Yr 11 support thread - the scaffolding is holding up well

[pointythings]

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

I still can't get my ds to do any revision. He would rather get a C and not work than work hard for an A. I think he is going to get a rude awakening in August, but I am sick of the sound of my own wheedling voice, and have concluded that I just have to let him get on with it. I am so envious of those who are helping their dc and wish I could do the same, but to no avail.

I think I've run out of energy. History tomorrow, and while my son has been revising, I'm pretty sure I can echo everyone on here in saying that a lot of the time spent at the desk will have been daydreaming and staring out of the window. BUT he's always done well in history exams and mocks, so I can only hope that that continues to be the case. It's one of his A level choices and the school wants an A to let him do it.

I've done loads of micromanaging over the last year to make sure work got done - literally sitting with him to go through French homework line by line, agreeing what questions would be done at the beginning of a homework session, then checking they had been done, standing over him while he finished essays and sent them in. It's been bloody hard work and very draining! So at this stage, my job is to keep the lad fed and watered, and make sure he gets to exams on time with all the right kit.

I really, really hope that some of the study habits and lessons learned about organising work and self this year will persist into sixth form, 'cos I really can't face another two years like this last one! I was a swot and my brother was cheerfully lazy - my parents were never involved in our exam prep. Actually, our school was barely involved in our exam prep - I certainly don't remember months of mocks and benchmark tests and revision sessions in school. Absolutely no extra revision sessions during holidays and after school and during exam private study leave. When did it become this all-consuming machine?

When league tables were invented is when it began to begin. It ahs got more and more like this I would say in the last five years or so, but not sure what the exact turning point was. Progress 8 has changed the landscape again this year and there is a lot of mania about high achievers.

Thankfully, from a workload point of view, my own school is fairly exam crazy but not quite as bad/focused/ whatever you might want to think of in terms of revision sessions as many of the ones I read about on here.

My DS's school is weird as they had sessions at Easter but now seem to have a muddled approach to revision, claiming students had no exam leave til June 14th, then back peddling, u turning and then u turning back again. maybe they have the same adviser as TM

I think, being a bit long in the tooth, teachers have changed , too.

When I started , teaching was full of looney lefties and liberal minded idealistic, creative and slightly rebellions types(and often quite inspiring but disorganised) and increasingly I notice new recruits and leaders are 'how high would you like us to jump?' types.

Anyone who isn't will not get ahead in the profession , she mutters darkly.

Gone are the days of 'O Captain, My captain'

Parents have changed , too.

I was fully prepared to do all that Cromwell has done, but my ds insists that my presence in his room "puts him off and makes him unable to revise". He has always done as little as he can get away with (sometimes less), but he is a really bright lad, sharp and insightful in class, less so when it comes to homework. Thankfully, his school has done away with study leave in favour of targetted revision lessons. I'm just hoping that these are enough. He had some holiday revision at Easter but none whatsoever this half term, sadly.

It's always difficult, unless you are inside the profession, to compare experiences because my public exam years are - dear god - 35 years behind me. I am hugely impressed by the degree of management nous and sheer focus that teachers and senior management bring to the task these days. My school had some good teachers, but the senior team were near invisible, and batshit crazy when they did appear. There was absolutely no sense that education was a process that could be improved, no monitoring, no development of teachers. I went to a grammar school, supposedly taking the brightest of that year's intake, and hoovering up more resources than other schools in the area. But still, even with all those advantages, a big chunk of my year took CSEs rather than O levels, because if you weren't willing/able to knuckle down and more or less manage your own learning, the school didn't have much to offer you.

Anyway, not to derail, but simply to say that teachers, heads and students seem to work very much harder these days than in the eighties!

I do sort of agree Cromwell but I also despair at the crazy amount of spoon feeding that goes on these days. Students - and parents- now get angry of there are no holiday revision sessions.

Call me old fashioned but I think revision is something for home... I am worried that we are inbuilding dependence on others to work hard. And that many students think school revision sessions are the sum total of what they need to do to prepare. In my DS's case, they could have tried teaching him properly for the last three years as well, one could argue.

