University 2020 :5: Results day approaching and beyond

[MillicentMartha]

Old thread
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3855474-University-2020-4-The-wait-for-grades-and-better-days-ahead?pg=40

Less than 3 months to go until we have a better idea what the future has in store for our DC. Let’s hope that even if most lectures are online that accommodation is open and they can move up, across or down to their university towns and start their student life.

We should have been in the middle of exams, instead we have this strange limbo of lockdown. It could have been worse, though.

Not wishing to shake up the discussion from previous days, but thought this article in today’s Guardian concerning outliers and small classes may be of interest.

The contribution to tutoring is being widely quoted in the press. The £80-£120 figure was from a head teacher on R4 PM last night, so of course what may have just been based on the number of eligible children in her primary. It's a bit like promises to the NHS - the absolute figures sound big, but when you dig down into the detail....Nothing for FE either.

Chippy - thanks for the link. My DC is still only on Year 12, but if schools don’t return back fully in September, it’s likely they may have to use teacher assessment again next summer (possibly).

Surely though, if a student is an “outlier” in a lower performing school, they shouldn’t be marked down by standardisation - as long as the teachers in that school haven’t pushed it and predicted Inflated grades for the whole group? For instance, if the school has achieved all grades between B and D in the last five years and has awarded other students grades within these boundaries this year, with the exception of one student who is predicted all As, them it should be obvious that there is a reason for the A predictions for that individual?

Well, the Guardian article and the lawyers quoted in it do little to contradict my comment several pages back that this year's grades are pretty meaningless.

Welcome Empra!

This board is generally incredibly supportive and helpful.
But very occasionally, there are some heated differences of views but thankfully it’s pretty rare.
My DD is starting at Exeter in the Autumn, do you have any words of advice or useful nuggets you can share?

I was just about to back Empra swiftly into a corner and launch into a cross examination about Exeter!

errorofjudgment I'm personally incredibly cool about this stuff (despite having a DC in Y13 and affected) - the heat has been generated entirely by others, and is unnecessary. It's not a big deal. Also, opinions will inevitably vary with experience, temperament etc. That's fine - whereas the rudeness and explosions of language are not.

Happy to answer what I can about Exeter. AccessAbility - the disability support team are superb. They've been very supportive throughout both before DD started there and whilst she was there. And she was enjoying the course - it really was just that she couldn't cope with living with people she didn't know.

Empra my friend’s DS with ASD had similar issues. He actually managed alright in first year in student accommodation but couldn’t cope in a private house with only a couple of others in second year. He moved into a studio flat in December and was doing well up until lockdown. He gets DSA and has managed somehow to get his studio flat at a reduced rate due to his needs.

Emota - that’s really good to hear.
DD was diagnosed with dyslexia, but not until Y13 so we’re having a bit of a crash course in learning what support she can access.
When we spoke with the support team at the open day they were very welcoming and helpful, but of course that’s only first impressions. So it’s lovely to hear that your DDs experience with them has been so good.

We went to the applicants day at Exeter and the lady on the support team table was lovely. As it turns out, dd has put Exeter as her security.
Don't know if anyone can answer this, more generally, but my question is, is it worth the student contacting the support team (at her 'firm') prior to going, as, in our case, dd doesn't (yet) have any firmed diagnoses. She is going through assessment and on various waiting lists, so I don't know if they will be able to do anything to support her if she does contact them ?

@BackforGood - yes, she should probably give them a "heads up". DS had an e-mail asking him to fill in various forms and there were questions about any support required.

So many DCs have dyslexia picked up in Y13 or start of university because they are bright enough for it to not stand out early on, but the level of literacy required at A level brings it out.

Yes, definitely contact them. They may be able to do some kind of assessment beforehand so that everything is in place. I think DD had a couple of phone conversations and then we had a face to face meeting once A level results were out. That was Exeter's idea as we were going to be on holiday nearby.

