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.

DD is Y10, DS did GCSEs last year.

I really think Y10 is about making sure you have decent notes, stick sheets in, really understand tpoics etc. Revise really well for topic tests and any exams they do have - learning how they best revise is as important as learning the stuff.
The one thing I will do this time is make sure we buy revision books early, rather than leaving until mocks. Make sure they are for the correct board/syllabus. DS really liked the CGP science books.
Don't force things too much at this stage - they will have burnt out by the time the exams arrive.

I used to ask them to leave their phones outside on the landing at night when they were in Y7, but I now leave it up to them to self-regulate. DD keeps her phone switched off and out of sight until she has finished her homework. DS3 is more easily distracted. He can't go screen-free during homework time as much of his homework is set in Google classroom and he needs the internet to access most of his textbooks.

We were told at the year 10 meeting last week not to get revision guides yet as they will let us know which of the guides is best to get for each subject. Think they’ll tell us at the progress review meetings in November

I also have a yr 10 DD and a new homework app from the school to navigate. It has made me appreciate the sheer volume of homework she has to do and how out of date I am. I don't remember learning any of what is being set.

She seems on top of it though and I can see her ticking it off. She doesn't get her organisation from me. She also wants to do Duke of Edinburgh and does 11 hours of gymnastics a week so not sure how she's going to fit it all in.

I see that all kids get a lot of homework. Is doing homework enough? Shouldn't they be doing some self studies , apart from homework?

It seems all the week days are sucked into getting on top of HM and they don't have much time to do reading or self study.

Can I just pop on here as a parent of a year 11 child and tell you what he did last year?

He did start making notes on the computer. in year 10. He came home and whilst stuff was still fresh in his mind he just typed up notes from the class, especially for history. It meant he could identify very easily right now if there was anything he had written that didn't make sense and could either google or ask the teacher.

Every morning he does Memorise for German, he has done this since year 7 anyway. At night, he comes home for 3.45 and goes to bed at 9.15. That gives him 5 1/2 hours of time, obviously this includes dinner with us as a family, snack after school and getting changed.

That is still a good 4 hours of free time. I think we baby them a lot. He does homework and then a bit of revision (hoping to get all 7's and above) he does a club on 2 nights a week. But then also has the weekend.

It is a lot of available time to watch YouTube and expand their knowledge and understanding. There are lots of videos by teachers/tutors for GCSE. Plus there is a big push for Study Tube where fellow students motivate you to study. I love Unjaded Jade.

@GetOnYerBike - Thanks a ton for sharing your experience. Please keep visiting us here.

When did you buy Revision guides?

expat1407 First term of year 10, some teachers were more proactive than others. It was all done on parentpay. It included buying English books like A Christmas Carol meaning your child owned the book and could make notes in it during lessons unlike the one school provides.

My sons attend an outstanding state secondary with a huge emphasis placed on parental involvement in your child's education. We are always a year ahead of ourselves, so last year my son attended the open days for sixth form to see what the courses offered etc.

We attended exam evenings which talked about revision. You got to choose several subjects from a list and spent a lesson with the teacher in a group of about 10 students and they give you an exam question. Even the parents! I even had my work marked by the teacher. It was open to years 10 and 11. It showed them the planning process for answering the question.

During both years 10 and 11 they have to bring in their revision notes/flashcards to show the teachers they are working. MFL had a whole evening dedicated to how to get a high grade, ie if you were asked where you live the answer is obviously X but expand that, you could talk about if money were no object I would live in New York and say why.

They want the children to succeed. They want their success to be the school's success.

I also lurked on the whole GCSE 2018 thread to see what other parents were doing & got info on websites from that. I admit I am a helicopter parent for revision, it isn't about making pretty flashcards, it is about them understanding and applying that knowledge, something that was never taught to me when I sat my exams.

Sorry, that turned out a lot longer than I thought it would

So, my daughters school has held revision breakfasts for year 10 pupils and parents this week, to explain what they expect this year and how to tackle it.

In a nutshell, the head told us that every girl should be working for 2.5 hours every night, and 6 hours a day (in 2 sessions of 3 hours each) at weekends and during holidays. Phones should be removed while they are working and overnight, and sleepovers are to be discouraged, as are family holidays during school holidays.

I will admit, I'm a bit stunned. The school is a selective independent and does get good results, but until this year, DD has never had much homework, (and none during holidays, as a school policy), so it's a huge step up. I actually feel a bit panic stricken - we've got various things in in half term, but the "consolidation" schedule we've been given suggests that a family day out means fitting an extra 3 hours ' work on 2 other days ( that already have 6 hour's work scheduled ). 😨

floot that sounds absolutely ridiculous! My DS has just done his GCSEs at a selective indy and barely thought about the exams in Y10. He did the homework that was set and revised for the Y10 exams, but nothing extra. The kids need down time, space to relax. They will burn out on that schedule! Do the school not do any teaching for the next 4 terms?!

every girl should be working for 2.5 hours every night, and 6 hours a day (in 2 sessions of 3 hours each) at weekends and during holidays.

