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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Year 11 support thread - keep on keeping on!

867 replies

AtiaoftheJulii · 09/06/2017 06:36

Just getting this ready!

Following on from www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/2936097-Yr-11-support-thread-the-scaffolding-is-holding-up-well

Good luck to those with exams today 🍀

OP posts:
Danglingmod · 06/08/2017 17:44

It's better than last year - results on the Thursday and most schools or colleges started back the Tuesday after (after a bank hol). There's an extra week this year!

Quadratilla · 07/08/2017 21:25

Dd's school insist (well, advise VERY strongly) that all pupils have a back up sixth form place. She has visited her backup and will go if she fails to get into her sixth form.

gazzalw · 08/08/2017 08:28

We strongly encouraged DS to have a fall-back additional sixth form (with lower results expectations) option just in case...He didn't go to their induction day in July though. So he's either buried his head in the sand or is confident that he did do well enough to stay at his current school. Hopefully it's the latter! He hasn't been the most consistent or diligent of pupils (although rather upped his game in Yr 11) so it's not entirely easy to predict how he will have done!

Think it would be nice to just get the results done and dusted to move on with enjoying the remainder of the hols. Once they get into the sixth form they will be hitting the floor running, I would imagine!

Quadratilla · 08/08/2017 16:33

gazzalw - Ha! the look I got when I suggested she go to the backup induction day. She is also sticking her head firmly in the sand and assuming she will get the results to stay where she is!

I find it reassuring that we have the back up, even if she doesn't.

Danglingmod · 08/08/2017 17:22

No back up here. I don't think any of the sixth forms have any different entry criteria. Six Cs to include at least Bs in your chosen A level subjects, except A/7 for maths which is not one of ds's subjects. So if he doesn't get that, he can't go anywhere!

mynotfinkso · 08/08/2017 18:22

Is it normal for a school to decide the A level timetable before the GCSE results are out? Dd's school have done this and are saying they won't be changing it. As a result, dd can only do two of the A levels she wanted to do. It just seems a bit inflexible given that they don't have the full picture yet.

teddygirlonce · 08/08/2017 18:41

mynotfinkso maybe it depends on the teachers they have (and what subjects they can/will teach), so from that point of view could already be written in stone?

Gosh that's a bit harsh, Danglingmod - your DS having to get a 7 in Maths to get into sixth form.

tiggytape · 08/08/2017 18:57

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mynotfinkso · 08/08/2017 18:57

teddygirlonce, yes I suppose that could be it. The teacher said that he'd arranged the timetable based on what the majority wanted to do, which made it seem a bit unfair given that they don't know how everyone has done yet (though I suppose they have a good idea with a lot of the pupils) Oh well, I suppose things will be clearer on results day!

noblegiraffe · 08/08/2017 18:59

normal for a school to decide the A level timetable before the GCSE results are out?

Yes, completely normal. Schools will have been putting together the whole school timetable for months and they can't do that if sixth form stuff isn't set. Teachers need to know what their timetable is for September and the rest of the school need to get theirs first day back. That will all have been done before the summer.

Danglingmod · 08/08/2017 18:59

To do maths A level, not to get into sixth form!

tiggytape · 08/08/2017 19:00

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Danglingmod · 08/08/2017 19:09

Yep, that's it, Tiggytape. Standard (minimum) requirements, really? If you don't get 6 Cs, you're not really A level standard?

dingit · 08/08/2017 19:10

Argh! Wasn't worried about gcse results day until I read this thread. Mind you, we have the small matter of a level results next week. Shock

gazzalw · 09/08/2017 08:50

At DS's school they have to get 8 of which four must be at least As, a science subject and Maths and English at A*-C - they aren't allowed to do A Levels in the subjects unless they've got at least an A grade.

Hence the need for a back-up option...just in case. Quadratilla it is reassuring to know there is one BUT I'm not sure DS will see it that way. Let's just hope it's not going to be an issue for either of our DC.

I was thinking back to my own 'R'(esults) Day - many many moons ago. I am not sure I really had the faintest clue how I was going to do (I didn't do brilliantly - did much, much better in A Levels). I don't think we had scrutinised grade boundaries to work towards and not even particularly convinced that we were given projected grades. And even at a grammar school the grades to get into the sixth form were standard (rather than inflated) ones.

