Thread 3: Continuing to GCSEs Summer 2020 - Happy New Exam Year!

[OrangeCinnamon]

Continuation of previous thread
Thread 2

Thread 1 Year 10

At the end of last thread there was a bit of talk on prom dresses ( recommend Fonthill Rd in London if you can get there) by @proggymat and @crazycrofter

@TigerMum had a query regarding moving to foundation level at this stage.

Sorry peeps thread progressed without me noticing so none can reply to your queries!

Oh my goodness, I'm not engaging with uni tours yet ... should I be?!

DS knows what he wants to do (comp sci), and has (very lightly!) looking into apprenticeships for uni as comp sci is one of those courses where it's an option ... but I don't really think I can engage with that until GSCEs are over!

Gosh @AnneOfCleavage that sounds crazy stressful. I think DD's head would explode if she had to wear a uniform next year. The whole block issue is a nightmare.

Surely 100 kids is viable? If they don't run it then they'll never expand that's for sure. DD is summer born too, but very against a gap year. She seems to think she'd never go back to school once she's out!

Just took a quick peek at UCAS, it seems the deadline is January of the year you start (so if you are starting in Sept 2020, the deadline is in January 2020). So we can wait til first term of the final A level year, rather than worrying about next Sept/Oct. I guess is depends on personal preference....wonder if might be worthwhile to see one or two next year as we make 5 applications I think.

No you don’t need to think about Uni tours yet Andwhenyougetthere. Ours will have deadlines of October 2021 and Jan 2022 (most will be the latter). I was just saying it can get expensive to do them when the time comes depending where they are interested in and now would be a good time to stick a few pounds away regularly to spread the cost when the time comes as it can add up. It won’t for them all if they look fairly locally but we found overnight accommodation came into play with DD several times and it got expensive all in one go.

Apologies, didn’t mean to panic anyone !

Hi all,

So mocks results are starting to come in , he's currently achieved 5,6,6,7 which we're pleased with.

Is anyone's child planning on doing further maths GCSE? If so, what did they achieve at mocks? Were they advised they had to hit a certain grade to take it?

Namechange great mocks results well done to your DS. Not doing further maths but have heard you'd need a grade above a 7 as it's a lot harder.

Wheresthebeach there is 100 currently but worried it will be 0 or perhaps 10 for Sept 2020 for new year 12s so they may not run all courses. I asked about this potential uniform and was told black skirts and white blouses were being suggested - bleugh I understand smart if that's what they want as our local grammar doesn't allow ripped jeans, boob tubes etc but an actual uniform is ridiculous. How are the students meant to feel individual and autonomous. The arty students will be horrified plus what about dance and pe students! Madness.
We've emailed our thoughts on many of the new rules: some congratulatory as some of the new ideas have been fab but also our surprise at the stupid ones - I feel another email may be forthcoming on this potential uniform idea becomes THATparent

@AnneOfCleavage weirdly dd is potentially moving from a school with no uniform in sixth form (casual) to a school with uniform! I thought it might put her off. She says it wouldn’t be her choice but on balance she still prefers the school. I suppose it’s different if the goalposts are moved unexpectedly!

@namechangenumber2
My DD is doing FM- it’s taught alongside core maths from Yr10.
She got 8 for core and 7 in FM in January mocks.

At DC's school everyone in the top maths set is taking FM. They did shuffle the sets after (first) mocks results though, so I guess there was some (not advertised) judgement on picking those who'd done better to take it. That said I think only a couple of students moved from Set 1 to Set 2.

@namechangenumber2: ds is doing advanced maths, which is a bit different to further maths I think? It's a 1 year course, taught after school and his school made anyone interested pass a test/suggested those looking at A level (ds is) should consider it. Ds is a pretty solid mathematician (high 8 in his mock) and found it tough, esp at first...

@PostNotInHaste: no, don't apologise - it's good to have it on my radar at least, even if I don't do much about it for now!

On the subject of uniform for 6th form, DD's school is pretty strict about uniform until year 12, and then the college students are allowed to wear own clothes with the college t shirt, sweatshirt or hoodie. DD's school, where DD is going for 6th form, requires boys to wear full suit and the and girls to wear office wear, ie skirt/trousers with a top and jacket.DR
The local comp has regular school uniform for 6th form - the only difference is the trim on the v neck jumper, because only 6th formers are allowed off the school grounds during school hours.

