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.

@comefromaway - tough to have show week right at the same time as exams - he's probably a bit strung out (hope it's OK to ask, but is he autistic - just with you mentioning the meltdowns anxiety? My ds is on the spectrum, and when things get too much there's always a danger of just shutting down/going into meltdown...)

Yes, he is autistic. His exams are over now.

Thought it sounded like familiar patterns :-) And of course - you were talking about his results so he must have finished exams Hope his show goes well!

Glad he is feeling a bit more upbeat. Dd will spend hours on her keyboard or guitar if I let her . I don't get it as she clearly has sensory sound issues I.e high pitched or classroom noise

Afraid it’s just st gone very downhill as he’s refusing to put his devices on charge downstairs or give dh back his old MacBook overnight. He is poor not blank saying he can do whatever he wants and was clenching his fists.

Dh is very angry and it’s made him ill.

Oh gosh @comefromaway sorry didn't see that! I'm not sure this will be of any help but when Dd gets glued to her phone sometimes I just take it and hide it for a day. This is not without kind of a warning as there is always conflict about it beforehand. I find there is less conflict this way...the screaming matches are a lot less and she accepts it quicker.

And I’ve just had a message that he walked out of his music exam yesterday.

Oh no @comefromaway ! Is he eating properly ? I know you said before he had blood sugar issues when he didn't eat.

perhaps a meeting with school and yourself and son required - you can set minimum targets regarding what he needs to achieve ?. He needs to remember that he needs good references to get to the next stage too! If he wants to do composition at Uni there will be lots of self discipline involved.

He's written a blooming musical theatre overture in his spare time.

Yes, as far as I am aware he is eating. I think its anxiety. The music teacher said he was very likely to come top of the class.

Ds lied to me, he told me that the rest of the class were doing music theory work that he had alreday covered so he was sent off to practice/work on his compositions whilst they caught up. In reality they were all suposed to be sitting the exam.

Last night he weas explaining to me the functionality of certain chords in a chord sequence and how you could substitute a different chord that had the same function, but gave a jazzier, crunchier sound!

He sounds really talented, is it just the exams he is fighting against.

Having originally been really pleased her Year 10 exams are the week after half term, DD is now looking in disgust at a week of revision and in envy at her friends who have finished.

DD's exams start today. She had her GCSE ICT exam yesterday; she did the short course last summer and did well, so decided to carry it over to the full course this year. It's been a really useful way of bringing some reality to the whole idea of GCSEs next year, plus it's meant SEN access arrangements have been considered.

Today's exams are English language and drama, both of which she's pretty strong at. Monday will be a different story - geography, maths and Latin. Three exams in one day is pretty rough, but even more so because she gets extra time, so they really will be back-to-back, pretty much.

Oh comeaway, that sounds tough - clearly as others have said he's absolutely got the talent never mind the ability especially in his music - he sounds amazing! Is there anything that the school can do in terms of access arrangements to help him manage his anxiety around the exams?

@alsoplays that does sound rough hope she gets regular breaks inbetween

The SENCO has found a few things out including the fact he’s eating excessive amounts of sugar as in taking handfuls of sugar packets from the canteen. He’s then having a high then crashing.

Comeaway sounds very tough to deal with It’s good that the SENCO found out about the sugar , did DS tell them or did they find out some other way? If he told them it’s good that he’s being honest and they can get him to open up.

DS’s exams don’t start until July so quite quiet here.

I think someone in the canteen reported it. The lady who runs the canteen is the mum of one of his friends, she’s on the community group & she has been made aware of some of his issues due to the adjustments that have been made for him at lunchtimes.

That's good you all know now. It must be very tough for you. The good thinh is this is now and not this time next year .

@Comefromaway - poor lamb. You don't think the sugar consumption might be a symptom do you? A friend of DD's was diagnosed with diabetes after some odd eating and drinking. Might just be teenage odd behaviour though.

DD's exams have nearly finished. I think she's lost her enthusiasm though. Lacklustre revision for physics today. She was pretty tired after staying up to watch Eurovision on Saturday and sleeping over at a friends.

He had a whole lot of blood tests just after Christmas when there were concerns about his sleeping prior to a referral to a consultant (who refused to prescribe melatonin). energy levels and the fact that he had these crashes,diabetes was one of the things they were looking for and it all came out normal.

He has a very restricted diet due to his sensory issues, he eats very little protein, mostly carbs so he is obviously overloading himself with sugar.

It sounds tough Comefrom. Is the school generally supportive ?

Just had email and we can get Tassomai through school so that’s good news.

Yes, they are. They are not perfect but they seem to care. We had to move in at the end of Year 8 from a school that was VERY unsupportive. They refused to do put in place any adjustments for his asd.

That goes a long way and good to hear.

OK so ds has had some more grades back.

Maths 6 (7 on calculator paper 5 on non calculator)
English 5 & 4
Chemistry 3
Physics (didn't take the paper)
Music 7
Business Studies 5
Computer Science (not had result back)
Food Tech Ungraded fail