Results Day 2017

[Groovee]

Eek it's only 18 days away!

Dd is convinced Nat5 maths will be another C. She's not too stressed about the highers results.

How's everyone else feeling about it?

There is official guidance sent to schools about remarks. Obviously don't have it to hand at this time of night but in summary a state school is expected to apply the following criteria when considering whether a remark should be requested or not:

Mark awarded should be within 2 of a GRADE boundary (so not to improve from a "lower" to "upper" A - just from a B to an A for example)

The estimate for the pupil should be at least one band higher than that achieved.

There should be clear evidence the pupil was performing in class/assessments at the higher grade (although this is not submitted to the SQA - it's only for making a decision in school) OR a pupil has performed significantly worse than others who had been at a similar level in class - so 10 pupils got 60% in prelim and then 9/10 got 70% in final exam but one got 50% - that pupil could be identified on the basis that there was a significant discrepancy between their mark and that of peers.

Hope that helps a bit. There is a significant cost implication in submitting requests for remarks and in the current climate of continuing cuts to budgets....

Also worth being aware that statistics would suggest that science/maths are far less likely to have successful outcomes in remarks as their marking is far less subjective than say English, History or Art and therefore more likely to be considered accurate at the review stage.

Also - parents and pupils requesting remarks has absolutely no impact in any state school that I've heard about. The PT of eAch department in our school has to consider their results and submit any requests to SMT by a specified date. SMT then make the final decision based on the PT info. Schools will be looking out for the students - remember that it's in their interest too as they have their overall pass rates and statistics to consider...

Thanks for the insight Margots that's very helpful.

Just in case anyone is interested, I've looked up the deadline dates.

Priority marking review requests (those that are required to secure a conditional place at uni or college) must be submitted by 18th August.

Normal Requests must be submitted by 29th August

Priority review results will be sent on 28th August

Other results on 29th September.

Given that our schools don't go back until 22nd August and getting the scores seems to rely on pupils getting them direct from the PTs, I'm glad I don't have a child with a conditional place relying on a priority re-mark.

The SQA system seems to be very quick and I'm sure it's efficient and they need those dates in order to ensure that the rest of the process (i.e. Uni entry) runs as smoothly as possible, but I think that where councils choose to have a later return date, they need to be making better provision for ensuring pupils get the information they need. Or maybe they do and I'm just not seeing it as I'm not in that position.

Dd has just been told she was one mark off an A in Nat5 Maths! So much for the "it was awful and I'll be lucky to scrape a C!"

She's refusing to ask for the biology but she wants her dance, English and modern studies results.

That must be a boost to her confidence Groovee Well done to MiniGroovee

English, she got 27/30 for her folio. 26/40 for critical essay and 22/30 for her closed reading. Could someone give her a sedative.

All my info is coming via DS2 so the dubious info could be down to him mis-interpreting what has been said to him, a not uncommon event.
In the old days, the teachers just told us who got an A band One etc., in class in front of everyone. I'm still a little bit annoyed that I didn't get the geography prize, after finding out that I got the best mark in the actual Higher but had come second in the prelim!
Anyway, I don't really need to know the breakdown of DS2's marks, it's just curiosity, and there are one or two parents I may bump into who I know for sure thought I was a bit deluded saying DS2 was bright when he was bottom of the class for English and Maths for a few years in primary school, I would LOVE to drop an A band One into the conversation if I get the chance, a bit shallow of me but at least I haven't put results on Facebook because I remember what it felt like when DS1 got his truly awful results three years ago.

Happy to share what I can, just trying not to out myself at the same time

Dd's teacher approached her today and they are going for a remark. She was one mark off a B. They said based on her prelim being an A and her getting 4 other As for her other subjects that they are happy to go ahead with it. Not really sure why the other results matter?!

Anyway DD is delighted. I really hope she manages to pick up one extra mark as AAAAB would take the pressure off a bit this year but if she doesn't pick up the mark then it's not the end of the world.

Swift the other marks matter as one of the things schools are measured on is the number of pupils achieving 5 As at Higher. So if there's a chance of bumping up a AAAAB to AAAAA they'll do it!

Confused by Nat 5 grade D.
Teacher says it isn't a fail (she seemed put out by DS2 referring to it as that), but it shows in the results as Nat 4 with no mention of him even having sat the exam.
Apparently next year it will be listed as Nat 5 D.
Doesn't really matter as not a subject DS2 is doing at Higher, but we're now into the principle of it, as I promised him an extra monetary reward if he passed all his exams.

