All the country seems to be celebrating GCSE results, I am not!

[reasonableme]

Dear Mums,

Please help me see light at the end of what seems to be a dark tunnel.

Everyone on Mumsnet is celebrating their children's GCSEs - most posts I read were talking about their DC's 8s and 9s with the least grade I read about being a 6. Clearly all those super accomplished children's parents are all on Mumsnet or vice versa which is why I think this is the right forum for my question.

My DD was predicted 6s and 7s in most subjects but she ended up with 4s and 5s in most with just one 6. She cleared the entrance exam for a private school for 6th form earlier but now lost out on that seat as she couldn't clear the entry requirements. No school in the vicinity wants to take her. She prepared very well for GCSEs spending several hours every day. I personally helped her with several hours of revisions, free science lessons on YouTube , flash cards, practice etc. She was in top sets in her school for almost all the subjects. I am really struggling to understand what happened that her marks were so bad across the board. University path as we know is literally over for her and her a levels are a big question mark.

The school (state school, ofsted good) hasn't bothered to get in touch with me after the results and surprisingly they didn't express any surprise at her results. I emailed them requesting them for a remarking and I asked DD to resit maths and English GCSEs in November. I am trying to get private tutors while trying to get her admitted to 'some' 6th form college. I suspect she has mild ADD as she is highly fidgety and is into mindless dancing with music blasted into her ears. I am planning to take her to an educational psychologist for help. Other than that no major distractions (as if that was not major)!

Both DH and I had high academic backgrounds and her disastrous results are depressing to all of us. I have not become normal 4 days since and have been crying for days now that all my dreams for her have been shattered. Most universities want consistent track record so GCSEs matter more than we wish they did. The results are poor in all the subjects so there is definitely a major disconnect somewhere. How do I see light and how do I move on?

I also worry about papers being marked for £4 per paper...

I have a couple that I'm a but surprised (good and disappointments) with but the rest were inline with what I said they'd get.
I don't think they can afford a year like last year. It was unfairly crap on everyone.

LARLARLAND
If it's 1 grade under target and he was borderline over the 2 years between 2 grades then my personal feeling is it's probably not worth it.

If it's a case of was at an 8 for 2 years quite securely but has got a 6 with 2 marks off a 7 then it might be worth it.

But of course the caveat is I don't know what your child's school's tracking and data system is like and it also depends on the teacher and whether they mark accurately.
One of my colleagues spent a year making out like their classes were doing so much better than mine, they apparnetly had loads of 7s 8s and 9s. Really arsey to me and suggested I was doing a poor job, claiming my class were behind etc. Results day rolled round and their results were lower than my groups and significantly lower than all the 7s 8s and 9s they'd been dishing out.

If she does well at A level then uni is still a good possibility

He’s been working at a higher level than his grades awarded. I am still quite happy with the results though.

DH flunked his GCSEs, gave him a kick up the bum to do better. He returned to resit, then did A levels and Uni, has a good job more to do with attitude than grades.

I passed all mine and did A levels then returned to college to retrain for a different career after having kids

Things have a way of working out.

With the right attitude she'll go far

I wish her all the luck in the world

@rogueelement, you are such a kind person trying to lift my spirits while trying to pull yourself up about your DD. I will surely look up the videos you suggested and will encourage my Dd to do the same.

Please don't give up your belief in your Dd too (I am sure you won't) as many wonderful mums in this thread have suggested. Yes it's a tough time for some of us but we will get through it. Love and light to you and your Dd xx

@helpmum2003, thank you so much!
@unsaltedmixednuts , yes, who would forget that Thursday? I hope your DS finds his ground too. Well done on not showing your disappointment.

