GCSE 2019 support thread 6

[DeRigueurMortis]

Hello All,

Welcome to thread 6 - results...

Last thread here:

Gcses 2019 support thread 5 http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3610608-gcses-2019-support-thread-5

It's been a fantastically supportive set of threads to date with a diverse set of expectations and challenges (for both parents and children).

I expect this thread may be the most emotive for us all (crikey how did the time fly!!)

Good luck everyone

A 1- 3 is a level 1 pass : all that in required for many college courses, which will be level 2. 4 and above are level 2 passes.

This terminology has been lost over time with people calling a Ca pass and then the government compounding this by calling a 4 a standard pass.

Technically, only a U is a fail.

Yes, we're in Wales. Very glad they do it this way here, seems much more humane, having lurked on this thread and seen how tough the Y11 exam season is! DS I think will do 17 papers next year instead of 23 👍

He also now has a good idea of where he is in the science subjects, which ones are only just over the marks required for a grade and which are only a couple of marks off the next grade. Plus he worked really hard and has seen his grades go up from his mocks, so a useful demonstration of revision = results ahead of much tougher Y11.
Not a fan of Gove, I must say.

@Rugbylife - do you know how close to the next grade he was? That will dictate if he should ask for a review. My son was 1 mark off next grade so we are requesting a review. His mark was on the sheet he got and so I checked grading boundaries online. His teacher confirmed and agreed to request review. So check the mark first to see if he’s close - be aware Mark can go up or down

DS's school also start their gcse courses in Y9, which I a bit more ambivalent about. Not sure if that is common practice or not.

Darbs he is 2 marks short of getting an A Grade, his form tutor has said it should definitely go for a review, I need to speak to exam officer next week.

I Think 4 A levels is going to be a lot of work for Dd . She’s insisting on a diverse range too.
She’s unsure of which direction she wants to go and has just picked subjects she can’t bear the thought of dropping. She got 9s in all her choices, but I’ve said she needs to see how it goes and be prepared to drop one if it’s too much

@Villageidiots

Hello - the set of threads has had a very wide spread of expectations.

From the start we've had posters facing a variety of challenges, but the ethos has always been to be supportive and appreciate that one child's "3" as a goal is as important as another child's "9".

We have a number of posters whose children don't have academic aspirations and have vocational ambitions.

All are welcome.

As per the opening post, it's a supportive, not competitive thread.

In terms of your post a 4 is a pass (a low C). A 3 or below is a fail (in old money).

However what's important is your child's aspirations.

What do they want to do next? How do the results impact that?

To All,

As per a pp we are taking DS away for a week to celebrate his results (not that he knew that before).

So I might be a bit sporadic re: checking in.

Good luck everyone, especially those revisiting next level choices.

Enjoy what's meant to be lovely weather this next week.

DRM

So many 8s and 9s achieved on here ! I was under the impression that only a very small percentage of candidates managed to get them but they seem
almost commonplace on mumsnet. Ds1 is dyslexic and required a scribe plus extra time (although he often didn't use it ) so we had lowish expectations. He got mainly sixes and fives in the end but failed his english language with a 3. 2 points off a 7 in geography and maths much to his surprise. He was lucky to get into 6th form because of his lack of english language although passed lit. He's retaking in November hopefully but feels frustrated that despite generally okayish grades even for someone without a learning disability he's almost penalised. Just seems unfair that he passed subjects that require essay writing skills - a 4 in RE but 2 marks off a 5 for example - but it's somehow not good enough.

Dd got a 5 in maths but seen that Russell group unis prefer a 6 should we resist privately ?

@Villageidiots my older DD had no wish to do a levels or uni, and did a BTEC instead, which she loved. She's now started her first job and is very happy. To her, slogging away at academic stuff she just isn't built for, and then wracking up,£10000s in debt was not a good choice. We've been supporting her as though she was at uni by giving her subsidy and space to follow her dream. It's not all about exams. In fact she's been asked back by her wonderful state school 3 times now to talk to the kids about just that - all routes are valid and to follow your dreams rather than the standard 'expected' route.

I think it's really sad that in the last few years that education seems to have been boiled down to a purely academic focus, humans were dancing, singing and painting long before the written word and we seem to have forgotten how important a part that is of humanity. We should be striving for excellence and creativity in its fullest sense, not just on a small sliver of academia that suits a limited pool of our kids. Every child should be valued for who they are, and what they are good at, and love. True inclusion and celebration of the diversity of people can only happen if we re-widen our education system to value everyone. IMHO everyone has something to offer the world, and education is about helping them to find it, nurturing it and helping them to be happy adults who contribute to society in whichever way they are able.

This thread was always going to have a posting bias to the 'extreme' academic side of things - I'm betting there are quite a few lurkers with kids with lower grades who are less likely to share - although as a OP says every success should be celebrated.

I'm popping corks for all of the kids, as they need celebrating for surviving the post-Gove education system! bottoms-up ! 

My son is in exactly the same position ROZ12 and i’m also concerned that the grade 5 in maths has stuffed up his Russell Group uni chances. He got 2 9’s, 3 8’s, 2 7’s, 2 6’s and a 5 in maths. Has anyone got experience of resists? Is it necessary or advisable? I would really appreciate any advice on this. Thanks

Surely up to your son to decide ..... he’s passed it and has a ratch of great GCSEs well above the average. Unless he wants to study it at A level why put him through the stress again ?

