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.

[crazycrofter]

Phew, thanks Seeline! I’ve suggested dd actually revise for every test she has as that will be an improvement on last year. But at the moment she really needs downtime at the weekends and in holidays. I wasn’t intending to make her work through holidays except for the half term and Easter of year 11 - and then she’ll have a longer summer holiday to make up for it.

[Seeline]

Y11 is different - depending on when they have their mocks, DS had his after Christmas so revised throughout Christmas holidays apart from Christmas Day, and had several other family events too. To be fair he didn't really start proper revision until the Easter holidays, although school were laying on extra revision sessions and most homework involved exam style questions etc.

Really learning stuff for end of unit/topic tests is a good idea. And trying to make decent revision stuff - notes, mind maps, flash cards etc for those, so that they can be kept for next time is useful. But they all learn differently - mindmaps and notes seemed to work for mine - flash cards completely pointless!

[crazycrofter]

I suppose it’s a bit like the 11plus, which we went through with our two. We did about 3 months extra work with them at home and it was fine. Other people paid tutors for 2 years before the test. The rumour then goes round that that’s what you have to do to get in.

In reality there’s a point beyond which you stop improving/ the rate of the improvement has to be weighed up against the cost.

I remember when I was doing my chartered accountancy qualification - I did the bare minimum work and just scraped through. But it was a pass/fail qualification so just passing was good enough! Some girls on my course worked 24/7 and got really high marks but I wasn’t sure what the point of all the extra work was - except I suppose, comfort that they knew it all inside out.

GCSEs are different obviously as grades do matter - but there must still be a cut off point where you’ve done enough to do well. No one needs to get 100%!

[LionessAndHerCubs]

@Floot I have a dc with exact same profile as your DD, but a DS. Same conditions, same strength in subjects but didn't do Latin at all because he couldn't cope with two languages. He does French but its his weakest subject alongside Maths! and also at an indy. I'm also a helicopter parent but that's because of his executive function/poor working memory. If i didn't he'd never appear at an practise, concert, have the right equipment etc but he's getting there.
We don't have the situation with revision that you seem to have at your school though, but then maybe ds just hasn't told me anything .

So if you like, we can hand hold together along the way, the last thing we need is exam stress getting the point of an anxiety flare up.

[AlexanderHamilton]

I'm a regular on the GCSE's 2018 thread and it has been the most fantastioc support network ever. It woudl be wonderful if this thread could be the same.

I have a year 10 boy and a dd who has just started A levels/dance diploma.

Dd is a high flier, incredible motivated, autistic but it manifests in an obsession to do well. She achieved fantastic GCSE results in very difficult circumstances.

Ds - well - Autistic. Used to attend a selective school but they were rubbish at dealing with his asd and he was asked to leave at the end of Year 8. He's now happy in a decent state 14-18 comp (middle school system) with teachers who support him buthe is incredibly disorganised, hates doing work outside of school (except music). Is predicted a Grade 8 for maths and a Grade 2 for English. Spends most of his life at school in the music department and is currently rehearsing for 3, yes 3 different musical thatre shows all happening within weeks of each other.

[AlexanderHamilton]

And to counterbalance some of what you've all been told. ds is getting next to no homework at the moment (He had 1.5-2 hours per night at his previous school).

Dd attended a vocational school and danced for 2 hours every night. In Year 10 she probably did about 45 mins of study each night increasing to an hour or so in Year 11 and she achieved 2 Grade 9's with the rest mostly Grade 8's (there was a stray 6 for French but its being re-marked)

[crazycrofter]

That’s really helpful AlexanderHamilton. Dd would like to achieve all 7s and above although I’ve told her the odd 6 would be fine! It’s good to know that those results are theoretically possible without studying 24/7!

I also have a younger ds with autistic tendencies and he is going to be a challenge when the time comes!

[LionessAndHerCubs]

I'm praying DS gets a 6 in Maths. At last end of term exam he got a C.

[RedSkyLastNight]

Another to balance out the homework expectations ...

DS has 12 pieces of homework a week (not always all set). He's expected to spend 30-40 minutes on each (probably does as an average as sometimes spends more and sometimes less). Whenever they finish a topic, they are given 1 or 2 homeworks to revise it - so the making summary notes is essentially done in homework time (not extra).

I think 2.5 hours a night at the start of Y10 is ridiculous. No wonder so many children of this age crack under the pressure!

[AlexanderHamilton]

Gosh at the moment ds is getting a couple of mymaths tasks per week (which don't take long as he is quick at maths. This week he had business studies (took about half an hour) and dance homework (took 15 mins). Its rare that he has more than 2-3 pieces of homework a week.

[AlexanderHamilton]

What subjects is everyone tking and how much choice did they have?

At ds's school as well as maths, English & two science he had to choose one out of a language, History, Geography or Computer Science. He then had 3 free choice options so he is taking

Maths
English x 2
Chemistry
Physics
Computer Science
Music
Food Tech
Business Studies
Btec Dance (extra class instead of normal PE)

[LionessAndHerCubs]

I can't remember what the choices were, all seems a very long time ago now.But ds is doing the following:

Maths
English
Physics
Chem
Biology
Hist
Geography
Music
French

@Alex I remember they had a few languages to choose from Spanish, German etc
He also had to choose one from hist, geo, or RS, although DS chose two.
How come your DS is not doing biology? i thought it was a mandatory subject.

