Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Secondary education

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

Year 12 / 6th form support thread

874 replies

minesawine · 03/09/2017 21:27

The term is about to start and I though it would be good to have a support group to help us on our 6th form journey.

May the year be drama-free and our DC's study hard and without complaint Halo

OP posts:
AtiaoftheJulii · 04/11/2017 17:26

Oh, the poor thing, that all sounds grim. I hope she can find some way to alleviate the burden.

errorofjudgement · 14/11/2017 21:01

Thought I’d bump the thread as it’s gone pretty quiet Grin
DD takes part in her first drama performance tomorrow, it’s a theatre in education piece at a local primary school.
They seem to have been rehearsing forever so it’ll be good to finally show what they’ve learned in front of an audience.

LittleHo · 14/11/2017 21:06

I think it is because this year is a blessed relief. The lull between the GCSE storm and the A Level hurricane!

ds is enjoying his A Levels.

Wiifitmama · 14/11/2017 21:08

I was wondering where this thread went! Things have been perfectly fine for my ds at 6th form until this week. They have 3 days off this week (something about admin days for teachers??) and he got sick! He is never sick but is really unwell with fever, sore throat etc. So he is spending all three days in his room feeling rotten. Not sure he will even be well enough to go back on Thursday.

In addition, I have an appointment tomorrow to see the head of department for maths and CS. Maths has been wonderful, but CS has been dire. Teacher not turning up, tests lost, and general crap teaching. DS is getting 100% on tests and when asking for extension work, being told to read ahead. So he does this and then has to sit for 3 hours in a double lesson each week being "taught" the same stuff he has just read ahead. Hoping the meeting tomorrow will solve this and find some solutions for him to be actually challenged. I have never met with a teacher before (let alone a head of dept) as he was home schooled until this year so wish me luck!

Monkey2001 · 14/11/2017 22:53

Good luck Wiifitmama!

LIZS · 15/11/2017 11:33

Dd has mid year exams week after next and says they are having study leave. Confused not sure why they can't revise at school in between.

Monkey2001 · 15/11/2017 11:46

Does she just mean they are going off timetable for the period of the exams? That is definitely better than doing exams during lessons, but I agree that you would not want weeks of study leave before the internal exams.

LIZS · 15/11/2017 12:02

She seems to think if they have no exam they don't go in. Some apparently will only have one or two exams and take rest of the week off!

Monkey2001 · 15/11/2017 12:55

I think it is a really good thing to be off timetable during exams. At DS's school they never were until the Y11 mocks, so they did not get that "exam feeling" and exams had to be split across lessons. The teachers could not carry on teaching the syllabus during lessons if some had exams and some were in the lessons. I suppose they could get them to come to lessons and make them revision time, but most sixth forms are trying to prepare them for being responsible for their own study.

AtiaoftheJulii · 15/11/2017 18:32

Dd2 and ds both had some leeway to come in late/go home early during their y11 mocks (can't remember as far back as dd1!) and in the 6th form all exams were definitely like that. I wouldn't expect them to have lessons interspersed with exams at this stage, and if they're not having a lesson it's a free, and ds doesn't have to be in college for frees.

AtiaoftheJulii · 15/11/2017 18:36

Wiifit how did your meeting go? Hope it was ok!

Ds had an email today letting him know he's through to BMO1 from the senior maths challenge. 7 of them in his college apparently. Doesn't know his score yet though.

LittleHo · 15/11/2017 19:16

They are not frees.....they are study periods. This has been drummed into us!

They seem to like studying the chip shop. Grin

AtiaoftheJulii · 15/11/2017 19:55

They are not frees.....they are study periods. This has been drummed into us!

Lol - at the college open evening, the principal said something about "what we like to call study periods but your children will call frees" Grin They're very much frees in our house, lol.

pointythings · 15/11/2017 22:04

Parents' evening tonight - things are going well. DD needs to work more detail into her essays to get the top marks, but the knowledge, work ethic and enthusiasm are there so that is a matter of technique. She's had A and A* in recent biology assessments (marked to A level 2017 boundaries) and B/C in History and English. Teachers are all incredibly happy with her. The school's UCAS person is going to look specifically into what her options are if things turn bad with Brexit - she is an EU national so if it all goes tits up and she ends up getting charged full UK tuition, we will need to look elsewhere. The school is willing to help prepare for that possibility.

Wiifitmama · 15/11/2017 22:16

Atiaofthejulii - thanks for asking. The meeting was fine. The head of department was very helpful. He acknowledged the problem, said he would work with the teacher to improve his ability to teach across abilities, and he is arranging for DS to start the coursework a year early and giving permission for him to be working in it in class (the 3 hour double period) so he can tune out of being taught the same thing he has already learned. All in all, a good solution. And he also told me Ds's progress grades which came out today. A's across the board so I am happy with that.

