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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Parents of Year 11DC support thread. The final term.

997 replies

OhYouBadBadKitten · 30/03/2016 14:53

Eep.

OP posts:
TheSecondOfHerName · 08/05/2016 21:43

DS1 is not doing enough Tassomai to stay on track to complete the course, but he is doing a bit most days, which is enough for me. I don't want it to become a source of stress.

His life is definitely not all work and no play. This weekend he spent five hours revising and the rest of the weekend at a party, a sleepover and a 'revision session' at a friend's house that involved eating pizza and watching a film.

Icouldbeknitting · 08/05/2016 22:52

Five hours revising over the weekend - I wish! Mine has reached the stage where (he thinks) he knows it all and he's definitely stepping back from revision. I suspect that there might be a sudden change of tack next Monday when it will all start to get a bit more real.

TheSecondOfHerName · 09/05/2016 00:18

Disclaimer: four of those five hours were spent doing Chemistry ATP papers which are all much of a muchness.
It mostly consisted of writing the same responses in a slightly different order:

'white precipitate'
'safety goggles'
'repeat the measurement and calculate the mean'
'reignites a glowing splint'
'because the reactant was in excess'

ShanghaiDiva · 09/05/2016 00:36

second
for variety sometimes you need to use a fume cupboard and there may be an anomaly in the results and don't forget the graph!

TheSecondOfHerName · 09/05/2016 01:29
Grin
Original poster
OhYouBadBadKitten · 09/05/2016 08:04

It is tricky for them to keep going if they have been revising for weeks and the material becomes more familiar.

For those who need to do a case study for geography and are bored of reading the same stuff over and over, they might enjoy reading the reports in London Paramount dd reckons that the work fits the gcse model ideally and it's a bit more interesting than much of the dry stuff they read.

A nice balance over the weekend of getting out for a couple of hours each day and revision. It is the last 'normal' week ever in school. In a few more weeks no more ironing stupid pleated skirts - hooray!

Exit, how is your dd doing?

OP posts:
BitOutOfPractice · 09/05/2016 09:03

Morning. It's RE and French for us this week. Revision that is. No exams till next week.

BitOutOfPractice · 09/05/2016 09:06

Morning. It's RE and French for us this week. Revision that is. No exams till next week.

There's a LOT of RE. Much of which sounds pretty vague. We are going through it together each night and discussing the issues as we go so it's quite interesting.

I also help with French as I speak a little. She has an app on her phone that tests her on vocabulary and short phrases which is quite fun.

ExitPursuedByABear · 09/05/2016 09:17

Well apparently I have let her down badly by not booking a make up artist for prom. So she booked her own. In December.

Bluelilies · 09/05/2016 09:40

Ahh, stressful weekend ending, trying to work out with DSD when she's going to her mum's over the coming weeks. She wants to stay at ours in the week, and go to her mum's (which is further from school) at weekends. But her mum doesn't want this because she has plans for most of the weekends, and isn't used to having kids around then :( And I don't really want it because DSD is clearly not coping, and I fear will not study on her own when DH and I are both out at work, and I'm worried she'll refuse to go in for an exam at some point and I'll be left trying to coax her in. DH was in denial that I needed to be involved in this discussion, causing a bit of a row, which was the last thing poor DSD needed when she's stressed already. :(

This morning she got up fine for breakfast, then realised DH was working from home today and promptly locked herself in the toilet saying she is "ill". DH genuinely believes her when she says she's gone down with a tummy bug, but I don't believe her, as an 8am Monday morning poorly tummy seems too much of a coincindence to me. But she's his DD, and as he was around today, it was his shout, so I've gone to work to leave him to sort her out. He's let her stay home apparently. Very worried about how to deal with this sort of issue when he's not around though. Will call her mum and get her to come and pick her up for the day (which she won't like) if it's just a study day but if it's an exam there won't be time for that.

ExitPursuedByABear · 09/05/2016 10:29

Why would she change her plans when she found out DH was working from home? Does she want to stay with him? Or was she planning on skiving if no one was at home to check up?s

Sorry if I am being think, or rude....

Bluelilies · 09/05/2016 10:47

Well maybe she just happened to suddenly feel ill over breakfast - that is what DH is chosing to believe.

But I think it more likely that she thinks he's a soft touch for believing she's ill, and that she wanted to stay home. If he'd been at work, like normal, she would have had me telling her to go to school, or calling her mum to come and have her for the day, as her mum doesn't work and I do. She seems very low and withdrawn at the moment, so I think it's a mix of not feeling up to school mentally, and just thinking it's nicer to spend the day watching movies and that'll make nasty things like GCSEs go away.

She wouldn't get away with skiving without us knowing as someone needs to email the school to say she's ill.

ExitPursuedByABear · 09/05/2016 11:14

Poor thing. It is such a difficult time. Will she do some revision whilst at home?

I feel as if I am treading on egg shells at the moment with DD.