After reading some great responses on this thread, I am so glad I came here and vented it all out. I got valuable advice and a lot of positive support which I showed to my Dd as well. She is smiling for the first time in 5 days now. Xx

reasonableme The UK is quite unusual in that we test 16 year olds. All the universities agree that the real indicator of potential to study at degree level are A levels. I think we tend to only value ideal professions such as doctor, solicitor etc, ignoring the fact there are brilliant careers beyond them. I was looking at a graduate scheme I think may suit my DS recently and the company said whilst they call it a graduate scheme they don’t actually require candidates to have a degree! I also think we need to value the other professions more than we do. If your DD doesn’t get the grades to become a doctor then maybe that’s OK because she could become a midwife or a paramedic which are fantastic jobs and are positions in society I personally hold in very high esteem. Having a reality check at 16 is also not a bad thing. I would say watch this space with your DD because she is going to do something amazing.

Maisy: does your department not moderate marks and predictions given by teachers across the department? This would eliminate boasting and false marking. I have no doubt OPs DD has been a victim of hopeful and inaccurate marking and expectation. It’s unfair to the pupils when there is lack of consistency in a department. The HOD should not be allowing this. It would also totally skew which pupils are in a top set if the marking is inaccurate.

Some universities weight GCSE results very highly because they are often the only concrete results they have. Bristol is one. Few Oxford undergrads have the vast majority of their GCSEs below A*. You don’t apply with A level results so, although they are the best indicator, universities decide to offer places without those results.

However there are huge numbers of vocational health degrees where the requirements are lower. Being a Dr is, of course, very competitive. Other vocational degrees are less competitive but still lead to very fulfilling jobs.

Most English department probably moderate more 'accurately', thoroughly and rigorously than the exam boards bubbles.

BubblesBuddy
We moderate mocks and assessments, but without giving too much on a public forum I think they are quite selective with which papers they bring to moderation.Personally, i'd like to see the head of team tell everyone to bring everything and then they pick 6 from each class at random.

Class work wise, it's not moderated. We are expected to use things from training and moderation to inform that. Most of us informally moderate anyway. Colleague doesn't and also speaks negatively of other members of staff and their classes. I've raised it a couple of times and was ignored so figured as my role isn't departmental leadership, I'll focus on doing my job job the best of my ability. I'm accountable for my area in school, not department GCSE results.

Personally, i'd like to see the head of team tell everyone to bring everything and then they pick 6 from each class at random.

That's what we do - primary writing in-school moderation. We are asked to put the books in particular categories - e.g. low expected. high expected, greater depth - and then random books are taken from each pile to moderate. Gives everyone's poker face a workout!

cantkeepawayforever
I much prefer the primary way on writinf moderation in that respect.

I think sometimes it's easy for secondary staff with the gift of the gab to hide areas of underperformance or questionable practice.

E.g. 'oh well I just brought Timmy's as he's not working hard and got a 3 so can you do that one. Then I've brought a couple of 5s and one 8 from a very able student'... but what I've not brought is the middle section of my class who are working on 6s but I've pushed them up to 7s and told them they're probably going to be getting a 8s and 9s. And I'm also not going to bring the pieces of work I've given 9s to because school policy (like many schools with any sense given how it's worked out) is not to give 9s.

LARLARLAND, what a wonderful thing to say! Thank you so much!

I tested her randomly on past papers before the exams and she always scored well. Her mocks were a 6 in biology, 5 in chem and 4 in physics with a predicted grade of 6 in all 3 and targets of 7,8 and 7. But her actuals were 4s in all three sciences. That was the reason it was so hard to accept that she could be below average.

It is difficult for the school to predict grades this year. No coursework element, new exams. On those grades at her Mocks you would possibly predict '6' in the hope she would improve over the following term. Predicting lower than '6' would be demotivating.
Please try to move away from this idea that school are at fault. That you are now finding your daughter is ' below average' none of this is helpful. If you started year 11 again with this knowledge you wouldn't change the outcome.
My son scored 4/5/6 - not stellar grades (he was predicted 6). We have celebrated that he has passed his exams, we have secured him a place at college and moved forward - please consider doing something similar - otherwise your daughter could progress onto the next stage of education feeling as if she has failed when clearly worked hard and passed.

Hello.
Just speaking from a Science point of view. It was very hard to make predictions this year. Remember it was the first year of the new GCSEs and the exam boards gave us very little to go by in terms of grade boundaries. Not sure about other subjects.

