Parents of Year 11's - in the midst of exams!

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

roll up roll up, for our new support thread for all parents of year 11 kids. Whether your kids work hard or not, what ever their goals (or not!) this is our place to de-stress :)

Biology has begun. Aagh. Sitting in a cafe waiting to collect and I have butterflies in my stomach. How daft is that?
Ds1 was fine going in though.

I have been lurking through previous threads, but Maladicta which board was that? Have heard nothing from uncommunicative child and fearing the worst....!

Hello everyone, can I join you please?

DD has her first exams today (French and Biology like many of your DCs).

Yesterday she had a study day at home and had a sobbing meltdown just as I had to leave for work after lunch .

She seemed a bit better today but yesterday I think the enormity of it all hit her. I think she'd been bottling up her worries and stress, not talking about it and then out it all came.

Hi my dd has been told that she can't start study leave till 13 June. She is very self motivated and will revise much better at home away from noise and distractions. Also she has sleep problems which means she is often exhausted and would therefore benefit from a shorter day during the exams. I've asked the school if she can have permission to study at home but I've been told that 'the Government have removed the right to study leave'. Is this really the case? Does anyone else have a year 11 child in the state sector who is allowed study leave before 13 June?

My DD has been on study leave since last Monday. Can go into school if wants bit she prefers to revise at home. So apparently their school (an Ofsted Outstanding large companies) are breaking the law.

Oh I hate spell check !! Obviously not a company, but a comp.

My daughter's school have also told them that there will be no study leave this year. They have to come into school until they have finished their last exam.

Ds1 has been on study leave for a couple of weeks.

How are all your dc now? Ds1 felt it went well.

Hi can I join? DS had RS yesterday Biology today, thinks yesterday went ok so hoping today is the same, no study leave here they have to go into school

I'm glad you are all saying that French listening was hard. My DD said it was harder than any of the past papers she has done and there was a lot more writing.

Just had a text from her to say that Biology went really well. Hoping now that this boosts her confidence and we don't have many more panic attacks!

Welcome Norbert and Faye!

dds study leave starts at half term. Her school are pretty good with arranging effective revision sessions I think, so it is time well used. However, I'm sure she would be pleased to have the opportunity for extra sleep.

Worried about what you are all saying about the listening. Will ask dd, but what is done, is done.

Dd is at independent school and is on study leave. Most of the girls are boarding but dd much prefers being at home.

DD says some of the questions were a bit odd on the Biology paper. Twitter is awash with hilarious comments about underage drinking, snails and business questions

Joining in hello everyone - waving weakly. My Dc left the phone at home so have no idea how it went. This is the first one (of 12 GCSE's) and if this goes well then I know DC will be set up for the next ones. just praying this isn't a disaster as DC is either one thing or the other - ice cold calm or completely in melt down. predicted A in biology. wish it had been a subject with more course work involvement like ICT first which they have tomorrow.

other DC has first A level tomorrow. Oooh this is such a happy house at the moment (not)!! other DC looking on at all of this with total horror.

oh dear mumymeister! for you.

Will look at twitter!

oh dear. They say that there wasn't any syllabus in the biology exam. Bummer.

the only crumbs of comfort from twitter are:

1. my Dc is really good at maths and apparently there was plenty in this paper.
2. my dc hears me rant on about GM crops and virus's like ebola and Zika all the time.
3. some of the comments on there from teenagers are laugh out loud funny proving no sense of humour fail in the young !

DD has rang to say biology was fine, not tough but not easy just one question about glucose and something else that was hard and was the second question instead of being near the end. Igcse edexcel french listening was hard.

Hello, my ds had his first GCSE paper today, biology. He wants to take it at A level so was more nervous than last year when he took a few. Had an absolute shock when told three quarters of way through that the bits he had written in blank section would not be counted as scan would cut them off. Was given continuation a paper and had to quickly rewrite those bits again plus finish paper. Managed it but looked dreadful after. He suffers migraines and is now watching tv trying to relax.

Just reading the post-exam tweets about the CIE iGCSE Biology and the general consensus is that the exam was quite random, with questions that would have been more at home on an economics or geography paper.

So it probably wouldn't have made a difference even if DS1 had managed to complete the humungous syllabus. Oh well, there are other A-levels he can do.

DD has tried to see if there is any regarding aqa igcse biology and there isn't 🤔

Phew! DD is home and seems less of a wreck than she was yesterday.

She said that both the French and Biology went OK/ weren't too bad and actually seems quite up-beat - I'm just hoping she doesn't have another sob-fest when this brief calm wears off.

My nerves are shot though. I've been really restless all day wondering how it was going.

Oh and study leave here started yesterday but only for those with parental permission. DD said some of the boys have elected to go into school in case they spent study leave on their PS4s!

Ahh, here you all are :) No marks for me in wondering why the other thread had gone a bit quiet!

DS had his first exam today, and DSD had two today - French and then biology. She wasn't looking forward to either of those, so I'll find out soon when I got home how they both got on.

Exit - we've used Gojimo - quite fun for quick quizzing, but some of the questions were a bit weird. I think tazoumai is probably better, though you have to pay for it.