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Secondary education

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GCSEs 2018 (16) - The Final Countdown

999 replies

mmzz · 09/08/2018 18:34

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3304925-gcses-2018-15-the-reckoning?

OP posts:
AChickenCalledKorma · 16/08/2018 19:13

Congratulations Terf. Hope the training goes well (and the drip gets fixed!)

EllenJanesthickerknickers · 16/08/2018 19:21

Nice to hear from you sost.

Leicester University, that takes me back...

Stickerrocks · 16/08/2018 19:29

Panda Another Wow!

Terf A friend runs a business along those lines and is very successful. If you do end up doing it as a self employed person, let's have a little chat and I'll give you some pointers for the expenses you can claim.

Sost I've missed you. Sending a huge hug.

Oneteen · 16/08/2018 19:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Oneteen · 16/08/2018 19:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PandaG · 16/08/2018 19:35

Good to see you Sost, and ouch Sandy!!

brainmelt · 16/08/2018 20:27

Hello Sost!

brainmelt · 16/08/2018 20:28

Are onteen and mmmz in the same school?

Oneteen · 16/08/2018 20:49

brainmelt No...but I have a friend whose DD attended the 6th form that mmmz DD is likely to attend.
My DD's schools results are NO where near has good as those results !

Oneteen · 16/08/2018 20:50

Should read mmmz DS not DD - sorry (tired tonight)

brainmelt · 16/08/2018 20:54

Ah, OK, thanks oneteen Smile

mmmz · 16/08/2018 21:21

Oneteen I saw it... and yes, it was music to my ears, I so want it for DS, but I'm trying not to count my chickens until approx 10:30am next Thursday!

mmmz · 16/08/2018 21:24

Sost it's good to see you back. I hope your health problems are behind you now. Looking forward to hearing how your DGD is getting on.

Stickerrocks · 16/08/2018 22:39

Now I understand your stress levels mzzz.

TerfTerf2 · 16/08/2018 22:48

Stolen from the I Know I Need To Stop Talking blog but thought if might raise a smile Smile

"This is Mrs May.

Mrs May sits with her pint of pina colada and reminisces through misty eyes, back to when fronted adverbials were still but an imaginary and pointless concept in the eyes of the infant Michael Gove, back to when one called a spade a spade, and back to when there was none of this newfangled GCSE knowledge and you sat good old-fashioned O Levels and CSEs.

Mrs May remembers waiting for her exam results, certain that the world was going to end if she didn't achieve her predicted grade in CSE Metalwork.

Mrs May did so without once giving a thought to how her CSE Metalwork teachers might have been feeling on the self-same results day.

Frankly, back when she was a mere slip of a girl, Mrs May was convinced that teachers were all in cahoots with the exam boards, that they were all out to get these poor, hard-working students, who had studied so desperately hard and whose very future felt like it hung on what the number or letter against their name would say.

Now Mrs May is much older, and much wiser, and much less of a slip of a girl (but still a dab hand at metalwork), and Mrs May has learnt a number of things:

#1 The only body which is in cahoots with any other body when it comes to exams is the Government, with itself, appearing to take delight in applying undue pressures to students, teachers and parents alike.

#2 The pressure Mrs May felt as a student, waiting to receive her exam grades, is absolutely nothing compared to the pressure she now feels as a teacher, waiting to hear how her students have done in their exams. And Mrs May only teaches Year 2 SATS, where provided her class can write their name coherently and don't shit on the exam paper, she can probably get them through it. Imagine the pressures of teaching GCSE! Or A Level! There are not too many careers out there where your entire year of effort is judged on one single day. Teaching is one such career.

#3 Exam results don't matter. They really don't, not in the grand scheme of things. Of course, Mrs May knows that it is important to work hard for exams, and try your best, and not lose your shit when the Government decide to throw in yet another curveball and change the syllabus yet again because they are all bastard cockwombles... but Mrs May also knows that, more years than she cares to remember down the line, the grade she got for CSE Metalwork really doesn't matter any more. (It was a 1, for what it's worth, and Mrs May is still exceedingly proud of that 1. CSE Metalwork has turned out to be surprisingly useful in later life.) Exam grades, and fancy job titles, and the ability to know which set of cutlery to use at a twelve course dinner, matter far less than what is inside you, both in terms of internal organs and also in terms of how you treat other people and the difference you go out and make in the world.