DS2 got a D in French. I'm treating it as a fail and he got no reward for it. It's not listed under National 4 though. The two he got no award for (Maths and Chemistry) are listed there though with no mention of having taken the exam.

Which subject is it?

History

Bumply, if you go back to my post @ WaxOnFeckOff Wed 09-Aug-17 11:24:12. You'll see photos of my DSs certificates so you can compare if you want. Different subject but can't see any reason why it would be presented differently.

Grr things aren't really working out for DD this year!

She had hoped to do one AH and crash 2 highers, he school doesn't do many AHs so she had applied to do it elsewhere but found out today the place was oversubscribed and they weren't taking on anyone from other schools.

He school is now checking to see if she can do it in another school somewhere. I, and DD to an extent, don't think this is overly practical as she will be travelling to a different school every day and missing parts of her other 2 subjects in order to do the journey so will constantly be playing catch up I think. Has anyone had any experience of their dc doing a subject at another school? The original place she was hoping to attend the class was an afternoon and an evening a week so more doable.

If this all falls through she's left with only 2 highers this year, both of which are crash. The school say this isn't enough and she has to take on one more but there isn't really anything she could feasibly take. Thinks that fit in with her timetable are art, drama, pe type things that she is just no good at or Maths that she would literally be taking just to fail. Grrrr!!

Aww that's crap Swift :(

Is there anything at college or another Nat 5 she could do for interest?

DS2 has ended up with a crash Higher in Geography which he really has no interest in but the alternative is to leave him with a free slot and I don't know if that would be any good for him in S5, it means he's only be doing 3 Highers.

My DD1 had to change school for S6 to do the 2 AHs that she wanted (also 1 H and Nat5) to fill timetable.

Fortunately she could come with me to where I teach so transport etc not a problem.

Making new friends was a great prep for uni but her leavers stuff was devoid of emotion as she didn't have that "connection" .

Sadly in days of cuts AHs are a luxury and first to go. I think the Glasgow model (where pupils go to a central point) should be trialled in other locations.

Probably not the reply you were looking for . Hope she's able to find a solution S6 should be a fitting end to non advanced education.

That's a good idea Lidl for Swift's dd to consider, if it's at all practical.

Ds is fortunate that his (Glasgow) school does offer most AHs that pupils want to do - and even has pupils autocorrect tried to change my mistype to "mugs" from other schools (including the local private one ) coming to it - but the facility at GCU is a great one from the secondaries that don't have the capability to offer a wide range.

Thanks everyone, it was the facility at GCU that DD didn't get into. They have 40 places per subject and there are 16 (I think) schools they are affiliated with (considered to be most in poverty in Glasgow) and students from these schools are offered the places first then if there are any left over places they are offered to other schools to A band one. This year most of the subjects got filled up from the affiliated schools so no other places were offered.

The school is looking at other schools in the area so will need to see what next week brings. DD won't change schools she would hate that. She is crashing 2 highers and doing a DofE so not enough according to the school.

Swift - when you say it's not enough subjects - do you mean that DD wants or needs to do more ? Or that The school want her to do more to fill up her timetable ?

If it's the latter, can she arrange some regular volunteering work that would fill up a half day a week ? I know some kids who have done this - something official like working in a SN school or hospital ? They should get some training, perhaps police checks and they can earn a Saltire Award .

What about a vocational course at college ? There's everything from cake decorating to anatomy and mechanics .

Surely we have moved away from making kids take random subjects they don't like or need just to filll up the timetable

My DS1 did one AH at a neighbouring school. Transport (taxi) was provided so it worked out fine. He missed first 10 minutes of another subject twice a week but that was all. In my area one of the private schools allows state pupils to join them for AHs but I think it is only for MFLs. Does the school offer OU YASSs. My DS2 decided to leave this year but I saw the list on offer at the options evening and they looked good. Would she consider any of these?

Hi can also recommend OU YASS courses - dd and a couple of others in her school did these and found them useful and interesting - certainly worth considering.

A grade D is given to those candidates who have passed all the internal unit assessments but when the assignment and question paper is added together (for the external assessment) they achieve between 45 and 49%. (this band may change slightly up or down). This is to recognise the positive achievement of a "near miss". In the good old days when intermediates were introduced this used to be an A pass at Int1 if Int2 was a fail. A grade D isn't a fail. However it isn't a full pass either. It is enough in some centres to be allowed to do Higher.

Thanks

Ds2 got 49%
It's just that it doesn't show as a Nat 5 D the way it does on @WaxOnFeckOff post, just a Nat 4.

I said that wasn't good enough to get the £x for passing all his exams, which he thinks is unfair.