Cross post Tea

Were past papers a reflection of the current exams though? They may have given a rosy outcome. Also they were not done in exam conditions. I think a child getting 2 grades below is a cause for concern by the school, even more if this happened to
lots of children, as in maisey’s school. Surely the school must review its moderation practices if there are significant discrepancies. As maisy has described, it’s easy to dodge scrutiny.

It’s not demotivating to assess that a child is possibly going to get a 5 and communicate that to pupil and parents. It’s truthful and realistic, hopefully. However a teacher can also say: with improvement brought about by doing x, y and z you could get a 6, is perfectly reasonable and good practice.

There were no past papers for many subjects as they're brand new exams. There were sample papers but many were rushed or needed adapting (we had whole question styles changed in my subject). I've been to several examiner meetings and courses where we were told again and again that they couldn't tell us what a level 5 or level 7 answer etc would look like until after the first cohort had been through. Many of us were therefore guessing with our predictions this year.

OP, were all the schools you and your DD looked at in your area ones with high status to maintain? In my area there are some very selective state school sixth forms, but there are also colleges which offer options to a wider range of students, and some of them do very well.

Lots of people have suggested BTecs, with the advantages of sometimes lower grade entry requirements - coursework and continuous assessment rather than just a few hgih stakes exams at the end. A less selective place may also offer the chance to combine the two.

Computing and other course entry requirements at London Met vary a bit but one requires 3 Cs or 96 UCAS points at A-level, another CCE or 80 UCAS points. That means good BTecs would be fine. They all require at least a 4 in Maths and English.

Law depends a little on whether you plan to train to be a solicitor or barrister but doesn't totally require As, although legal training does require passing exams well and getting in initially is very competitive. GCSE entry requirements are just a 4 in English; ie they're interested in post 16 qualifications to see if you will cope with the level of study needed on the course, really, is how I would see that.

I know several London Met graduates who have done further study for Masters' degrees and got quite good jobs with less obviously vocational subjects. One is now deputy leader of my local council as well as a good day job, and until she was 16 went to a school which was seen as very poor academically.

Yes, even with the best will in the world I think some schools would have been over optimistic with their predictions - even with internal moderation, and some would have been overly cautious. They are new exams and nobody has anything concrete to compare anything with. The of course are the rogue teachers actively trying to big themselves up. It's been a minefield this year.

A positive and onwards and upward attitude is the way to go.

I’m not sure how studying Law came into this conversation, but with 4-5 at GCSE it would be a massive struggle to get the required grades in academic A levels that are needed for a career in law, never mind an academic degree. The post grad exams are hard too! There are thousands of law grads without training contracts so be realistic and aim for something where there is a good chance of success. Law and medicine are not realistic for 4/5 GCSE passs but there are so many other options!

“All grades 1 - 9 are passes, technically”

They aren’t really. No-one considers a 1 – 3 a pass, just like no-one considered a D or an E a pass.

“In real life most children do not have a string of 8s/9s. Most have 4-6 grades. It's just you don't hear about the 'average' kids”

I agree. I feel for you OP. MN is full of posters with high achieving children. I just think the parents of average children don’t post. I have spent time on the further and higher education threads as DD has just done A levels, and so many DC are Oxbridge level students, and DD decidedly isn’t.

I don’t understand the posters who are being mean to you. If your DD is disappointed it follows that you will feel disappointed for her. I would in your shoes.

“Where on earth do you live that no local place will take a perfectly capable and ambitious young woman into their sixth form??”

I wondered that. Our local 6th form college accepts all post GCSE students. Given that 16 year olds have to remain in some form of education there must be a 6th form college that will accept her.

“It's time to step up and support her.”

And I think we should be supporting the OP instead of berating her

My issue with 6th forms, especially school 6th forms, is that they only want students who will do well because their results are measured. DD’s school boasted of a 100% pass rate with the A level results this year. Yes, because they weeded out anyone who might fail . It is the system that is at fault. If schools weren’t so target driven to achieve stellar results they would be able to support the less able students accordingly (Steps off soapbox)