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Secondary education

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Original poster

GCSEs 2018

998 replies

DoNotBringLulu · 12/08/2017 16:19

Hi all, I am sure many of us with dc going into year 11 this year are trepidatious about teachers and pupils thrown in at the deep end due to the new GCSEs.

There is one thing I can do which I hope will help my ds (even though he thinks I'm mad!), which is to get hold of this year's GCSE English Language and English Literature papers, read the books and work through the paper myself - I studied English Lit at university over 20 years ago. I will know for myself after I've done this how difficult the exam papers are at least - I'm not sure who I can ask to mark it for me though!

Can anybody tell me how challenging the Maths and English papers were for their dc? I understand these were the two subjects introduced with the new format.

OP posts:
charlmum60 · 11/10/2017 09:59

My DD seems to be switching on and being more focused this year (probably because her friends are too). She was a little stressed at first with Computer Science controlled assessment but I think its been going well (now) and the teacher had made a boob with timings so whilst they thought they had 40% of time left they actually had 50%...not all the kids have found it easy...but coding is my DD's strength its the other 80% marks I worry about! Allot of the children are stressed out about drama and music this week (lots of tears and panic attacks going on)- DD not doing either of these subjects. Sciences all going well (apart from the fact Chemistry teacher changed this year)...weakest science Biology - recent tests all grade A now so going in right direction. Biggest concern is French - nightmare with lots of children dropping out ..I'm trying to keep DD motivated to continue but feel that she may well want to drop because the class/teacher is clashing - will be interesting to see out many more drop out after exchange in one week.

Sadik · 11/10/2017 12:59

A level open evening at the local college not until January here. Having said that DD's school doesn't have a 6th form, and she's visited the college & pretty sure she wants to go there (are 2 other possible schools, but neither likely to have any significant numbers moving in for 6th form) so it's really more about choosing subjects than location.

WhatHaveIFound · 11/10/2017 13:09

DD has visited one college already (hated it) and will visit our local school next week. The open evening at her current school is in November but she's really not sure if she wants to stay there.

I'm now trying to get visits to two other school as we can't make their open mornings. The one i spoke to on Monday was supposed to be emailing me back with a date/time but I haven't yet. Not a very good first impression!

WishfulThanking · 11/10/2017 14:46

DS seems to be enjoying the (hugely ramped up) workload. There have been interventions and extra sessions all over the place. There is a full day study session in French this Friday because the wonderful new teacher has realised that his entire class is behind where they should be and put this in place. There's tests galore.

He and his circle of friends seem to have got very competitive and keen to do well, which is great. I don't want him to burn out, though, so it seems to be me telling him not to do too much.

Oddsocks15 · 11/10/2017 18:32

DH has just text me to say that our DD English teacher has phoned him as DD has not handed in 2 lots of homework and teacher is worried about DD, as study leave coming up for them to revise for mocks. DD is fiercely independent where homework is concerned and refuses and intervention from us.

DH and I are going to tackle her soon..... I need wine Wine

TheSecondOfHerName · 11/10/2017 18:42

DS2's application for plan B is ready to be posted tomorrow. They asked for predicted grades which his school has provided; quite interesting as this is the first time the school have shared these. Up till now, all we've seen have been target grades.

Littledrummergirl · 11/10/2017 19:05

Thedonald, there's no stress here from ds2 either so your not alone. He says that he is working hard and ultimately he will take ownership of his results.
Hes away on camp this weekend so not much work will get done!

BlueBelle123 · 11/10/2017 19:59

Oddsocks15 hope your DD is OK, will she off load onto you or just bottle it all up saying everything is fine?
Good luck for the talkSmile

Oddsocks15 · 11/10/2017 20:24

BlueBelle123 back from the talk, it ended in her getting upset and worked up into a state. She mostly bottles things up, she is apparently seeing the school nurse tomorrow about her stress. She confessed that she is falling behind with her homework.

Reading between the lines, I assume she (and maybe the teachers?) are putting pressure on her. She is middle/high achiever and talks about going to 6th Form, Uni etc. She talks about grades that she has set herself for her GCSEs.

She flatly refused for me to talk to school

Wine
BlueBelle123 · 11/10/2017 20:33

Oddsocks15 Would she let you help her, maybe plan out her work, sometimes just the thought of everything you have to do Or think you should be doing can be very over whelming.

Its still an awfully long way off to the actual exams, or is she stressing about the mocks?

