THREAD FOR THE 'GUTTED' ON GCSE RESULTS DAY.

[Champneys]

Right, this is the second bloody thread of this nature I have had to start in a week!!

Last week with DD's A levels and today with DS's GCSE's.

I know the results are not with us yet, but am anticipating disaster, so all welcome, as before to come into this quiet sanctuary and rock in the corner, whilst eating lashings of cake, of course!!

I can't believe DS1 is starting on this road in September. He's only going into year 9! Poor thing isn't going to know what's hit him.

LineRunner Gonna give them a shout tomorrow, reckon worst case scenario he would have to start a lower level (he's doing mechanics) as he apparently interviewed very well & passed all their aptitude tests. I bloody hope so anyway!

lentil Well that does sound promising. Report back! And happilyconfused I think DD has plans other than Oxford! She's got into College though to do her 'thing' and I'm still on the Bick's Fizz. All alone in the house as the DCs are both away this week ... weird.

I agree with Voldermort that my younger DS now has to go through all this and won't now what's hit him. At least it's linear for him.

You can tell I'm on the Bick's Fuzz, can't you??

My DD did well (Y10) but she is being hard on herself as she didn't get the string of A/A* she was hoping for and expecting.

I suppose the one good thing about taking some modules in Y10 is that it will mean less exams and therefore less pressure in Y11 - although I'm sure that my DD would say that, for this year, the end does not justify the means.

She's just had a disastrous trip to the hairdressers as well .

Well, as predicted. That is all I can say at this stage!

linerunner it was only two years ago we were over the moon that ds1 scraped L4 sats, 3 years ago that he learnt to write a sentence. How on earth are we supposed to support him through GCSEs.

After putting on the proud face for DD all day, I'm starting to feel a bit guttered. I know she has done enough for next year, but...

Just knowing how much better she could have done if she had applied herself. I'm starting to think I should have pushed her more, been stricter, demanded seeing her work blah blah blah. I feel that maybe I've let her down much more than she has let me down. :-(

Voldermort This will never do. We will rise again! Without becoming obsessed interfering harridans...

I see it like this. I turn up to stuff at school. I buy books and pens and pencils and paper. I discuss the books and coursework and Issues Of The Day. I take an interest. But I cannot do the work for them.

I know LineRunner, and I really do hate those obsessed, controlling parents.

DD has always been a cruiser when it comes to school work, always able to pull off good marks, so I never had to worry about her school work. But the signs were there that cruising wasn't working anymore.

I don't think you can force a child to put more effort in, nor do I think DD would have, especially in year 10, when looking back, I think she had some depression.

I do think we need to have some stricter rules about computer time, bed time, have a designated study area (not sitting in bed) and proper study timetables. It's going to be a busy year next year. AS levels, GCSEs and SATs :)

Or, as I say to me DD, 'If you pass these exams you are a step closer to escaping from me in a couple of years' time...'

That might be why she's not putting the effort in.

She tells me she's going to the uni that's walking distance from home. Whereas I'm telling her she needs to go to uni far far away and live in halls and give me a break get the whole uni experience. :o

We enrol at college on Wednesday so at least the school dunce has a place there. On the bright side at least we will not be paying private fees for sixth form! Had the call saying DS could stay as the school does not believe in losing the fees just kicking people out. As if I care now after a couple of glasses of wine.

Lets set up a free school for the roadsweepers

Teacher here

BTEC (not Btech - that's an Indian qualification) and OCR come in 4 levels.

Entry - Just starting to study
Level 1 - Getting ready for GCSE
Level 2 - GCSE Level
Level 3 - A Level

BTEC also do Level 4 which is an HNC or HND

The number of GCSEs / A Levels and grades depends on whether you do the Certificate, Diploma or Extended diploma.

Most GCSE students will take level 2, some will have taken Level 1 wich allows them to do Level 2 at college. Most schools seem to go for the Diploma at level 2, which is equivelant to 4 GCSEs.

BTEC/OCR grade at Pass, Merit, Distinction (they have introduced Distinction* at Level 3, but I'm not sure about Level 2 - not teaching at the moment)

Pass - grade C GCSE
Merit - grades B GCSE
Distinction - A / A*

Well done to everyone's dc.

Thanks sashh!

Just remember, a lot of really successful people didn't do well at school - Steven Fry, Jamie Oliver, Richard Branson etc. Exam results aren't always a measure of intelligence and certainly don't begin to measure the qualities we need to succeed in the world of work.

My DH only scraped a few o'levels but does a really demanding job which I, with my degree, couldn't begin to get my head round.

One of DS1's mates didn't get into sixth form last summer, tried a different sixth form, dropped out after a term and is now training with a firm and earning a good salary.

So all is not lost!!

Having slept on DD's results, today is another day.

On the plus side DD has another year to drag those English Units up to a wobbly C grade. She will also finaly get the help she needs and there is time to improve on the CA's they've already done and not cashed in. She might not be able to go to one of our towns 6th form colleges but the other does do English Resits so all is not lost.

I hope for all the yr11's on this thread solutions can be found and places at 6th forms/FE college.

Sassh
Entry level 1 is equivalent to nc 1
Entry level 2 to nc2
Entry level 3 to nc 3
Level 1 equates to goes grades G, F, E, D
Level 2 equates to GCSE A, B , C

A pass is not a C at GCSE.

Just reread your post and see why you put c as a pass for a different qualification rather than GCSE.

hiya all, just to put it out there- i was causing my mum this stress a few years ago i think she was on the wine before i got out of bed
i barely studied and my parents were very strict on good grades etc
i got
1 A*
1A
4 B's
4 C's
2 D's

scraped into 6th form at my school (my parents wanted me at a high school) and came out with a*, a, b, c..
all is not lost because gcses are bad..... have hope!

im not going to have any of this stress with my daughter (unborn) she will revise when i tell her and be a straight A student, right?!

For OCR Level 2 ICT I was looking at this , specifically the botton table 'National First Award'.

What a dull post.

(It would be nice if the school had bothered to tell us what the qualification means.)

DS has done terribly. I'm about six emotions rolled into one!
He hasn't made the reqs for his course, but they will look at the individual modules of his English and see if they can scrape him through. I'm sad, because however hard I've harried him, he has ambled through school like I did! Sadly my grades were much better than his in spite of my apathy. I'm just so upset for him!

Hi Saggy, hope you're doing ok. Will your DS have an enrolment interview? I felt like I was walking a tightrope with DD at times. Push too hard - she'll freak out; push too little - she'll do nothing.

Just wanted to echo longingforsomesleep's post about academic success not necessarily equating with work success.

My sister did really badly in her O' levels and only passed about 4. She left school for dead end jobs for a few years. She then went overseas to teach English and now 20 years later has written and published books, edited a dictionary, worked as a presenter and writer for broadcast media and still teaches (all with no formal qualifications above O' level). She has a fantastic career, earns quite a lot and has a lovely family, loads of friends and a great lifestyle. If she had been to Uni in England she is unlikely to have moved abroad.

Some people are simply not cut out for academic learning at a young age. It is always possible to study at Uni level via OU or access courses later on.

Well said.

There's an info day on Wednesday, enrolment is on Thursday. He didn't get an interview, he applied late. (Newly created course) the coordinator will go over his results on Tuesday with us. Fingers crossed.