Bluelilies · 09/05/2016 11:27

Will she do some revision whilst at home? - not if the weekend was anything to go by. Actually, to be fair, she joined in a bit of quizzing with gojimo, which is quite fun - questions less well written than tazoumi but has all subjects. We did geography as DSD and DS are both doing that. Y8 DD knew some of them though which she was very excited about :). But that was it for the weekend. No books were opened.

It is a difficult time. And feel like treading on eggshells very much with her. I put that partly down to feeling less secure as she's not my DD, but tbh, I think DH finds it just as hard. And sounds like you do too, so maybe just her temperment. DS is a much easier soul - I was saying to DSD yesterday when she was feeling stressed and tearful that I wished DS was just a bit more stressed (and her a bit less).

But actually I do find his laid back attitude easier to deal with - I can be strict and tell him to get his act together and do some revision, and generally speaking, he does some revision. No tears.

Original poster
OhYouBadBadKitten · 09/05/2016 13:02

That sounds really difficult bluelilies.
Although the more lad back kids must be really frustrating, at lease they don't tried to explode in the same way. You can only do your best though, ultimately, it comes down to her.

I've just been looking at dds term dates for next year. I thought they were in 6th form less than school? She gets a standard week off for half terms, but at Christmas they only get a week and a half and in July they go all the way through til 1st July. horrors!

OP posts:
ExitPursuedByABear · 09/05/2016 13:49

I shall miss the two week October half term when DD moves. It is the best time to go to South Africa. Although now Dad has died we are considering a Christmas trip.

catslife · 09/05/2016 14:13

Surely ending on 1st July is earlier? dds school breaks up for the end of the summer term on Fri 21st July next year.
Last week of proper lessons this week with Study Leave starting on Friday. Also IT practical exam this Weds.
The good news is that dd will be having study leave (she has done enough revision to qualify)! The bad news is that attending in school revision classes will be compulsory for her class (up to half term) as they are behind. Apparently the reason for being behind schedule is that the teacher has been off sick since Easter!

Bluelilies · 09/05/2016 14:29

The sixth forms here follow similar dates to the schools. There's only one full year of sixth form though anyway - two years from now they'll be going off on study leave for A levels and finishing mid June again.

DS has some subjects that are still trying to cover the syllabus cats - he has an after school physics class today and was finishing off computing coursework last week. Makes me a bit cross that the school haven't managed to organise things well enough to get it covered before this point in the year, as they're apparently supposed to be revising 2 hours a day, which they're not going to do after a two hour extra class covering new content. And i don't think they've even had sick teachers to blame it on, just badly organised ones.

catslife · 09/05/2016 14:42

Know the feeling blue dd has been staying late at school to finish level 2 IT coursework last week too. Stayed at school for this 2 days last week and after school Maths on another day. I understand the coursework schedule is staggered so that the dates aren't the same for every subject but it does seem a bit last minute too.
For most subjects they are now revising in lessons and doing past papers though.

Icouldbeknitting · 09/05/2016 14:45

We live in one local authority and DS will be studying in the neighbouring one. I looked at whether the two had the same October half term week as DS has a residential workshop then but that's as far as I got. I just assumed that they followed similar dates to school. Prompted by OhYouBadBadKitten I've been on their website to look at when the summer term finishes and it looks like cheap holidays for us next year too - they finish at the end of June.

Bluelilies I have a suspicious mind when it comes to the timing of childhood illnesses. I wouldn't be worrying about exam days though, DSS knows she can have today as a Netflix day with no repercussions but I wouldn't have thought that she's likely to do the same thing on an exam day. The consequences of absence on an exam day are very different to those on Just Another Monday.

situatedknowledge · 09/05/2016 15:05

We had our first exam induced tantrum yesterday. Sitting at lunch with her eyes closed refusing to talk to anyone. When we asked what was wrong, we got a hair toss and "I've got exams starting in a week you know!".

Em yes, we had noticed.

situatedknowledge · 09/05/2016 15:07

And for after the exams, DDs is a slightly reluctant prom-er. She has a beautiful dress that she says she will wear with Doc boots. Is it worth trying to get her in to shoes? They do look brilliant with the dress, but I worry she will feel uncomfortable when everyone else teeters up in heels. Same goes for hair and make up really. She'd rather do her own, but I worry she'll feel drab beside some of the others (she won't be of course, she is utterly gorgeous).

Bluelilies · 09/05/2016 15:34

I'd leave it her friends to discuss with her knowledge - they'll tell her if they're all planning to wear heals and she can decide for herself if she wants to do likewise. Unless you happen to be the same size as her and have some she might like to borrow?

kitting - I do hope you're right. She must know that missing an exam would be much more significant than just a day off school, surely. Maybe we should buy some of those pills that stop diorreha (which I can't spell Blush) to have in stock just in case.

Original poster
OhYouBadBadKitten · 09/05/2016 15:40

sorry, finger must have slipped - 21st July!!

OP posts:
FantasyAndHope · 09/05/2016 16:57

DD has had 3 lessons where they've gone outside and "revised" in actual fact dd said her and her friends simply sunbathed.