Thread 27 Covid Cohort Snow or Like Spring? Let's Do This Thing!

[OrangeCinnamonCocktail]

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.

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 found here

@Piggywaspushed

A boy I taught GCSE who I still sort of mentor/help with UCAS took an overdose on the school site. I am a magnet, it seems. It's all awful. Got a place at Cambridge but now suddenly terrified and suffering from imposter syndrome even though he is supremely sure of his own ability. Hence my shit day yesterday. He is in hospital now.

I am so grateful for my DS.

I feel I am slinking in as a teacher and can only apologise for the crap teaching/provision some of your DCs are getting. I have never worked so hard and felt so untethered in my v long career.

@Piggywaspushed I'm a primary school teacher so I know things are different, but I too have never felt such a failure in my job as I do now. I've been doing this for nearly 30 years and it has never been this bad. And the government wonder why there is a recruitment crisis in teaching!!

Just read that back piggy. Please don't think I mean that you are a failure- never meant it like that. It's so hard to not take things personally but some things, such as this pupil, are beyond your control

So sorry to hear that, Piggy, you are having a rough time of it. Please never feel you need to slink in, there's nothing but admiration for your profession on this thread. How teachers have done it I will never know but for two years now they have somehow kept thousands and thousands of children going through the worst time of their lives. I think it will take years before we fully realise the effect that the pandemic has had on people.

Great news about the Southampton offer Also and I hope at least some of the teacher advice will be helpful. How is your DD feeling about it all now?

Love the chicken legend

@Delphigirl your middle of the night post has got buried. I have a vision of you sorting out the fall-out from the Downing St parties - no idea whether that is your bit of govt, but would be nice to know there was somebody sensible involved! Hope life gets more manageable soon.

.... and I think the Chicken Legend news will be well received here too!

@Piggywaspushed this is so distressing, I feel for you. My DH is a teacher and he says he has never seen kids as stressed or so many with mental health issues at any other time in his career. The pandemic has certainly got a lot to answer for.

Still no more offer news here, am hoping the MN magic will start working soon!

So sad @Piggywaspushed so grateful that people like you in education

I heard on the news that record numbers of children and teens have been referred to mental health services (an already over stretched service). And those are just the ones getting help!

@Piggywaspushed I am so sorry to hear about your pupil and hope they get the mental health support they need. Please don't slink. You are so generous on here, I suspect you are a magnet for your empathy. That does not in any way make you responsible for what these teens are facing and their responses. Other posters have shared the impact on their own children of the pandemic and disrupted education and it's sadly widespread. Teachers have been on the front line and I am sure have been and are doing the best they can.

Thanks for the info about a geography tutor, Monkey. I'll have a chat with DR and DM you for the details of she thinks it's something she'd like to pursue.
Yes, Fferny, she has rest breaks and separate room invigilation. Her English teachers believe they can tell when she's taken her breaks from the quality (or lack of!) of her answers. They've suggested trialling different timings to maximize the effectiveness of her breaks. I know from how she works at home that she tends to push on beyond the point at which she can work effectively, mostly out of a fear that she'll either run out of time or lose her train of thought it she stops.

I think she feels shamed by her geography teachers, singing. Even though they highlighted the same issues as her English teachers, they did so in a way that suggested they thought she just wasn't trying hard enough/ couldn't be bothered. It's an age old problem; some teachers just don't understand the impact her ALN has on her, and can't understand why good classwork doesn't translate into good exam results.

@Piggywaspushed - am sorry you are having such a tough time and I apologise if I have upset anyone on here with remarks about the teaching quality of some of DS’ teachers.

@piggy you sound like an amazing teacher and you can't take this to heart. You were doing all the right things in encouraging & mentoring your pupil.
I can understand you being very upset though, because you're human. But you cannot absolutely take responsibility for your students mental health issues.

Mental health care for teenagers is virtually non-existent. In my area Camhs is not fit for purpose. It's a box ticking exercise only to cover their backs, not to actually help your child. I've had one weeks experience of them where they caused more trouble than help and I then asked for Ds to be signed off. I've since gone private which for most parents is the only option available.

@Piccolo that's good you already have breaks. DS1 was only diagnosed just before Xmas so we're still finding out what exam mitigations can be put in place.

We had parents evening last night and I was trying to explain to DD2 teachers about inattentive ADHD in girls. Some were lovely and asked DD about it in class. But they were shocked when she described what it's like for her as she masks in school & always hands her work in time ( but may stay up half the night doing it). Some were in total denial that she had it & I think thought I'd made it up to get extra time.

@Piggywaspushed I'm so sorry to hear about your pupil. Some young people have had such an awful time over the last two years and teachers like you have been even more important. I don't know how you do it, but keep going, kids need you.

