GCSEs 2019 Support thread 3

[myrtleWilson]

Welcome all - just went to post on thread 2 and saw it was at 999 so quickly did this

Genuine question WWYD?
DD has no exams tomorrow but lots next week and is not wanting to go in tomorrow. (There is no study leave here) She has a double lesson in Food and Nutrition where the teacher is off long term and has been replaced by a cover supervisor who has no control of the class- therefore no one really concentrates on revision and they just muck around. DD thinks it is a waste of time and she will work much better from 8 am til 6 at home on subjects for next week. She will too, she is very focussed now and I will be here to oversee her in any case. Feel like letting her as it is genuinely to study. But what to say to school?? I don't want to lie but I'm sure they'd have something to say about it as she will also miss some lessons in the morning. WWYD?

It's fascinating hearing how different all the schools are. You sort of assume everyone's experience of GCSEs will be the same but it clearly isn't!
Dd will have done 7 exams by lunchtime tomorrow. 5 next week and then happy halfterm Unfortunately dd has more exams post half term than pre so can't afford to relax too much...

Keep at home - phone in saying exhausted/headache.

Oh btw when dd gets tonsillitus she's very very poorly. Really high temperature, hallucinations, can't eat or drink. It's quite scary. Actually there's no way she could do an exam with it - I don't know what would happen then?!

Yes I would say she has a headache and let her study tbh. Why don't they have study leave? Strange how schools are so different

Definitely keep her home, this is precious revision time for her and I wouldn’t hesitate with my dd.

So sorry to see this @Daisy so sad

srilank DD has no exams tomorrow, school has no study leave and are not doing boosters tomorrow. Anyone taking time off for "study leave" won't be allowed to go to prom. I will have no problem phoning up tomorrow and lying through my teeth.

Thank you Woodlands and Emma. No idea why they don't have study leave- apparently there's some research saying kids do better if they are actually in school. I can see that being the case for some but not in DD's case.
After half term, they can go in just for lessons where there hasn't yet been an exam - which having looked at the timetable, means every bloody day until 14th! I'm normally really supportive of school btw
( am a teacher myself) but this seems just daft. DD is not tip top brilliant but is not struggling academically and ALL the support at school is naturally geared to getting as many borderline kids through level 4.

chocolateworshipper - DD school has said the same re prom. Do they go to the same school???

Same at DD school.

@srilankadreaming - did the fire alarm go off in one of the exams?

@ chocolateworshipper Wow! No. So obviously not the same school then ha ha Goodness, what on earth did they do?

they had to keep going with the exam through the noise

That's terrible!!

gleegeek I can recognise that but dd’s friend is most definitely not suffering that badly, having seen her with dd and having spoken to her mum when we crossed path who said they sent lots of emails as ‘every mark counts’ although they were ‘doubtful they’d get any ‘

Sri Lanka I would also call in & claim headache/exhaustion. Even if she’s not revising resting or downtime is surely more beneficial, especially since you are home?

I am a school governor.

I would have no compunction in lying about to school if my DC needed to be home (for whatever reason)

And I know many teachers who would agree too x

If you fail maths does that mean you have failed gcse Im from Ireland and if you fail maths you have failed the leaving certificate that is under 40%
I have a dd2 in year 9 was doing maths test today summer exam only got page 1 of 8 done teacher just said thats your problem we had spent alot of time revising but she is slow at working out maths asked school for help in jan at parent teacher meeting but was refused.

DS2 sat AQA Chemistry and was ok. He is also mathematically inclined.

I rang DD in sick in past years on non exam days with no hesitation!

One of my older DC had a fire alarm go off in an exam a couple of years ago, they were escorted outside in silence and the extra time added on.

Daisy I am so sorry. A friend has a niece whose mother sadly died at Easter, that DD has chosen to repeat Y11 and not do GCSEs this year. Possibly it is too late for that option but thought I would mention it.

Well total meltdown tonight. I guess I was expecting it. He is exhausted and didn't sleep brilliantly last night and he is dreading the French writing tomorrow. He can't spell in English, and in French that may mean that you can't get the grammar right also. He has been putting off thinking about it, while revising chemistry and English Lit etc, but it was now staring him in the face. And after chemistry and a maths revision class, he was clearly paralysed and not able to work, and then beating himself up about not being able to work, and trying to do other things, and getting more and more stressed and irate and slamming things and yelling at himself (and the rest of us, if came within earshot). Eventually he started doing some French and started to focus his anxiety where it was really located, and we had a full on panic. I roped in DH to go over some French with him (at least what DS had learnt for the oral - and which DS insisted he had forgotten all of, which ended up proving to DS that he hadn't actually forgotten it), and finally he calmed down enough to go to bed. We know the whole writing and spelling thing will let him down, but his oral French is now pretty good, and if he reproduces some of that on the exam, even with spelling mistakes, it should count for something. But it has been a gruelling afternoon and evening, and I just hope he is sleeping. Just want to get to the weekend.

Oh binkom poor lad. (And poor you)

I think ds1s stress will come out in week 3...its a heavy week with both maths and eng lang.

First week nearly done though!

Overheard one of ds1s friends talking to him and she has already thrown away her copies of merchant and animal farm 🤣

Another one with a meltdown on her hands :(

Ds has questioned why he ever chose drama despite being so good at it and going into tomorrows exam on a grade 8. He said he is going to ruin it, he just knows. Asked me if he could have extra time, I almost cried because I mentioned this to him over a year ago and he said he didn't need it, didn't want it etc and now is saying he does. I've explained that extra time was discussed at parents evening and every single teacher said he doesn't need it.

Ds struggles when writing to stop! We've worked hard on timings etc but he had such a big wobble last night and is now questioning his A level choices.

The stress of this is unbelievable.
Sending hugs to all

Is it me or had this been the longest week ever?!

Drama today. Break a leg!

morning - good luck kiddos doing french thismorning and drama this afternoon.

DD came home yesterday and declared the AQA combined chemistry to be "easy".

DS is melting down - I sent him to Scouts last night as a break, and he seemed better when he came home. So much pressure on these kids.

I have to question why GCSEs, which are crucial for getting anywhere now - more so than A levels, because without Math and ENglish, you are screwed - are all held so close together. We criticise the schools for their stance on revision, but with these really hard exams positions so close together - than goodness they do loads of revision at school!

DD has been reading Harry Potter all week. she doesn't seem fussed.