GCSEs 2018 (2)

[Stickerrocks]

Pre-empting our 1000th post.

Monday night is GCSE options for DD Year 9. And it all starts again...

I've got one of those too. She has informed me that when it comes to her GCSE options, she doesn't require my opinion or input. 🙄

do any of you receive school reports that have words and opinions on them, rather than just a set of coloured dots

DD gets one once a year with a comment from every teacher.

The boys only get a comment from teacher if there is a concern or if the teacher chooses to comment.

MMzz My dd gets a full report every term unless there is a parent evening that term and then its just a sheet with grades for effort, achievement and predictions- I (dd) find it helpful because it gives some direction where additional focus is required.

My dgd gets 2 progress reports and one full report each year. Teachers are free to comment on all three but generally full report has most comments and advice in where to improve.

My dgd has to do substantially more than an hours revision to be anywhere near a level 9 bluebell. She does between 2 and 2 and a half hours a day!!! And has done so since year 7. She us an alrounder and though she only dropped a little bit in mocks ( mainly due to terrible exam nerves which she has suffered terribly with and which make her physically sick) she predicted 8s and 9s almost across the board except for English (ugh) of course and an hour is DEFIANTLY not enough revision and work time for those top grades IMO.

Sostenueto I said that's what he's aiming for I never said it's what I thought he was going to get. Personally I don't get involved in his revision I leave it entirely up to him.

DS doesn't get any comments on his report

Dd is on her 4th book (reading for pleasure) Tbh that gives me more satisfaction than her doing any directed revision. She needs it to improve her grades overall because her expression and vocabulary are so lacklustre atm. She seems to be revising quite a lot though, but it is always very narrow, lots of flashcards very little trying 8 mark questions out, and very little interest in the subjects studied (atm..hope this will change with wider reading "intervention")

Ds2 is working hard in his own inimitable way, which consists of downtime checkign football scores. He received a couple of 7's and mostly 6's in the mocks, but we still need to get his English language result up if he is do essay based subjects for A level (he cannot do sciencey ones because his Maths is foundation level)

@Sostenueto Ds also has a clean sheet of 8s and 9s expected of him. An hour a day??! He isn't even planning on an hour a week at the moment (I tried, unsuccessfully, to interest him in making a revision timetable yesterday).

Realistically, unless he starts some serious swotting, he's not going to get more than a small handful of the top grades.

I'd never say this to DS, but I don't think it matters that much as long as he does well enough in English and whatever he needs for A levels. The only thing that does matter is that he doesn't develop a habit of doing the bare minimum to get by because that will do him long term harm.

Sorry Bluebell must have read it wrong!

Children can get those high grades without revising if they’re clever/good memories/lucky. I did. Does give you a shock when you have to work later

Revision is important but quantity doesnt mean quality. I worry that there’s too much pressure if there’s all work and no play. I’d rather have ok grades and a balanced child than them burn out over 8/9s , particularly this year when no one knows what they’re doing anyway.

Yes nettleskins I'm trying hard to get my dgd to read books for pleasure but she moans she gas no time what with revision, homework etc! English is the worry but she got a total of 3 offers out of 3 for 6th form including her school she currently goes to but of course she has to get those grades!

I'm afraid with top universities now looking at the new GCSE results as well as A level results these GCSEs may be more important than people think, afterall it was the universities that wanted GCSEs to be reformed! Russell group are definitely asking for particular GCSE as well as A level grades.

The universities are interested in the GCSEs so as they can compare the rate of progress made from keystage 2 to GCSE. They are looking to see if the student has progressed higher than expected to see if they will make good students.
In my dgd maths class which is top group for maths she is the only one with a level 5 keystage 2 sat in maths, all the others got a 6 in their SATs. She is currently 7th in her class......so hard work does pay and of course there are children with exceptional abilities and more importantly professional parents who are either teachers themselves or have degrees or have had private tutors for their children. My dgd has none of those advantages.

I’m not disagreeing they needed reforming. The last few years have opened my eyes to have much they had changed but this is a very drastic change and schools are under pressure and passing it down. Schools should be just allowed to get the best out of students. Not everyone is above average despite what the government thinks.

I’m just seeing a lot of children getting over stressed due to the pressure passed on to the by schools and the media.

Regarding progress from the sats, the only way anyone can compare like with like is by excluding the level 6s since some schools chose not to have their pupils do them.
Maybe someone else can remember whether 5a was reported or the children just got 3, 4c, 4b,4a and 5?
Either way, they weren't very granular so it would be interesting to know what progress is expected of the children who got straight 5s, and therefore what constitutes exceeding expectations?

It's a bit odd of universities to care what progress a DC made between KS2 and ks4! They obviously want talented, enthusiastic, hardworking students but analysing what the 18 year old was like as a pre-teen is I'd suggest going to throw up quite a lot of false negatives and false positives.

Totally agree mmzz but they are all the same.
Level 4 year 6 sat expected GCSE grade 4-6
Level 5 year 6 sat expected GCSE grade 7-8
Level 6 year 6 sat expected GCSE grade 8-9

My dgd got a 5a in math and a 4 in English missing a 5 by 1 mark.

According to the Fischer family index expected progress is 2 levels 3 levels classed as exceeding expected progress.

So if (say) you got 6 in maths, 5a in reading and 4a in writing, what are you expected to get in your Art GCSE?

Fischer family group goes on top %20 schools figures.

The universities won't know KS2 sats scores though! The only way they would is if a student put them on their Personal Statement...which would be ridiculous! I agree that GCSE grades matter to some universities but progress from KS2 sats definitely doesn't.

And they didn't do level 9 in ks3, so how could you exceed expectations if you got 6s in ks2.

@Sostenueto do you have a link to any of the official sources for what you are describing?

I'm impressed that you can recall so easily how marks your granddaughter got in a test 5 years ago! I can only make educated guesses at what DS1 and DS2 got, and DS2 was only three years ago!

How would a University know what Sats grades a student got. I agree some uni s and courses are interested in GCSE s but there are many that aren’t and just match predicted A level grades with their entrance requirements.

We had a look around a few Uni's before Christmas and I was surprised at their attitude towards exam results - certainly one of the Uni's stated that they held an open day where they invited potential students in and some places were offered on the basis of how they did on the open day - this was Product Design but also incorporated Architecture too. My Dd's school dont predict beyond an A (iGCSE)which I think is probably a good medium - they do achieve very good results (72% A*/A last year) but dont hot house - attitude is there is more to a good education than exams.....Ks2 to GCSE predictions are hard - there are two many variables and it assumes the same rate of maturity in all children without any external influences. I think focus needs to change to having happy, productive children who are inspired to learn NOT pass exams....

@Sostenueto sorry another question... how do you know what all the other DC in your granddaughter's maths class got in the KS2 Sats? I don't even know the names of everyone who is in Ds's maths class, never mind what they got in the SATS.