[RedSkyLastNight]

They had to take English x2, maths and philosophy (DS very annoyed about philosophy as the year after his they changed the policy and it became an option). Then they had to choose 7 options (in blocks, but a reasonable amount of choice). At least 2 had to be science and they had to take either history or geography (or both).

DS is very maths/science based and has chosen
Maths
English x 2
Philosophy
Triple Science
Computer Science
Economics
Geography
Music

[AlexanderHamilton]

Ds's school is in a middle school area so they all start in Year 9 and choose their options last February.

The science is unusual. Ds has specific reasons for not doing Biology related to his autism (although he now thinks he would be OK with it) but his school decided to only offer single sciences and students can choose 2 or 3 of them. I don't know any other school that does this.

We are a little sad that they only offer German as he did Spanish at his previous school and couldn't catch up in time.

[AlexanderHamilton]

We have quite a few music choosing dc on the thread then.

[Floottoot]

Lioness, a virtual handhold would be wonderful! Thank you - just knowing someone else is dealing with the same struggles is a huge comfort.
We are currently going through a horrendously difficult time with DD. She has started to have meltdowns either end of the day, which involve her refusing to do anything she's asked, laughing hysterically, shrieking,throwing herself around and shouting abuse at us. This is a new side of her ADHD and is proving incredibly stressful. We spoke to her HoY and HT yesterday and they have actually arranged for us to see the school counsellor to discuss it.
We couldn't get her to do even 30 minutes of work last night, let alone 2+ hours.

[LionessAndHerCubs]

Floot - So sorry to hear that. i hope she clams down (these things seem to happen in phases and then just disappear again) Is she on medication? DS has been on medication since yr 5. If he hadn't gone on medication i don't think he would have continued in mainstream let alone get into a selective indy. I find that when DS starts behaving irrationally (DS gets angry all the time over very odd things), after he's calmed down, and this could be over a couple of days, talking to him at this time works. He usually says, he knows he's being irrational but can't explain why, and why he couldn't stop.

It is very stressful I know. Endless meetings with school, worries over looming GCSEs, worries over will school say they've had enough. Everytime there's an email from his school my heart skips, then i open it and find he got a demerit for forgetting his guitar or something like that, and sigh with relief, which again is odd in the neurotypical world.

[LionessAndHerCubs]

@Alex Sorry to hear about the biology angle. I thought it was a bit strange but understanding it better now, do you think its better he had the choice? I suppose if he' not going to follow a medical sciences line in future then its not an issue. I remember in my time (yonks ago in the 80s!) those who didn't choose Biology had to do another subject called 'Health Science'. I still think its important to learn about how the body works etc without the plants and animals etc thrown in but not a deal breaker by any means.

[crazycrofter]

Floot - sorry to hear about your dd :( I think year 10 is a stressful time anyway without the extra pressure your school is putting on. I know dd has been feeling quite overwhelmed recently.

Alexander - dd also got to drop a science which she was extremely pleased about! Her school so three separate sciences and allow girls to drop one. She’s dropped Physics. She’s definitely not going into medicine or engineering, but if she had a sudden turn around she could always take the GCSE in sixth form - it’s what my dh did when he decided to aim for medicine!

It’s allowed her to focus on humanities which she’s good at. She’s doing:
Maths
English x2
Biology
Chemistry
Spanish
Latin
RS
History
Geography

[AlexanderHamilton]

He could deal with the plants, it was the human biology that sent hin into meltdown!

[LionessAndHerCubs]

Alex - In that case, he can forget about Biology for now and just enjoy the subjects he is currently doing. Its not worth all the stress and there are plenty choices at University level that don't involve Biology. I wish DS could drop French, he hates it and has no flare for languages at all. He is very lucky his first language is English.

[PostNotInHaste]

Floot that is absolutely ridiculous the pressure they are putting them under, your poor DD (and you)

We’re also in 3 tier system so DS moved start of year 9.

He originally wanted to do :

Maths
English x2
RE
Double Science - all compulsory

Then as 4 options - German, Computer Science, Triple science and History

German got dumped before he arrived and last minute Computer Science was scrapped plus they cut down to 3 options for his year. So now the core ones, Triple Science, history and Business studies and hopefully further maths.

[Floottoot]

Lioness, yes, she's on meds...again - she had chosen to come off them altogether earlier in the year, after a very bad reaction to a new one, but she realised she needed them if she was going to get through the exams at the end of year 9. We've asked for a meeting with her consultant in half term to discuss how to move forward. Does your son get any other kind of treatment, other than medication? We have only ever been given meds and the odd leaflet - no family support, behaviour help, CAMHS etc. The services here for ADHD are non-existant.
Strangely, DD says she feels she's coping well at school, but maybe she just doesn't recognise the effort it's taking her to manage the extra work?
I really appreciate people 's kind words of support - thank you.

[LionessAndHerCubs]

@Floot - I've pm'd you.

[ILovePandas]

DD head of Y10 said that said the expectation was total o 6-8 hours of homework and self study per week. We also got a letter detailing this expectation.
DD doing the Ebacc plus 3 options:
Maths
English x2
Science x2
French
History
Drama
Music
Textiles