Year 11 dd told shes getting an E for art.

[PossumInAPearTree]

Art teacher only two weeks ago was saying low B or high C. Now this. She's gutted.

He said its because She's done so much in charcol which can't be detailed enough. But he's known for ages she was doing charcol. Why didnt he say something before? He's previously said her work was expressive and had a good style.

He's given her a week to put some more work in and says if its detailed enough she may get a C but probably not.

It appears cheating is widespread if parents do it as described here

Ouch. Was that in response to my post, Bojorojo? I try quite hard to tread the line between 'doing it for' and 'enabling' DS, who also has SEN.

Well i can't draw to save my life so no help at all. Dd has done this and only this. No hope i don't think.

Actually, that's rather good - hope it fits her theme?

To be blunt, given that exams start on Monday she really should be spending her time on Maths, English and all the other subjects rather than one very very time consuming one.

GCSE Art has been a total nightmare in this house. One of DD's print pieces needed redone because the Art Teacher moved it and she couldn't find it over the holidays, multiple pupils were told their subjects weren't suitable and I was just glad it was over in the end.

Problem is that it is so utterly time consuming that any issues are really hard to do anything about last minute.

It fits her theme. Just dont think she has done a lot. Her english tutor will be here soon so will be doing some english later.

I got an E for art back in the last century so she is in good company. I was C/D borderline but completely bombed the exam piece at the end. It hasn't held me back in life in any way (it was my worst grade by 3, I have a degree and a Master's degree) and at the risk of sounding harsh if she is B/C borderline she is unlikely to become a professional artist in the future anyway.

DD has exactly the right idea, concentrate on the other subjects and just write it off.

I'm on my phone, so couldn't magnify it well, because it was escaping from my screen, but is it some kind of knitting? It's beautiful! It looks totally three dimensional, too, and very even. She's very meticulous, isn't she? It must have been really difficult to keep check on where all the lines should start and end. Well done her!

Yes it's a close up of some crocheting. She is very meticulous but therefore very slow!

That does look good. Dd also took a long time over each piece. After reading this I'm worried she hasn't done enough of the writing bits, her portfolios were full of sketches and pictures etc but not a lot of writing. Her art teacher seems happy with what she's done though so who knows.

Art has been a stress from start to finish and she does wish she'd chosen something else. So much work.

I think parents should not do anything for work that is examined. It is wrong. SEN children get extra time in exams and family sitting around and producing the narrative is not right and gives a false impression of the work of the student. He just hadn't done it! Would you do this for English or Maths? You are not allowed into the exam room. If a student needs help it should be a teacher who supervises, not a parent at home when there is no control over input. It doesn't help in the long run because Mum can't always be there to help out when the going gets tough. Why should other children who don't get parental and family help be disadvantaged?

Art is time consuming. You don't have to write loads but you must make your thoughts clear. You have to trust the art teacher! (Or you could just write it yourself - that seems totally possible if the work comes home!)

SEN children may well have a scribe or full-time TA, Bojorojo. DS did.

If you read Flying's post above: 'My comments are made from years of helping sen students with work - usually them talking and me typing', you will see that this is quite a common approach. There is something about the typing/writing while thinking that gets blocked.

He sometimes uses software now to record lectures and to get his thoughts on paper. Whatever helps, really.

You do have to resist editing, though - and it can't be a better standard of grammar than the child's usual style. I would sometimes type up the stream of consciousness and hand the screen over to him to rehash.

What I'm talking about here, Bojo, is sitting with DS, surrounded by a huge heap of (often very good) artwork he'd already done but hadn't stuck down, saying 'Whose style was this one based on? Which final piece was it for?'

and would get

'S'meant to be on the page for the third one, the vase of twigs one. It's based on that Van Gogh picture, the one, um, about three pages back, the cherry tree one, aargh, well, it's meant to be in here but it seems to have fallen out again, I can't find it, can anyone see my printout? [stirs heap] Thanks [DSis], yes, oh fuck, I've knocked everything over, but I think there's a better one with ink swirls somewhere [rummage] and another acrylic one with loads of texture but it looked naff, so I scraped some off and repainted it, yes, that one, it'll be OK if I stick the corner back down, that worked well because the contrast is quite dramatic, isn't it? Oh sod it, I've lost the first one now.'

So my typescript would say (e.g.) 'These studies for my vase of twigs are based on Van Gogh's cherry tree picture. I used ink swirls in A and and acrylics in pictures B and C. I used loads of texture in B but it looked naff so I scraped some of it off again. It worked well because the contrast is quite dramatic...' [whatever he'd just said, verbatim, but minus the swear words]

and then he would look at the screen and change 'looked naff' to 'wanted a softer effect' or whatever.

On the subject of extra time, the school is bound by the JCQ regulations. It is very very unusual to get extra time for art. I wonder if they have misinformed her or she has misinterpreted what they said as it's quite explicit in their regulations. Sorry for the copy and paste below, it's lost its formatting but page 27 of jcq access arrangements states:

5.2.5 Extra time will not be permitted in examinations testing the time in which a skill is
performed, such as expressive arts, a musical performance, or a sport, where
timing is an explicit part of the assessment objective.

5.2.6 Candidates may not require extra time for each subject. As subjects and the methods of assessment vary, so the demands on the candidate will vary.
(See the third example on page 7 and the second example on page 17).
Extra time may not be appropriate in:
• practical examinations; or
• medium level or limited level GCSE controlled assessments where the
impairment has a minimal effect on the assessment.
Care must be taken within the centre to ensure that candidates (whose normal way of
working is to use extra time) are not placed at a disadvantage.

