Year 10 GCSE Support Thread

[OrangeCinnamon]

Hi all,
Can we have a thread for Year 10 support please? Even though Dd started in Y9 I have already noticed a massive ramping up in pressure and her anxiety I imagine it is a fine balance of being supportive but not a helicopter parent. How do you motivate but not nag? How do you encourage good study/revision skills without being overbearing? How can I help my Dd to be resilient....so many questions hoping for some hints, tips and support along the way.

Dd is Summer born so struggles sometimes. Her main loves are Music and the Humanities subjects. She bobs along with Maths and Science and despises French. Wants to be an international popstar, historian, writer, journo or judge! She sufffers terribly with low self esteem but hopefully this term will be able to get her on a course of cbt.

We literally get the subject, target grade (from sats) a plus minus or equals (under target, on target, above target & a number 1-4 for effort & behaviour b

That sounds a bit rubbish whistl . if they can't tell you anything meaningful, how do you know if intervention is needed, or what to be considering as next steps after GCSE?

We get half termly progress updates (achieved grade, red/amber/green for if on track for target grade, and then a 1-4 for effort) and a full written report from each teacher in summer.

The new system sounds rubbish whistl, I’d be cross too. I know DDs all like to get updates on their progress as much as I do...

Not good news today. Ds was moved from bottom set 5 English to Set 4 after half term but he’s been moved back down as he just isnt writing.

At his previous school he was predicted Grade 5/6. Here he is predicted 2/3. He doesn’t seem bothered. But he will write reams of music compositions or analysis of music set works. He wNts to study Performing Arts & Maths at 6th form but he needs his English.

Set 5 is where the kids who aren’t expected to pass any GCSE’s are. Most are in nurture groups and do an adjusted timetable and many have limited reading skills. Ds is off the scale for verbal reasoning and was described at his primary school as the best boy reader we’ve had for years.

He just can’t write, esoecially if inference or imagination is required.

I'm sorry to read that, AH. You may have said before but does he have a SEN?

I would have described DS1 the same way - just no imagination, not even enough to plagiarise an idea, twist it towards the picture and re-write it. By March/April, I really felt I was banging my head against a brick wall!

I definitely do not have answers, unfortunately, except the plagiarise suggestion and to learn the SPAG rules which will get you marks on some of the other questions.

It must be really frustrating to know he has the creativity to do the music side but not the writing.

DS got a ‘data’ report last week. Percentages from recent assessment, plus a 1-4 for Homework/ Course work and Attitude to Learning.

And a line whether they are working below/ in line or above expected progress.

Each subject has a paragraph about the assessments & what they have covered so far.

Apparently we’ll get preditcted grades in January.

DS quite chilled still.

One thing i’m unsure of is PE practical. We haven’t been any guidance at all. I’ve started keeping clips from the papers & i do video him rowing....wish we’d be provided with info!

Yes whistle he has an asd.

His spelling and grammar are impeccable.

My dd has not had one piece of homework set this week so far, would you raise it with the school?

AH your son sounds very talented! Do you think it’s lack of interest in the subject rather than ability?

I got an email from a teacher this week to say DS2 has to resit an end of topic exam (he did that badly in a recent test).

I checked my old emails and the word "resit" has never been emailed to me before, even though Ds1 did five years at the school and Ds2 has done 3 already. The school makes students resit regularly, but until now, not my DC.

I'm annoyed with Ds2, to be honest. He always tries to do the minimum work necessary in order to get the minimum mark he needs to get by on. This time, he has miscalculated and is being made to resit and I am fully on the teacher's side!

I really don't mind if either DC does badly at something, but I mind a lot if they do badly because they minimised the work they would do so they could play the xbox instead!

whistl - Was your DS bothered with the low mark?
DD also had to do her first resit for her Chemistry test as she had a 4. Personally I think it was the best thing that could happen as she hadn't revised properly and having to resist it meant at least she did revise in the end. She also opted to retake her PE test as she got a 6 and wanted at least a 7. She got a 9 (although same test so doesn't really count) but at least resitting it meant that she thoroughly learnt it all.

Bothered to the extent that he has started to say he doesn't like the subject, but not bothered to the extent that he started revising for the resit.
I think this lack of motivation is going to be a big problem in the net year or so if I don't get him to overcome it now. (I have plans to make him care...!)

Currently having a debate with ds who wants to audition for two shows in the spring. I’ve said no as he’s not doing enough study.

I say he should be doing 30-60 mins each night of either homework, revision or study. He says no one else does that.

Can I ask roughly what all your kids are doing?

DD (selective Indie) is set a couple of hours a night. Some of this gets done at lunchtime if she doesn’t have a sports practice.

We get half term lay reports - grade for attainment, grade for effort, no comment.

Ds2 does about 3 hours per week, which is made up of homework and studying for class tests.

