer because of how ineffective their schools were in teaching online.
So I find that all very depressing.[/quote]
Because Dd is at college rather than a school they managed to stay open a lot more over the pandemic than sixth forms attached to schools. Mask wearing must have helped. It's all so messed up.

Agree Delphi, I don’t know what the answer is.

I agree with you totally Delphi. Living in a society where the divide just gets greater is very depressing.