If after reading the above you still believe she should have extra time, speak to the exams officer at the school and the SENCO.

Dd won't discuss the details but the teacher won't be putting her grade up to a C. I'm assuming the one bit of work she did on Thursday wasn't enough.

She only has herself to blame.

No point asking about the extra exam time because she now says she felt she had enough time and couldn't add anything more to her exam work even with more time. Plus it sounds like it's the coursework which is the issue. Why she only gets told 5 days before it's sent off to the exam board is slightly annoying.

I think school art GCSE is a bit mad - my DS had finished everything, and it was all assessed (no exam, all course and class work). The teacher said he got a C which is OK, he was always a B/C...then when we got the results, he'd failed!
Apparently a moderator can and check the marking, and lowered everything she saw by a few marks, so about 4 of them had been told they passed, but failed.
All seems a bit chaotic....

Extra time situation isn't just as simple as you get awarded it so get it in the final thing. It has to be proven that it's the child's normal way of working in assessments. E.g. all our extra time candidates get it in every exam taken (internal or external) and any access arrangements are use regularly. It may be due to it not being her normal way of working in art that she's not got it for the final thing. Worth asking.

I remember your other thread about her being kicked out of the art room. Tbh your dd sounds like she is perhaps being rather 'challenging' with her teachers.

I was going to be all poor girl when I first read the thread. But if it's the same students as the thread you've referred to then I may be a little less sympathetic because that thread was awful.
And I agree about students repeating what they want to. I told one of mine they could get a 6 (B) if they sustained that level of work having got it once. They told the assistant head in a mentor meeting that I'd said they were going to get a 6 because they'd worked well.

Moving forward I think your child needs to listen to the feedback and act on it, whether or not it suits her "expressive style". She may not like accurate drawings but I'd damn well want my house being designed by an achitect who can draw accurately and not just express themselves

Not sure what thread you're remembering Masiepops.....I didn't think it was that awful. Dd and a couple of others were given permission to be in the art room at break and were there working. Another teacher came in and shouted at them saying they shouldn't be there, they said they had permission, they were told to get out or that they'd be banned.

Dd asked if a ban would include lessons as well and was promptly banned. She takes everything very literally and I don't think realised how cheeky that could sound.

She's actually very good at drawing accurate diagram quite sketches so I think would be fine with the art aspect of architecture. However she can't capture realistic replications of a tree, or a person or an animal for example....unless it's in charcoal.

The thread where people suggested the child's attitude was probably challenging and uncooperative and were shouted down and you defended your child's attitude just as you've done there. (She takes everything very literally and I don't think realised how cheeky that could sound)

It sounds like there's some organisational issues there in terms of communicating access arrangements etc. But equally, I always find myself a bit wary of accepting at face value the last minute "my gcses are going to be ruined by a nasty teacher" claims from students who've been rude/lazy.

I do accept that there is a good possibility that Dd has been aware of issues for longer than a week. However I did get a progress report from the school at Easter.....so only a few weeks ago saying she was on track for a B/C. So that can't have been accurate.

Maybe the B/C forecast assumed she would work on her portfolio and exam preparation as directed over Easter, with more detail and varied media. To pursue a career in architecture she will need to learn to work to deadlines and follow the brief.

That's a good point. Hadn't thought of that. I do accept that she hasn't done the work to a high enough detail/standard and others must have done.

Well it's done now. Thankfully she's still on track for an A* in graphic design according to her graphics teacher so at least she will have a good grade in that art/design subject.

I'm an art teacher and I've just spent the morning marking portfolios, or at least the first 2/3 of them (marked from lowest to highest) which is why I'm on the vino...
It does sound like she works quite slowly, that drawing is fab, probably a c/b standard but the drawing is a fraction of what's needed really.
Maybe he marked her c/w generously, wanted to encourage, and then the exam didn't go well, which if it were a really low mark would drop the overall mark down, as it's worth 40%. Often I can say to my boys look you've got a c in the c/w but then the exam let's them down unfortunately.
However, it doesn't sound like she's been given enough guidance. I have spoon fed till I've sucked all the joy out of it helped my lower attaining boys to find source images, get ideas, experiment etc for the exam so I know they have all the prep they need; it's up to them then in the exam. When you say they prepared for the exam for 2 to 3 weeks that is totally not right, she dhould have been given the exam paper as close to the 1st Jan as possible (I put mine online with prompts and images of artists work so the boys can get it as soon as poss) and they're exam was at the end of April. So that's over 12 weeks! It used to be 4,that was a nightmare, but it changed 8 years ago. I'd be asking about that, those kids haven't been given any chance to prepare and get the best grade they can.
A c grade needs to be generally consistent ability, so it can be fairly basic in places, just has to be clear, well developed and have a clear final outcome. If you've got the kids wiling to do it not like some of my lazy toerags and the support and guidance there with good topics for c/with it should be fairly simple to get a chance. Especially if your daughter can draw like that.
Don't let it put her off art, a foundation course might be a good idea if she still wants to pursue a career in that area.marks have to be sent off end of may so although she can do things now she's probably better off chalking it up to experience and getting ready for her other exams.

O ffs ignore typos stupid phone I can write really I promise!