AtiaoftheJulii · 15/11/2017 22:46

Oh that's brilliant! So good that the HOD wasn't defensive about the situation, and has come up with a useful plan. Hope it works out Smile

pointy lovely to hear all's going well for your dd! Horrible though having all this Brexit uncertainty hanging over so many people's plans. Glad school are already thinking about it.

Laniakea · 17/11/2017 10:55

hello everyone :)

dd has been ill which has been a worry & she ended up missing her creative writing exam prep day. I'm unsure about her doing the A2, she's got a A at AS as it is a 4th A level I'd rather she sticks with that than risks getting a lower grade. She's really busy - the EPQ doesn't start properly until January but she's doing reading for it & has been doing tests for everything else ... I think the writing is too much (but obviously I know nothing!). Parents' evening is in a couple of weeks so I guess we can talk about it then.

I think she's doing okay over all - her report was fine. I think she should be doing more work but I always think that. She's asked me for help with biology once but apart form that I'm completely hands off - it's a bit strange!

Witchend · 17/11/2017 12:49

DD1's got her tutor meeting next week. In the way teens haven, she's now decided that she doesn't want to give up Chemistry. Apparently it's clicking and she's sort of enjoying it. She's enjoying the bit she teaches herself though rather than the lessons.
However she still is doing too much work, and is feeling snowed under.

I had quite a long chat with her last night when I got in, and I think it's at least partially because she's getting the bus and hates it, as it's sometimes late (and then she's late in-and the previous one gets in over an hour earlier, so not really a reasonable option when she's struggling with the length of the school day anyway), sometimes early (which they stresses her out about missing it) and she has a 15 minute walk home in the dark at the end of the day.
I have every sympathy, but can't really do much about it at present!

But part of the problem, I think, is that when she gets in at 5/5:15 she needs a break. So she plays around for half an hour to an hour, it then doesn't seem worth starting before dinner time, then she feels she has so much work she procrastinates about starting!
(there was an old man my grandfather knew/who had so many things that he wanted to do/ That whenever he thought it was time to begin/he couldn't because of the state he was in describes it perfectly!)

And add to that she's in several Whattsap groups where they help each other. Which is great when she's not sure, but can mean she's spending time trying to explain something to someone else by message, which is quite time consuming. I don't really want to discourage that, but between that and moderating The Student Room website she spends time helping others when she needs help herself.

We've had a chat though about managing time and she's agreed that she will try and get an hour in before dinner and hope to come off earlier in the evening, when she should be able to relax more.

minesawine · 19/11/2017 15:55

Hello everyone. It has been a while. Hope you are all keeping stress free at the moment.

I have had 2 calls from the school about my DS not turning up for morning registration. He starts lessons at 10.30 twice a week and would rather play PlayStation study at home. He does not get that he has to sign in regardless of when his lessons start, so it is an ongoing battle at the moment. Angry

We have parents evening next week and I am really worried. He says he is keeping up with the work but I just don't know, and I am doing the hands off, let him get on with it method at the moment. I bet this will have to change and I don't know if I have the energy after last year. Angry

OP posts:
Mumteadumpty · 19/11/2017 16:38

I am the same as you wine, sitting on my hands and trying not to interfere. We don't have a parents evening till next term, so it's quite a while till I find out what is actually happening. Certainly not a lot of study happening at home.

pointythings · 19/11/2017 17:10

wine if he isn't keeping up with the work he will be told. At this age he has to be left to reap the consequences of his own decisions. DD1 has a boy in her year who is repeating Yr12 - and he is failing in the same ways all over again. His responsibility entirely. They aren't babies any more.

I hope your DS pulls his finger out when he hears a few home truths.

minesawine · 19/11/2017 18:31

Thanks Mum and Pointy, My natural instinct is to try and fix things for him, but that hasn't worked so far so I really must let him sort it out himself.

Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised. I live in hope

OP posts:
pointythings · 19/11/2017 19:45

Letting them go and watching them fail is the very hardest thing. But he will only learn the lesson by being brought face to face with the consequences of his choices.

Laniakea · 22/11/2017 12:52

mines ... I've been doing hands off too - she managed to do okay (not exactly stellar) for the first half term. Needless to say she slipping back to normal for her - there's been a homework not done & the most recent tests have been Cs & Ds.

I'm fucking furious tbh - not only by the grades, but the way she cheerfully shows me she would've got As if she hadn't got entire sections wrong by misreading instructions or not quite remembering the right formula ... it was nearly right wasn't it?

I am so angry with the taking the piss attitude, it is like last year never happened.

Laniakea · 22/11/2017 13:25

chemistry - D - lost 14 marks by not reading the question (three separate 5 markers)
physics - C - got 0 on both multiple choice sections (no discernible reason)
biology - C - trying to get away with absolute minimum ... same old crap.

She'll be home in half an hour - if I rant here I'll be less angry by the time she gets home. I'm thinking of making her allowance dependent on getting Bs or above. That might focus her mind. Or not .... arrrgggghhhh