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Secondary education

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Original poster

Right tell me in simple terms when they sit GCSEs!

24 replies

kilmuir · 10/01/2014 12:55

I thought it was end of year 11, mocks few months before.
So why are some of DDs friends in year 11 getting results this week. Do they resit in summer if grade can be improved.
Feeling very old, but worried as DD in year 10 and is beyond vague when i ask her.

OP posts:
copanya · 10/01/2014 13:04

The new rules say that for league table purposes, only the first attempt at the GCSE accounts. From what I can see here www.gov.uk/government/news/changes-to-early-entry-at-gcse, and contrary to what you might have heard, you can still take GCSE's early and even resit. Its just that affecting the way it goes into the tables forces the schools to think very hard before putting them in early.

My guess is that your school is in transition and that some kids have indeed taken a GCSE early.

I think the new system will take time to bed down. Our school in particular has kneejerked into saying that all kids take them at the last possible minute in year 11, which will inevitably lead to a scheduling pile-up.

Bowlersarm · 10/01/2014 13:08

The top maths set at DSes school are sitting maths GCSE early, today.

Other than that it will be early summer of Year 11. DSes mocks are in February.

BananaNotPeelingWell · 10/01/2014 13:10

Thank you for asking this. My dd also yr 10 but keeps 'doing controlled assessments for my gcse'. I thought they'd Gove decided that old style exams were what they do nowConfused. Dd seems as baffled as me.

Also they are pushing and pushing her to know which college she wants to go to when she leaves. I thought we'd be tackling that next year but they're mentioning it so often that I've just sent off for a load of prospectus (prospecti?Confused). They want an answer, but they dont give out much in the way of individual careers or FE adviceHmm

MrsSquirrel · 10/01/2014 13:11

She was probably vague about it because she doesn't know Wink.

It's to do with the government shifting the goalposts yet again. My dd is in Y10 and is doing almost all linear GCSEs, where they will be examined at the end of Y11. The kids in the year above her are doing it differently, because they started their courses before the changes came in.

JeanSeberg · 10/01/2014 13:15

My son is year 11. All his written exams are taking place in June this year; he had mocks last December and more to come this March. The controlled assessments have been ongoing throughout the 2-year course.

We also started going to college open days in year 10 to start to think of his options post-GCSE.

Do you have a parents night coming up or was there a GCSE preparation night? That's when I found out all the information as we were given a booklet that included a page per subject with details of the exam board, the course content and how the exam was broken downs in terms of written exams/coursework/controlled assessment etc.

Does your daughter have any ideas of what she wants to do next - A Levels/university? College?

MrsSquirrel · 10/01/2014 13:16

Banana my dd has done controlled assessments in English and Spanish. She is also doing a practice controlled assessment in textiles. Maybe some of the assessments your dd is doing are not the real thing?

Seems strange that they are pushing 6th form so much at this stage. Around here they apply in Nov-Jan of Y11, but don't really need to decide until they get their GCSE results in August.

howmuchworse · 10/01/2014 13:19

Some schools prefer to 'get some exams out of the way' by taking some in November of yr 11, where pupils are ready, leaving more time to concentrate on other subjects in may.

BananaNotPeelingWell · 10/01/2014 13:29

I'm not too sure MrsS, it could be that, but I get the impression it's for the examConfused I don't like to keep grilling dd. She's doing ok but can be mighty tetchy about it all so I'm always trying to keep the staus quo nice and supportive and positive.

I do wish they weren't going on about sixth form stuff at her quite so much atm. It's really stressing her (tears last nightSad). She's not quite ready for it yet but they keep saying 'think about what you'll be doing in 5 years time'. She doesn't know yet!

TeenAndTween · 10/01/2014 14:05

My DD is in y10 too. We have looked at some 6th form colleges to get a general idea and found it helpful.

In particular, I think schools push the kids to think about what they may want to do next as then they can see the grade requirements, and it can focus their minds and make them work harder.

eg to do a MFL for A level you need at least a B at GCSE.
To do History A level you need a B for English.

