Starting Y11 support thread

[AtiaoftheJulii]

(Yeah, I'm procrastinating ....)

For all those with one or two (or more?) offspring going into year 11: controlled assessments, coursework, practicals, performances, GCSE revision (or not ...), being guinea pigs for the Maths and English 1to9 exams, choosing what to do next - schools/sixth form colleges/college/apprenticeships/BTECs/A levels and more - and generally being 15!

It's a tough year academically - in some ways harder than sixth form I think because there are just so many subjects and exams - and a tough year emotionally - not always mature enough to organise themselves, too old to have organisation imposed upon them!

Ds still has an MFL CA, a couple of science practical CAs, and two assessed drama performances, plus coursework to do for History I think. I can't see there's going to be much let up and he's definitely feeling the pressure I think he'll probably end up staying at his school for 6th form (he's very mathsy and his school is a good fit) but we may well look at a couple of sixth form colleges as he's already talking about whether he can go somewhere that won't feel quite so pushy.

Fleur, could be worse, could be triplets!!

I was also amazed at my DD last night, must have been something in the air. She stayed behind after school for extra art, then went back to a friends to do some more and came home and worked on it solidly until gone 10pm!!!! Without any prompting!!

Yeah, this week has been a little taste of what next May/June might be like - ds has (had) 4 CAs going on this week and has been working really quite hard on them.

He also got an email today inviting him to an interview at sixth form college at the end of the month.

Not much happening here, lots of work - revision & homework. She's getting 2-3 essays a week for English atm. Panic is definitely beginning to set in wrt mocks & as she can't remember which option is in each block we can't decipher her exam timetable. She had a day in school over half term to do the creative writing thing & yesterday was an off timetable revision day - she did most of P2 & some poetry I think. She's tired & fell asleep on the sofa at 9 last night - still very good at learning genera, principles rather than specifics ... would do better if they could answer questions with emojis and banter rather than formulae & key words!

She's got French speaking next week (on her birthday!) & she's promised faithfully she's learning her stuff for. They are going to do another one after Christmas and another physics ISA but that's it for CAs then.

I can't complain, she is working hard & with a (mostly) good grace. Report was emailed out on Tuesday & there has been a massive improvement (attitude grades up from 2s to 4s thank god!) and everything back on target. Usual worries about maths though - she has zero confidence, getting decent results in the mocks would do her the world of good.

6th form evening is the 24th, they have to put their provisional options in then & mocks start on the 25th. Will be very happy when we get to the end of term.

actually I completely forgot she has her drama production on the 7th Dec which is a ridiculous amount of work. Bugger.

DS had his French written assessment today and apparently it went well. Not sure what that means we'll have to wait and see. He seems to be tired and we didn't even start the mocks yet.

Laniakea - wow, that sounds like your dd is working really hard! Well done to her.

DS has not done much revision AT ALL since going back to school!

Excuses include:

Monday - first day back
Tues - too tired, because of first day back and early morning
Weds - had been to history after school
Thurs - we had a long chat about revision, which in his world, 'counts as revision.'

TBH, after last nights chat I think he is feeling a bit overwhelmed with it all - he has so much to do, he just doesn't know where to start!

He lost his chemistry folder, which had all the questions and info needed for his controlled assessment and also couldn't find his history folder. He had looked 'really hard' and was stressing about how to approach the chem teacher about it. Of course, when I went into his room to look, I found both on the window sill!

He did say that his chem teacher was 'useless' last night. Apparently, some of them wanted help with their CA at lunch time but he got cross saying they should have listened in class and he was only going to be there after he had eaten, giving them only 15 mins at lunch to get help, which seems pointless! So different to his physics teacher who helped him so much he got an A for this CA.

And the extra history class he has been going to was run by a different teacher last night who totally confused him. He has been really positive about these classes, so much so that he is considering history for an A level and has said he really enjoys it. Well, this teacher said that A level history is really hard so that put him right off And she taught it in a different way that ds didn't get, so he tried to 'not listen' but then got told off for not paying attention. There were only 2 of them there! I've told him to go and speak to the usual teacher about it but he is going to wait until next weeks session and hope he is back.

He did his first extra maths lesson after school last night too and there were 60 of them there!! I'm hoping these sessions will bring him up to speed with maths. I also emailed a local maths tutor last night, starting the road to finding one who can help with his confidence in maths.

And finally, I have spent all afternoon finishing off the revision planner on 'Get Revising' - not 100% it will work tbh. But we'll give it a go. I also did a 'mock' revision timetable on paper for him - I used A3 paper, colourful sharpies and made it really clear to follow. Got quite into it really

DS hasn't looked at it, is totally engrossed in his PS4 and refuses to engage as 'Fridays are his day off'

Arrrrrrgh!!!

Wow - that was long, sorry

Fleur - ds is also completely knackered! But refuses to go to bed before 10.30pm. Got him to go at 10pm one night, to be told 'God, why are you so moody'!!

Love him

Does anyone know if the Informed Choices booklet will be revamped to take account of the fact that most of our dcs will be doing only 3 subjects? I just checked and it's written on the basis of 4 still...

We had a parents evening about 6th form recently. Ds's school will be using the mock results to decide who can stay on. This was a surprise as it was predicted grades for his older sibling.

