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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

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NotDonna · 27/09/2020 23:10

Oh crikey!! That’s so flipping soon!! And interviews? Wow!

LadyWithTheNeonSparklers · 28/09/2020 09:59

I think it depends on the area/insitution- we started looking early this year at DD1 options and were expecting to do open day in March for main candiate which was cancelled.

So we booked on virtual event - they kept trying to add her as starting this September and the entire event was geared to going this Sepetember though that wasn't made clear beforehand.

Looked at applying now and it's still for starting this year - as it's not too late.

Not many of Dd1 friends seem to have thought that far yet either.

The college has best pass rate in area and widest range of subjects so she keen to go there. If she stays on at school the sixth form is split between schools sites and they get buses between and with the subjects she wants she'd been at all three locations and according to the sixth formers she knows it doesn't run smoothly.

Titsywoo · 28/09/2020 10:06

@NotDonna

Oh crikey!! That’s so flipping soon!! And interviews? Wow!
Yes it does feel very soon! I've heard back from two teachers (RE and maths) who are both putting her predicted grades as 5 which is a bit disappointing as her target for both is 6 and she did tend to get that or more before year 10. They did say they would have a better idea after mocks in Nov but as I say that is too late for this college application.
NotDonna · 28/09/2020 18:14

@Titsywoo do your school know that she needs the grades for her college application? They may be happy to give her ‘on a good day’ type grades? Seems odd to predict lower than she’s been working at. Can she speak to them?

Titsywoo · 28/09/2020 18:34

[quote NotDonna]@Titsywoo do your school know that she needs the grades for her college application? They may be happy to give her ‘on a good day’ type grades? Seems odd to predict lower than she’s been working at. Can she speak to them?[/quote]
Yes I did tell them that's what it was for but they are clearly basing it on year 10 tests and exams which she was doing less well than usual. Plus their 6th form isn't doing as well with admissions nowadays so they probably will do anything to keep people from going elsewhere Wink.

Anyway I emailed the college to say we didn't have official predicted grades and they said it was fine due to what had been going on this year so we can leave it blank and if she gets an interview she can just bring her reports from year 10 and 11.

NotDonna · 29/09/2020 07:07

Good plan titsywoo

SoTiredNeedHoliday · 29/09/2020 14:10

I'm new to this thread. DS sitting GCSE (hopefully) at the end of this academic year.
Can someone catch me up on any changes to assessments that have been announced? Also, have there been any dates advised?
I know they were thinking about having them later than scheduled

DS school has not passed on anything as yet

NotDonna · 29/09/2020 18:42

Welcome so tired I agree with your username!!
No changes to timings. Depends which exam board your DS is doing the changes to English Lit. Ofqual suggested 4 texts reduced to 3. They also suggested 4 texts dropped to 3 for history but our school have only confirmed English.

hellypad · 29/09/2020 19:21

DD was happy today as the subject she is most worried about is German, her teacher has sent out emails to the parents of the students who are not doing well and we didn't get one so she was very relieved.

SoTiredNeedHoliday · 30/09/2020 07:18

thanks NotDonna

Toobuktim · 30/09/2020 16:06

An article in The Times today says that universities are asking for A Levels to be scrapped next year and to have an extra 12 weeks of learning instead. This way they will catch up a bit on missed learning and not spend too much time being tested from now till then.
I was initially hoping that GCSEs next year would go ahead, but now I’m leaning more towards thinking how unfair that would be for the majority of students and also how staying in school till July would be far more beneficial to them. I really hope that a decision will be made soon.

Titsywoo · 30/09/2020 20:10

@NotDonna

Good plan titsywoo
Application posted today! It was only sent out on Monday and the open evening (virtual) is tomorrow so hopefully we got ahead of the crowd!

DD is still really struggling to get any art done with all the homework being set by other subjects. I'm going to sit with her this weekend and get some pages set out and mounted so she feels like she is getting somewhere!

