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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Starting Year 11-GCSE2021 (title edited by MNHQ)

991 replies

indy69 · 01/08/2019 05:57

Good morning Mums,

My DD will start her GCSE journey this September. MN always has such good advice that I thought we could have a new thread to support each other. My DD has 4 options apart from English, Science AQA and Maths Edexcel. She has Art and History - Edexcel, and Psychology and Economics - AQA. It wpuld be lovely to know what your DC are doing and we could share resources here. I look forward to meeting you all on this thread. We have 4 weeks to go to start of term and a ton of homework to finish. My DD is feeling too lazy to do anything at the moment, but I guess they have earned the break. I will start reminding her next week about the work. Thanks

OP posts:
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7
TeenPlusTwenties · 11/09/2020 18:42

Unbelievable. I despair.

ineedaholidaynow · 11/09/2020 19:23

Why can’t they just follow the consultation and say Shakespeare is compulsory and choose 2 others

TeenPlusTwenties · 11/09/2020 19:54

ineed Because of the unseen poetry which makes up 20% of the marks normally I think.
Though why they cant do Paper 1 Shakespeare & unseen, and then Paper 2 perm any 2 from 3 I don't understand.

ineedaholidaynow · 11/09/2020 20:20

If they drop poetry how is that helping students who have studied it and now have 2 new texts to read, compared to students who haven’t studied poetry yet

blametheparents · 11/09/2020 20:51

@Historygeek05 - Noooooo!!!!

Blubell46 · 11/09/2020 22:23

For goodness sake, I hope they make the final decision soon!!

Ds has exams this month, so it will be good for his school to assess where they all are and fill in the gaps.

Toobuktim · 12/09/2020 08:10

Things have been going well for my ds, he’s got all except one of his teachers from last year, so he’s pleased about that. His English teacher is only different due to maternity leave.
I was feeling quite positive about this school year until last night when I heard of 4 local high schools with 7 year groups sent home due to covid. It’s only a matter of time, isn’t it

noblecause · 12/09/2020 08:40

Yes it really is only a matter of time. DS has been really happy to be back at school and the structure/routines really suit him. I really hope they don't get sent home too soon.

Toobuktim · 12/09/2020 11:46

Disheartening really, so much disruption for them.

AsPerMyLastEmail · 12/09/2020 16:05

Thanks bluebell for answering my Q Smile

I’ve managed to have a good chat with DD about it today. She’s doing AQA and they’ve dropped Inspector Calls as they’ve done the poetry section. She’s happy with that as otherwise it would all be texts. I’m pleased she’s happy as she doesn’t like poetry that much. They’ve been prepared they may not do exams.

She’s very stressed though about Covid and school. She wishes the govt would either have another lockdown now or allow everything, and she knows they should probably do lockdown. It is as a PP said, so much uncertainty for them all Sad

hellypad · 12/09/2020 18:12

I've been meaning to join for a while, I have DD1 in year 11, she is doing combined science, history, German, business studies, textiles alongside English and maths, unfortunately for us they have had a confirmed covid case and the whole year group is now home for 2 weeksSadGreat start

Toobuktim · 12/09/2020 18:39

Oh no hellypad, that’s not good. Does your school have a good online homeschooling process in place?

Blubell46 · 12/09/2020 18:51

Oh no hellypad that is not good...especially since they have just started... a bit of normality and now not in a further 2 weeks.

Hope dd is not too disheartened.

MentalLockdown · 12/09/2020 19:35

DD is so pleased to be back at school. Lots of small (out if 20) type tests to establish where everyone is. DD is getting roughly 15 others 5 or 6 no one is hitting 100%. I really feel for the teachers having to less plan around state school, mixed ability, mixed lock down engagement, that is a crazy professional nightmare.

blametheparents · 12/09/2020 21:41

Can I just ask - if a school bubble is sent home for 14 days does that mean none of those students (could be 180 in my DD’s case if the whole year is sent home) can go out of the house for 14 days?

ineedaholidaynow · 12/09/2020 21:51

Yes @blametheparents

blametheparents · 12/09/2020 22:05

I guess it’s kinda obvious, I just hadn’t really put two and two together!
Makes me wonder whether school is really worth it! Two or three of those would be grim. I wouldn’t be sending DD in again.

hellypad · 12/09/2020 22:50

The school were good during lockdown but this is a totally different situation as they have had it dropped on them, the kids went to school on Wednesday morning and were sent home so the teachers had no time to plan or prepare also they are all in school teaching all the other years as usual. It's just a nightmare and yes they are supposed to isolate for 14 days, it's madness though as this could happen repeatedly.

Powergower · 13/09/2020 06:28

I'm worried sick about this year. Ds has been back 4 days and so far 3 kids in the year isolating with symptoms and unable to book a test. If they test positive ds will also have to isolate. They have been told that they must prepare for online lessons in case of isolation but the online provision from the school is rubbish. They were also told this week that poetry has been dropped and the lessons planned accordingly up to Xmas. I now see aqa have done a massive u turn and poetry is back. Ds loved being back at school and will really struggle if classes go online again. I really feel for the students and teachers. The government and the exam boards need to do better. I also have a child in year 13 facing similar issues. Just wish there was some real clarity for them both.

AsPerMyLastEmail · 13/09/2020 16:13

That’s hard @Powergower having one in both Yr 11 & 13, those are the two school years you really can’t write off, nor years 10 & 12 to a lesser extent.

I wish they could just take the pressure off all completely and have them be able to go through to their chosen 6th Form/University & courses with no assessment at all, but of course that’s so unrealistic.

Problem is the current situation has potential for so much inequity. Some schools much better set up for homeschooling, some subjects better suited to it (we don’t have a chemistry lab in our house, don’t know about you ...), and as a PP said, the schools aren’t necessarily set up for providing for sections of pupils going off for 14 days isolation with no notice. It’s all a bit of a crapshoot.

Powergower · 14/09/2020 06:50

It's the uncertainty which I think is the hardest. And so unfair on our kids in an already very very challenging year.

Toobuktim · 14/09/2020 07:56

Well, here’s hoping we all make it to the end of the week staying in school! Fingers crossed everyone!

Travelban · 14/09/2020 08:03

Hi everyone, my Dd1 is also in year 11. I am also worried about how things will pan out for her. She was supposed to do exams last year to give her predicted grades but these didn't happen, so they have been postponed to October. I really hope they happen as she doesn't have a clue what she is predicted...

Been doing some work in maths during the latter part of the summer as she has her maths gcses in January... Fingers crossed 🤞 they can have some time at school.

WhatHaveIFound · 14/09/2020 08:23

we don’t have a chemistry lab in our house, don’t know about you ...

Apparently they don't at school either now. All DS's science lessons are in a regular classroom, no lab work at all.

Hellohah · 14/09/2020 09:09

@Travelban ... We had an email last week to tell us that they were having diagnostic tests next week.
I think all students are at different places at the moment - I know some of DS's friends didn't engage with home learning at all, so are probably way behind.
It will be difficult to predict grades at the moment if some have genuinely done zero work for 6 months. Others who have engaged with home learning may not have fully understood everything and so on.
Can see it might be a logistical nightmare for schools. The email was very clear that the tests were for determining what areas needed extra work and for exam practice.