Results Day 2016 for Nats/Highers/Advanced Highers

[Groovee]

Just thought I would start this thread as the results day will be here before we know it as the summer is flying past!

Dd has already seen next year's timetable and has 4 exams in 5 days!

I'm presuming that he is doing it. They had drop in sessions for people who wanted to change their subjects which were when we were away on holiday. But regardless we were of the view that we'd keep our head below the parapet and wait to see if they came to us so wasn't planning on going in anyway. :o

Hope the PC is going well. DS1 just ordered in another new screen and a graphics card with his winnings (and some birthday money).

Ds bought a monitor with his own money and is waiting for my dad to finish learning how to use his new apple laptop and transferring everything off his old PC, so that he can get his old monitor and will then have two to use.

Ds currently has 3 screens - well, one swanky curved gaming screen, and 2 flat screen tvs. His current graphic card set up means that screen 3 is running too laggy plus both tvs are black and he needs them to be white to fit his colour scheme again. So he has ordered another of the swanky curved gaming screens (in white to match the one he has) and will order another when he gets his room rearranged so that he can get a desk area big enough and in the meantime is sorting out the lagg issue with upgrading the graphics card. The boy has plans. In the meantime DH has a 10 year old windows XP PC :o

Hah - I have a Windows Vista laptop whose battery no longer works and is creaking at the seams (takes so long to shut down/freezes so frequently that I re-start it by pulling the power cord out and putting it back in ).

His old monitor has really crap resolution, but I'm sure he'll find a use for it!

DS1 keeps all his icons over on his old screen and it keeps his main screen free for gaming :o

Dd has settled into maths and has learned already how to do the question which probably set her over the edge! Last year's teacher has retired so probably for the best as I feel he let his class down as no one got over a C.

Oh Groovee, that's such a shame :( On the other hand she must be feeling more confident already which can only be a good thing. Hopefully she's able to park the issues with the old teacher and have confidence in her own abilities now.

I got a reply from school which basically says that DS1 has to go to see the principle teacher for each subject to find out his scores. I can't really see that that's the most efficient way to get this information - it just seems so over the top. Essentially it means that we wont't find out because DS is socially anxious, there is no way on earth he will manage to go and find 7 PTs and be able to ask for his scores. Ridiculous really.

Did had to get hers directly from each department. Still waiting on biology and English. Drama she got the joint top Mark. And dance she got 22/35 for solo, 33/35 for choreography and 29/30 for her essay. The new biology teacher congratulated her on her amazing Mark. But she still doesn't have the breakdown. She's not asking for maths.

That sounds good Groovee :)

The saga of DSs scores continues... I wrote back saying that they are aware that DS is socially anxious, there is no way he would be able to find every PT and ask for his scores, and would his Pupil Support teacher be able to assist? So office have replied and said for me to contact Pupil Support teacher....Fine, but i've now had to go back and ask if they have an email address for her or can they pass on the message or do I need to play telephone ping pong next week with a teacher who will be busy taking classes and me who will be in loads of meetings at work next week?

Why don't the teachers of the subject they are keeping on just give out the results as a matter of course and it would cut down the running about?

Can only say how works in the school I teach in (but my DDs' seems to operate similarly) simply put only the PT is given the print out.

In the olden days pre cut backs one of the admin staff put them all in a spreadsheet for everyone to access, sadly non-teaching staff have been slashed as only teacher numbers are protect- for now.

Giving components grades is a time consuming process as every element of the course is recorded separately and not in alphabetical order. To let my PT speak to pupils about post award matters I took the records on Thursday. For my subject (English) only 4 pupils didn't sit Nat 5 in S4. I was cross eyed trying to find 5 pupils their 3 elements.

Give them a chance- first week back is crazy. They have all the kids who want to change, post results , staff changes etc. If your DS is a possible candidate for a remark,where I am, we've spent lunchtimes going over the records to identify them - they'll find him.

If it's just he can be aware of areas of strengths and potential development please give it time - I hope no school would want to annoy or ignore a parent. It just be that they are prioritising getting the deadline driven issues completed first.

Re email most of the schools I've taught in the policy is that the individual teacher email address is never given out and all correspondence goes through main address. Only exception was my short spell in an indie (shudder).

Hope this helps to explain that it genuinely may not be the case that they're giving you the run around . Buff you haven't heard by end of next week - then they are!

When both children went to high school, we got the email of their head of house and use it to contact them. I use it a lot for dd as she has had a lot of appointments and has more coming up.

In Glasgow, if you know the first name and surname of the teacher, you can make an informed guess as to the email address

I've never actually done that but for various (positive) reasons have on occasion emailed quite a few of the teachers at ds' school.

Lidl, thanks for that insight, I guess I am clouded by the fact that every single encounter I've had with the office has gone wrong somewhere. To me, it takes the same time to forward on the message to the Pupil Support teacher with a quick note back saying they've done so and to give it a week or so rather than messaging me back when they know that the only way I have of emailing or speaking to the teacher is via them so I am going to have to write to or phone them or call in to the office personally, it makes no sense.

I guess I am also frustrated as they have given DS no help whatsoever with his anxiety issues despite him being on a staged intervention since he arrived at school and me being in contact with the 4 pupil support teachers he has had over this time.

