Y12 2023/24 - support, discussion and looking after each other

[BonjourCrisette]

GCSEs are over and we are beginning the next stage. Let's hope it's a bit less stressful than this summer has been! All welcome to discuss, share experiences and support each other as our children move into Y12/BTECs/apprenticeships and start a new phase.

Sorry to hear that @thewalrus but glad your dd is doing well otherwise.

My dc has assessments for all subjects next week - feels a bit early but I guess they'll get a feel for whether they've picked the right subject...

We have assessments in every subject every month and first set of mocks in January....that feels very early!

@Fluffycloudsfloatinginthesky Goodness! I guess constant monitoring makes sure revision doesn't get left till the last minute.

My dc said they were looking at a 16-marker exam question in class last week - in week 2 of sixth form 🤪

@Monstermunchy

They do fortnightly assessments in all lower years - idea is they ask a range of questions (recently learnt and longer ago) to pick up gaps in learning - so if all the class do badly on something they know they need to go over it for everyone again.

Sorry for your loss @thewalrus

My DDs tutor is also one of her Alevel subject teachers which would normally be ok but she’s the only teacher she has for that subject so she’s finding it bit overload of one person whose not really her kinda communicator - think extrovert v introvert so I think that’s going to make it challenging for her as she’s definitely an introvert character. Plus the other subject teacher who she really likes is sadly leaving at Xmas. We’ve also trying to make contingency plans for any train strike next week which is going to be a right pain!

Makes sense @Fluffycloudsfloatinginthesky - very thorough of them.

@SummerChilling not gelling with the teacher can make it hard - especially if they're a contrasting personality type. Good luck with the trains... or lack of them.

@thewalrus I’m very sorry for your loss. I hope your DD is OK. What you are saying about trying to be their best self whilst they suss everyone out makes so much sense. Are there good pastoral staff at her college in case she needs to let go of holding it in a little ?

DS seems to be having tests every 2-3 weeks, which at least means that knowledge gaps are picked up ASAP. He has his first proper exams in December. We have a parent consultation just before half term too, which I was a little surprised about.

DS has had quite a few maths tests but everything else is completely new, so they've not covered enough to test yet - his other two subjects at the moment are Electrical Principles, which is entirely new to him, and something called Eng Org Effic, which I have absolutely no idea about and he missed it last week with a stomach bug, but it's taught by the same guy who does the maths. He has to do something called 'Essential Skills Wales' for 90 minutes once a week, which is numeracy, literacy, communication skills etc. - that's all they're doing enrichment-wise as far as I'm aware. He's had no homework yet - they seem to be easing them in quite gradually.

We had to do some very odd school shoe shopping at the weekend - steel toe-cap safety boots from Screwfix because they'll be working on actual plane engines in the hangar from next month. He'll be happy to be doing something a bit more hands-on.

@thewalrus so sorry for your loss. I hope you and your DD have lots of support.

I'm in!

Thank you for all your kind wishes. DD and I (and the rest of the family) are all hugely lucky with the friends and family we are surrounded by.

I am loving hearing about the experiences of the kids who have chosen non-traditional-academic paths (shopping for steel-toed boots!). It's brilliant to hear of people really setting off down their career paths at 16. We're lucky enough to be the house in which people gather for DD's friends, and I'm so impressed with how the young people I know are responding to their new challenges and opportunities.

Can I get someone's advice. Ds in a bit of a state. Firstly he thought the first assessments were Thurs but ended up being today and secondly Biology went really well but he knows he completely messed up Chemistry because of something he did that would have affected all the questions 🤔 he said he had a moment of madness....now he's really worried as he thinks he will get thrown of the course. I said I'm sure they wouldn't do that just because of one assessment? I said explain you made a mistake and for them to give you another chance.
Is it likely that he will be thrown off if he doesn't do well?

I'm sure they wouldn't throw him off @Letskeepgoing - he knows he's not done something right and it's a steep learning curve at this stage. If it were my ds, I'd suggest he went to see the teacher to say that they think they've messed up. It would be far worse if he said nothing and pretended he thought it was all ok!

He spoke to his teacher at the end and explained the mistake he made and asked if he will be thrown off and he replied that he didn't know but to pray! His teacher is brand new too so maybe he doesn't know how it works but I do hope they give him another chance.

It would be really mean to do that this early on - but I'll keep everything crossed!

Thanks 🙏 I'll let you know!

That sounds like a really stupid throw away comment from the teacher without considering the impact it might have.

He knew what mistake he made so he has shown huge maturity. It is so easy to get flustered when making the move to ALevel so I am sure they will be supportive. Tell him not to worry too much. Ds has exams in December too which I think is good as we can see how it is going.

Echo everyone else - sounds like he knows what he did wrong in the assessment and, even if he didn't, it's such early days it would seem unbelievably harsh to throw him off. I can't believe it won't be fine.

That honestly sounds to me like the teacher was making a joke. Please tell your DS not to panic. Nobody is going to get thrown off a course over a single test this early on. Making mistakes is how we learn and it sounds like he has learnt something from this so job done.

Thanks everyone. 😊 hopefully it will be ok. I'll let you all know the outcome X

Just a quick question should probably know this. Daughter just been given her target grades not sure if it's just for this year or the final exams..Anyway ABB , she got a 7 in maths ( the a) and.9 and 8 in chemistry & biology. I'm just wondering why the difference this way ( yes I know they drop a bit more in science) Her other results were all 7,8,9s apart from English lit 5 and further maths 4.. she did 10 in total. Just wondering. If the 4,/5 dropped her average score and this has loverd the predicted grades.

Gosh, I don't know. Nobody has mentioned grades to DD yet. In fact, they don't get any marks even on homework for the first term, just written feedback. It does sound unusual, though. I thought Maths was the one that was a bigger step up?

I haven’t heard about this either. My DS who is in 6th form has had lots of homework but has only had one Maths test Afaik, no predicted grades. Luckily he passed but the ones who failed were able to retake it. If they failed a second time they would be advised to look at doing a different subject.