GCSEs 2019 - support thread part 2

[AtiaoftheJulii]

Here we are again

grauduroi - friendship issues on top sounds like pretty grim. Is there any chance you could let him revise at home instead? Negotiate with the school (or just call him in sick - he is sick, just sick of the non friends).

Had a parents evening for my younger DD yesterday and her science teacher is my eldest’s form tutor (they have the same tutor for the whole 5 years). He actually cried. Which gave me my first lump in throat moment of the GCSE season

DDs last day today and they’re signing shirts and having an assembly this afternoon. It’s an exciting time for her and luckily she’s enjoyed her school career. If there’s going to be a meltdown I predict it to be this weekend.

moo sounds horrendous 😟 absolutely the right thing to take him out.

I'm very disappointed in ds1s school tbh. I'm just hoping that we have no more angst this weekend. Dh is away and I'm finding it tiring on my own as I have ds2 to deal with too (who is picking up on ds1s anxiety)

Sigh.

Sorry. Moany post!

Bimkom Thanks. Have been relying heavily on online resourses and you tube, he just gets himself in such a state, and says we covered this at school but I still can't do it. He knows the texts inside out he understands the texts has a really good grasp of them and can explain context and reasons and what the author is trying to achieve and why, but......he just can't seem to write it in the required structured why

after listening to yet another tutorial on how to structure answers, I just told him to write out the whole answer starting with ref to the extract then say everything you want to after that......he argued at first saying he shouldn't do that but went and did it anyway. He came back with a lengthy answer that ticked all the boxes but he wasn't sure they were in the right order and whether the answer was structured enough. I was just glad he'd managed to write more than one short paragraph that went nowhere. God knows if what I've done is right, but it gave him confidence and surely it's got to be better than nothing!

grauduroi I agree call him sick, and try and negotiate study leave. if they still won't allow study leave, ring him sick everyday. I was prepared to carry on like that.

It's such a hard time for them, if you can take one pressure off them it helps a lot!

For those going through the dreaded GCSEs it's bloody awful.

DD did hers last year, had several melt downs and declared she was going to fail them all. During the exam period she came home on several occasions saying that the exam went terribly, that she had def failed and that it wasn't worth taking the 2nd exam (I virtually had to drag her to her 2nd chemistry exam). I also feared for her mental health (especially working ungodly hours) when she is normally as hard as nails.

She survived and passed with flying colours. After the exams all she did was sleep and when she re emerged she was back to her normal self.

Unfortunately this is 'normal' and it transpired that all of her friends felt the same....terrible to witness but normal.

A Levels have been far easier so far.

Anyway, just thought I would give you all a few words of encouragement!

Thanks for that bpisok !
I thought all was calm and going well (couldn’t believe my luck) up until 5 mins ago😬
Dd just come downstairs
“Ican’tfindhalfmyREstuff!!!!!WhereismyHistoryfolder?!?! OMG!! I’mgoingtofaileverything!!!”
Me “ darl..........”
“I DONT NEED THAT RIGHT NOW!!!,,”
Oh dear

Any advice. DD took the health and social exam back in Feb, they were told if they passed they wouldn't have to take it again. Were given results in April, passed and told that was it.

Today they've been told they have to do the exam again on Wednesday. She's done no revision and will now lose 2 hours of English Lit revision, she's just texted me stressed and upset.

Would you ring the school and request she doesn't do the H&S again. English Lit is far more important as she wants to do that at A Level and she's not done any revision for H&S since Feb.

She suffers with anxiety, but has been doing really well managing it, up until today.

That sounds dreadful ILoveYou3000 !
I have no experience of this but would definitely talk to the school about it.
If she’s passed the H&S exam why on earth does she need to do it again?
Particularly with such little notice!

Second Eng Lang paper done. Really starting to feel in the swing of it. Went OK (ish). Again, like the first paper, she was not happy with the content, the themes for the written were apparently not very helpful, or didn't fit her style anyway. So, she starting writing, got halfway, unhappy, scored a line through. Started writing again, got halfway, again unhappy, scored a line through. Third attempt went well enough. Thank goodness she writes fast, it could've so easily gone tits up. She finished with 10 mins to spare .

I am glad this thread is not just full of parents of amazing kids who study diligently.

I am trying very hard not to be overly involved in DS revision, to the point that I just occasionally ask him how it's going, put his exam schedule on the fridge, and feed him big meals and ...continue as if it's all not a big deal.

He spends a lot of time gaming and playing guitar. His mocks were all between grade 2 and 9 (and in between) so who knows how it'll go.

DH is head of year 11 at another school, and he is very hands-off. He sees so many kids with mental health problems, he prefers to not put any pressure on DS, says it's up to him.

I get occasionally nervous about friends who all have these amazing revision schedules, and whose kids revise for hours a day.

anyway

Finger crossed (fingers crossed is pretty much my general approach to parenting) for all the kids!

