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.

Thank you so much Piggy for the reading list

KingscoteStaff eek! This is what worries DD and me as we said exactly the same. Last year was a particularly bad year for grades with the boys side of the school failing Ofsted and the girls getting the worst set of grades for years.
We've since had a new head/CEO start last Sept and he's turned the schools around so we were longing to prove that this years' cohort could bring the good grades back up.

DD has gone in with a shirt to get signed - been told this is not acceptable but she's brought it in regardless and i think that if this is their last day then they should have some form of rite of passage of leaving.

I've been emailing certain teachers to thank them for their amazing efforts and end up with tears spilling over so I am just as emotional as DD. Dreading pick up.

She's been asked by a couple of teachers to bring in evidence today so teachers can make portfolios of the students work and tbf DD was going to spend these next few weeks doing exactly that as she has copious amounts of revision clocks, annotated poems, flash cards and past papers etc. This looks like this is how they'll make their grade decision at her school if it turns out it's based on teacher assessment - this will keep DD busy and motivated over the next few weeks as she still has syllabus to finish so will study online.

DH still wants her to do some maths to keep her brain focused just in case they decide to examine the students in English and Maths in November when resits are usually done. School have online Hegarty Maths so she'll do those a few times a week in between doing crafting and dancing around the house for her fun hours. TikTok is going to blow up with millions of students all going on it en mass

I wonder if they will expect the to continue working remotely til the end of the year and that the work submitted will be part of the assessment? Can’t imagine how they will cope with nothing to do for 5.5 months and nowhere to go!

DS has been told to keep working as normal as they may be using current work to form the basis of any assessment (though this might change once we actually know what this is!). Agree with PP that I'd rather this than him mooching around purposeless (even if they don't end up using the work)

Same as RedSky.
I think part of it is that many could start 6th form not having picked up a pen in 5 months/practiced vocab etc. Will be interesting to see if grade boundaries for A levels significantly down in 2022 (hoping COVID does not come back with a vengeance this winter).

I think we may face years worth of cohorts with exam concession type marking. And already some discussions about streamlined curricula or exams for current year 12s and 10s.

DD's school has told the year 11 students they're free to go - no work set, no nothing.
I have to say I'm pretty nonplussed.

I've already said to DS that he should contact his Geography teacher (Geography the only subject he definitely knows he wants to study next year) and ask if there is any material he can look at, to at least cover the GCSE syllabus they haven't yet finished and potentially some pre-reading for A Level.

Though DS misunderstood what was required for his geography mock, revised totally the wrong stuff and did very badly, so I'm really hoping that this doesn't impact on his ability to study it further. He could cope with getting lower grades than expected in just about everything else, but this would really upset him if his geography mark was too low for A Level.

Interesting. I hadn't thought as far as that big a picture but can see likely.

RedSky One Strange Rock series on Amazon Prime is labelled science but lot of geography in there too. DS told his GM it was 'thought-provoking', a phrase I've never heard him use before.

My DD had her last day yesterday, and is today taking part in virtual lessons in line with her timetable. ATM it is planned that this will continue until the end of term next Friday. Hopefully by then we will have a better idea of what/how results will be determined.

Also have a very fed up Y13 going in for his last day today. He is one that will likely suffer as he is a 'leave it til the last minute' type worker. He managed to increase all his GCSEs by about 3 grades between mocks and actual results 2 years ago. His A level mocks aren't good enough for the uni course he wants

@seeline I hope they make concessions. That’s so hard.

We were talking to DD about starting research for her EPQ. She’s not sure what she want to do so she might as well start thinking about it now. As she’s ecologically minded she can do lots of research on line.

International student here ! (outside of UK on IGCSE)
we have been told IF school is shut no exams will take place and we will get predicted grades.
As you can imagine this is stress inducing as we do not know whether they are taking exams or not, meaning for now its business as usual.
They are v upset, especially as all friends in UK are "free" as it were.

Yes that's stressful not knowing one way or the other. I guess you'll have to act as if they are happening until you know.

@aibuquestions exactly the same here. I hope we can get an official answer soon. We are in week 8 of no school with schools closed and the number of cases starting to ride again. It's so stressful for the children.

Mines been sent home. Told no exams. No need for revision.

College emailed to say whatever they've applied for the can do.

That college has just given so many peace of mind. Nice move.

@0DimSumMum0 So glad to find someone in the same situation! It's so hard for them to watch the UK kids be confirmed that they have no exams ( obviously not ideal) and the ongoing ambiguity is just increasing stress levels. Hopefully exam boards say soon what their ' cut off ' date is for when schools need to be shut for exams to not take place. Do you mind saying what exam board you're on? we're on edexcel

My son is relieved sprouts!

School confirmed that lessons taking place on google classroom as planned and all students expected to show up. Code of conduct written, pre A level projects being put in place for exam period, basically school may be shut but work carrying on. Can’t wait to see the look on DD’s face.

@aibuquestions - I'm pleased to find you too. We haven't been told anything yet so it's interesting to hear that the schools being closed will be a major factor. We are with Edexcel too!! Are your schools closed currently? I just think it seems unfair for them all ways round really as they have been off school for so long already, due to go back on the 20th April but it is looking more and more unlikely. They just need to make a decision now and put the children out of their misery.

How does everyone feel about the solution - it seems sensible to me apart from the prior attainment at primary school thing - I'm not sure we did any of that and it was all guessed at.

My son didn't do SATS and his mocks wern't wonderful but he had just started to turn a corner so, who knows.

Hi - apologies if I missed this, but does anyone have an idea of when students will get their grades? Dd could do very badly out of this (terrible mocks and not great predicted grades). We had been clinging to the hope of the next 2 months of revision to get her grades up. If she needs to do retakes, it would be very helpful to know which ones to revise for. Otherwise, she could be facing months and months of revising all topics, which would be horrendous.