GCSEs Summer 2020 (thread 4) -the final countdown

[PostNotInHaste]

Thread 3
Thread 2
Thread 1(year 10)

Hope OrangeCinnamon doesn’t mind me starting another in her absence , feel twitchy without ! Apologies in advance if I have messed the links up.

The last thread ended with discussion of possible school closures, not really what we want to hear at this point - let’s hope things sound more positive as thread progresses.

Cross posted with HPFA.

In the end your precise GCSE grades are only necessary when going to college or uni - and they will know that the data used for them is a bit ropy and not necessarily spot on.

I also strongly suspect that they will tend to give people the benefit of the doubt and grade higher rather than lower.

I didn't think it meant exams cancelled completely just that they wouldn't be in May/June. It's a mess and just so hard to decipher! How are our children supposed to cope when we can't work out what was said!

For reference - my daughter did sweet FA revision for her mocks. I am not even sure she did all of them. I think for her lit she wrote her name and sat and cried for the rest of the exam. And yet English is her best subject and the school are happy for her to do it for A level.

I think it said cancelled?

Please am I the only one in tears. I have so much anxiety, relief and sadness about this whole thing for my son.

It definitely said cancelled, not postponed.

No guidance as to what they should do now. Carry on studying? If they don’t what should they be doing?

Scruffyoak it’s a huge shock and makes us all realise how big the situation we are in. It’s going to be ok, we will get through it. One step at a time.

Boris said will not happen in May/June as planned.

Wales said not in this academic year.

I think predicted.

Boris said May/June not happening but that Welsh government announcement said cancelled.

They can still have them in September and start the new term at the end of November

I would like them to take their time and think it through, maybe using several different measures if they aren’t sitting them. What I really want them to do is take a little bit of time to think it through rather than any kneejerk decision.

I hope it'll be mainly based on predicted because DS did no work for his mocks. But it's not yet clear exactly which information they will use and how they will weight each element.

I don't see how they can base it on mocks, some schools have only done one lot, some several, all done at different times.

@womenwotlunch

We need to know as soon as possible if that's the case. You can't have them all switch off thinking "no exams" and then being told they have to gear up again.

I think if they were being postponed it would have been announced as such.

Also Indeed what do we tell them?
DD told me ‘cancelled’ when I got home so I launched into predicted grades to try to calm her down - radio not working in my car.
DD having a bath and now watching local news but no clarity on ‘cancelled’?

@HPFA i agree our children's mental health is at stake

No clarity on EHCPs either - they were mentioned as exempt but how will that work.

What on earth are we now meant to do with our 15/16 year olds? I'd was working on the assumption that DS would be fully occupied revising when school closed. Now he's just going to be spending too much time on the PS4.
Perhaps we can volunteer our teens to shop for the vulnerable/self isolated?

The uncertainty is so tough. They should have kept the exam announcement until they could also announce what's happening instead.

One thing I do know is my school, with all its flaws has a manic data tracking system and is conspicuously fair. If predicted grades are asked for they will be robust and evidence based (so not juts mocks). Schools have become assessment factories - rightly or wrongly- so there is nowadays a whole range of evidence.

Doesn't mean I'm not concerned about my GCSE film class who had not submitted coursework, so their excellent work won't be reflected in enhancing grades, or for DS who was being not taught by a music teacher for two years while he was busy doing distinctly illegal stuff instead...

DD is asking if she should try and complete controlled assessments in the last 2 days or not. No idea what to say

Earlier in the week I was steadfastly saying that predicted grades would be awful for DS (who's worked steadily in the last few months, and whose predicted grades were awful) who would pretty much give up if he was told all of his work counted for nothing.

However, as the week has gone on he's become a shadow of his former self, he's deeply unhappy, very anxious and struggling to focus on anything. I was seriously starting to worry how he'd get through the next few weeks. Tonight he's smiled for the first time in ages.

Frankly, I'll now take his poor predicted grades (with the obvious understanding that everyone knows they weren't "proper" ones) and a child with already much improved mental health. GCSE grades are no longer the most important thing. If our DC have got aspirations and aims for the future, they will still get there. They may just take a different route.

paddington yes, yes, yes. It may form an evidence base. SQA (Scottish Ofqual) seem to expect schools to have evidence.

We need to know what the government is planning instead of exams! And we need to know soon. Dd is absolutely distraught and thinking all her hard work has been for nothing.

Had email from school, they are finalising arrangements and will email us 7,30am tomorrow.
Arranging for DS’s stuff to come home