GCSE Results thread and starting 6th form

[WitchofScots]

Follow on thread from the GCSE exams and proms thread. For hand holding and recommendations of wine/chocolate/biscuits to get through the post results stuff.

Marking place so I am not scrambling around on Thursday trying to find you all!

DS all cool and calm. I have been as well, but now I'm anxious that maybe I've been a bit blase about it all and just trusting that DS's view on how it all went is accurate. I have no reason to believe otherwise.

He's got some great options anyway, so I think all will be fine.

I just looked at DD's 6th form stats and the average point score for A levels is 20 below the national average. We looked at three sixth form colleges and hated the other two so she's only applied to this one, it's attached to her school and we know the staff and school and like it. Maybe I shouldn't have looked :(

Gosh, these exam panic dreams everyone is having are really making me laugh!

You have my sympathies, Draylon - DS1 was also a bit like that, which is very frustrating isn't it? Actually, since the exams finished, DS1 has changed his tune. He really seems to understand he needs to work now, so I'm hopeful he'll be better motivated for his A-levels. (Assuming he hasn't left it too late and he actually gets the grades he needs, of course...)

DS1 returned safely from India yesterday. Being in the rural backwaters and seeing how some people live without anything at all, really made an impact. He also survived raging D&V and an "interesting" experience on the back of someone's motorbike, going the wrong way down a motorway!!

Broken nights sleep carrying on here ~ I often find myself sitting in our conservatory most nights, watching it get light before going back to bed and attempting a bit more sleep.

DD1 seems quite relaxed at the moment. She's working her way through 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood in preparation for A-level English Language/Literature. She keeps coming to me to point out all the swear words in it!

Joining in preparation for Thursday and with some trepidation, especially remembering Hannah's sweets...We had a nasty surprise in the AS results with DD1 last week so I am desperate for better news this week.

At the moment DD says she wants me to come into school with her, but all could change.

We have a decision to make on sixth forms on Thursday. Can I just ask where you are looking for data? I saw The Times league table on the A level results and a large gap seems to have opened up between DD's choices, but of course it's just one measure of success. It all feels like such a minefield.

I feel less confident as the days go by, though I'm keeping it from DS1. He found Maths, French, English and Chemistry harder than expected.

The only one I can remember him really being pleased with is History.

Gloria I remember sitting through a series of performances by DD1's theatre studies ALevel class. One of the groups did an interpretation of "The Handmaid's Tale" and it was a gritty performance with swearing and a simulated sex scene. Wouldn't have happened in my convent school days

Barely concealed hysteria here - and that is just me! I should be concentrating on getting my own dissertation finished but I can't concentrate on anything. Luckily DS is away on holiday with cousins otherwise he'd be stomping about and we'd be getting on each other's nerves.

He has no Plan B - I tried to talk to him about other options but he wouldn't even hear of it. I had a look on the apprenticeships website - actually, it's quite an attractive option and as university tuition fees rise, I can see more people doing this.

Thinking of you and your FIL Sugarplumtree

I looked at the OFSTED data dashboard but it's all based on 2014 data.

I sent it too soon sorry. For all the data out there, I don't think anything replaces your gut instinct. DD (and DS) are at a school which had a most horrendous OFSTED after we accepted DD's place but we really liked the school when we looked round and it seems to have suited DD and DS well. Quite a few people were surprised with us still sticking with the school after their OFSTED but we liked what we saw and had confidence in the head, I just hope that he is still there when our youngest goes there next year as he's a good head teacher who is hands on and still does some teaching as well as being the head, not much but enough that he is still in touch with what really matters. He's a marmite head though, some people hate him and he has made some mistakes but he's got the integrity to admit it and put it right.

Well did did very little revision at home for her GCSEs so I am not expecting anything great at all. Tbh anything will be a bonus. I hope she does well but if not I will bite my tongue and not tell her its her own fault. However, if she does OK what would be right? Do I praise her? Even when I know she made no effort?

Why would you tell her it's not her fault? What lesson does that teach? Clearly don't rub her nose in it and comfort her if she's upset and support her on the next steps, but don't say it wasn't her fault!

But yes obviously be pleased and congratulate her if she did well!

So here you are!

DD is in a vile mood, which I think might well be linked to the results. So understandable. We are also all pretty jet-lagged, which isn't helping.
Thankfully her friend has an all-day birthday celebration planned tomorrow, so that should keep them busy. I'm not sure if she's sleeping over there or coming home, but either way I doubt she'll want me to take her in.

I am not looking at grade boundaries or the like!

I think that sillygiraffe means she isn't going to say that it was her DD's fault rather than actually telling her that it wasn't her fault if you see what I mean. I suspect her DD knows it was her fault.

DD has gone out to a friend's tonight. I think she's getting stressed judging by the bad mood she was in last night. Meanwhile, I'm now getting nervous, what if it all goes horribly wrong and she doesn't get the grades she has decided she wants? What she wants and what she needs are two different things, she has decided she wants all A* but I think it's unlikely time will tell.

Yes that's what I meant Witchofscots. Dd knows its her own fault if she doesn't do well and I have no need to tell her. However, if she does OK, how do I approach this. I can't say well done for not really trying but passing anyway. Maybe I'll just say well done and leave it at that. Anyway I'm rambling. Good luck everyone.

Woollybacks I think 'gritty' is a good description of it from what DD's told me. I think she's finding it a bit hard-going and she's got to do some writing about it as well. She's been given headings and got to do 1300 words for each one and that might be a bit of a struggle.

WitchofScots I've got horrible 'pit of the stomach' nerves as well. DD needs 5 A-C Grades to go on and do A-levels and we had the, 'what if my grades aren't good enough?' talk earlier. She thinks that maths and ICT might be the ones she hasn't got and they seem to be the only 2 where she came out of the exams thinking that they went badly. I said out of all the subjects she did, really maths was the only one she really struggled with so there must be 5 A-C grades in there somewhere.

I'll be glad when the next two days are over ~ not enjoying any of this at all.

Oh lord, DH just came home with the Evening Standard www.standard.co.uk/news/education/schools-warned-to-expect-volatile-results-in-tougher-gcse-subjects-a2905476.html

Now feeling very sick indeed.....

Thank f*ck DD didn't do history then! Finger crossed for English Literature because it's one of her A level choices.

Draylon maybe it makes people feel that they are doing something useful while they wait? I'm resisting temptation to look at them but I like to know everything so it's hard because I am a control freak

Much anxiety here too - DS is a total wreck, and it seems nothing I say is right, so I'm just keeping quiet!

He needs 5 Bs, he was predicted 11 As, but I know he'll be gutted if he doesn't get all As as he's completely lost perspective.

I want Thursday to be here NOW!

I agree, Draylon. I do not see the point in parents looking at grade boundaries. DD did GCSEs last year, but I didn't look at the boundaries then, and didn't for her ASs this year. I guess we are all different,

I do see the point when you know their exact mark though!

Grade boundaries are completely irrelevant right now. I have no plans to look at them as they will tell me nothing.