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.

He is working at a 6 now. His predicted grades are 7.
This is good I know this. So maybe I should just back off?

Oblomov18 this is the problem isn’t it! How do we know what’s ‘enough’. At dd’s school lots of girls will no doubt be devastated if they don’t get a full set of grade 9s (nearly 50% got 8x 9s last year!) so I’m trying to find a middle ground. 7s are great! A full set of 7s would be amazing - although I know dd would feel like a lower achiever.

I guess your ds perhaps thinks he’s fine as he’s doing well compared to others - which is fair enough. My dd feels the opposite. She got 44% in a Maths test before Christmas - but I looked at the grade boundaries for last year and that would be a comfortable 6. And there’s over a year left for her to improve.

I think effective study techniques is the key - dd was just reading through her Geog notes yesterday and not getting anywhere. MrsElijahMikaelson1 please share any tips you pick up! I also can’t understand how or why girls are revising for exams. I did suggest dd get some revision cards though so she’s doing the work as she goes along.

I’m not sure she’s really a worrier by nature, although she gets overwhelmed if she’s not organised. I think these girls are all whipping each other up into a frenzy and they need to calm down!

Exactly Crazy. He's in top set of maths, by the skin of his teeth. Surely he should be aiming for 9. And then be a bit gutted if he gets 8's.

I guess it depends how many sets there are? If only 3% get 9s surely you wouldn’t expect the whole of top set to get a 9? Or is it a selective school - in which case maybe they should all get 9s!

What are they told they should be aiming for? How many 9s did the school get last year? I don’t think anyone should be gutted with 8s. Under the old system some might have been gutted to get an A not an A* so I can understand disappointment with 7s but not 8s?

Dd’s gripe is that all the teachers across the subjects tell them they’re all capable of 7 plus. She feels that can’t be true, just because they all passed an entrance exam at age 10 and it’s not taking into account that some might be struggling in some subjects. I think she’d just prefer them to give her a personal target!

I think there's something wrong with a system or a school where children feel a failure if they don't get the equivalent of an A **, unless of course they are very gifted academically.
Mine does homework at school but don't think it's anything near 1.5 hours a day, and certainly very little time at the weekend.
I've told mine to just keep it ticking over with a bit here and there, and just hope she'll have time during holidays to do a bit more.
They can only do so much and they all need downtime.
I remember being told this is the best way to work, no huge surprises close to the exams, but no stressing for two years either.

Gutted was wrong word, sorry.
Of course there's nothing wrong with 8 or 7 or....

Romanyroots I agree, but when more than 90% of grades are 7 and above (and 50-60% are 9s) they’re bound to feel like that!

Glad to hear there’s others not doing loads of work. Dd actually does a lot in the week but she refuses to work at weekends and in holidays. This means she’s exhausted during the week and ends up dozing in lessons. We need to find some balance. We’re trying to work on efficiency and working out what can be left or done quickly.

crazy

Most definitely, but I would have those with 7 and above as very bright/gifted, not representative of average or just above like the old "B" "c".
It is a difficult balance, I sometimes come on here and hear how much others are doing and think mine mustn't stand a chance, she's certainly not lazy, but has very little extra time to study.
I've given the tip of little and often and working through the specs and past papers, but the time just doesn't allow this atm.

Romanyroots I think this is the problem - I keep trying to tell dd that if she got all 7s and above that would be amazing but the odd 6 isn’t a disaster either. Obviously it’s all relative. She really wants to go to sixth form college and have a more ‘normal’ cohort after GCSEs.

Your dd has a particular gift and a direction already which has got to be a plus point! I’m sure the school will make sure she manages the passes she needs in other subjects but really those other subjects will be irrelevant in five years time won’t they?

crazy

Yes, I know what you mean, but obviously she still wants to do her best and feels under pressure to gain 9's herself.
I know it doesn't come from school as they aren't academically pushy, but do support well.
It doesn't come from home either, as she knows our opinion to do your best. Personally, I don't like the phrase try your best
I'm not sure if it's the media, other friends, or where it comes from.
It seems like even those who are laid back about it all are somehow forced into a frenzy of needing 9's.

Dd doesn’t like the phrase either because she ‘doesn’t know what her best is’!!! I think she’s massively over thinking it all. That’s interesting that your dd feels pressure too. I suppose they’re just so much more aware of the wider world now with social media etc?

re 'try your best'.