He is quiet, behaves and is academic so as far as they are concerned there isn't a problem. The fact that he can't speak to people doesn't really impact them :( Obviously this isn't just a school issue, but they have more opportunity to help. I've got him to be able to order a meal and take stuff to a till in a shop. He goes to lots of extracurricular activities, it's school that he is worst in, probably because that's where the issue started after bullying in primary.

He doesn't need the results for remark. I don't think there is any point in appealing his C in art. I think that reflects the work submitted though not his abilities. He got As for everything else but it would be useful to know how comfortable those As were, in terms of motivating his study and also persuading him to pick up his higher English in 6th year.

Wankers I would make an appt to go into school to talk to pupil support - that should get some action - failing that their 'form' teacher...
At our school they put you through to the teacher -if they aren't available ask when they will be - if I leave a message usually they get back to me in a couple of days at the most...

Does your DS have a support plan - and a diagnosis?
I have my DD's guidance teachers email - so I can contact them directly
DD did fall off the radar when she had a new guidance teacher (I didn't know they change every year) who was a new to the school teacher, I spoke to them once - they had no idea about about DD's ADHD and the support plan. They went on long term sick in Sept and left...I was put onto the head of year and then onto the replacement guidance teacher (who had just taken over and had no idea as well).
Now I contact the school when they swap years in the summer - tell the new guidance teacher about DD and the support plan and they give me their email address - I also have the email addresses of some of her subject teachers...they are supposed to email me directly if there is any coursework she is supposed to be doing...
I don't hassle them (they have hundred of children to keep track of) only if it is really important. Her latest guidance teacher is fantastic...as was the one two years ago (they were a subject teacher last year too and used to send me regular updates on how she was getting on - more than I expected but reassuring)

Thanks unlucky, yes I've been in and I've spoken to teachers and promises are made and then nothing happens and then we start all over again. They've been telling me since he was 10 that we need to do things quickly as he us growing up fast... He was referred to Camhs who said he is probably borderline aspergers but didn't take that further as predictably at the time he really looked like he was making progress. I need to head out now but I'll have a good read of your post and see if I can get some tips from it.

The pupil support teacher has very kindly sent through DSs scores.

He only dropped two points in Maths in the non calculator paper, missed an upper A by 1-3 points in Geography, Engineering, Physics and Computing. Just scraped his A in English and got a bang to rights C in Art - just below the middle of the C to B grade boundary.

So he got good As in the 4 subjects from the above that he is taking to higher and Graph Comm is an unknown quantity so we'll need to wait for the prelims on that one...

Glad you got your reply. Do the marks help him? Band 2 A's can be a good thing as can scrapped A's as they prevent complacency creeping in.

Lidl - I am thinking that in terms of studying for Highers they couldn't be more perfect. It shows that the work he did improved his prelim results in terms of overall grades and that with a little extra push he could get top band marks in everything. He didn't study at all for Maths so I'm thinking that that Band 1 won't encourage complacency as it was already there...

He says he will pick up Higher English in 6th year but given he got a scraped A in Nat 5 and he is headed down a Science/Computing/Engineering route i'm now wondering whether he should simply stick with that? Somehow I think an A in Nat 5 looks better than a B or C Higher and I'm not sure he will ever need anything higher than Nat 5.

Admissions at his preferred Unis will be best people to talk to when options rear their ugly head.

I tutored a boy who went on to do Engineering at uni he just wanted to pass Higher. Bumped into his mum, she told me his reports and essays were given great feedback- he said it was because he stuck in at English as it really helped him with structure.

Suppose it will all depend on what's on offer for S6 for him and of course how S5 goes but that's a thread for another day...

It certainly is Lidl. :)

I'll have DS1s Higher results and DS2s Nat 5 results on the same day next year - just shoot me now.

Ds was complaining last night (when we were over at my dad's for dinner) about having been forced encouraged to do English Higher. He said they'd been doing an incredibly boring, boring, boring piece of close reading on Friday (from this year's Higher?) and he didn't see the point.

My dad (a retired doctor) tore a strip off him , saying that the ability to communicate well, write good reports and read critically is never a waste and will be of benefit whatever he goes on to do in his studies and working life My English teacher mother would have been proud of him

Lidl - I know it's a different subject, but have you any idea how long re-marks take to process? I know it doesn't make any difference to the subjects he's following, but I need to know when/if I need to buy him another giant Toblerone (as he's already reminded me ).

Good news is that he seems to be getting on better with his Chemistry teacher.

Dd still awaiting biology. She got a high A in English, so she's delighted.

Good for your Dad prettybird! My dd loves english so its not a problem, but she's already started saying "if I resit maths ....", which is NOT optional!

She's really enjoying s5, I had to tell her to put the light out last night, she had her nose in "The Great Gatsby" well past bedtime. I'm finding her history course on the Russian Revolution fascinating as well!

He is enjoying English this year though not as much as his other subjects - and seems to like his new teacher, having had the same scarily intense teacher since S1.

He just hates, with a passion, close reading.

Chemistry senior markers doing remarking in 2 weeks. Results collated and back to schools within a couple of weeks. Should know October some time Prettybird.