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.

Ds is loving work experience. He says its a lot less stressful than school and he is with interesting people who have the same interests as himself. Only problem is its a minimum wage retail job so he'd have to curb his spending ideas.

oldandgold

They are specialist schools, there are fewer than 300 in the whole of dd school. They all specialise in music and this makes up 2/3 of their day.
There are about 30 in the whole of primary, usually 2 classes.
Then about 20/30 in other years.
Although the 6th form intake increases Y12/13 to about 100

I think the minimum class size for an option is 3 pupils.

Options are limited though. Dd had to choose between History, Geography, French, Triple Science, Drama, Music, Art, RS, Business Studies & Food Tech. Plus an extended Dance programme.

DS has come home livid that the Maths block test due to be today has been postponed until the first week of next term! She will now be fretting about it over the holidays.

AH doesn't that make the classes ridiculously expensive to run?

For the DC who do 10 subjects, then that averages at half a day a week per subject. If you have 3 students doing Geography (say), then you need a Geography teacher who for half a day a week is dedicated to just 3 students (unlike the 30 in a state school). Sharing the cost of that teacher's half a day of salary between 3 parents would make it expensive for the parents, especially when something similar will happen for several other half-days too.

I wonder if the school runs at a profit, or struggles to break even?

DS has a week of exams starting 14th Jan. Every morning & every afternoon, plus normal lessons!

They will give us predicted grades after that.

DS is supposed to be revising..... I know he’s not.

He had a maths test yesterday & got results today, 4% off a 7. He seems to be pleased & keen to nail a 7 next time.

The school are recommending study aids etc. I’m just going to let him get on with it! I don’t want to nag him now about revising, he’ll learn how much he needs to do from these mocks.

I hope so!!!!

Alexander

My dd had 2 options really, having dropped humanities after Y8.

Music, Maths, English x2, Comb Sci x2, German, Art. I'm hoping that her predicted 4's become 5's, but she should manage a few.

I remember hearing about 3 as a min for a class.
Last day of school tomorrow, I can't wait.

Whistl - the school has reserves (I checked out their accounts) but it’s not designed to run at a profit as such. Spare money is put back into bursaries for those students not entitled to government funding.

The school also makes money from residential summer schools etc in their specialist area.

The children do a slightly reduced academic timetable with 2-3 hours per day devoted to their specialism.

The maximum GCSEs that are taken is 9 and a maximum of 2 A Levels.

Such schools do exist for drama but there is no government funding for drama until aged 16-18. I guess because it’s felt that it’s not necessary to specialise that young unlike ballet and music.

oldandgold and whistl

I tried to post this last night, but my internet wasn't having it.
These are the schools that attract funding, but also centres throughout the country.
They really are different schools, and I must admit it seems wrong that other subjects aren't covered, like sport, or the STEM subjects. www.gov.uk/music-dance-scheme

RomanyRoots STEM is covered by specialist state schools, but not Chemistry nor Biology and only for A level and only in two places (London and Exeter) at the moment, although Liverpool university has announced plans to open one too.
russellgroup.ac.uk/policy/case-studies/specialist-maths-schools/

Up unti the age of 16, only ballet is covered for the funding (though other dance forms can be covered as part of a wider curriculum)

whistl

Oh, I am so pleased, thank you so much for that. It bothers me greatly when I identify the lack of specialist STEM schools.
We have lots of specialist Music and Drama, especially in the NW, I'd love to see more universities and organisations doing more throughout the UK, where it's most needed.
Now, we need to find some sporty schools, perhaps that they be harder.

Sorry, meant Dance, not Drama.

Only 2.5 more days to go here and thank goodness. I found DD crying in her room last night due to so much homework/pressure.
She seems to be having tests constantly and more homework than ever before at the moment. I think she may have gotten a little behind and is struggling to catch up with all the work - Her homework is always completed on time, but I think she may have had a few too many evenings not doing any work and has gotten behind.
Hopefully she has realised that she needs to do something most nights. She always used to as even in juniors she had homework every night due back the next day but sometimes I think seeing how much work you have got to do puts you off doing anything.
She has been rewarded with a trip to the theatre this afternoon for getting a certain number of merits so hopefully that will chill her out a bit.

Got to admit I'm finding it hard to support her when she is upset as she shuts us out. She doesn't share her feelings with anyone really, if I hadn't had gone upstairs I wouldn't have known she was upset. It was so much easier when she was younger and would always talk to us and come for cuddles.. She doesn't do cuddles any more. Hardly allowed contact at all.
DH reminded her that he had studied Macbeth at A level so I think that cheered her up a little knowing she could go to him if needed.

I guess we have few more years of this to come, so it's a learning curve for all of us on how best to handle her stress/worries/workload.

It's her 15th bday this week so hopefully she will enjoy that and Christmas and be ready to start again in the New Year.

Any suggestions on how to support a 15 yr old who doesn't

Sorry to hear that Heifer :( We’ve had quite a few incidents of stress/feeling overwhelmed this term. I was actually really glad of parents evening a couple of weeks ago as all her teachers were reassuring about her progress/ability and she seems to have calmed down a bit since then.

It’s been a long term though! Has anyone else’s child (girl?) experienced a lot more friendship drama this term? We’ve not had any before but this term seems to have been one thing after another - not with her close friends but wider stuff. I wonder if they’re all just a bit stressed and over-wrought?

I think friendship drama between girls is probably the most common problem in the GCSE years. Anecdotally, that seems to be the case anyway.

Heifer what a shame for her and you. I'd be really upset if I found one of my DC crying alone.

You can help her by teaching her to organise herself. Find somewhere that she can keep a record of what homework/ revision there is and the due dates and then help her plan when she will do things so she can keep on top of it all.

It may be that doing homework the evening that she gets it isn't always optimal.

Teach her to manage her time now and it will stand her in good stead in 2020.