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

to all those missing special ones to share the news with.

I to am desperately feeling the loss of my Mum, she died 2 years ago last week from ovarian cancer. She would have been so pleased for DS 2 and for DS1 who has finished 1st year uni. Even now 2yesrs on I so wanted to phone and tell her.

Also feeling the loss of my mum who died last year. She was so so proud of my ds. He came out with 5/6s in all but Physics which he got a D but was one mark off a C so having it re-marked. Considering he has had very tough year and failed all his mocks we are very happy and he has his college place. Congrats to everyone.

I have indigestion from my (admittedly delicious) 5 Guys burger. The celebratory meal of choice of my DS3. Will sleep eventually.

Well folks its been a long journey for us all but finally we all reached our destinations.
Our DC not only DC but darling young adults everyone a star! In a few years time we will have doctors, nurses professional of all types, engineers, builders, electricians, tradesmen, vets, designers, architects, philosophers, historians, mathematicians, actors, actresses, reporters, writers, teachers, lawyers the list is endless! All stemming from the DC on this thread! Wow!! How awesome is that?!
My heartfelt congrats to every single person on this thread too numerous to mention individually. I wish all our DC health, wealth and happiness for the future. I want to also thank each and everyone for your support for not only my dgd but for me it is so appreciated and I hope that I have been able to add my support to others on here too.
Let's hope we can keep this thread going for it would be sad to lose such wonderful friends after the year we have gone through. So here's to the next step and have a great time till September. And keep posting!

My sister brought a tear to my eye this afternoon because she called to see how DD had done and at the end of the call she said I'll put a card in the post and some money for DD from M & D because that's what they would have done had they been alive and how proud they would have been...

I picked DD up from her friends tonight and friends dad (deputy head teacher of sixth form centre) was saying how he was having to turn away DC's with one two marks off a grade 4 in English and Maths even though they were virtually begging to be accepted on courses they had qualifications for other than E & M. I'm feeling fortunate but very sad too....does a creative artist need a grade 4 in English?

Looking forward to my bed and I think the imagine of a certain girl running a cross a car park saying I got an A History will firmly be in my dreams.

Sost There's something in my eye after reading that. What lovely and true words.
for you too, you're inspirational.

for all missing loved ones to share their dc's results with. My mum would have been so proud of both my kids this last week in particular. Dad and I both missing telling her even though it is over 4 years.

Thought I might actually sleep tonight, but no, wide awake at 3 am!

To all who have missing relatives .
I slept like a log last night, relief at last and I have the pleasure of having dgd for the weekend as dd has to work.

Can I call on the collective wisdom of you lot to help with some sibling issues? DD2 is 13 and going into year 9. Yesterday she watched DD1 get a full house of grade 9s. Last night she was in bits about how she's already dreading her GCSEs, because whatever she does she won't ever be able to match that. She constantly compares herself to DD1 and has very little confidence in her own abilities. She is actually very able but doesn't believe it and gives up very easily when things are tough.

Last year at school was the best she's had for a long time and we were really pleased that she was applying herself, working harder than she had been and seemed to be believing in herself a bit more. She was coming out from her big sister's shadow but I'm concerned that the shadow just seems to have got a whole lot bigger!!

Korma I’m just about to leave the house but didn’t want to read and run. I’ve had a very similar situation to deal with here, but DS is my youngest so am out the other side of the second-born doing GCSEs. I’ll give you my thoughts on dealing with the situation later. Sympathies though, it’s tough.

I also got a full night of sleep. Thank goodness as work starts again on Sunday. Have to go uniform shopping tomorrow, as 6th form is black, with white shirt. Am also compiling lists in my head for eldest, which OH will have to get when they get to the UK. Coat hangers, bottle opener, potato peeler, chopping board......

Chicken That"s hard for your dd2. Fantastic results for dd1, amazing. I had an older sister who was brilliant & popular, but our strengths are different, it was incredibly hard at secondary school as we were compared. Does your dd2 have different strengths that can be further nurtured?

I'm not back to normal sleep pattern yet but think I will reset over the long weekend!
Korma that sounds difficult. I think maybe you can stress that this means school prepare them well and eldest will have loads of good experience to share but I can see how it's daunting.
Mine are different - I'm not sure DS2 can match DS1 in English but he can certainly beat him in science and he is a bit competitive so if anything he could do better or get similar grades but for completely different subjects. It will influence his option choices this coming year, I think.
I didn't really have any family to share results with but lots of kind inquiries from friends and some amusement listening to DH trying to explain the new grades to his DM - and getting muddled himself!

Sorry Korma cant help ...I know it was difficult enough for DD to deal with comparison of my two very bright nieces to DD and that is a further step away and not every day life...I hope you find a way of managing situation.

DD's school have asked for permission to look at scripts so assume they will review the papers and decide whether a mark can be found on both the subjects DD missed the next grade up by that one mark.

May I join in? DS got his GCSE results yesterday too, which he is happy with and now we are looking forward to year 12.

Korma how about telling her that she and her sister are unique in their own way, and that there are many strands to future success, some of which your DD2 has in abundance, others that your DD1 has lots of. However, both of them have enough of everything (including academic ability) to make a success of their lives and you are so proud of each of them individually. In the end, everything averages out and they have equal chance of success at university and beyond.

