Year 11 GCSE support thread 6 - exams and proms

[HSMMaCM]

Good luck to those still taking exams.

DD is going with her friends, not sure what she is doing after that but she'll be home for dinner and we are going to have whatever she wants/go wherever she wants regardless of the results.

I was looking last night, universities are already posting the dates for university open days next summer. Maybe our DCs who want to go to university need to start thinking a bit about what they want to do. My head is still in the sand, I am expecting that the 6th form college will tell them/us when they need to do something?

DD says she is going in with her friends - not sure if/when she will let me know the results, if last year is anything to go by!

Witch, I would advise going to Open Days next June, as the September ones are very close to when they start preparing their applications so earlier is better imo.
We did a couple in Sept, but then we did go to 12 (don't ask!!) overall.

I sincerely hope DS2's route to Uni is less stressful than my DS1's!!

Thanks Horsemad, she needs to decide what she wants to do then, at the moment she only has the vaguest of ideas.

Same with DS2!

Spud that will be handy for results day. I think DD would refuse to come with us if no wifi but she's lucky it won't ever be an issue as I need it for work whilst away.

Still no discussion about Thursday here. She can't get to the fairy festival so hopefully is editing the music on her film. She did say she has a list of things she wants to get done before Thursday which was surprisingly organised for her, think Japan trip ha helped a fair bit.

I can't quite get over how bad the Maths and science AS result were at DD's school. I've asked her to tell her friend who has chosen them for 6th form so he knows as they have done well enough with softer subjects and Arts to be able to hide the awful results behind statistical headlines which the are very good at doing. We're talking one person in a class passing Maths Mechanics and bright children who could have gone to Grammar, worked hard and got good GCSE's coming out with U's and E's in physics and biology.

Their Head of 6th form is the son of a politician and it certainly shows. Friend was telling me how the school does really well at A level and in the top 25% for A level. I gently pointed out they are in the top 25% for AS bit bottom 40% for A2.

Witch from what I've seen of friends with older children 6th form there is quite a clear timetable. I did write out what I think it is but deleted it as guess we should get GCSE results first ! But there will be a fair amount to keep on top of I think ? Personally I would find a Year 12 thread very helpful to make sure we're on top of things and found this thread very helpful seeing what different schools were telling people at different times.

thread here for GCSE results and starting 6th form/apprenticeship/job (though it's not all in the thread title)

Omg! Been on/off lurker for this site. Just been reading last few pages of thread and find myself weeping at funambulist's ds sending "all okay" text. More worried about my own ds than I thought. He's got a great back up option with more A level subject choices but he's desperate to stay on with his friends at current school where they have a mean we kick you out if you don't get enough points policy. If he doesn't get to stay he will see himself as a failure despite all my attempts to allay his fears.

Thanks witch. I'll be over there on Thursday

tobee that's tough if they stick to that policy. I thought most schools let current pupils automatically stay on in 6th form? DD's offer wasn't conditional so it didn't occur to me that some were.

DS school has a point scheme and so do some of his friends. I thought it was because he's at private school but some grammars do too. They want to turf out people and get in new people who will get better results at A level to look good, I presume, but since they gave him a place at year 7 through an exam, doesn't that actually make them look bad? What pisses me off is that they handed out unconditional offers to kids who get the points at mock time ( to make them work harder). But they did a low-ish point so most got a place, only about 16 of them didn't and so feel like losers. DS, who SEN, missed by 1 point. Apparently, one nearby grammar throws people out if they don't get good enough AS marks. How disruptive is that?

*his friends' schools, I mean.

tobee it sounds awful. DD's offer is unconditional but I can't see as it's made any difference to how hard she has worked, she's done her best. It was practically a week before her first GCSE anyway so the timing wasn't conducive to making her work harder or not really.

DD has a guaranteed place at her sixth form, but still needs the grades to get onto the individual courses. What those courses will be is still undecided, after the dreadful letter pointing out the clash in her options. She's hoping to be inspired when she sees her GCSE results and has a cozy cuppa with the sixth form head.

DS's school (grammar) sling out the kids who don't do well enough at AS level too, tobee

I assumed that if they have criteria for new entrants, they have to apply the same to existing pupils (state schools anyway). Dd has no backup plan, but ( despite it getting the best results in the county) the criteria aren't as onerous as some of yours have got to contend with - 5 Bs, at least a C in English, and then in the subjects to be taken As in some cases (inc maths, sciences),B in others.

DD's school ask for more from new entrants than existing pupils Errol. DD will need 7 at A-C with B's in those she wants to do for A level. We're hoping she should get that fairly comfortably - we're hoping for (and predicted) some mix of A's and B's. Though DD isn't overly confident about some of them! Those where she finished the paper may go better than others

Horse, yes that happened to a relative I think quite a few schools do this.

Juggling, I think that is true of DD's first choice school as if they know the pupils, they should have a fair idea of whether it was "just" a bad paper or whether they really couldn't cope with the A level.

Hello all, everyone ready for tomorrow?! This time last week I was beside myself with nerves waiting for DS1's A levels - this week I'm the opposite

I'm not sure what results DS will get, but he applies himself much more than DS1, so hopefully he's done OK, fingers crossed

Good Luck everyone!!

Horse, over here!

Hi Horse and any others still malinguering on this lovely thread
I didn't sleep well last night but think that's also feeling nervous about a family party at the weekend - so it felt I had quite a lot on my mind
I think it will be better - all being well - after these results are in
DD might let me drop her off but then she wants to go in with friends and go to the park with them afterwards
She might give me a call to pick her up a couple of hours later!
Still after all this waiting what's another few hours hey?!

Juggling - most of us have decamped over to www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/a2449927-GCSE-Results-thread-and-starting-6th-form?msgid=56199418 but it all seems a bit real on that thread and we can still pretend it's not happening on this one

Thanks HSM, I do have a foot in that camp now too
But as you say all looking slightly crazy over there today with checking of grade boundaries and such like
I might just stay slightly more chilled over here too
I need that to settle my nerves

Yes, it does all seem a bit real on the other thread! As DD has gone off for the day, I am pretending nothing is happening tomorrow

I'm too scared to go on there, it does make it too real.
I'm tying myself up in knots here. I've got it into my head that the school phone the most successful students ( dd should be one if her predictions are right) to go in early tomorrow for photos. So far no call, so I think she's not done well. Someone tell me I'm being ridiculous please?
I thought I'd knocked my jet lag on the head last night, but dd woke me at 1am to tell me she couldn't sleep, so then I couldn't either so tiredness isn't helping