There does seem to be so much more pressure on the DC these days...

gazzalw · 09/08/2017 09:06

Dingit that's tough for you - good luck for both your DC.

tiggytape · 09/08/2017 09:26

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gazzalw · 09/08/2017 10:02

@tiggytape I reckon it's the schools and league table positions that add the extra pressure. And competitive 'helicopter' parenting seems to have become a thing that it never was in the past - parents' identities/sense of worth seem to be so much more caught up in their children's achievements these days (generally speaking) - there seems to be no room for being average?

tiggytape · 09/08/2017 10:26

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gazzalw · 09/08/2017 11:58

Agree with all the above @tiggytape - we live in very different times!

pointythings · 09/08/2017 14:00

We don't have a backup 6th form, but the 6th form has backup options in case DD doesn't meet her targets - she can change to more vocational courses if it has all gone wrong. It's pretty unlikely that it has in real terms. The academic stream just demands a minimum B in whatever subject you want to do, except for History which also demands a 6 in English language. Which seems fair enough.

DrMadelineMaxwell · 11/08/2017 01:13

No backup 6th form here either. No chance of taking A levels in her school, so it's move to another school (she didn't like any of them), or go to the new, custom built Sixth Form college. They require 6 GCSEs at C or above. She's already got 3 under her belt. (A, A, B) and is predicted As and As for the rest.

She veers between wanting a lift (but stay in the car, Mum) to get her results, or saying that she'll walk. She also says she'll go in, get her results and go home to open them, hopefully avoiding her friends. She's always struggled a bit with friendships, although she has made several friends. She doesn't put the time into seeing them as she can't be doing with any fall outs between people, so keeps herself out of the loop a bit. But then feels a bit left out. She can't WAIT to see the back of a certain few kids who have really leaned on her support but not given very much back in return.

I'm just nervous about any fall out if she doesn't live up to her own exacting standards. She worked bloody hard all year. But there were tears in her eyes when she only got an A instead of an A* in numeracy. And full on floods of tears when she got a B in Eng lit.

On top of that, I didn't twig that Welsh Bacc (a separate subject) is compulsory. So when she chose 4 A level options for her provisional application, it means 5 inc the Welsh Bacc. Which was viewed as 'ambitious' when she went for the A lev college induction day.

She wanted to do Eng, Eng lit, Psychology and History. She desperately wants to write for a living (or have a job that uses writing if she can't write books) and thinks she really needs Eng and Eng lit. She's interested in Psychology. So thinks that it's History that will have to go. But until recently, History teacher was her backup plan. I don't envy her the choice.

RaskolnikovsGarret · 11/08/2017 15:29

Hello all

DD has had a busy few weeks - two weeks' work experience, and then a week's concert tour round Eastern Europe. She has also met lots of friends, and messed around with her cousins, which she has really enjoyed.

We are now on holiday - a busy one flying round, so zero time to dwell on results. She's loving her time off, which is great. I've never seen anyone work so hard continuously for 7 months, so she definitely deserves a break.

Results in school at 9am. Her sister and I will go with her, but very few of her friends are going in. Most are happy to wait until they return to school to find out. Seems bizarre to me! They need a minimum of 6 As, and A stars for certain A level subjects, to stay on at school, so it feels a bit complacent to me not to go in! But whatever works for them.

Dinner booked in the evening for us, plus grandparents and cousins etc. regardless of how she does. She wants to cancel if she gets much less than perfect grades, but we are insisting that she go ahead - I know she will do well enough, and she has done her best, which is all that matters.

5am flight tomorrow, so will log off now. Hope your DCs keep calm unil the big day!

Woody67 · 13/08/2017 22:59

We are on holiday on results day so DS has authorised someone to collect his results and will call them if he wants to. He is fairly confident but a bit worried that he might not get a B equivalent at Maths (6). He would have done last year, Maths is a strong subject for him but due to the changes, it's now a bit of an unknown quantity.

RaskolnikovsGarret · 14/08/2017 00:37

Actually I think I was unfair to refer to people as complacent. I just don't think DD would ever be confident / laid back enough to assume her results would be ok enough to wait to go back to school to find them out.