Highers by another name

[Tealvelvet]

How are you all feeling about this. I’m really concerned as SQA always said there would be assessments and I feel our school were hoping they would be cancelled. Around 2 weeks before the holiday they confirmed they were going ahead leaving very little study time.

My dd didn't have prelims
She is having assessments as it says in the screenshot

It's a really good point, OP, they CAN'T stop cheating. Obviously kids aren't allowed phones so can't take photos of the papers but they can tell friends in other schools what they remember. Some subjects it's less helpful e.g. Maths as you can't tell people the entire working of a question but e.g English for the Scottish Set Text they can tell others which poem/ section of the play/ prose comes up. This is a huge advantage as they then know what to focus on when studying.

I've no idea how much of this will go on in reality, noone knows!

I'm so sorry to hear that your DD's school seems to have been sketchy/ less than clear with the pupils and parents/ carers. It has been very clear that HTs need to inform at all points. Someone will be in hot water over this. I'd complain if I was you.

Our prelims were supposed to be January so were cancelled too.

Many if not most schools are in the same position.

Oh dear I had wondered if it was different papers but that did seem a bit unrealistic I guess that’s a wait and see. As teachers know what the papers are do you think they will be heavily guiding pupils or being more strict. I am worried that DD won’t achieve her predicted A marks esp as they have launched straight into the final assessments the first week back to school .

I think our grades are to be with the LA early June so we couldn't possibly do assessments in June.

Excellent post @Puffalicious - your school sound really organised.

Thanks Haudyerwheesht I would hope that all schools are organised with a plan!

dementedpixie your school's "assessment" are prelims by another name (prelims are assessments after all); your "final assessments" are the SQA exams. It's all part of the SQA pretending that Highers are cancelled- they are SO not.

OP if your dd has been predicted As there will be a basis for this: ie her teachers need to have previous evidence to back this up. If I'm doing a tracking report I need a pupil to have shown they can get a grade in class work/ assessments or are on the cusp of that grade before I cam enter a predicted grade. I'm sure she'll be fine.

• Sorry, I should say the media are totting the idea that they're cancelled: the SQA have always said there will be assessments, they just omitted that within these is indeed a final assessment which is the actual exam the kids would have sat anyway.

I think SQA should have just called them an inclass higher paper. I agree it’s just a pretence and I think it’s going to be really hard for a lot of kids. I felt our school were hoping the final assessments (highers) would be cancelled with the new lock down etc.

I definitely don’t blame them as it sounds like an organisational nightmare .

if your school was giving that message to children and parents when they were having regular meetings with their LA on how assessments would be handled regionally and reviewing SQA guidance, and if they were not encouraging children to study I would 100% blame the school.

Every friend, family and work colleague I know with exam year dc in different schools and LA knew there were end of year assessments coming in some form and their dc have been preparing for them the same as they would any other year.

It's all been a total pretence, OP. The only difference from normal years is that we can use other assessments not just the final assessment. The whole term 'professional judgement is a nonsense- this implies to parents and pupils that I am sitting thinking and giving a grade from my head without hard evidence in the form of unseen, robust assessment and that's not the way it is.

Try not to worry, if she's an A candidate she'll be grand. The ones I worry about are my kids who are on the cusp of a pass/fail and have had little in the way of parental engagement and sometimes dealing with chaotic family life whilst trying to learn at home the majority of this year. Sadly, I have many of those.

By chaotic I mean deep poverty/ drug or alcohol issues/ neglect/ emotional or physical abuse. Unfortunately as us always the case, with poverty comes many social issues. Our school is a haven and a community for these kids and they've not had it. It's so sad.

@Puffalicious that is not what my DC school or other local schools are doing. Everything is being based on the assessments taking place from Easter onwards. Nothing before this to count.

So there is a completely uneven playing field with enormous amount of pressure on young people.

Can anyone tell me about when results will be issued..My son is sitting NAT5s and I was under the impression the results would be delivered as normal by the sqa

But the LA next to us say their kids will get their results in class before they break up for the year

I'm sure they get them through in the usual manner at the usual time just like they did last year

Also a S4 DC.

We were told that they would get their provisional results from the school before they break up for the summer. They would only change on results day if there were admin errors, etc.

We've also been told they'll get provisional results from the school before the holidays, think it was 30th June, then certificates will be August as normal.

The quality assurance and consistency checks will be done through June before submission to sqa on the 25th June, so shouldnt change after unless there is an admin error.

Exactly as PP says - told by end of June, certificate out as usual in August.

fastingnewby technically that is incorrect information by the school, but I suppose it's shorthand as it's VERY unusual for any pupil to do better in November than Easter- May. Exceptions are like one pupil I have who has suffered a major bereavement but was getting A grades as far back as November. I don't have robust evidence for every paper (4) but I do for 2 of them and we can count those if she does badly in upcoming assessments.

@Puffalicious I agree the kids that dont have that support network for whatever reason are going to be seriously disadvantaged. I spoke with someone who’s child a private school and naturally they have been all over it. The attainment gap will be so massive I have no idea how they will begin to repair that damage. Especially disheartening to educators who know they could have been helped over the finish line in school :-(

[quote Tealvelvet]@Puffalicious I agree the kids that dont have that support network for whatever reason are going to be seriously disadvantaged. I spoke with someone who’s child a private school and naturally they have been all over it. The attainment gap will be so massive I have no idea how they will begin to repair that damage. Especially disheartening to educators who know they could have been helped over the finish line in school :-([/quote]
I couldn't agree more with every word of this.