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.

On the 'revising with others' I think it depends on where it takes place. In a quiet room at school/library probably yes. At a friends where there is a playstation to hand or football in the garden then no.

Last year in AQA biology Paper 1 56% was an 8 & 61% on Paper 2.

Interesting the boundaries were higher for Chemistry

Comefrom Thanks for that it provides context. I struggle to believe boundaries will stay so low. it actually seems a bit bonkers that each grade must have so few marks difference. It's all a bit knife edge.

Well, if you are setting up the grade curve so that the top 20% get a 7 and the top 3% get a 9, then on a very tough paper, your mark bands are going to be very slim indeed.

DD has year 10 exam grades back ranging between 3 in French and 4-5 for the others (2 subjects were a couple of marks off a 6). Her predicted grades are 4-5 so think she has done better than expected but seems to me the predicted grades are a bit useless? The school use some algorithm based on prior attainment (SATs results in year 6 which were all 4/4b), month of birth (Aug) and gender.

Interesting info on the grade boundaries. I’ve also been following the year 11 thread thinking goodness that will be us next year!

Paddington That's a useless way to 'predict' grades!

Our school predicts based on current attainment, and progress to date, not just on a computer generated flightpath from when they were 11.

(Though it does also tell us how much progress they have made - eg 'excellent' means doing better than would have been expected, 'some' means doing less good than expected).

DS has target grades based on his SATs. They may as well be random numbers for all the use they serve. However, we also get a "likely to achieve grade" which is based on current rate of progress and attainment. This is much more useful. I'm hoping the ones on the next report will be particularly useful ax they'll enable DS to see if he's on purse for where he hopes to be, or hopelessly miles away.

I will read the rest of the thread, honest, but can I ask if anyone else 'non-Arty' struggling with encouragement upon Art? DH cannot draw. I cannot either. I'm able to hand and machine sew and mess about with fabrics. What concerns me is that DD will spend summer on electronic devices instead of what I think would be useful is working on her portfolio. Any pointers welcomed

Has she seen lots of other students’ portfolios? Preferably with comments like ‘I did most of this section during Year 10’ it ‘this was all completed by Christmas’.

Neither of mine did Art, but for their friends who did/are, it seemed to be all the annotations/appraisals that took the time.

DS came home from school last week saying that the school have revised their A-level entry requirements massively downwards - I am just off to check the website but this would be great weight lifted if so.

DD's selective indie has suggested that she can stay on for 6th form, irrespective of GCSE results ( within reason ). She has another choice, which is to move to the 6th form at DS's school ( also a selective indie), which requires 5 level 6s and preferably 7s in A level choice subjects.
She's not keen to move, but I think she'd be better supported than if she stayed on at her current school. The issue for her is that she is shy and quite anxious with people she doesn't know and in new situations, and her friends look set to stay at her school.

A new start sounds good idea @alsoplayspiccolo is there an open day event/evening she can go to? Or perhaps something else like wonderful music/It/sport whatever she is into facilities to persuade her.

Dd is going to local college ...she is very much looking forward to starting afresh. I'm worried that some of those who are the 'mean girls'at her present school (12 miles away) and the 'mean girls' from her primary who we tried to escape from (based in the same town as the college )will be there too. She will be so downhearted if so ..she is really looking forward to making it her 'place'. Still we have no choice as she has to go somewhere (Hants) .

None of this is bloody easy is it ?

It certainly isn't, Orange.
I hope it works out for your DD. Never easy where bullying has been involved; I left my school and went to a 6th form a train ride away for that reason.
DS's school has a whole school open morning for prospective students, plus a 6th form options evening and a "be a 6th former for a day" day, so DD will have plenty of opportunity to see what the school is like. My biggest worry is that it is a fairly new, small 6th form department and options offered may be limited, dictated by interest. Also, DD may choose subjects but if she doesn't get the required grades, she'll have to choose again but only from subjects in the same options block. In her case, she wants to do drama, English lit and history; history could be the tricky one on results day, but I'm not sure what she'd replace it with for A levels.
I'm sure it will all become clearer once we e been to the open morning in October.

