GCSEs 2018 (3)

[mmzz]

Following on from:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3113917-GCSEs-2018-2

teenmum I was hijacking Second's wobble! I've got a bit of a break in GCSE stress after this year because DS2 is only in Y8 and doesn't choose options until next year. On the other hand, we'll have DS1's A level angst before that!

Sorry LooseAtTheSeams - brain not functioning....

I'm not possessive about the wobble, anyone can join in.

We need the photo teen. I'm a great believer in bargain frocks.

No revision whilst we're away.

February 2020 I hope to still be here.dgd will be in 2 and year ( hopefully) of uni and dgd may hopefully be on an apprenticeship.

Dgs tha should read on last bit.

An hours revision a d half hour laughing at Mr Salle's awful jokes!

I have twins in Y9, their school choose options in Y8 and start Y9, I’ll have 2 x GCSEs and 1 x A levels ahead

No mention of prom here so keep posting dresses please!!

DD a lot happier today, it’s like Jekyll and Hyde! She did a practice paper and I’m trying hard to keep it zipped about revision.

@Oddsocks15 did you speak to her yesterday? Do you think you got through to her that you are 100% on her side?

Teen I've had a week of forgetting and losing stuff - think my brain switches off at half term! Sostenueto I regret to say I laughed at Mr Salle's jokes...well, one or two!
No more art exam prep done this week though there is some talk of taking photos tomorrow.

mmzz - yes I did speak to her. She told me that she felt unloved which broke my heart. Seems that she replays negative throw away comments that DH and I make in her head. These comments are made in frustration because we want to see her better (mental health wise) and I explained that.

I was watching the Winter Olympics in bed last night, and she asked me for a cuddle which is really out of character for her so she got in DHs side of the bed and we were cuddling, watching tv and chatting.

@Oddsocks15 your post brought tears to my eyes. I am so glad you've been able to get her to open up to you. I hope this is your turning point. It sounds as though she's really been missing you.

and she sounds like a lovely, warmhearted girl. I can see why you are so proud of her.

Oddsocks sounds really positive ...it seems to be so tough for girls at this age - I think they do dwell on everything that is said to them -
(or indeed any aspect they think is remotely flawed) bless her.

On a different note a friend posted this - looks like we have no hope !

SANTA ROSA, CA—A study released by the California Parenting Institute Tuesday shows that every style of parenting inevitably causes children to grow into profoundly unhappy adults. "Our research suggests that while overprotective parenting ultimately produces adults unprepared to contend with life's difficulties, highly permissive parenting leads to feelings of bitterness and isolation throughout adulthood," lead researcher Daniel Porter said. "And, interestingly, we found that anything between those two extremes is equally damaging, always resulting in an adult who suffers from some debilitating combination of unpreparedness and isolation. Despite great variance in parenting styles across populations, the end product is always the same: a profoundly flawed and joyless human being." The study did find, however, that adults often achieve temporary happiness when they have children of their own to perpetuate the cycle of human misery.

Teenmum was the research carried out my a manic depressive......it does absolve us all of any blame as to how our children turn out!!! But really I can't take that research seriously

Hmmm I wonder - I find it hard to imagine that any one could come to the conclusion that all children will be " profoundly flawed and joyless human beings"

Its not a great picture of Prom dress - DD has one on her phone in the actual dress....Its a lovely pastel lilac colour - think the plan is may dry and get it dyed black after the prom

Ha! To the article - sounds like the researchers got themselves in a right pickle!
Very pretty dress, by the way - I do like lilac!

Such a pretty dress! Love the colour! Teenmum!

Sparkly! Love it. I think we can all resign ourselves to everything being our fault when this vs go wrong and everything being down to their own independent selves when things go right. DD did us proud at a family dinner last night & apparently we shouldn't have told her repeatedly how proud of her we are and how lovely she looked in a frock & heels (breaking in sparkly shoes & practising walking in them pre prom).

mmzz thank you, I very proud of her but realise that I am biased!! sorry to make you cry

She asked me to make her a Drs appointment which I have tried to do but apparently the Dr that we need to see for teen mental health problems still doesn’t have his diary on the system so need to phone back next week....

Love the dress teenmum

Slight diversion from year 11 talk but I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of the phenomenon where a student messes up in exams despite knowing the answers and not being stressed? I ask because this is what DS2 continually does. The teachers see it too.

Dear God Help me.

Hi all, I am a new citizen in the UK and GCSE's BEFORE the new number system were never properly explained to me, and the new number system has seemed to muddy waters further with completely nonsensical explanations of grade equivelants differing from teacher to teacher.

First off, I've just clued up on the tiers foundation/higher. I could not be more livid at this nonsense. My poor son has taken so much heat from us over his average grades and I'm only now finding out through hours of research online that he can not hope to EVER get a 7-9 when stuck on foundation. I have NO DOUBT my son can acheive these grades. He's a lazy kid, but crams at the end and can acheive very high marks. He has proven this throughout primary school, so finding out he's been streamed into a capped exam is truly frustrating.

How am I supposed to be happy that he comes out of school with average marks when he is capable of much better grades? He plans o going to college for Digital media, which he has studied for the past two years at a specialty school, so since this will be his last year in the core subjects of english, math, spanish, science, I was determined he acheive the highest level of learning. Apparantly that won't happen.

What the heck is going on here? I'm so confused. In my country, you get marks out of 100%. Here's an example, from 2 years ago: if you get a 35, you have failed disasterously. Here, a 35 is the average for the class. But a 35 is GOOD says the teacher. WHAAATTT??

So, his mocks:
English 5
Math 5
science 5
spanish 2
sociology.........Fail

The spanish teacher said his grade was GOOD. GOOD!??!!? Am I in a alternate universe?

mmzz no experience but is there an expectation for your DS to achieve certain grades, from himself or his teachers? Maybe it is fear of failure or perceived failure? self sabotage?

Self sabotage? I hadn't thought of that.
Ds2 does well in all the baccalaureate subjects, just like DS1. Unlike DS1 though, he is very laid back. When he sits exams he always drops marks all over place. I was putting it down to lack of preparation.
However he has a science exam on Monday and I was feeling guilty over how much time I've given DS2 recently so I decided to test DS2. TBH I was expecting to find gaps in his knowledge but he knew everything. I was trying my best but I couldn't find any holes in his knowledge. I bet when he does the exam though, he'll do ok but only enough to scrape into the top set next year.
It's the same in all subjects. His teachers have sad to me at parents night that they can't work him out.
Ds2 is very competitive around DS1 and would love to beat him (comparing how DS1 did in year 9). I discourage it, but not successfully. So, it's not as though he is without motivation.
Another difference between them is in confidence: DS2 has bags of it and always thinks he has done better in exams than he later finds out he did, whereas DS1 always thinks he messed up and then does really well.

mmzz if your DS2 is competitive against DS1 maybe he does have an inner fear of failure. Does DS1 encourage the competitive nature of DS2?