Even DS2 (who is the hardest working child I've met in real life and got mostly 9s and the rest 8s) was only doing an hour of extra study a day in Y10, and he only started that in the Easter of Y10.

I'm glad I'm not alone in feeling a bit overwhelmed! I can't see DD managing it, given she has SEN and is involved with various school extra curricular activities after school, and has to travel 50 minutes each way to and from school.

"Extra study" is so far confined to getting DS to write summaries of topics when he's finished them. I really worry about him burning out. Think it's a fine balance between working enough and not going mad!! Not sure we've worked it out yet.

One thing that we've been recommended to do is get our own copies of the English Lit set texts - that way your child can make your own notes on them as they go along.

We do have our own copies of the set texts. But there is nowhere near 2.5 hours of homework every night

I'm another one voting that Floot's HT is nuts. Do you live in Singapore? Maybe you completely misunderstood what HT meant. I have 2 older DC who respectively got GCSEs that were good to respectable (with no revision) and very excellent (with plenty revision, but still less study than Floot's HT suggested).

No, not Singapore, and no, I definitely didn't misunderstand what we were told, unfortunately! 2.5 hours study every weekday night, including homework, and 6 hours a day at weekends and holidays, from now on. We were even given a grid for each student to fill in for each day of half term, with suggested study periods to total 6 hours each day.

When are they meant to relax and recharge? Or do anything else?

Miranda, that's what I'm wondering. I just can't imagine that a 10 hour day at school ( that's how long DD is out of the house on days when she HASN'T got extra curricular activities after school), followed by 2.5 hours of study is good for anyone, let alone young teens.

Wow 2.5 hours a night - we would struggle to fit that in! I think you have to strike a balance between work and relaxing. Dd is quite disciplined with her notes and seems to be quite organised but she does get stressed about some things particularly English.

We have been told 2.5 hours to 3 hours a night. Its a nightmare with sports commitments (DD currently doing Physics homework). Thankfully little weekend work although art taking a lot more than its 45 min estimate.

Oh gosh thanks all for the input. As Dd started GCSE in year 9 we have most of revision guides already...whenever email popped up from each subject we would buy one. She also has own set texts.

I can see previously from Dd school they have suggested two hours a night and she has supposedly been making flashcards for science since y9..may have to check that.

Yes yes to studytubers she likes evebennett too. Lots of good tips re : mindmaps etc on youtube.

There seems to be a lot of online homework e.g Hegarty maths which makes it hard to check if done . She will have to put up with me asking her about that though.

Dd not coping well with darker mornings and getting up later than she usually would. Of course a full face of makeup required. Yesterday morning at last minute there was much stomping round house looking for shoes

I have a friend whose daughter is in year11 has been told she HAS to go to compulsory sessions afterschool at set times for set subjects from now ...problem is some of those clash and parent not knowing thos would happen has booked in e.g piano lessons. I would not be happy of this was my child..could thet actually force child to go outside of school hours?

floot Dd does actually do some homework during rehearsals etc but I feel for you I really do is there a pastoral team you can speak to ?

DS in yr10 starting GCSE subjects. Main problem here is he is does not think he has to do anything over and above homework. He does a lot of sport so I've said that will be cut back if teachers say he is not doing enough at parents evening. He is doing some homework at lunchtimes so he keeps on top of what is given.

floot that seems excessive. Two years of that age 14-16 looks like a miserable existence and as for no family holidays in the holidays, that's plain bonkers. Everyone needs proper breaks.

The hours being suggested are madness, I just can’t believe that’s necessary. Thankfully we haven’t been given any guidelines, but those sort of timings would totally stress dd out.

We’re Christians and we have church commitments on Sunday anyway but I’m also a believer in the principle of having a ‘Sabbath’ - a day of rest - each week. I think we’re built to need that or we burn out. I’ve been making sure dd has a full day off at least at the weekend.

She gets a lot of homework so she hasn’t got round to doing anything towards revision yet. I remember when I was doing GCSEs I had a friend at a different school who was very conscientious. She started revising around Jan of year 11 and we couldn’t get our heads around it - it seemed ridiculously early. I think I started when we went on exam leave! We were still finishing off the courses right up until we left school. No such thing as revision classes then! I do know it’s a different kettle of fish now though ....

MY DS only did his homework in Y10, no extra stuff. He got great results.

My DD had a 'Welcome to Y10' meeting last week - staff just said to make sure they kept notes up to date and properly organised and did their homework properly and thoroughly. No mention of extra work, or working every weekend or no holidays!
Both my DCs schools value extra curricular activities and encourage children to have a varied life beyond academic studies.