I don't know if this is helpful or not, but when DD1 was in y11 we agreed a sustainable level of work with her at each 'phase start' (eg revision for mocks, then work to Easter, then revision for real exams prior to start, then revision once started exams, or something like that).

We then said that if she could do that then she wouldn't have any 'if only' feelings in August when she got her results. We would know she had done 'her best' and so there wouldn't be any 'if only I had tried harder in Physics' or whatever.

so e.g. Christmas holidays before Jan mocks - 5 hrs per day for 10 out of the 16 days.

I honestly don't think an hour to 1.5 hours per evening is a massive amount (its normally an hour but can be more) - and I wouldn't put myself in the pushy parent mould. I guess it depends upon what is the norm for your school - ds attends a grammar school and so I suppose they may set a bit more homework? - however it tends to pay off come GCSE time since well prepared dc are less stressed (speaking from experience).

I think it's far worse than when our older two were doing theirs, the last being 8 years ago.
There didn't seem so much pressure at all.

Yes, the old try your best annoys me. I think it's the word try rather than do. But I recognise that is probably just me.
I tried, or I'll try just sounds defeatist to me

DD certainly isn’t yet doing those kind of hours. She is a very able musician though so does at least an hour a night practice

amybrown07 you only want to hear from parents who want to send their DC on a cookery course? Or you want to gauge the market for such courses?

Also, I'm not usually very bothered by such things, but I feel a bit uncomfortable responding to a general call "Hi mums". Usually I would not reply at all to such an address, but I am guessing that you are quite young, so I wanted to help. Maybe I am the only one who feels that way?

I think the normal process is to go through the official channels - i.e. contact MN HQ?

DD getting pressure too, she's at a selective school but one that's 'known' for pastoral care and a wide intake. I fear the new Head is changing things.

Homework was bonkers at the beginning of the year (3 hours a night, easily) but after complaints, and melt downs they've got that under control somewhat. Still 2 hours scheduled a night which I think is a lot, on top of creating cards etc.

I really don't think telling them that an 8 would be disappointing is anything but counterproductive and bonkers. 7's would be great, 6's would be good, and frankly a pass in Spanish will have us tap dancing on the dining room table!

Stressed kids don't perform...I feel this is going to be a bit of a battle to keep the lid on over the next year and a bit.....

I spoke to dd last night and asked how much prep she is getting and it's about 1.5 hours 2 times a week.
She also does an hour or so Art on top of this on a saturday or sunday evening, depending on other commitments.
I reminded her to start doing some notes, those little packs for revision.
I even bought her some funky ready made packs, but nothing yet.
I just hope she sees it in time for herself as no amount of nagging or encouraging works with her.
Still on target for 8/9 in music though, it will look strange if all other results are 4/5

I found some ready made CGP revision cards on amazon for Biology (the subject with the poor teacher - she’s lucky only to have one!). They look pretty comprehensive and will save some time in the long run. Although I suppose arguably making the cards helps reinforce the info?!

OOh ill have a look @crazycrofter - DD has been making some but I fear she loses them.. her other favourite things to do is buy a pretty pack from Wilkos or somewhere and fill the record card book with different subjects ! then get frustrated with them.

I feel these would be good to whip out at opportune moments from my handbag haha

DS did zero school work over the holiday. He averaged 4 or 5 hours per week last term. The end of term report (numbers no words) was all fine for homework but he does nothing by way of reading around any subject or even watch anything educational on YouTube.

School is going to work with yr10 this half-term to set their individual GCSE goals. Parents' evening at end of term which will hopefully give me a better picture.

My teaching theory may be out of date now but, I used to encourage my A level students to compile their own revision cards.
It's great to use pre prepared ones rather than doing nothing, but writing notes themselves is another opportunity for learning.
They are taking in some info whilst writing, then reading them over and over throughout the year will encourage further learning.
My kids never listened to me, but some of my students reported they helped.

Thanks crazycrofter - I've just bought DD some revision cards for Physics, Biology and Chemistry. I agree it's good to write out your own - but I'm hoping these will help me to test her when she asks, because at the moment she just hands me her books and says test me (which I find quite hard).