A problem with in school revision session is their 'one size fits all' approach, born of necessity, Teachers advise students to revise in the way they did, or in the way the majority do - which is sometimes counter productive.

I think some subjects (the science's, history) are better suited to revision sessions than others.

Sorry - soapbox put away now!

I protest! That apostrophe in sciences was not put in by me!!

Damn you autocorrect!!!

I've been very happy for my son to take advantage of the revision sessions, but I agree that self-motivation and independence is incredibly important, and GCSEs are the seedbed for these qualities. I'll be watching carefully to see how the next two years pan out because the last thing I want is for offspring to head off to university if they really aren't suited to independent study. It's an expensive mistake to make, and shattering for self-confidence, I'm sure.

My comment was really meant more generally about how good schools seem to bring much sharper-edged management techniques (I'm sorry if that word makes people flinch in this context, but I can't think of another) to bear than back in the day. I've noticed it very much at my son's school this last couple of years, with a change of head and the senior team; it was always a decent school, but they did seem content to let the middling group of students bounce along fairly invisibly. There's now a much closer focus on every student, much more monitoring and testing, better use of IT to set homework and extension tasks across the whole curriculum and enforce deadlines, additional 'clinics' for students at every level and generally a lot more attention paid to getting students to achieve more. It's a bit of shock to the system, can seem somewhat relentless, but I am reassured that the staff are doing absolutely everything they can to support students.

At this point I am going to disagree with you Piggy, I think subjects like Science and History are easy to revise for it is the likes of English Language that are difficult/forgotten.

Ah yes, I agree : that's exactly what I mean. revision sessions at school are more effective for history and science as they are (on the whole) facts and recall based. English revision is about practice and reinforcement, as is maths : not too easy to do in revision sessions, I think.

English and maths aren't forgotten in most schools though. Quite the opposite? That's what I am meaning : lots of not very useful maths and English revision. I deliver some of it

True true Cromwell - still makes me sad as it's so automated and unspontaneous , but I realise that's an old fashioned view be nice of they paid us more now!

I would still argue the lost top of middle (like my own DS ) bumble along a bit unnoticed and the bottom - well , they are very expendable tbh with Progress 8, I feel.

But everyone on here sounds like great parents doing the best they can for their DCs : nice to see on MN as on other threads supportive parenting is called cotton wool parenting and one would be shot down in flames for even suggesting a 16yo have some parental input!

Was talking to my ds about Eng Lang revision, and the creative writing task. He said that their English teacher had told them to "basically YOLO it" Really, I asked? Turns out she'd told them that none of them were nearly as ambitious as they should be, and that they should go for it more

He seemed to think timing would be ok for English, is more concerned about the history timing - he's doing WJEC history and it's three papers, each only 75 minutes and a lot of information to get down.

history tomorrow gah

Good luck tomorrow for those who are taking history for GCSE.
My ds has revised but don't know enough to get at least a C+

Best of luck to everyone tomorrow

Yes, good luck everyone for tomorrow.

Ds needs an A in history-but we've spent the evening eating roast chicken and trifle and watching the Manchester concert. So who knows jwhat's going to happen?

History here too. Good luck all.

There's times when sitting with family and watching a concert is more important than revising.
We half watched the concert, I thought it was very moving.

Good luck for everyone's DC's today! We're food tech!!

Any good hints tips for what your child is using for eng language would be great. She keeps saying there's no more I can revise for that!!

History for us this morning and I'm a tad concerned that the book she is reading (which is supplied by the school) has Antwerp as being in Holland . Hopefully, it won't come up as a question.

Holland or the Netherlands? Antwerp was a key trading partner in the Netherlands for a long time. Depending on the period being studied it isn't necessarily wrong.

Exam free here today, but good luck to all those sitting exams today. No wine for parents until you've heard what your DCs have to say about it!

t875, sorry can't give you any tips on what DC has been using to revise Eng Lang - she's confident she can't learn anymore and her exam technique is good, so not touching the subject - lets hope she proves herself right on 24 August!! Actually I think it's because she's the three subjects this week she wants to do at A level, also her back up subject which she still wants to do really well with, ie unfortunately English and Maths aren't her main focus.