We had DDs assessment last week which she sent off earlier this week, and she had an email this morning confirming she is eligible for support. So getting to this point happened in a very short time frame, which has impressed me.
I guess the next step is for DD to speak with Exeter on Monday to understand what needs to happen next.

It’s quite a complicated process I think, and very expensive to get the initial report!!

@Monkey2001 that’s v interesting re the picking it up in Y13. It’s a tribute to the DC’s ability and resilience to have coped up to that point.
I just we had known earlier and could have got support in place much sooner

Error 2 friends' DDs were struggling with Biology A level - requires very precise reading and focused answer. Both really strong on content knowledge but did badly in exams. One refused to get tested until she started at university, the other tested, but too late to have it fully reflected in A level results. Both did "well" at school although one did not do as well as siblings, but thought it was because she was less clever.

Oh that’s sad and must have been very frustrating.

DD did v well in GCSEs but chose to drop down to double science through what we thought was workload, but with the benefit of hindsight was probably through the dyslexia meaning she needed extra time to read and process the information.
Like your DDs friends, she did well in the GCSEs and got extra time in the A levels but it wasn’t picked up until Feb, at which point the written tasks had all been handed in and assessed. Again she’s done well in her A levels but hasn’t met the predicted grades that she had been working at. So I’m keen that we get any help or support sorted at the start of her degree.

Thanks folks.

So many DCs have dyslexia picked up in Y13 or start of university because they are bright enough for it to not stand out early on

Yes, yes to this ^
Well, I don't think she has dyslexia, but she definitely (IMO - as I say, waiting for the diagnoses) seems to have both ADHD and dyspraxia. I've been aware for years, just never crossed my mind how much it would impact in terms of public exams and, well, organising her day, her week, her life generally as she's become more independent (plus trying to learn to drive ).
I just feel so guilty I never pursued it when she was younger. She's now falling between child services and non-existent adult services.

Guilt is such a part of parenting!

@BackforGood yep to the guilt. But honestly we do the best we can.

I don’t know if this is an option for you, but we paid for DD to have an assessment done. Ours was done by a local educational psychologist who spent quite a lot of time with DD over 2 sessions.
During this she identified a lot of the coping strategies that DD uses that we just thought of as her quirks! Eg watching tv with the subtitles on to help with processing the information,

Please dont feel bad people. I am a GP trainer. When trainees in our Deanery fail exams they are offered tests for dyslexia and while its not frequent, cases do get picked up and these guys have gone through a medical degree! Its never too late to test and get support.

Interesting @errorofjudgement ds does this , we thought it was just a quirk but he was assessed as needing extra time due to slow handwriting at A level . GCSEs were fine

Oh wow I'm reading this feeling I could have written these posts. Ds has ocd which we only really discovered after meltdown with GCSEs. He did really well but again a t a level he found it more difficult to process large volumes of information because he has to go back and check what he's just read. He also only got extra time awarded in Feb this year after battling to get it for 18 months. He also struggles to organise himself and we just thought it was his part of him being lazy etc. I've felt guilty for months not realising this much earlier.

Yup! Another parent of a dyslexic child diagnosed late here too...
DS also watches TV with subtitles, reads books alongside audiobooks, has real difficulties with planning/ sequencing tasks, quickly suffers from information overload if confronted with pages of poorly signposted text, finds it hard to multi-task, forgets verbal instructions instantly...

Just a voice of support for all those. My son has dyslexia which was picked up young as his is quite bad. He now gets an electronic reader for exams. Please don’t feel bad anyone. It’s so hard as a parent because in some ways whilst it’s good to know (and they can access the support) on the other hand the label can be a heavy one. My son also has ADD traits but we decided not to test as he’s much better than he was. His perceptual reasoning is high (top 10%) and he’s very bright in lots of ways but his confidence is very low after years in the education system.

If anyone would like to know about the electronic reader then please ask! My son has a post 16 educational psychologist report and should get plenty of help at university.