Yr 11 - Back up support crew - shall we hold hands through the ordeal?

[mulranno]

First time for me -- lots of worry and anticipation from DS. Would love to hear the highs, lows and reflections from others who have trodden this path before....and share and support with others going through it for the first second or third time too.

Can I just say hello and ask a quick question before I leave you to it. Is Year 10 awful? DS1 about to start. Thanks.

Just been through yr11 with DD1 and it wasn't that bad! ......but DD2 now yr11 and I think things will get harder ;)
On the positive side I think I would pass all the sciences and maths gcses if I had to sit them now due to helping with revision and testing!

Yr10 has been quite a lazy year for DD2 as no gcses except for early entry maths and controlled assessments. Yr11 will be a huge shock for her :)

Ooh great. I will learn something too hells. My Maths isn't GCSE standard any more.

What is year 11? Is that 4th year in Scotland.

Age 15 on entry and 16 at the end - is that the same?

I think that's 4th year.

DS just finished Yr11, failed all GCSEsin his January mocks, but achieved his first choice place in the 6th form with 2Bs, 4Cs, 3Ds and an E....he was on track for As in year 9, will admit to not doing any work due to a distracting girl in year 10.
Have just about finished congratulating my friends children on their A*s...in various debriefing sessions with friends over the last couple of days, it's been suggested that his results aren't surprising as he comes from a 'broken home' / goes to a state school...this year has been exhausting for a variety of reasons, I feel I've let him down, but not sure what I could have done to encourage him to work any harder. He does seem to be taking this as a wake-up call...any tips for us as we start Yr12?

Justaboutcoping - I think that you should congratulate your son on his incredible achievement which is his great progress from a difficult place. He is in 6th form and he just needs to continue pushing on. And well done you too.

From my friends I have seen kids with a stash of A* at GCSE mess up Yr 12 and end up with nothing. They are all starting yr 12 afresh together - your son shouldnt feel he is behind - he will be doing his best subjects.

My son did really badly at the end of yr 10 - he wanted to do it his way and I wanted him to get his fingers burnt....he is spending the 10 days before term starts revising the yr 10 work he didnt revise in May - so that he starts yr 11 in a better place. The last 3 days have been like pulling teeth but we are making sloe progress.

Thank you Mulranno...he has had all smiles and praise from me this week (he'll have enough scowls from his Dad)...I think I'm just a bit deflated by the whole thing...waiting for the results last week was very stressful, I'm glad I took the week off work to concentrate on it all!
DS is a lovely, friendly, kind boy, with lots of strong opinions! Eventually, I just had to let him do it his way...and wait to pick up any pieces.
You are right, he has worked so hard this year to achieve what he has! He says he never wants to feel like he did on results day again, and hopefully this will spur him on in Yr12...I can relate to the pulling teeth feeling very well!
My only tip from this year is the maths tutor I hired for a few sessions....he said the same things I did about revision etc, but he was a young guy, and it seemed mean more coming from him....
Onwards and upwards!!

yr10 was a nightmare with ds1: sky high targets from school, he felt under pressure to perform 'perfectly', but didn't have the experience to know where the boundary was. He performed exceptionally well in the few exam modules he did at the end of yr10 and that helped a lot.

yr11 was much more chilled, though he still worked hard, and just got fabulous results.

ds2 about to go into yr10: I'm hoping we can avoid the stressy yr10 year we had with his brother.

DS1 heading into Y11. First time for me too.

As for Y10, the last part of the year was really hard work, he did GCSEs in Maths and English Lit (and did very well). Doing only two seemed ok, but he did a lot of controlled assessments in June too.

DS2 going into year 11this time. DS1 just finished year 12. They are different personalities of course, but similar in abilities.
It's a lovely year actually. Lots of milestones and memories and then they all go off their different ways to colleges and sixth forms.
They need to want to work hard/do we'll at this age you can't influence them as much.
Lots of tlc helps at exam time.

We have agreed a plan to do a bit of revision -30 mins per week for each subject....on Tues, Weds Thurs & Suns....setting off gently

Hello, can I join in? Dd just started Year 11, I've no experience of this at all and i feel a bit lost already. School seems to give minimal (or no?) careers advice, and I'm already worried about her application for Sixth Form.
She's already attending revision classes after school , so I suppose that's a good sign.
Lots of talk above about parents helping with revision - Dd seems to get on with it on her own, though will ask if she wants help/testing etc. But should i be offering more?
Also, her school don't arrange or help with getting work experience in Year 11 - is this normal? I had assumed she'd do this in this year. Sorry to repeat but I'm going to start separate thread about this so that other ppl not reading this thread will see it as well.