Orange I think unless your DD is unlucky enough to end up on the same course she may well be able to avoid 'mean girls' at colleges in Hants. The ones near me are all pretty huge (PS, BP, Eastleigh, Sparsholt).
Also, college is more 'adult' so the power play mean girl stuff might not go down so well there. Plus they may well have grown out of it.

No it Ian easy, DD went to Non catchment Upper School due to bullying. DS will need to change as current school being, well crap basically at some of the subjects he wants to do. I have started emailing round as a lot on prospectus either had no Comp Sci fir A level or said need the GCSE. So far found one place starting from 2020 and two will will accept without the GCSE .

I think and haven’t told him yet that on balance the Grammar is best option taking into account teaching and logistics. They do a taster day which will help. Exams start next week here which feels late. Made sure tidy bedroom and made labelled drawers for subjects which no doubt he won’t use.

We have minimum expected progress scores on report that are a bit depressing for DS as 8a across the board. Luckily he is pragmatic and ignoring the pressure it could exert.

DD also took GCSE papers in most subjects. The results have been more variable than I was expecting, ranging from Grade 4 to Grade 8. Her target grades are all 6-7.

Her first choice would be to go to the sixth form at the school where she is now, and she should hopefully get the required grades.

Dd has had most of her results now, just waiting for 2 (which will probably be her best 2). A mix of 5-7s, which has disappointed her, but probably reflects the level of work she put in. She's hoping for all 7s and above next year. We have parents evening at the beginning of July, so I'm hoping we'll get an idea of what's realistic.

She wants to leave her school as it's an all girls independent and she feels it's too much of a bubble socially plus she wants co-ed. I'm happy for her to move, but she has so many lovely friends that I'm a little concerned about the transition - she makes friends easily, but she also gets very attached to people and feels things deeply so I'm anticipating a term or two or mourning, where she misses her old friends!

She's decided that fitness, not school work, is her priority for the rest of this school year - she's going to the gym after school every day!

Sorry to hear about all the bullying worries - hopefully sixth form college will be a very different sort of environment though?

Finally had a letter from school about these exams, anyone know what PPE stand for as in ‘Year 10 PPE examinations ‘ apologies if it’s something really obvious! Starts next week then ends 4 July.

They have to do ‘knowledge organisers’ homework still which is supposed to be revision but am not convinced and neither is the maths teacher who says it’s a load of rubbish and sets them more anyway. DS has announced that he’s going to focus his revision on maths as apparently that’s the one he wants to do best in so I think he’s still planning on Maths A Level.

I have an op in September with 12 week recovery so am a bit worried about the sixth form Open days next term but i’ll Be relatively ok by time they come around. Would prefer Co-Ed for sixth form as he is now but at moment will settle for anywhere with decent standard of teaching.

I think a move to 6th form college is similar to the move at age 11 in that there is a general rejig of friendships based on subjects studying and interests. There will be plenty of opportunity to find lovely friends from different schools.

@postnotinhaste pre public exams I think

Thanks all..I'm just worrying away lol. If it all goes well it will be great for her plus bonus of 15 min walk and 10 am starts.
@TeenTimesTwo yes you are right a bigger Hants sixth form..I should trust the process really they know what to do and have hundreds of kids from this end of Hants enrol every year. I've got a friend at work whose daughter is going in September so will harass her

When the time comes

The problems with the Hants system are a fewfold:

• pastoral care seems to be less good than schools
• the step up can be quite big for a less organised / mature pupil
• similarly, communication with parents can be less good than with schools

On the other hand it seems to me there are some good advantages:

• massive range of options in A level combinations and BTECs
• conscious choosing of courses rather than just what is offered by school
• a great in between step prior to university for those who are ready

Thank you Orange, you’re right and DS knew when I asked him! My DD did one of the Hants one at same time as Teens DC as although not Hants some of our local children go and by all accounts a fair few off to Brock next year. I think Teen has summed it up well. It wasn’t a huge success for DD but she started a bit late and didn’t like the course so only did a year. She did end up hangers my around with her school friends mostly but a few new ones came onto the scene.

My friend’s DD is due to go in September and one of her parents is really ill. They have been absolutely excellent with her so far. And DD did end up with extra time for exams there which she didn’t have at school so that was a bonus.

DS was very talkative this evening so just had long discussion with him about sixth form etc which was quite productive.