I think DD averages about 5 hrs a week of homework. She plays club hockey Saturday and helps with junior coaching Sunday morning for DoE service, so she has to make sure she gets some of it done during the week but there is always about 2 hours to do Sunday late afternoon/evening. I want her to be able to carry on with her fun activities during GCSE (and Alevel) as I think its important, especially as its sport so even more beneficial to help with the stress of school.

Worryingly she seems to like starting homework late in the evening (8.30/9.00) so it can get a little stressy as I want her to start getting ready for bed at 10.00pm during the week and Sunday evening. But she genuinely seems to come alive again around 8.00pm rather than at 5.00pm which would be more ideal.

Ds is barely doing half an hour a week. I don’t think it’s enough.

But tonight when I tried to broach the subject he had a total meltdown.

I think DD is on the extreme end - she does 16 hours a week of training which will go up to 20-22 hours in the new year (plus school orchestra one evening) so squeezes in revision and homework around all that. She doesn’t get a lot of homework but she’s made herself a schedule so she always works (revision if no homework) 3 hours on a Monday evening, 1 hour each on a Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday morning and 5 hours on a Saturday afternoon/evening. So she does 9 hours in total - probably not dissimilar to what DDs 1 and 2 did to be fair.

I’d say 3+ hours a week is a reasonable demand Alexander. Maybe build it up? 1 hour next week, 90 mins the week after etc.

Sorry not 9 hours - 11 hours. Though often I’m there for her morning sessions (she does them at the table in the kitchen) and I don’t know how much she gets done in them because she just seems to chat away to me or other DDs

Last Easter, someone from Eton (it may have been a former headmaster) wrote a column for a newspaper recommending 7 hours per day from the start of the Easter holidays until the last exam in June.
With breaks every 45 mins, that becomes closer to 9 hours a day.
It caused a lot of controversy, but in the end DS found that it was more or less accurate, if you were to revise everything.

I think DS2 on his 3 hours per week, is in for a rude awakening next year!

New to this thread and I hope you don’t mind me joining . I could do with some advice as I really don’t know what I should be expecting from dd1 at this stage.

She’s at a leafy (Ofsted ‘good’) comp, with a v good progress 8 score, but I am getting concerned about her. Her recent grade report has her predicted grades at 2 x 5, 4 x 6 and 5 x 7 however her target grades are 5 x 6, 5 x 7 and 1 x 8. I guess we just have to assume she’s falling below in several subjects. So my conclusion is that her grades are slipping.

She doesn’t seem to get much homework either... a few hours a week but that’s it. Where I am most concerned is that she just seems ridiculously laid-back about it all, and more bothered about partying with her friends and working at the local cafe. Obviously she isn’t going out partying on school nights, and I’m delighted that she’s working and has friends, but she just seems so unbothered by school work. I don’t know what to make of it really. It’s depressing reading on here that there are motivated kids who are already revising when they haven’t got any homework to do! I keep suggesting that she’s goes over all the stuff she doesn’t get in class, particularly in science and French, but she can’t be arsed and I can’t make her!

Short of forcing or threatening her I don’t think I can make her more bothered... or perhaps I should just back off completely!

By the way I know her grades are good, but they aren’t as good as she was predicted last year, and I think it will be a shame if she doesn’t achieve what she could. And I know I probably sound neurotic, and maybe I should just let her be, but this is new territory and I don’t know how much I should be ‘pushing’ her at this stage!

Here's the article Barnaby Lenon blog

Actually, 7 hours is what most Year 11s will be doing during term time - DD does 9-12.30, 2.30-4, 5.30-7.30 - so it's just a case of continuing the same hours in the final Easter Holidays and study leave (if they get it).

DS did this last year and it had a huge effect on his final results - particularly on Geography, Maths and Physics that went from 7 in the mocks to 9 in the summer. He actually just continued his normal weekly timetable at home - that way he was confident that he was covering all subjects equally.

Peroni could you set up 1 hour of study each evening as a routine? Same time, same place or timetabled around sports training/cadets/band practice? If she has homework, she does her homework, if not, she looks though her text book or reorders her notes or starts making flashcards on the topics they've covered so far.

If that becomes a habit, it's easier to extend it to 1.5 or 2 hours later on when the workload increases.

Thanks Kingscote. One hour could be a sensible aim. I’m not sure how easy it will be though she’s really resisting. I’ve worked out that the harder I push her, the harder she pushes back. I make suggestions in as neutral and ‘unpushy’ tone as I can, but she immediately seems to cover her ears and ‘la di da’ back at me.

Perhaps I should offer a financial incentive?! It feels wrong somehow as I want her to be motivated for the right reasons. I think deep down she’s panicking that she doesn’t know what she wants to do, (who does at 14?!) so she doesn’t have an end goal.

Peroni what does she usually do in the evening? If it involves wifi, could the daily code be withheld until after the study hour has been completed? To be honest, even if she sits with a book in front of her for the first few days, you are building the habit. I found it helpful to also be working at that time (marking books/ironing/peeling veg) so that I was obviously sharing the pain, and in addition to make sure no other siblings were watching tv/gaming/having too much obvious fun.