@Alsoplayspiccolo how does your dd use rest breaks? How often? Ds in year 11 is really struggling with English Language - it's not down to ability but reading speed and I guess processing. He says he just can't get through all the reading, even with his 25% extra time. He needs a 6 in English for his A Level subjects but is hovering at a 5 at the moment. His teacher seems stumped as to how to help him with timing. But he hasn't been using rest breaks and I wonder if they'd help.

@crazycrofter has your Ds tried using a Reader - either human or electronic?
Is he dyslexic? because ADHD & dyslexia can often go together. Has his reading & writing speed been tested?

She uses them as movement breaks, I think, Crazy, leaving the exam room and pacing up and down the corridor. I suspect they may be prompted, so probably at regular intervals, rather than when she feels she needs them, which may be the issue her teachers want to address.
It was suggested she tries taking a rest break before proof reading, at the end of every page, so that she can read her work afresh.

Do you think your DS is panicking about having enough time to write, in light of how long the reading is taking? Is it that he's struggling to focus his answers, so writes more than needed, as opposed to reading thoroughly and succinctly answering the questions? I know DD tends to throw everything she thinks of at a question, rather than refining her response to best answer the question, which makes her feel time-pressured too.

So sorry about your student @Piggywaspushed, that must be very distressing for you and all the other students.

Awful that she feels shamed by the geography teachers, Also. They do not seem to be approaching this in a helpful way at all. I hope some of the techniques suggested by the English teachers can translate across to geography. Would one of them be prepared to do some practice exams with her, actually alongside her, so demonstrating / suggesting good approaches to questions, helping her to be more tactical with what to include, practising allowing enough time for everything etc and testing various options for her breaks? I know that's a lot to ask though. It may be something that would work better in a tutoring set-up as suggested by PPs. So frustrating even to read your posts about her struggling when she is capable of doing well, you must be tearing your hair out. At the very least maybe a tutor would boost with her confidence and mh and make her feel there's another person who has her back. Sounds like someone with experience of ADHD would be helpful so that they really understand and have some useful tactics and tools she could use.

Thanks @Alsoplayspiccolo and I'm sorry your dd is having a hard time. There does seem to be less understanding about ADHD amongst teachers, in comparison to ASD or dyslexia. If your dd is keen, then maybe a tutor for geography would be a good idea?

Ds does tend to throw everything he knows into a question, but this mainly happens in RS and History, because he's particularly good at learning lots of facts! With English language, he's been barely writing anything - his teacher said they did a practice paper last week and he wrote half a page, so it's definitely a reading issue. He hasn't tried a reader @Fferny1, that's worth a thought. He's not had any speeds tested, because they don't have to for year 11s, but I'm guessing that might happen next year when he moves schools. He's definitely not dyslexic as he's always been good at spelling.

It has just struck me that DS has never done an exam longer than 1.5 hours, none of the A level mocks (which aren't until March) are more than 1.5 hours, Physics in particular there are 2 x 2.25 hour papers and the mock is 1x 1.5 hour 🤔. Most of his A levels will be 2 or 2.5 hours!

I have not done anything about investigating ADHD. Arghhh.....

Aww Piggy I am so sorry to read that. You are NOT a magnet, just a beautifully empathetic teacher who genuinely wants to make a difference in children's lives as well as their education. That's why it hits you hard. You are a true caring soul and to you teaching is a vocation not just a role. We need teachers like you and there are some in every school and we thank our lucky stars for those mixed in with those just waiting for retirement.

Really not surprised there's record numbers of children needing help with their MH Wheresthebeach esp after the last two years.

Love the chicken story 22names 😂

Well said, Anne.
Piggy, it’s caring, compassionate and committed teachers like you that have got DD to a place of even being able to apply for uni - she would have sunk without trace, had she not had people who went over and above to try to understand and help her. Unfortunately, those very teachers shine like a beacon for all students in need, and end up taking on more than should ever be expected of them.

I’ve fired off an email to DD’s SENDCo today, expressing my disappointment in how the geography meeting went, and asking for her thoughts.
I’ve also just watched a 30 minute YouTube video on geography essay writing technique, given by a teacher, and made notes, which I’ll rewrite onto flash cards for DD to use to plan and structure her essays.
I really hope that it’s something she’ll get to grips with through practice.

Ds just asked me to email him something. So gave me his pc password. I couldn't resist a quick look on ucas. He will be furious if he looks at the history on his pc. I don't think he will. But I'll add a photo of his ucas. Can someone please tell me if this is what it should look like as he's accepted his top 2. It probably is correct. I didn't look any further

Now I pressed post by accident. Was going to say I didn't look any further than this page. I didn't look at the view full offer. I felt like a naughty child looking at something I shouldn't be looking at.

That looks like he has chosen his firm and insurance.