DS might be doing Further Maths or it could be something else but think FM most likely candidate. He’s doing something, it’s just cropped up the week before half term and is a lunchtime club. I know nothing more and have had no info whatsoever from school. He got a 9 in the mocks.

A school near me had to drop its notorious 'autumn shades' dress code for sixth form because people deserted in droves!

DS's sixth form had a 'business suit' dress code for one year and then silently dropped it... These things do actually affect recruitment more than perhaps they ought to. We keep discussing dress codes at my place and then never implementing.

Things may have changed but , in my day, Scottish schools all had uniform all the way through school.

Interesting to hear about dress codes in other areas and schools. Piggy I think DD's school may have to rethink dress code just to get people in the door this year but I fear they will be stubborn as they are adamant everyone will flock to attend this amazing school run by this amazing notorious and infamous new head but word on the street says otherwise.

Our school has a relaxed 6th form dress code thankfully. Can’t see the point in smart dress when they go onto uni after. It was one of the reasons DD1 turned down one school. I was relieved.

Language orals - does anyone know exactly what’s required? Dd has her Spanish oral on 25th March and seems to think she can concentrate on nothing else til then. And is getting really stressed and overwhelmed by the amount of homework set by other teachers!

She says they’ve been given 80 possible questions they can be asked, so she’s writing out answers (about a paragraph) to each one and learning them. Which will obviously take ages!! I suggested this seemed like overkill and there must be a short cut but it didn’t go down well...

When we looked round the 6th form on open day and this query about dress code came up and the head of 6th form said they would be insisting on business attire so as to prepare them for the work place I questioned how wearing business attire would prepare a scrub nurse, mechanic or sports coach etc and she didn't know what to say. Now business attire has transformed into a uniform of black skirts and white blouses so it's getting worse. Hopefully the current year 12s will put their opinion forward as they'll be affected going into year 13.

crazy they should have some sort of topic and should have drafted answers to questions. they basically learn those off by heart. I am not a fan ... DS1 did brilliantly because he has a superb memory. Doesn't mean he can speak Spanish at all , or even understand what he is saying himself!

Oh , and , yes , what your DD is describing is pretty accurate.

MFL teachers do get a bit stressy/over excited/pushy about it. the new spec was meant to avoid this rote learning but, if anything, it seems worse!

Thanks @Piggywaspushed, that’s a shame! I’m now 100% convinced we were right to discourage ds from doing a language as I just can’t imagine him putting in that amount of work! Learning from a book yes, but having to write all the answers first - no way!

I’m glad she’s got her oral so early though, as I can’t see her doing anything else until it’s done. Her approach to all the homework is just to rush through it - she won’t even consider treating it as revision!

My understanding of the orals (based on Spanish only).... there are 7-8 topics: they have to do a short presentation on one of them, and then answer some questions on that specific topic, then also have to answer questions on one of the other topics - they won't know which one until the exam. There are set questions but the teachers can I think go slightly off piste if they want... They also have to describe a picture (unseen until the exam - can be based on any of the topics) and .... aghhh, something else I think!

DS's school are making them all do their presentation and set questions on the hardest topic so they have to have that one nailed - he's not convinced of the value of learning all the other questions by heart and I have to admit I can see his point - it's such a lot of (pointless, rote) work for a subject he definitely won't carry on with! He's focusing on revising the vocabulary around all the topics and we'll get the questions for his set topic revised nearer the time...

No sixth form uniform here ... although I actually think ds would prefer it - he doesn't like having to think about clothes!

@crazycrofter - 80 questions? but that's bonkers. DD dropped Spanish due to the workload/being dyslexic but I don't see how memorising the answers to 80 questions is feasible! but then I'm dyslexic too so my point of view may be a tad biased.

Eek 80 questions and presentations. Is this just for Spanish crosses fingers or for French too? DD doing French and has written some answers to about 5 questions only in her oral booklet - that's all she's been asked to do (apparently).

I'm almost dreading coming back to this thread to read the answer to this question.