GCSEs 2018 (11) Big week coming up

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old thread

Everything calmed down. Dgd not revising a anymore tonight she finished at 6.30 and I rang dd to tell her to sugges a long bath for dd and some pampering girlie fashion when she gets out and bed at 8.45 pm which they did! Dd says dgd was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. She has to be up at 5 am to catch early train. I have to be up at 4 am to get mobile then take pup out then pick dgd up and take to station.

Good luck to all tomorrow and thanks to all for listening to my rants!

bluebelle spot on lucky for me the boundaries in this thread will probably be low

EllenJane, you have just made me cry with laughter! Please tell me what questions they were asking about Since You've Been Gone!
I do appreciate they have to have some modern stuff included. That particular song just has some lovely memories attached to it, which were never worthy of GCSE consideration at the time!

Oh, just seen the query about length for section B on English language. A page and a half is fine - the quality is what counts! Don't forget a lot of candidates will have written a lot less!
Brainmelt I love the Red Balloon! It made my day seeing that photo, so full marks for repetition!
DS seems to be happy with today's exams.

I might have been a bit of a rock chick in my youth! I love a bit of Rainbow. DS3 is suitably embarrassed by my air guitar.

Another day over and another day closer to 23 August.

What's everyone's plans for the 23rd?

We're off on holiday just before and will be back home. I'm due to be at work that day but am wondering about taking the day off of working from home. DS1 will go in on his own and I suspect he'll head out with friends afterwards.

I don't want to go to work and be fretting all day and if he does come home afterwards I want to be there to give him a big hug / cake / treat.

My plan is to go to the school with DD to collect results and then either drinking champagne to celebrate or drinking gin and crying.
The results are likely to be a mixed bag for DDs friends so I don’t think they will necessarily do anything together that afternoon.... so it will be a family celebration/commiseration.

Should mention that the following Monday is a bank holiday so I will take the 23rd and 24th as annual leave- might as well make a long weekend of it !

Finally got some feedback- he was pleased with geography edexcel A. English language was “good” but he only wrote 2 “large” paragraphs for part 2 - yikes. He ran out of ideas. It’s OCR so was non-fiction and writing a speech (persuading parents of the merits of Science subjects- which given he hates them was a toughie!) He said the first half of the paper went really well though. It’s so confusing to know when you write about structure, language, analyse, compare blah blah... He only got a 3 in his prelim so I’m praying he did enough today. He says it was better than his prelim. 🤞 Spanish tomorrow -feels like a rest!

@Cblue - I like the idea of gin or champagne! I don't think DS1 would want me anywhere near school on the day though.

brainmelt DS has CIE music tomorrow. I may never enjoy Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony again.

He's revising World music at the moment. I can't really tell the difference between the sound of the Chinese Ch'in, the African Kora, the Arbiab Rabab, the Indian Sarod and the Japanese Koto, but he seems to manage it.

Parents are strongly encouraged to attend - I guesss it’s in case it’s bad news and DCs have a meltdown (if I were a teacher I wouldn’t want to deal with wailing kids either!!)

On the third Thursday in August two years ago, DS1 told me he wanted to collect his results by himself.

He had an automatic offer from the attached sixth form but was not expecting to get the required grades; he had a place at the local FE college waiting for him.

I dropped him at school just before 9am and told him I'd wait in a nearby café for half an hour in case he decided he needed me after all. He rolled his eyes.

I received a text at 9:05 saying "Help! I've got the grades and want to go to the sixth form. What do I need to do? Come here please." 😂

So I would say give them space to collect their results independently if that's what they want, but also be available in case they need you.

It's a fine line we have to tread...

You have to be simultaneously both there and not there, and at the same time not be observed by any of their friends.

Sort of like Shrodinger's parent.

Third that's excellent!
I was planning on lurking in a nearby cafe so that DS can dash out for a quick consultation over cake.
Not sure that's what he'll want, though!

Do your schools also have photographers from the local papers lined up?
They snap pics of beaming girls with a full suite of A*s whilst a bunch of girls huddle in the toilet weeping. It always seems really insensitive.

DH seems to be doing well. Paper 2 maths on Thursday. He seems to have improved such a lot in the last few weeks. I'm secretly hoping for a good grade. Dare I say a seven? If he can remember that everything in a bracket squared needs to be squared.

Good luck to all!

@TheThirdOfHerName - love it! We have our title for the next thread!

I think the concept of Schrodinger's Parent could become an actual thing. The perfect parenting solution for teenagers in the 21st century.

Dd said the leaping girls (and a couple of photogenic boys) were told privately to come in early, and did their leaping holding blank sheets of paper.

They hadn’t actually opened their results at that point.

@Cblue - DS1 school does have photographers, as does DD's school. I've also seen broadcast news pieces where DC open their results live on air but only recently realised that the school already knows the results. So if a DC were to be asked to do this it is a good thing. Can't imagine DS1 getting the nod though

@KittiesInsane - cross posted! Yes the whole thing is definitely set up!

I know - years back, oldest ds was met outside school by his TA, who said firmly ‘Come on in, your results are fine’ (he doesn’t like surprises).

Brainmelt haven't seen the film but will ask mini Jufus to check it out. No revision tonight. Dance class, bath and long awaited hair wash (DD was beginning to look like she was in The Levellers!) and Love Island. Not going to push anything til tomorrow night as still in school full time so doing six hours tomorrow x