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Secondary education

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GCSEs 2019 - support thread part 2

999 replies

AtiaoftheJulii · 28/01/2019 20:27

Here we are again Grin

OP posts:
Iambuffy · 08/05/2019 17:12

😳😱

MaudBaileysGreenTurban · 08/05/2019 17:31

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

mcmen71 · 08/05/2019 20:14

God I am stressing reading about gcse I have a dd in y11 has some exams this year but does very little study. I dont know what im go to do with her in y12

Pipandmum · 08/05/2019 20:30

Not always my son is doing igcses and they start next week (other than art, part of drama and language orals).

We have the option of school, home or both, meaning they can go in to school to revise between exams, or stay st home, or both! Full uniform whenever on school property. Study leave was the week before half term. My son knows what he’s doing next is just concentrating on the exams he needs not too bothered by others. He’s going to apprenticeship college so technically only needs math and English. But I always say he should try to do his best not just the minimum! Not getting thru...

raspberryrippleicecream · 08/05/2019 20:43

French oral done and dusted, Ds2 very happy so hope its justified!

Iambuffy · 08/05/2019 21:06

Ds is revising eng lit love and relationships poetry.

He is unhappy 🤣🤣🤣

shushnow · 08/05/2019 21:41

No study leave, revision classes and normal class outside of exams - not ideal

KOKOagainandagain · 09/05/2019 17:52

Did anyone else's DC sit the second Cambridge maths iGCSE core paper today? DS1 found it difficult - just wondered if others did too or it was just him (he is dyscalculic).

Iambuffy · 09/05/2019 18:01

Apparently ds1s school had another assembly today where teschers threatened to come to kids homes and get them out of bed if they miss the exams!
😳🙄
Ds1 is such a conscientious student and it's really pissing him off being spoken to like a naughty primary school child 😡

Soursprout · 09/05/2019 18:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Iambuffy · 09/05/2019 18:17

Yeah.
These next 5 weeks can't go fast enough for me tbh...

Iambuffy · 09/05/2019 18:36

There is an award ceremony in the autumn term apparently...I can see ds refusing to attend at this rate!

MaudBaileysGreenTurban · 09/05/2019 19:12

Oh, ds is completely over school now and cannot wait for a change of scene at college. He says it's been a relentless two years of constantly being told they're not working hard enough.

I'm a bit baffled by that approach tbh. I can imagine it might motivate a small minority but in my experience of teenage boys it will have the opposite effect on most!

grauduroi · 09/05/2019 19:57

Yep, sounds like ds school, lots of assemblies about how your future will be ruined, do you want to feel like a failure! How this is supposed to motivate them i really don't know.

Is anyone else's child struggling with friendship issues on top? This is bringing ds down and i'm on tenterhooks everyday when picking him up hoping it was a good day.....roll on the next 6 weeks !

Iambuffy · 09/05/2019 20:24

Thankfully, no.
Your poor ds...must be horrid on top of exam woes.
Ds has done a hour of geography. Apparently.

gleegeek · 09/05/2019 23:53

Yes shouty assemblies here tooSad I know the teachers are stressed but they really don't help. The conscientious ones listen and believe it all, the lazy ones and naughty ones switch off and ignore it. I definitely believe more carrot less stick would be more successful!
Half day for dd tomorrow, shirt signing etc and then that's it. Feels peculiar

Iambuffy · 10/05/2019 06:41

Why??
Just so counterproductive...as you say the it upsets the conscientious students and the not so conscientious just ignore it!
Grr.

cptartapp · 10/05/2019 06:55

No study leave here either, they're only just finishing the syllabus for some things this week!
Starts Monday with RE. Not his favourite. Placemarking for support.

Iambuffy · 10/05/2019 07:11

Letter home reiterating everything said in assembly so now I - like a lot of other parents - am feeling pissed off too 😡

They are providing breakfast (well....toast) every day for year 11s during the exams.