And so to students, parents, and teachers alike, Mrs May would like to send you all an enormous hug and vat of gin just for getting through sodding exam season, let alone achieving any grades. If you did well, congratulations, and if you didn't do so well, then Mrs May recommends that you forget all about it by tearing up your exam results and putting on a jolly old play to celebrate"

JufusMum · 16/08/2018 22:56

Congratulations to all DC on the A level results today x

Sostenueto · 17/08/2018 05:41

Thanks to all for greetings and best wishesFlowers. Have missed you all! Have had a dose of pneumonia after chemo but am now almost back to 100% so all is good and blood tests and scans give a thumbs up for full recovery so farGrin which is great!
Congrats for all superstar dcs and a great future ahead for them all. 6 days to go and I will be so glad it will all be over for a couple of years anywayGrin

Oratory1 · 17/08/2018 06:00

So good to have you back sost and very best wishes for continued recovery.

PeggySchuylar · 17/08/2018 06:00

Sost so pleased to hear your news. Please keep taking care of yourself. I am looking firward to hearing how your DGD hets on and what she does next.

I had a dream last night that DD's results came with comments like "Good content. Essay technique could be improved." Confused

KickBishopBrennanUpTheArse · 17/08/2018 06:49

Glad you're feeling better sost Flowers

Dd had a bit of a meltdown last night. I think it was because we spent the day hearing about some very high achieving family and friends' A level results.

Luckily she doesn't have any cousins or family friends getting GCSE results this year so no direct comparisons. It still brought it all home though.

Also I did point out there are at least 3 more acquaintances (mostly my friends' dcs) who have been noticeably quiet on Facebook. It's easy to focus on the ones shouting loudest.

Only 6 days until we're out of our misery Shock

mmmz · 17/08/2018 07:02

It sounds like you've had an awful time of it, healthwise, Sost. I wish you a speedy recovery. It's good to have you back.

teenhelp · 17/08/2018 07:32

Wish you all the best sost. Hope you continue to recover. Good to see you on here

mmmz · 17/08/2018 07:36

Now that the GCSE results day isn't the other sides of the A level results day, I'm not able to pretend to myself that they are way into the distance any more, and I know I should be feeling anxious, but I am not really.
I probably will by the 23rd, but right now, I'm so blown away by some of the A level results I was hearing yesterday and the realisation that those university courses that people's DC have been getting on to are going to be more than I, or most of the population, would be able to contemplate doing, that the GCSEs suddenly feel a bit insignificant.

I regret now, wasting time caring how DS got on in the second paper of RS studies. Even at the time, I knew that it was going to be of no further practical use to him. Can you imagine applying for a graduate trainee role, or even a place on a maths course at university and the interviewer telling you :
"well I can see that you are otherwise a good candidate but this C in Religious Education that you took when you were 15 is troubling me"

TBH if they even thought that it was relevant, then you wouldn't want their job / course anyway!

If the GCSE results mark the end of your formal education or they might hold you back from what you'd hoped to do next, then they are a huge deal, and I wouldn't want to take that away from anyone. But for the rest of us, I think deep down, we know our DC are going to be fine.

Saying all that, if DS does not get what he needs next week, then I'll be devastated!

Oratory1 · 17/08/2018 07:52

I think your last line says it all really. We want them to get what they need but shouldn’t agonise over the rest.

eaglefly · 17/08/2018 07:54

Mmmz completely understand what you are saying and agree. In the grand scheme of things it may not matter but it does right now. But I guess that's parenting. We worry so much about small things throughout their childhood and beyond for that matter. How much of that really has an impact. Just by getting a few results in the last few days I am feeling my thinking towards GCSEs change. A range of emotions. To finally believing all will be ok.