GCSEs 2018 (18) Well that's all over, let's get the party started

[Stickerrocks]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3341060-GCSEs-2018-17-What-will-be-in-your-coffee-cup-on-Thursday

Interesting league table DS1's school has done very well but surprisingly (for them) has yet to PR it.

I'd be cautious about taking it too seriously. There are obvious gaps of schools who you'd expect to be at or near the top (St Paul's, LEH etc) so I don't think it's definitive.

The dominance of selective schools is unsurprising of course but I am surprised the grammar schools haven't done better (only 2 in the top 20).

I'm GUTTED that DS's teeny tiny bog standard middle of nowhere full of tractor boys, pouty princesses and kids of retired academics comp doesn't feature on the Times list

But am heartened by the fact that his new sixth form IS featured on all the lists alongside St Paul's, Perse, Westminster etc.... (sorry, not boasty!)

Grr, want to see the list but refuse to pay Rupert Murdoch £1.

Ellen I've PM'd you.

terfterf - nor does DD's but the HT probably has made a conscious decision to exclude the school given that its not results driven although 71% of all exams sat were 7-9/A*/A (probably also dislikes RM)...

There was one grammar school who had 21 DC's who achieved 8 x grade 9's which is some achievement .. or it may have been 10 x grade 9's I cannot remember...

Thanks for the advice everyone!!

Hi all. Not yet looked at the list but in the past I too have been surprised that grammars don’t dominate more.

Absolutely love the hat Thethird. Shame ds got an A* or I would have unashamedly copies you. We don’t go for presents here and i did point out that I would have had to share any anyway a I think I put in more hours.

Thank you whistl

the only doors that are closed to her, I think?

hmc you are right of course. The doors that are closed are by and large ones that wouldn’t suit her learning style anyway so it was bound to happen at some point.

Logically I can see that and I know it could have been much worse (for her). It’s watching her see that gap between her and her peers and this is the third DC I have watched this happen to and I don’t like it in the moment.

Her school don’t do end of year exams before gcse which doesn’t help with her (or me) getting a realistic sense of her exam performance or her developing a history of having exam concessions.

Thank you for your thoughts. They weren’t clumsy at all. All the comments and support in response to my whinge have been entirely in the spirit of the thread, supportive with a bit of kind challenge

I wrote my long update post with tears rolling down my cheeks hoping for a sympathetic hearing and that somebody would get it. I feel a lot better for it and for all your comments.

for kick. It’s a bit chilly on my sofa.

My local grammar had 17 with 8x9s. Would have been more but some did one or two legacy GCSEs in minority languages which haven't moved over yet. It is super selective though. One of them is the RL dC I know who went to primary school with DS3. They are a super brainy but not arrogant, nice child.

Peggy from my perspective she might have a lot more fun in a slightly less 'prestigious' uni than Oxbridge. And she'll go to uni, no doubt.

My DC's school (non selective state comp) apparently had 9 students with 9 or more grade 9s, and 3 who got all 9s - so probably 10 or 11. Very impressed. Not got behind the paywall to see if they feature in The Times!

My DS2 ( the one with ASD) has a peer (not a friend but his mum and I are friends) who went to his special school with him at age 3 who also has ASD, with an EHCP. He just scraped his C for maths and got one A some Bs and mostly Cs at GCSE. He has done a level 3 BTEC in engineering, worth 3 A levels. He worked hard and got D D D and is going to Portsmouth uni to do an Engineering degree. There are lots of routes through life, I've said before. I'm so chuffed for him.

One of our boys, our SN boys going to uni! And DS2 got his enrolment letter for his HNC course today. He's a different kettle of fish. Not very motivated, but he's happy.

Now I have a tear in my eye, Peggy.

Peggy - to coin a phrase I’m sure you will recognise

“Just you wait”

Her time will come I’m sure.

Has @mmmz been back? All very quiet. I hope everything's OK.

Happy to see DS3's new sixth form is on the Times list for A levels. Does CS mean comprehensive state school? If so it's in the top 40 of that category. Obviously lots and lots of selective schools above it.

Ellen lovely story of the new Portsmouth student and your DS beginning his HNC.

One of my other DC was a Cambridge wannabe who sighed whistfully about it recently. I did say that you did really need to enjoy studying just a bit... really.

One of older DC has just been sick out of my car window after "too much gin." Bit of a waste.

Alexander yes, at 16 there's a million things they haven't done.

Dgds school achieved 90% at7-9s grammar school in city 97% and girls school 100%. Considering dgds school is not a selective school I think they did pretty well and the county as a whole only achieved 54% its a real thumbs up for her school!

Sorry that should have read 4-9 for all.

And 64% across county. 732 students across the country achieved a full set of 9s much more than governments 200! 10 came from our county! Awesome children.
Dgds school got highest score for state school. ( though its a RC school) in the county.

Can I ask you all for your honest opinions on how much difference the 6th form makes to your DC's results (DS's school is an average of a C grade at A level) and what difference having friends that have completely different asperations will make?

DS met up will all his friends yesterday there were 8 of them for a kick about he is the only one in top sets they are more 2/3 sets and their results ranged from 4-7's, they were all asking each other what they got except no-one asked DS, so not one of his friends knows - is this just a boy thing, girls would be desperate to know what everyone got.DS is very modest and would never volunteer this information. Do having friends with the same academic ability help to spur you on?

Unfortuately, there are no academic/selective 6th forms in our area.....although DS will be entited to a contextual offer!!

Sostenueto that's an outstanding result for your dgd's school! Ours maintained its usual 70% 9-4 grades, so they coped with the new system fairly well, especially given a very wide spectrum of ability. I have been hearing all sorts of muttering about chemistry teaching so am planning to get Tassomai etc for DS2 who is the scientist of the family.
I've been reading the A level option posts with great interest. DS is driving me slightly mad by not seeing the message signalled so clearly to him by his results. On the upside, he definitely wants to do maths and psychology but he thinks computing will be boring even though he got a 9, likes biology (not brilliant at GCSE) and/or philosophy (great with maths and uses his essay and analytical skills from English.)
I'm going to try to persuade him to make just one change and switch to philosophy (or music) from biology as his new sixth form would see the logic but what do I know?! I only work in education so I must be in the despised 'expert' category!

Can't say it's been a fun 24 hours here - we have an interview with College next week to find out whether they will still accept DS on their courses even though he missed the grades - I'm not holding out much hope but we must go and I'm going to do my best to convince them. We visited another college yesterday who have accepted him on the same course so he enrolled as a back up - his response was 'at least someone wants me'. He keeps saying sorry that he's let his whole family down and is a failure. It hasn't helped that the Saturday job he worked so hard to find this summer has been vetoed by head office yesterday and they don't want him anymore. It's been a long, tough 24 hours - and as he said today he is feeling totally lost. And yes I'm up early, crying while I write this because my kind, caring, gorgeous boy doesn't deserve this and I am trying so hard to be positive and supportive and sort everything out so it will be OK...

Bluebelle for what its worth, I've never thought the OFSTED ratings or average scores were all that informative.
Everyone talks about good / outstanding schools but what you want is a school that is good for children like yours, and the only statistic that matters is how children like yours got on in their exams. Not how more or less able children, or those who are strong in sciences when yours is strong on the arts.

As to friends, then yes, I think that does make a difference. I can think of lots of cases where a child does significantly better than you' might have expected and the mother mentions that their best friend(s) is/ are especially focused on working hard and achieving.