Parents of current Year 12s - are you worried your child’s uni chances might be affected by current school closures and this is something nobody is addressing yet?

[clarification]

Hi, I was talking to a friend earlier who has a son in a large sixth form college. She was telling me there is a petition going around that Year 12s are demanding universities to show tolerance and maybe lower entry grades for the 2021 cohort due to the fact that -

• this year group are missing an important term in the run up to A-levels

• standards of online-teaching seem to vary massively between schools

• some pupils will obviously not have a home environment conducive to learning.

I have a DS in Year 12 and the online provision from his school will probably be very good to be honest, but even so, a term is a long time to keep motivated without peers to bounce off and the more disciplined, stimulating environment that school affords. I’m also aware that some schools are so busy teaching key workers children that they won’t have the extra time or resources for real-time online teaching, so work set is likely to be projects, etc which won’t suit the less motivated. My friend was saying her DS’ college haven’t even confirmed if or how they’ll be delivering the curriculum. How can this be right?

This got me thinking - a term is a long time. In effect, A-levels are taught over 5 terms, so these students are missing 20% of their “normal” education. In light of this, I’m wondering if there might be a justified call for unis to make more flexible offers for the Sept 2021 cohort. Interested to hear any views on here!

Predicted grades were having a massively unfair impact on students' chances before all this blew up.

We'd got to a situation earlier where predictions/guesses had achieved a greater currency than actual grades!

That's because offers are made before grades are known and most universities were discounting grades on confirmation of results - even if they dare not admit to it.

Pressure to stop this has mounted and we were moving slowly towards accepting a system of PQA (post qualification application). When all this is over, let's hope this dreadful system is scrapped.

All humans carry subjective value judgements around in their heads - some more than others.

Some teachers are dedicated and well meaning - others, just mean!

@chiselled how does applying after qualifications work for medics, vets, physios, nurses etc. who all have to be interviewed and some have to do extra entrance tests and forms ? If Uni starts in October that gives Unis about 6 weeks to sort out 1000s of applicants ! How can we make that work ?

@mumsneedwine Other countries seem to manage.

@chiselled how ? I'm not saying it's but a good idea but how do we manage it ?

The exam boards are currently discussing every day a whole range of options. They are a bit taken up with the grade predicting and the logistics of the autumn exams ( especially re NEAs) but rest assured issues for year 12 and 10 are high up their agenda.

Piggy - Can I ask, do you work for the exam boards? What do you think might happen if schools don’t reopen until Sept (or later)?

Not directly , no. I have been in recent conversation with subject officers who both confirmed that they know as much as we do about the way forward but are currently very invested in discussing ways forward for years 10 and 12. I was very reassured.

I've not RTFT but I thought some of you on this thread might be interested in a link just posted by MNHQ (thread is titled something like random lockdown links) - current university students are offering free tutoring to pre gcse, gcse and a level students. (I think my DD is going to be volunteering for this after she's finished her online exams).

coronavirustutoring.co.uk/about

DD school has announced there are no end of y12 exams and they will be given a prediction in a similar way to the public exams with a chance to take exams in September if they are not happy with the predicted grades. Have any of yours said how they are doing predicted grades yet?

Season - DS has been doing online exams all week to replace the scheduled exams that would have taken place otherwise. Sometimes they’ve had the web camera on. They are saying these are not actually the real exams though - these will take place “when schools reopen.” I hope it’s not Sept because I think they need the summer without revision hanging over them. I think they should be able to just give predicted grades based on the evidence they have already.

Yes the September exams at ours will just be if people aren't happy with what their teachers suggest they will get on an optimistic basis.

DS2 was doing scheduled mock exams as the schools shut, he missed out on one Maths paper. There were no scheduled schoolJune exams. It's also the first year his school have dropped AS exams so it will be interesting!

So far he is very chilled about it and more concerned about not being able to visit unis. I can see him opting for a gap year.

DS2 would have been taking AS exams, so will have his 'new real' grades for those. I think the school normally predicts 'one up' for UCAS, but I'd have to have a rummage to see what we or the previous year may have been told about this. He is dropping one subject after AS and should be predicted at least the ABB of the typical offer for his absolute favourite course / university, so fingers crossed...

Marching - yes, I think as they move through L6 they have “working at” grades and then they predict at least one grade up from these for the “predicted grades?” DS’ school are talking about giving “working predicted grades” in June and then the “real predicted grades” in Sept. But this all seems quite late to me. I mean, if there are Open Days over the summer, even virtual ones, it’s useful to know.

Just to add in another factor, DD (year 13)was notified by her 1st choice uni that it would be happy to hold her place for a year of she needed to take the autumn A levels. My first thaught was for the poor year 12s, who would be facing reduced places for 2021.

Awe - yes, we had this discussion on the thread some days ago. I won’t re-hash it!