Oddsocks15 · 11/10/2017 21:19

BlueBelle123

DD just come downstairs for a calmer chat. She is feeling a bit depressed, hence the trip to the school nurse. I think the quantity of homework is overwhelming her and she is deep thinker with a tendency to overthink.

Conversations around homework and in the past ended in eyes rolling and the insistence for DD to be independent.

DD creates her own study planner which I laminated for her and noticed it was blank. But I’m trying to pick my battles.

Lots of treading on eggshells ahead!

Mocks start in November....
Wine

Oddsocks15 · 11/10/2017 21:20

And yes, I think she is getting stressed over her mocks

BlueBelle123 · 11/10/2017 21:43

Maybe wait to see how she does in her mocks, if she's on track then it might relieve some of the pressure, or if she doesn't do as well as she wants then she might let you help then.

It was very good of the teacher to notify you, at least you know they are aware of the situation, its such a worry though when you see them so stressedSad

At least she knows your there for her and she will appreciate it, even if it may not look like it at times!

BlueBelle123 · 11/10/2017 21:47

Oh I nearly forget have Wine, something we are all going to need over the coming months!

Oddsocks15 · 11/10/2017 21:59

BlueBelle123

Yes I am glad the teacher phoned us, it have us a way in to broach the homework situation. I think we are in for a rocky road ahead

Who decided to put teens and GCSEs together?

Thanks for the Wine BlueBelle123

BlueBelle123 · 12/10/2017 08:44

Oddsocks15 you could also try discussing with your DD what her worst fears are regarding GCSE's and then look at her options if that should happen....the point being whatever happens there are always options her world will not end if she doesn't do as well as she hopes. I think knowing this can help with relieving pressure, teenagers can have a very black and white approach to life!

In relation to mocks, provided you know that they have worked, if they haven't done as well as they hoped I always put a positive spin on things ie, this is what mocks are for to highlight your weaknesses so you can iron them out now and no-body expects you to be exam ready now, the exams are still X months away and of course the old favorite, you learn more from the things you get wrong than you do from the things you get right!!! (with my DC I'm basically saying WOW its great that you are no-where near perfect, at this stageGrin)

Oddsocks15 · 12/10/2017 20:40

BlueBelle123
doesn't help that my Mum is boasting how bright DD is to anyone who will listen, apparently DD got her brains from her ..... Hmm

Ha, ha Grin I always try and put a positive spin on any test results that DD has received over the years that have been lower than she hoped. She has recently started throwing that back at me that I'm too optimistic and not a realist! Ho hum...

LooseAtTheSeams · 13/10/2017 07:32

Pre-mocks can be a very tense time - I totally agree that it’s absolutely normal for them not to go quite as well as expected, especially if not every topic has been quite finished. I set a mini mock English paper for my one-year GCSE students at half term and I don’t expect it to go well at this stage! It’s FE so some are resitting but others are new to GCSEs.
Also the combination of mocks and coursework deadlines is not ideal. DS is revising, though so I’m keeping out of it!

KingscoteStaff · 13/10/2017 08:22

DS's mocks start on January 4th.

That's going to be a jolly Christmas hols...

BlueBelle123 · 13/10/2017 10:29

In 3 weeks DS's mocks will be over!Shock

WhatHaveIFound · 13/10/2017 12:41

We were told mocks in February. Is that late?

DD has been given loads of maths papers and revision tasks to do over half term.

MyVisionsComeFromSoup · 13/10/2017 12:46

we don't have mocks, instead we have "winter exams" at the end of November, and "spring exams" in about March Confused. Apparently no-one was taking them seriously if they were called mocks Grin.

Sadik · 13/10/2017 13:02

No idea when mocks are here - I'm guessing after Christmas from my memories of seeing past generic 'important date' letters go round. Annoyingly the school took down their old website last spring (rather out of date, but they did at least have uniform info / pdf copies of all letters etc on it) and the new one with nothing but placeholder pages has been there ever since.

WishfulThanking · 13/10/2017 13:07

Our mocks are in November and we get the results back in December, just after the deadline for the 6th form application form of the school we viewed last night. The school said this was fine, we could send the transcript on to them once we have it.

WishfulThanking · 13/10/2017 13:08

I can't believe we are viewing sixth form places. I remember viewing mine like it was yesterday....but it was 24 years ago and now I have a kid doing the same Shock