Titsywoo · 30/09/2020 20:12

@Toobuktim

An article in The Times today says that universities are asking for A Levels to be scrapped next year and to have an extra 12 weeks of learning instead. This way they will catch up a bit on missed learning and not spend too much time being tested from now till then. I was initially hoping that GCSEs next year would go ahead, but now I’m leaning more towards thinking how unfair that would be for the majority of students and also how staying in school till July would be far more beneficial to them. I really hope that a decision will be made soon.
I still hope they will go ahead otherwise the pressure for the mocks in November is going to be massive surely? DD already feels like she is sitting her GCSEs twice but the mocks will only have a bit of revision time since they are so early. Or am I misunderstanding how you see it working?
Toobuktim · 30/09/2020 21:07

@Titsywoo I don’t think they would be based just on mocks, but on teacher assessments throughout the year, previous predicted grading and class work. Mocks will be part of it, but not the most vital component. With mocks generally being nov/dec there is a high possibility that a lot of students could be in isolation anyway. It’s all a bit of a mess really.

Cuddling57 · 30/09/2020 23:12

I'm new to posting but have been reading.
We received an email today with some updates on changes to GCSE's for next year. I'm not sure what I make of it yet.
DS has his mocks late Nov.

Blubell46 · 01/10/2020 06:49

My ds finished his exams in September- in relation to the year 10 Summer exams . His mocks were in December but have now moved to January.

I understand why but it is a shame since he will now have to work over the Christmas break just incase they use these results like last year.

Initially I too wanted the exams next year but now I believe they should be scrapped and teachers should assess their grades. GCSE is a 2 year cycle and I feel our kids have really got the raw deal. Just revert back to the old way just for this year

The board / government should give enough information to teachers to help plan and support our kids who I feel are fumbling through not know what is happening and worried every test will count .

Exams finished ds is looking forward to the weekend

Toobuktim · 01/10/2020 07:14

Welcome @Cuddling57 In all honesty I’m not sure our schools have any more knowledge about the exams next year than we do!
@Blubell46 yes, I think it’s for the best and I think it should be decided now by the government - the sooner we know what’s expected of our children the better. As of yesterday there were 4 cases at our 6th Form in year 13 and now they have to spend the next 2 weeks isolating, it’s only a matter of time before year 11 is affected. The kids are certainly getting a raw deal currently.

AsPerMyLastEmail · 01/10/2020 20:22

We as parents haven’t heard from the school about GCSEs, but DD and her year have been prepared that they may not go ahead and to do well in mocks and teacher assessments.

I’m in two minds about whether I want them to go ahead. I think overall it’s best they don’t but the decision to cancel them needs to be made by the govt NOW. At the moment the kids have the numbers deal or both pressure of early mocks and teacher assignments AND the uncertainty of what’s going to happen.

Blubell46 · 01/10/2020 21:47

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-54355169

A friend sent this to me- not that it is any clearer!

AsPerMyLastEmail · 01/10/2020 22:29

Bluebell, thanks for link. God the govt is so unhelpful on thus.

WhatHaveIFound · 02/10/2020 09:48

Back again. We've finished our first week of self isolation as my DD tested positive last Sunday. Thankfully DS tested negative so at least he's not taken any more out of Y11.

He missed doing his English presentation though i'm sure he'll have to do it as soon as he's back in school.There's no getting out of it for him!

Original poster
indy69 · 04/10/2020 18:47

Parents evening has finally been announced online for next week. We had our parents evening cancelled for year 10 so have absolutely no idea of what is happening. Reports were not helpful at the end of year 10 given that the students had practically no assessments. How are the rest of you getting on? I really hope a proper decision is made on the exams soon.

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Toobuktim · 04/10/2020 19:51

Online? That’ll be interesting.......and a nightmare to organise!! Have they given you any idea of how that’s going to operate?

NotDonna · 04/10/2020 23:47

Our parents eve was online in June - a pre recorded message from each subject teacher that we could then comment on. I was happy with that especially given the circumstances but lots of other parents weren’t. I think school may have had negative feedback as this time it’s going to be on zoom and we need to book 10 minute slots with each teacher. I’m envisaging tech problems and realise we may miss our slots if the computer plays up! We shall see. Parents evenings are always crazy as there’s just so much queuing involved.
My DD announced today that she’s a meeting tomorrow with the careers teacher to discuss 6th form and A level choices. She’s not sure so it’ll be good for her to talk it through.

Original poster
indy69 · 06/10/2020 19:55

It is a new software that the school is trying out. Year 13 are the first to try it then year 11. I shall report back here the night of 12th Oct on how it went. Booking system was very easy though.

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