@AChickenCalledKorma - I can totally empathise. DD1 will do GCSEs in 2 years time and is likely to do equally well as DS1 and is very driven and competitive but will cope well with the process.

DS2 (going into Year 9) is able but will find it hard to replicate DS1's success and DD's probable success. Our strategy is to gently steer him away from areas his siblings are interested in and then big up his achievements in 'his' interests. This will include GCSE choices (i.e. Spanish not German, DT not music etc). It also includes sport.

What he has going for him are brilliant entrepreneurial skills and an inventive spirit. He's the most sociable of the three (scarily so for a nearly 13 year old) and I'm sure this will stand him in good stead. All the most successful (in terms of career) friends I have are the 'good with people' lot, not necessarily 'most academically successful'.

So it's possible to do but does require a strategy.

korma is your older child staying at the same school for sixth form? We're lucky in that my DCs school is 11-16 so DS2 will be able to be there 'in his own right' now that DS1 has left. He's going into Y10 and has chosen completely different options from his the ones DS1 did, and we do impress upon him the different skills they both have. But I am sure comparisons get made (DS1 was head boy!), so I guess trying to help him find his own thing is the answer. I look forward to tracking our journeys together this year

Morning all. for those missing family to share news with.

loose yes I've struggled to explain to relatives what results mean. Several replies to texts saying "And is she happy with that?" I'm picturing a head tilt each time

I've had to convert them to letter grades so now I'm picturing everyone from my mum's gardening club thinking she is the only child to still do old style GCSEs

Morning all! Dgd was up early dd said sorting out equipment, folders etc for 6th form. She is so looking forward to going back to study and over the moon about her results ( remark on maths 1 mark off 8) . when dd rang second choice 6th form college to say that dgd has chosen her first choice she ended up getting a lecture about not supporting local 6th form. Dd taken back a bit by this but swiftly said dgd had right to go to where she pleases and if their standards were higher maybe more local DC would opt to go there!

Hello Whistl. You're more than welcome to join in.

Chicken I can't remember if I cheered your DD yesterday, so have a belated standing ovation. I would consider starting with DD1. Rather than rewarding the results, ensure you are rewardi g the effort, then match it for DD2. I think one of the worst things that you could do at this stage is actually give DD2 the impression that you believe her future results won't be as great as DD1s, because in a teenage girl's mind you will have written her off already, so she may as well live up to expectations. However, we all know that your DD1s results are exceptional, so DD2 needs more realistic role models to inspire her. Does DD1 have more "normal" friends with a good smattering of 6,7 and 8s in their results? Use them as an inspiration, talk about their great prospects, any hurdles they had overcome and the exciting options open to them now.

We had a similar issue with DH's brothers. DH is a solid academic performer. His middle brother was labelled as the bright, quirky on (head boy, musical & straight As (before they had to invent a higher grade). Meanwhile his youngest brother was written off as being unlikely to achieve such glorious standards. He was chubby, ginger with a few OCD traits and as a consequence really suffered with self-esteem issues. Everyone did a double take when he not not got the A* equivalent of his older brother, but he won prizes for getting the top marks in the country. He went onto Cambridge, Durham & Oxford to name a few. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that your DD2 should be encouraged to exceed her own expectations, but I appreciate it's easy for me to say that without a concrete plan.

KickBishop I've got a feeling DMiL assumed 1 was the highest grade so she did well to not panic! We're visiting tomorrow for celebratory lunch and will doubtless end up explaining it all over again to DFiL!

Valuable lessons were learnt here yesterday. DD is kicking herself for not applying herself harder because she has realised that some chums who are not as bright as she was did as well or a little better through sheer hard work. We keep reminding her that she has the equivalent of 9 A/A*s in old money with the bulk of those at grade 8&9, but the realisation hurts. We are bigging up her solitary grade 6, because she did work hard to pass Spanish. We've also reminded her that she has something she can still prove at A level with a tiny bit less weight of expectation. I don't think It's a bad lesson to learn at this stage

korma

Golly thats a difficult one, no real advice here beacuse 'competing' with straight 9 is impossible

Would echo what everyone else has said about differnt abilities and you shouldn't compare

In a very minor way this is my family...ds1 is rubbish in exams but managed to Do pretty well..really proud of him

Dd has outdone him slightly when we thought she might fail some completely

They are very competitive

But its impossible to compare as the grade boundaries might have been different...ds1 missed virtually the first year if science due to the schools incompetence

Ive told ds1 to let dd have a few days of happy and then ill tell dd that she shouldnt keep bringing it up

I just feel sorry for ds2 now

Hope you get it sorted chicken

Korma this has been a real issue with my eight DC (of whom DD4 is the last), or I thought it would be. The first six were born in less than seven years so it was almost successive cohorts and all at the same school too. In fact their academic achievements have been very similar (to the extent, so far, of all being within 2% of one another at degree level!) but there was no way of knowing that when DD1 first did well at GCSE. I've only ever congratulated as each round of exams is done and things have turned out fine with no unpleasant rivalry, in fact there's been much more a sense of mutal support despite the DC having all the usual cat fights that siblings do - just no nastiness when the chips are down. They can't do more than plough their own furrow - I'm actually amazed at how things have turned out with my DC because I would never have expected it going back to the first GCSEs, when your concerns were mine too. Twins must through up the same problems and I think someone here has triplets, not sure.