Great post @lightlypoached

I was lamenting to DH yesterday that DS could have got even better grades if we'd sent him to a different school, and DH had to remind me we chose the school for its ethos and creativity, and DS has been incredibly happy there and is now a very well rounded young man.

It can be hard to remember the bigger picture when there is so much focus on exam results.

I don’t know what the correct answer is with Maths and RG universities but won’t it depend on what they are applying for and how competitive the course is?

My DD is going onto year 2 of a Modern Languages degree at a RG. I think MFL are harder to fill these days. I was expecting there to be issues about her lack of maths but no one said a thing.

I would think that if it were something like computer science or economics which need a fair amount of maths it might well be different,

@lightlypoached here, here! I am quite academic and I love studying but I remember when I was choosing my secondary school refusing point blank to apply to one because they stated in the talk at the beginning of the night that they wouldn’t put a child through GCSEs that wasn’t going to get a C or above. Even at 10 I realised that any school that was going to deny a child a hard worked for grade just because it might make their stats bad was not going to be a supportive or fair school. Fortunately, my parents agreed that the ethos of a school that could see no benefit in non academic children was not a good one, despite its great reputation!

It totally depends what she wants to do. Dd2 got a 6 instead of the 7 she wanted and googled a few courses at RG unis (literature and classics based). The only maths requirement was a 6 if you wanted to do Philosophy, presumably due to the logic component

A 5 in maths might not be strong enough for a science or maths based course at RG

DS's school also start their gcse courses in Y9, which I a bit more ambivalent about. Not sure if that is common practice or not. DD's school started their RS course in Year 9 - they did this because they believed with the amount of content to be raced through there wasn't sufficient time for the class to debate issues in a leisurely fashion and understand the content more deeply - they really felt it took the pressure off. Whatever they did worked as my kids got an 8 and a 9 in RS and neither of them put much time towards it at the end - they didn't see it as one of the "important subjects."

Sorry to repeat myself OP but a 3 is not a fail, not even in old money. In old money a D was a D, not what many wanted, but a GCSE nonetheless (if you really want to think old old money, think CSE pass). The only way of failing is to not have the GCSE - ie a U.

The rhetoric of pass and fail is damaging imo. I always say my DS1 'got a D' in GCSE Geography. Not that he failed it.

As I said, grades 3 - 1 are Level 1 passes. Tis is a term that has been used for donkey's years. I think the current few governments have not wanted to emphasise this under the banner of 'raising standards'. Unfortunately that makes those students destined to get 3s and below feel like utter failures, when they are equipped to go on to a L2 college course.

The reason for the need to resit maths and English is because the government has decided all people need a L2 pass in maths and English. Many will never achieve this.

I teach many student who achieved a slew of 1s and 2s. They say 'I failed all my GCSEs' and that makes me feel so sad. I say, 'no, you now have 9 GCSEs'.

lightlypoached Totally agree Lightly poached. Well put.

I dislike the education system in this country very much. I hate that we put 15/16 year olds through such stress and then force many of them to narrow down their options at 6th form before they fully know who they are and what they want to do with their lives as adults.

My DD1 is a high achiever and an all-rounder and now must drop all essay subjects at the age of 16. It dusky seem right. She's have had to travel long distances to study for an IB. DD2 is a different type of child. A creative, deep thinking, highly empathetic problem solver but she's not adept at study and exam technique and jumping through the correct hoops to fully demonstrate her potential within the narrow parameters set by our government. But I live with them both and know them both and know they have just as much to offer society.

@summermadsession completely agree, doing GCSEs over 3 years helps enormously with the pressure and I'm sure that results are better for it. The down side is narrowing their curriculum a year early I guess. But on balance I think I would stick with the Y9 start if I had to choose.

@singingstones - despite starting the double science in Year 9 on a leisurely pace for P1, C1 and B1 - the teacher still didn't get the course finished and ds had to finish it himself. My dcs have learned not to automatically trust that the teacher was delivering the full course - because they missed out chunks here and there, and in a funny way although that was frustrating it has helped them take responsibility for their own learning, it's pointless blaming a teacher for not finishing or missing out bit of the course, it's not an excuse that anyone will take seriously so best to knuckle down and get on with filling the gaps yourself.

Indeed, a 3 is not a fail. It doesn’t hit a certain target but it’s an achievement.
I really liked the headteacher on the BBC news on Thursday who said she was equally proud of the pupils who didn’t achieve 9s, if that was what they had worked hard for.
I don’t think the media should be allowed in schools on results day at all (might be an unpopular view!) as whatever the top grade is they are going to concentrate on it to the detriment of children who have worked their socks off for their own personal best.

@singingstones Ds1 definitely started History GCSE content in year 9, I believe after Easter. There was a lot of content so it made sense to start one topic then.

To everyone saying about the high number of 8s and 9s on here. Yes, but like every year there is already a thread for the year 10s and now a new one for the new year 11s where parents share revision resources and support.

I will happily tell you that my son was average, just like I was at school. But he worked hard for almost 2 years and increased his grades a lot. His teachers have been incredibly supportive and I personally have dedicated a huge amount of my time to helping my son. I got a degree despite my upbringing. My parents were never plugged into my studies or my life for that matter. I wanted something different for my own children, hence the over-involved revision which paid off.

My own GCSE grades were Cs and only 6 of them, but it allowed me into sixth form and onto university (90s) it all depends what your child wants to do. Not everyone is academic. It isn't the be all and end all.