Solitude I’m doing the same.
Making nice meals and staying calm!
I think it’s important for them to have proper down time and sleep in between revision.
I wouldn’t worry too much about what other kids are doing!

Yes I agree with your approach solitude (although I sometimes find it hard to practice what I preach!)

Ds's marks ran the gamut this year from high to low, so in all honesty I'm just keeping my fingers crossed for decent results in August and no meltdowns between then and now!

I agree...try not to compare (difficult I know!)

Ds1 has gone up to pils ashe does every Friday afternoon/evening. No revision tonight :)

I'm taking ds2 out tomorrow for the afternoon so ds1 has some peace and quiet.

Sunday is planned as a pancake and PJ day :)

I absolutely agree that they need downtime. The problem is that DS doesn't. I pushed him to go to the theatre last night. Dniece is in an amateur theatre group who are doing shows of a musical for charity Wed-Sun, so we booked to go see them last night. He is very close to the D cousins, and also shares Dniece's interest in theatre, so it wasn't that difficult. And the show was amazing - very, very professional (Dniece was just part of the chorus line - but imho the leads could easily have been in the West End). But after we came home there was a meltdown because he hadn't "done anything" yesterday. Downtime is fueling his anxiety about the whole thing too much. And I can't say anything sensible like "it is not unreasonable to have some downtime", so it seems better just to let him work (I think), and vent on here. At least I don't get blamed that way. I totally understand the concerns about not working enough, but overworking is also not so great, I can tell you, what one needs is a sensible, level headed balance.
DS also decided yesterday that the school library was too noisy, so went to our local library (we haven't been since they were little), and discovered that it was all self service and you needed a pin to enter. The libraries in the borough are apparently now only staffed on rotation, but to set up his pin number we needed to find a member of staff. So I trotted out to alibrary in the borough that was staffed this morning so we could get him access to the self service facilities at our nearest. Sigh, the things one does. Luckily I am between work contracts.

Aaaaah your mistake was organising his downtime Bimkom !
I’m sure it was a great show but unfortunately you laid yourself wide open there!
“I’ve done nothing today cos I went to that show!”
My dd requested that we go to her fave restaurant tonight as a treat before it all kicks off
Had I suggested it I’d have got “are you kidding?! I can’t possibly go out!”
It’s like half term (which falls in the middle) she’s asked if we can go shopping & lunch on a particular day.
I’m letting her call the shots (within reason!) at the moment

Very late to joining but hi!

Anyone elses child not looking at passes?
DD starts her exams next week.

She is on a reduced timetable at the moment and leaves school early some days due to SEN.

Last year they had study leave. This year they have picked four or five children who are for various reasons allowed study leave. The rest including DD are in until the last exams finish.
This means DD will be in longer hours than she normally is at a time she will struggle more so not sure how that's going to go down. I'm also not sure how she will manage with a full time of lessons and revision then an exam as part of the reason she goes home early is she finds the school day utterly exhausting.

She has dropped from being on target for 4/5 and a 6 in year 8 to being in year 11 and scraping 2/3 if we are lucky.

It is what it is and we are just looking at college now and hoping she might pull a level 4 in one of her core subjects but based on the mocks I'm not sure.
I'm not even stressed anymore. It's been an awful 18 months school wise apart from the last few weeks when things have been a bit more settled so I will just be glad it is over and hoping college is a new start!

Lifeandbeans, that sounds tough for you and your DD, hope it goes well for her

What grades does she need to do what she wants in college?

Thank you.
Ideally she needs 5 x 4s but at this point we have no chance.
To get on a lower level she needs 5 x 3s and 5 x 2s for the lowest level.

I'm not even sure at this point whether she will get 5 level 2s.

Life could you just say to school that it's going to be counterproductive for her to be in school for longer than she normally has been, and therefore she will only be in for her exams?

My dd's school have got study leave this year, but haven't had it for a while - there would always be absences and they weren't followed up - did you think your dd's school will be taking a register and giving her hassle if she just comes home after exams?

lifeandbeans it is by no means certain that DD will get the 5 x grade 4s that she needs for her chosen college course. Back up plan is that she will do a level 2 BTEC for a year and then go on to level 3. Would your DD be interested in an apprenticeship? Some would take her with a grade 2 in Maths and English. Do you have a local college that offers Future Pathways?

Taking ds2 out later so ds1 can revise in peace.

'Would your DD be interested in an apprenticeship? Some would take her with a grade 2 in Maths and English. '

I didn't realise that thank you!
All the ones I had seen mentioned 5s so that is really useful to know.

Dds 'problem' is that she still thinks she can do things which require A star sort of grades even if she doesn't pass anything.
Which I know is not impossible but it's pretty unlikely she will get on a medicine course or clinical psychology course with the way things are!

life
I agree a chat with pastoral care at your dds school would be a good idea.
Ds1s school are making all the kids so miserable with their attitude to the exams.