Year 12 - 2025/2026: Here we go again!

[QueenMabby]

A new thread for the new school and college year. A friendly thread for parents of those going into year 12 in September 2025.

@Oblomov25- A level past papers as bridging work? That’s bonkers! They’ve not covered any of the syllabus. How can they answer any of the questions?

dd had a load of maths questions as bridging work and some biology work on microscopes and ECGs. Nothing for chemistry.

dd goes back on the 3rd. She’s very ready to go back and excited to get stuck back into her music and to see what form she’s in, what teachers she’s getting etc.

@waitingquietly I think for mine if he can at least see the paper and what he messed up on it would help, both to understand what went wrong and to try and rectify it for A level. I can’t see it is likely we’d ask for it to be reviewed unless anything strange has happened in the marking as he was 10 marks off so it wouldn’t be worth it.

@Eccle80 - I think that’s a good plan - I’m going to talk to DS about getting his paper back

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest I've just seen your reviews post in the other thread... I know a lot about them.

I wouldn't go immediately to review - review doesn't look for marks and small mark changes are very unlikely. Your best bet is for the candidate to request access to scripts and then for someone who knows what they're doing to have a look and see whether there's any likelihood of movement.

Joining in! DS has his induction day on Friday (but staying at his previous school where he’s been since yr 7) and has suddenly realised he has a bit of work to do beforehand and a load of pre season sport! All of a sudden life is moving quickly. His school went on study leave after only a week after the Easter holidays so regular school feels like a long time ago…

Also awaiting a review on 2 A level subjects where he was one mark off a 9. Ive tried to prepare him that it’s likely it won’t change.

Thanks @MrsHamlet I will investigate this - have emailed the exams office asking about this.

Thanks for starting the thread. I'm not on Mumsnet much but do tend to use it for intel at key points in my son's education!
Induction next Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, then lessons start Wednesday afternoon!
Much bigger school than previous. I think my boy will be fine - as long as he pays attention!
Hoping we don't have a timetable clash due to picking one of the subjects from the wrong option block when enrolling online (English was listed numerous times and in every option block, but I later read the small print in a separate document about which one to pick if you were doing certain other subjects, and not sure which one I clicked!)
Subjects have been confirmed by email, so am hoping their timetabling software catches any clashes and they just put him into the right group!
Good luck, everyone.

Hi..please may I join. Dd starting YR 12 on the 5th at the same school. She is my one and only so its all new for us both!

Induction day next Tuesday (new school, no 6th form at her old school) and my eldest is off to uni on September 6th, so big changes in this house 😳.

So ds was set a piece of work for each A level subject - but certainly not past papers! Perhaps your ds could pick out a couple of questions from each paper and just have a go at them?

@HWest1832welcome to the thread. Some of us have been on here since year 9. We are a friendly lot. @QueenMabbystarted it off (I think) and continues to make new threads when we fill one up. Year 9 seems a long way behind us now, no doubt the next 2 years will whizz by just as fast and this will become a uni thread!
I am on another thread for ds2 that started around options time, way back, it continued right through uni, most of them are just finishing now. I can’t believe how quickly the time goes!

We've got off lightly with bridging work. It's all just "suggested" with nothing needing submitting. Just watching videos, listen to this or that podcast, suggested American novels to read as background.

Surely others aren't expected to do past A level papers?! @Oblomov25 are you sure they aren't just supposed to have a look at them?

Would be interested to hear if anyone explores the AQA English language mark and how they get on. I have asked for scripts and for a teacher to review. If nothing else he will learn where he went wrong or he might discover the marking was unduly harsh. We shall see.

Just joining. DD has an induction day at the main college campus on 2 September but her BTEC has a specific sports specialism so her actual classes are going to be done from the stadium. I'm not entirely sure when she starts.

I got both papers back for 2 subjects where she was 1 mark off a 4 (in English Lit) and 3 marks off a 4 (in biology).

Working out the marking is quite a challenge as it's not done in a way I would have expected. I have noticed 1 missed mark for definite in one of the biology papers and I believe based on the mark scheme that there has been some other harsh marking so I've sent it to be reviewed. It costs £100 to have both papers reviewed with the Cambridge IGCSE exam board which is refunded if the grade is adjusted up. So we'll see. If she does have a change in grade to a 4 then it will save her from trying to resit (she wants this GCSE!) in November so fingers crossed.