Can't see ds giving up his cooked breakfasts OR going into school early 🤣🤣

Great for those kids who don't get a breakfast, though 😣

pointythings · 10/05/2019 07:25

Some schools... No shouty assemblies here at all. Just supportive teachers. DD2's French teacher left a personalised positive message in the last set of revision homework they all got back. That just works much better.

Iambuffy · 10/05/2019 07:33

Agree pointy

His English teacher has been sending home personal encouragement notes since the start of year 11 :)

It's the SLT.

They've gone full on Col Kurtz!

Bimkom · 10/05/2019 08:40

I asked DS about whether he had had shouty assemblies (of course, even if he had, it would have been weeks ago, they haven't been in school since before the Easter break). He said there were a fair few of those during the year, with the headmistress banging on about how they won't get into sixth form if they don't get the grades. It sounds like it was all water off a duck's back.
In a weird way, the whole behaviour points system seems to have helped this. When he first went to the school, I kept getting a bit upset about all the negatives that seemed to be given out like confetti, not to mention the lunchtime detentions ( the after school were far fewer, and felt more justified), but DS just sucked it up, and kept telling me "nobody cares about negatives". And when he got onto the SLT for Year 10/11, over people who had far fewer negatives than him, I had to acknowledge he was right - not even the senior teachers choosing the leadership boys seemed to care about negatives. And while my DS can be overly talkative and has been known to call out in class - when my DD went to the school, who was goody good personified at primary school (teacher actually told me at parent's evening - "the other children try and persuade DD to be naughty, but she isn't having any of it") and she started getting these negatives and community service and detentions, and started ignoring them and sucking them up, like DS, I figured well, that was just life. If anything it seems to have make them (particularly DD), less concerned about being naughty, as she had discovered what it means to be sanctioned, and it is not that bad.
So I am not surprised that DS ignored shouty assemblies as just so much extraneous noise (and apparently they cut down on the assemblies for his year, because they were too rowdy and out of control. The teachers themselves have been fine

marmiteloversunite · 10/05/2019 09:14

Last day of school here. DD just wants to get in with it now. Keeps saying she is going to fail everything and I then I reply with either, of course you won't, or don't worry about it, depending on my mood.
She has been working hard so I am keeping my fingers crossed. So difficult for dyslexics with processing problems.

Just want this rollercoaster ride to be over now!

Good luck to all for next week!!!!

MooBaaDoubleQuackDoubleQuack · 10/05/2019 11:16

Hello
I've been reading the threads on and off but thought I'd join in today.

DS has his first exam on Monday, there is no study leave and normal school inbetween exams too.

DS MH has been deteriorating over the last couple of years along with his grades, been through CAHMS, he really struggled with sensory and social issues,(his school is massive with quite poor behaviour and bullying) before Christmas I was trying to get him pulled out or reduced schedule, wasn't going to happen.

during Easter he had a massive melt down a the first day back went appallingly, so I rang up sick everyday since, until they finally agreed to just put him on study leave, had a massive sigh of relief from him.

He's been following his school time table at home, but is now concentrating just revising for his first exams now.

The school have been using the stick more than the carrot which unfortunately for d's who already has low self asteam just made him want to give up because "what's the point? I'm useless and going to fail anyway"

the mock results and follow up assessments were disgraceful, and talking to other parents who DC are in top sets or middle sets they seem to also be off their predicted target by 3 or 4 grade!

We didn't bother showing DS his latest report, going by the report he would only scrape 1 GCSE! he's been in top sets all through school even with his grades slipping over the previous year.

Will write more later but ds has just come through for help with a English lit paper. I'm dyslexic and I'm trying to help him! laughing or I would cry

Bimkom · 10/05/2019 12:24

MooBaa - so sorry to hear that. English lit is DS's weak point, so don't know if we can help, but if you are struggling, somebody else might know on here (either this thread, or a separate thread). Sounds really sensible to have taken him out though. There are a lot of resources on line, from what I understand, if one can find them.