MrsSquirrel · 10/01/2014 14:09

I know what you mean Banana, you just want to keep them on an even keel. If I appear too interested sometimes, I get the Hmm face.

BananaNotPeelingWell · 10/01/2014 14:24

The trouble is it's all so complicated. I'm trying to be supportive about things I don't completely understand.

JeanSeberg · 10/01/2014 14:29

Don't worry Banana, it will come clear over time.

Is there a parents night coming up? Could you request a chat with the head of year to go through the course syllabuses with you and timescales for exams etc?

JeanSeberg · 10/01/2014 14:30

... or if you want to tell us what GCSEs your daughter is doing I'm sure there will be enough people on here who can tell you what the course consists of in terms of % exam based vs course work/assessment.

BananaNotPeelingWell · 10/01/2014 14:35

Yes I think you are right. It'll help me understand better when the younger two are going through it later I guess (oh god I have to go through all this again twice more! The hormones, the worry - and that's just meGrin).

They do sessions at the school for parents from time to time, but they can be rather 'information overload' and are often held at the beginning of term before you have any meaningful questions. We'll get there...I think.

Original poster
kilmuir · 10/01/2014 19:14

We have a parents evening in a few weeks. Going to write down some questions as i seem to get more confused as we go on. She loves doing art and graphic design work, predicted A's, so happily does those, but i think she needs to get stuck into maths and english as will need a decent pass in those to get in 6th form etc.
We had a letter last week saying she had effectively been moved to more course work based science as when she does exams her results do not reflect her work in lessons! Equivalent of CSE ?

OP posts:
hellsbells99 · 10/01/2014 20:01

DD2 (yr 11) did her maths gcse at the end of year 10 and is doing algebra during year 11 in preparation for AS level. She has just sat her English Language papers in November (got results yesterday) so she can concentrate on English Literature for the remainder of year 11.

Bloodyteenagers · 10/01/2014 20:18

The one's that are doing them this academic year, start after the Easter holidays, until sometime in June.

If you know the exam board, google them along with this year and they should be listed.

SantasLittleMonkeyButler · 10/01/2014 20:22

Are they one of the schools who entered the Yr 11 pupils early for their English GCSE, because of the rule changes?

DS1 took his English GCSE in November because of this and had his result yesterday.

hellsbells99 · 10/01/2014 20:36

Hello santa. Yes DD did it early for the same reason. She is very happy as she doesn't have to carry on with English Language - she has never been keen!

MrsBright · 10/01/2014 21:51

I did English GCE a year early - got a C grade.

As an experiment the school put all of us Cs back in to retake it the following summer - we all got A grades. Read from this what you will, but clearly just 'getting them out of the way' isn't the only issue for parents to think about.

strugglinginsilence · 11/01/2014 08:22

Well my school did English and Maths in November. All bar 4 pupils achieved at least their target grade and all four have attendance of less than 80%. Over55% exceeded the target grade. Maths also did very well. We didn't decide to do this " to get it out of the way" but to try to ensure that pupils achieve as well as possible in these crucial subjects and by doing it in November we could intensely prepare them without too much impact on other subjects. You shouldn't assume schools motivation is anything other than wanting the best for the children. Thursday was lovely and joyful but on Friday our year 11's had a new determination to succeed.

Nojustalurker · 11/01/2014 08:29

The results which came out on Thursday were for English, maths and science. For some GCSE students who are in year 11 will have already done all their exams or some of their exams for subjects. Due to goverment changes only some subjects are linear so they will so those exams in May and June.

The examaination requirements have changed mid academic year so what you need to do to get a C in English for the Novemeber exams is different to what students need to do in the summer exams.

TalkinPeace · 11/01/2014 17:56

6th form colleges : the one that DD is going to closed its application list last year ....
her controlled assessments are ongoing
all the other exams are in the summer - all of the boards have the timetables online

Original poster
kilmuir · 11/01/2014 20:36

Will have a look thank you

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