Yr 11 support thread - the scaffolding is holding up well

[pointythings]

Because we need a new thread now that things are really hotting up!

Dd has 13 more exams, last ones on June 16th. So far she's finished French, English lit, creative writing & her BTEC - she's got 7 more subjects in the next 2 weeks of exams.

21 done, 8 to go. I've banned all revision until Tuesday. He is exhausted so any revision now would be counterproductive for him. It's so nice not spending the day wondering how the exams are going and waiting for a text to say 🙂 Or 😞.

Loving the idea of having to "ban revision"!

I know! I'm such a bad mother Bertrand 😂 It's your favourite subject too! Greek !

Her last A Level exam is 29th June. Not much time for marking when you come to think about it.

Alas! 'Banned revision' is not a word that will ever be heard in this house.

Dd had a welcome distraction of her dance school show on Friday night and 2 performances yesterday. We watched last night and it was fantastic! After all the worry about whether she should take part or not during GCSEs, it was definitely the right decision. She had 7 different dances including a small solo, we were soooo proud of her

She's understandably knackered today so will rest and start revision tomorrow.

I've now got my Year 9 dd worrying about her end of year exams which start on 5th June. She's gone off on DofE expedition this morning, back tomorrow.

No revision in this house until Tuesday. Went out with DS to buy his prom suit, he looks so mature in it.

How do I motivate Dd to get started on revision again? She can't get going so browsed over maths. She is now crying as she wanted a 7. She did the Edexcel higher paper - which she found really hard. Any guesstimates over the marks to how many you would have to get out of 80 to get a 7? I reminded her about the national average of 14% last year. I hate the fact that this paper has demoralised her so much.

what grade does she need castle? dd is just focusing on what she needs rather than what she wants/would be nice/thinks she deserves (!) ... it is a grim old slog & this year has been particularly nasty wrt maths & English :(

Thanks everyone. She's in top set of a good comp so expected a 7, with a possibility of an 8. She will be very happy with a 7 after that paper.

Dd said some of maths Set 1 'gave up', some were crying but she kept going trying to get any marks out of those last questions. We had talked about how to keep going to try and scrounge a few extra marks as every mark really counts when the % are so low. Bloody Gove.

I think lots of students found Maths Edexcel difficult so try not to worry. Even the level 8 / 9 students couldn't complete it in ds school.

Yeah, last year for Edexcel it was 35% for a C and 70% for an A. These exams are tougher, but proportions getting a C and above, or an A and above are going to be matched to last year, so it seems likely that the raw marks needed for those grades will be lower.

I mean, we can't end up with everyone doing badly in August!

Ds felt better when I told him about others year 11s finding the exam hard. MN kids are often outstanding kids who can read Harry Potter in Reception and they found it hard. It's shit that politicians have started this new regime without defining things. It's a shame that they haven't learned from this and tried to help current year 10s who'll have all new-style exams.

He's not revised since Friday and probably won't get back on the wagon until tomorrow evening. I think he'll probably pick a non-maths subject like science which are his strongest subjects.

The irony is that ds might get a better mark at English which he dislikes than maths which is his real strength! Crazy upside down world.

For once reading that everybody else's Dc have done less than my Ds has made me feel better! I was chasing after him to work yesterday & he was beyond reluctant. We had agreed on maths calc plus either history or human geography each day, from yesterday & he managed 17 maths questions. He has done next to no history & geog so far saying he has the whole of the holiday, but I'm obviously concerned as a weeks hol so flies by.
fleur did you buy or rent? I wasconsidering buying but I'm not sure he's finished growing. More time to be taken up in the hols.
littleho I'm going to have the A level gcse combo in two years time,talk about bad planning how are you bearing up? Dd isrevising for year end year 9s but at least she doesn't need hoofing out of bed & constant reminders. She amazingly accepts my advice on planning & prioritising & accepts my help I can tell you it's a lot less stressful than Ds plan of some sadistic version of examchicken

No revision done here since Friday am. Just giving her time to wind down and have fun (not sure she's had time to wind down though as she's been constantly doing something).

DD has spent the last few days just chilling. Hopefully she'll be back at the revision today.
Plus I'm astonished at how much revision the school are putting on. From other posters I can see it's very widespread, so on behalf of Y11s and their parents, a huge thank you to any teachers reading this

DS has also relaxed the past few days. We have not even mentioned revision.

The plan was that he starts again today which may not be popular. He is not up yet but we will wake him soon.

No half term school revision at all here (apart from one focused session in a subject DS does not do) which is a real shame and I wonder if it will put them at a disadvantage to the majority who seem to have it.

No half-term revision offered here either. I think it's fair enough - the DCs and the teachers all deserve a break. There's plenty of past papers etc on the school website which they can access if they want.

No work here done since the Eng Lit exam on Friday and we have a treat scheduled for today, so no chance of anything being done until this evening at the earliest.

I'm another one with the GCSE / A-level combo happening in our house this year. I don't recommend it!!

Littleho same here, based on DS's exam feedback it looks like he'll get a better mark in English which we've always seen as his weak subject than maths his strong subject. He did the level 6 SATs in primary and failed to get a 6 in English but achieved it in maths. And now I am worried he may fail maths?!? Strange world...

ready I bought, renting was coming to a similar amount, slightly cheaper but not worth in my view to save only £10-15. Went to Next and got an amazing lady who took charge of DS and fitted him with a lovely suit. It was quite amusing as if I would have given him all the advice this lady was giving him he would have mumbled and not listen to me. We bought a suit that he can wear in sixth form also, so not single use for the prom.

I have the GCSEs/11+ combo this year, with two summer born dcs also, talk about bad planning.

error I agree, DS's school has put on so many revision sessions, it seems all schools do it, so thank you to all the teachers out there going through this stressful time with our DCs.

Prompted by another thread that said people don't like anonymous usernames, I've name-changed from "namechange"! Those of you who've lived in Liverpool may get the reference.