The English Literature paper was barely decipherable to me so I have passed it on to a tutor who thinks the first paper was harshly marked. So in that one will go too.

It's an odd one because DD got good passes in Maths (5) and English Language (6). She's been home educated due to severe anxiety and SEN.

Just relieved she got into her level 3 BTEC course which is not exam based and a memory test !

Any other marking reviews come back? Lit came back this morning unchanged. Still waiting on language (both were sent Friday morning). So still holding out hope but not a lot 😭

Hi, I'd like to join too - I commented on the previous thread a bit during exams, but not been a regular. My dd is going into year 12 at her school sixth form, doing chemistry, biology and psychology. She starts on 3rd, and has some bridging work but has mainly been planning her wardrobe! Hoping she might get on with it this week.

Hello..my Dd is doing exactly these A levels! Starts on the 5th , just suggested reading and also mainly wardrobe planning.

Hi @Elevenmillion yes the wardrobe is definitely the thing 😂 Good to hear of others doing same subjects, I think it is a good combination - bit worred about the apparent leap from GCSE to A level in terms of difficulty but will just have to see how it goes.

Dd's geography teacher has put her paper in for review (I think - we didn't ask for it but she spoke to her on results day and told her and dd signed a form) as she was one mark off a 9 - no idea when or how might hear about this, I think student email accounts from year 11 have been deactivated and not sure they would email parent. Might just have to wait until she starts 6th form - it's not really needed but it would be nice if the grade went up (though unlikely!)

@Mafaldaweasley I am also worried about the leap up, especially chemistry..although it may be biology that is harder from what I read on here!

Good luck with the remark..dd also got an 8 in geography.

Out of interest does your dd have any ideas of what they want to do after A levels? My dd has none, other than maybe something sciencey.

Edited to add: I also think its a great subject combo!

Hi, yes I think also think biology might be harder - if they can get their heads round chemistry it is more straightforward in terms of marking scheme. Dd got a 9
in chemistry but an 8 in biology for GCSE so will need to work on this.

She is cautiously interested in medicine or maybe dentistry - always been a bit of a pipe dream previously as she has struggled with dyslexia, but she surprised us and did much better than expected in GCSE (she worked hard!) especially English which at one point it looked like she wouldn't pass (she got a 9!)

However, it's a long road and a lot of work to apply, so will see!

Your dd did amazing!

In the mocks dd got a 4 in English lang but ended up with a 7.

Its payday today so I can order her textbooks! 😂

Found you!!! WHY was I looking at Year 11’s?!? We aren’t, anymore!! 😹

Thanks, as ever! 🙏💓

Yes, here too! Induction week starting on 1st!

🙀

@MrsHamlet what are your thoughts on an English language November resit for a pupil who got a 6, but is keen on applying to do medicine at a uni who score GCSEs? We’ve requested a remark but DD likes Nottingham and they score top 8 GCSEs including English language, so as it stands she would drop 3 marks for her English language, which is enough to make the difference between being called for interview or not.

DD had 2 x 1.5hr tutoring sessions with the friend of a friend for English lit and got an 8 when previously predicted 5/6! So just wondering whether a few sessions with her for English language and a resit in November might see her pull that grade up and reignite her chances at Nottingham.

I appreciate with medicine you have to go with the med school that strategically you can get into, rather than having a favourite, but a higher grade in English language would help her application to a few unis and help keep more options open.

Do many resit in November just to improve on their grade (as opposed to needing to pass?)

I've asked for both English Lit papers - she's 3 marks off a 6, LOVED the exam papers and I think worth looking at just in case.

Also asked for paper 1 of English Language - it's her preferred of the two and the one she liked better in the actual exams. She's done very significantly better on the 2nd paper which feels off to me. Feels a bit risky as she only just got the 4, but the mark for the second paper is in line with mocks/classwork/expectations.

Both subjects with Edexcel.

I am guessing they haven't sent them off yet as I haven't been asked to pay, so hoping I might hear back from school once teachers have looked at them.

I will let you know if we go up or unchanged (praying it wouldn't be down...)