Starting Yr11 Gcses 2020 Support Thread [Edited at OP's request]

[OrangeCinnamon]

A continuation of a Year 10 support thread
previous thread

Last thread was great and supportive as some of us tried to navigate year 10 and some very helpful peeps steered us through.

Piggy I suspect if it was really important (eg wanting to do Physics A level) a school might be willing to look at the grades of individual papers, wouldn't they?
(ps By having a combined grade it also hides relative weaknesses )

Hi all, looking for recommendations - I would like to get DS a study planner to help him with organising his revision. I can get a normal diary etc but wondered if anyone had any particular type they had found useful in terms of layout conducive to recording/planning homework as opposed to social engagements? TIA

blinkbonny, have a look at The Study Buddy. We're considering using it for DD.

My DS got his mock results too - mostly 8’s (they don’t give out 9’s), 2 x 7’s and 1 x 5. The 5 was English language and apparently all his friends have low marks. They have a new teacher so he needs to find out if previous teacher was too generous or this one too harsh. Either way it’s good as reminds him he can’t be complacent. He hasn’t though to be fair he worked so hard. They have another set of mocks in March. He is so harsh on himself as he wants 8’s and 9’s. I’ve told him that 7’s are more than amazing but he puts a lot of pressure on himself. He got 1 mark off a 9 with his RE GCSE last year and that really upset him.

Darbs it’s funny how it shows if a teacher hasn’t been that brilliant (when the whole class doesn’t do well), dd’s was the same in physics and German), she wants all 8’s and 9’s but will be happy with 7’s, I don’t think she’s going to get the 7 in German, at the moment she’s working at a 5.

Awaiting mock results on Tuesday.
Parents Evening is early January.
Ds1 seems to be doing bare minimum as usual.

Thanks, @Alsoplayspiccolo, will have a look!

DS has one more week of school, two weeks of holidays, then mocks. He has made a decision timetable and started some this weekend, although he has also been revising the topics already covered as he goes along.

DD has been offered scholarships at both schools she applied to for 6th form. I posted further up the thread: one is her current school and the other is DS's school.
She was adamant originally that she wanted to stay at her current school, then she changed her mind after the open day at the other school, then she changed her mind again after going on a residential school trip with all her friends...and now she says she is happy to move.

My head says she will do better if she moves ( DS's school seems to have much better SEN support and is generally much better organised and excellent at communicating with parents), but my heart is sad that she'll leave good friends behind if she moves. Also, she may find it difficult to establish herself in a 6th form where friendship groups are already formed.
She says she's not worried about that, but that's how she deals with situations she can't picture ( her ADHD means she doesn't look ahead and imagine how things might be).

Alsoplay dd is similar she had the choice of 2 schools but has decided to stay, not so much for her friends but because the school is familiar and the staff know her well.

Lovemusic, that is also a consideration, but in DD's case, I do slightly worry that her current teachers still think of her as the student she was when she started at the school, when in reality, DD has changed almost beyond recognition recently, in terms of ability.

So many factors to consider!

Finally got the mocks back. As I expected. Now I have the evidence I craved.
Not impressed. Bare minimum.
This is a bright boy who is capable of so much more. Is what we get told at every single Parents Evening!

Don't they recommend a minimum of a 7 to sit the subject at A'level?

I'm so very sad. I can't put it into words.
A 4 is a pass, right?
Which is great/fine. But not enough to have good grades to do a levels and go to uni?

You'd have to be solid and comfortable in a subject to be able to cope with the step up to A'level?

Minimum grade partly depends on your school, but under the old letters it was often a B, with an A for maths and an A* for further maths.
So if that still holds it would be 6s minimum.

Perhaps sit him down and get him to look at college courses and put in a plan B application?

Teen he has applied to his school for place, and also a very sought after local college, which he already has been told he's got a place!

But the college? Train away. And to do what course?

He has no idea.

Plus the point is that this kid is in top sets. And is capable!

Another local school says a 4 is a pass. But as we've said before, it varies: I actually considered a 5 was an old C pass.

A 4 is a pass and is pegged to a C.
A 5 is a 'strong pass' and is an old high C / low B.

The idea of looking at college places (by which I meant BTEC courses really) would be to give him a kick. If he sees what he'll have to do if he gets those mock grades in August then it might help motivate himself to get his act together.

Hang in there Oblomov What has his reaction been ?

Dd’s school ask for level 5 or above for A levels I think 🤔
Dd hasn’t even applied for 6 form yet as she said she can do it last minute, luckily she’s at a small school which doesn’t have a shortage of 6 form places, she’s been given the option to sit 4 A levels due to the fact there’s plenty of space.

Oblomov19
He has met his target in English Lit and Lang and is one grade down from his Maths target.
Sooo, given he hasn’t revised for his mocks, those subjects ain’t bad.
I’m confused about the ‘coasting’ grade in respect of learning and homework
Targets aside, what grades did he attain at the end of Yr10 mocks/exams and what has he attained grade wise for homework this term?

It was mocks results day today and also parents evening. Was hard knowing who to see without knowing results and I screwed up not including history but maybe she won’t mind me emailing.

OP, you getting ready for new thread?

Shit. I've asked picture to be removed.

Ahem. Pedant alert. Grades 1- 3 are passes. They are Level 1 passes. Grades 4 -9 are level 2 passes , with 4 being a 'standard pass' and 5 a 'strong pass'.

Those target grades presumably come from his performance at KS2 or some other annoyingly irrelevant long lost data! If it's anything like many schools, they generate a statistical ' average likely' grade and then add one for 'aspiration'/ stressing teachers out even further when they have their performance measured (delete as appropriate).

His 'current grades' are mainly really good, so I don't understand why his predicted grades are sometimes lower... but schools' crazy stats rarely make any sense. But, in all honesty, the 3 aside, those are a good set of grades!

Oblomov19
I reported your post too x