Well DS got "invited" to the extra computer science tuition (2 hours on a Wednesday after school) because he is failing it. We knew this and it is typical DS, one day I get an email congratulating him for getting As in all his ISAs and the next a letter stating he's failing a subject and intervention is needed.

His reaction? "I am not going, it is a waste of time, I can't understand it therefore I'll fail it!". I could feel my blood pressure going up thinking of these 3 teachers spending the extra two hours with DCs who think it is a waste of THEIR time.

Fleur, my ds has an after school class every day now, as does his whole year group. I appreciate the exams are important but it seems very early to be piling on the pressure.

If your ds is really not enjoying the subject would it be possible to drop it?

Well I had 6th form information evening at DS's school and was told that they only do 3 A'Levels, when I questioned it they said that the new changes to A'Level curriculum means that schools are only offering 3 now. The other schools and colleges I have looked at all do 4 so I cant understand where DS's school have got their information and made such a decision. It is so disappointing as DS wants to stay at his school, but also wants to do 4 A;Levels. Does anyone know anything about this, before I go back and question them again. Thanks. This is similar to Decorhate I think.

Ive heard on the grapevine that dds school will be three choices only from sept for a levels. Sixth form evening coming up soon so will find out for sure then.

I have knowledge of an independent, a v high achieving comp and a grammar and they're all only offering 3 A levels, except for maths/further maths candidates. They do all offer EPQ and/or core maths AS alongside the 3 A levels.

Dd due back after half term tomorrow. Just reediting English cw which has caused no end of angst and postponement of proposed trip to visit DM.

my ds wants to do maths, further maths, physics and economics and is just starting to get his act together. sort of!! So it will be awful if he has to drop a subject. I guess it will be further maths which is a massive shame. very upset.

Does school not agree to fm as a fourth, minesawine? Most schools are still offering that as the only exception to the three As rule.

Decorhate no, we've been told clearly no subjects will be dropped now. I do feel for your DS having extra classes every day, at DS's school they are available but not compulsory unless you need intervention.

minesawine at DS's school the majority of the students do 3 A levels but the school chooses/allows a small (gifted) pupils to do 4 A levels. Maybe push for that? I guess your DS would need to prove he can do it.

We had a 6th form information evening last week (ds wasn't planning to go, as he would be staying at his current school, so waht was the point...but was told on the day he should be attending the evening anyway).

They can choose 4 subjects. In lower 6 they do exam in the one they are planning to drop. If they can't decide which subject they are going to drop after the 1 year, they have the option to do AS exams in 2.

ds has narrowed it down to 2 sciences and history. No languages.

dd has french speaking today. I don't think she's well prepared (major strop last night which ended with her screaming I'm not going to revise for French AT ALL). She was up half the night checking for election results. And it's her 16th birthday today.

Happy bday to your dd!

Dd has her German speaking today. Apparently she needs to work on that and her writing accuracy.

Hope the German goes okay!

Think dd has pretty much given up on French - she's predicted an A but I'd be amazed if she gets a B. She doesn't seem to actually know any French at all

I'm saving my energy for maths - I can only fight one battle. Have reminded her that she won't be happy with a C but I think she quite likes the idea of making a point (about what, who the fuck knows).

No work this evening :) we're having a tea party but she's not doing anything with her friends until post-mocks (everyone bar dd seems to be grounded!).

My lovely DS, who remember wants to do Maths and Further Maths at sixth form has all day maths exam. The new maths GCSE's has three separate exams and his school are having a practice day on Monday where they will spend the whole day doing the three exams with short breaks in between. It will be used to decide whether they can apply to do further maths. I have told him his life must be on hold for this week and he needs to focus on revision, past papers etc. I am being a very patient and lovely mummy, feeding him, marking his test papers for him and speaking lots of encouraging words. However it seems like every time I go in to check on him he is on his phone or his playstation and not revising, which led me to throw his cheese sandwich at the wall, leaving a lovely trail of mayo slowly dripping onto his carpet. We laughed this morning about it, but last night I was so furious that I thought I would explode. I couldn't sleep and ended up watching the whole bloody American election. I have no words :(

minesawine I can totally relate, I can't count how many times I have been close to completely losing it with Ds.
How dd had a nice bday lanaikea, rotten having exams on your bday.
We have Ds 6th form open eve tonight. He seems to have switched onto the idea of staying at his current school, which would be my first choice, so am pleased. Amazing since this time last year he was refusing to go & threatening to get himself expelled Things are quite calm here, (whispers!) although we are not yet in the thick of mocks. He's had lots of house points for good work & is really positive in his attitude, could he be growing up

Dd refused to go to school yesterday. It's hard as she does have a condition which gives her chronic pain but I don't know how much she plays on it and it irritates me thag she won't just try and get on with stuff.

Managed to get her to do an hour of revising while at home.

Had the usual wailing, crying and screaming this morning but she does now appear to be dressed. English speaking exam today.

Sixth form open evening tonight for us. Interested to see if it's 3 or 4 they are doing.

He has actually done some revision this week!! I am having to spoon feed him though The revision plan I did is working in that he follows it and does what it tells him to do. I have even broken down each subject into sub-subjects for him! (iyswim) His mocks for sciences are only 2 units though so God help us when he has to learn 6 for each

I've also booked a maths tutor for him - although he had a paddy when I told him his first session is this friday at 6pm as 'ffs I'm going to a party on Friday!!!' Well, tough shit mate, you'll have to be late!