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.

Oakmaiden, DD seems to have been left the same way, the only difference being she’s going to a new school for 6th form.
I know the circumstances are completely unprecedented and it’s weird for all the tear 11s everywhere, but it does feel par for the course with DD’s school and it stings a bit, particularly as it’s cost us a huge amount, financially, in the years she’s been there - it’s a bit “don’t let the door smack you on the arse on your way out”.
I sent what I thought was a nice email to her HoY, who is also one of her subject teachers and who has always championed DD, thanking her for everything she’s done for DD (I actually had tears in my eyes as I was writing it), but she didn’t get to say goodbye to DD, and it all feels a bit...sad and disappointing.

Today has been weird.
I took all DD’s revision files and text books etc up to her bedroom to tidy away, and just the sight of her desk, littered with half-finished past papers and flash cards made me want to cry.
I can’t explain it, but it feels a bit like a loss.

It does feel like a loss.
All that hard work, all those plans just gone.
And that long summer they had mapped out can now no longer happen.
Obviously there are more serious things going on right now but I can’t help but feel sad for what they are missing out on

Yes. I found a copy of the exam timetable and chucked it in the recycling today, it felt sad. Plus some maths questions he did last weekend. Seems like a lifetime ago.

I think DS will get -

Maths 7 ( he'd like an 8)
Eng lit - 6
Eng Lang - 6
Physics - 7
Biology - 7
Chem- 6
Geography - 7/8 ( he'd love an 8 - fave)
History - 7
PE - 7 maybe 8
Computing - 5/6

Fab potential results, I don't really know where it'll go. Parents eve in January his teachers all wanted him to be aiming for 7/8's , so he's a bit disappointed he hasn't been given than opportunity to show he can do it

He's planning on doing Maths, Geography and Physics at college, needing 7 in Maths, 5 in Geography and 766 in Maths and two sciences to do Physics

Just all feels like it's out of his hands now

I asked DD what she thinks she will realistically end up with.

Lit/Lang 6/5
French 5
Business 7
Maths 5
History 4
PE 5
Science 5/5 (double)

Not set the world on fire but solid enough. Will be interesting to see as I think she has underestimated herself but I think she’d be happy with the above and it’d mean she could do what she wanted at 6th form.

DD can’t bring herself to take everything down off her wall yet! It’s very sad.

Yes I predict mainly 6s a couple of 5s and couple of 7s - fingers crossed for an 8 for music.

Pretty solid as you say @wrongdissection. Will reevaluate once we have had mock results back !

I guess one of the advantages of never having had an exam timetable is there is nothing to throw away .

Agree with it feeling like a loss.

Best realistic guess for DD:
Music 7
Textiles 6
English literature 6
English language 5 (Hoping for 6)
Maths 5
History 5
Drama 5
Combined science 5-4
French 3 (praying for 4)

Good to get this down to compare with in July. Would be good to know what date in July it will be. I think the communication said towards the end.

I know worse things are occurring but I'm glad I'm not bring silly for my sense of loss. I kept the exam timetable and son needs to clear his desk...lots of flash cards about the house :(

Dd could get:

6/7/8 for English Lit and Lang. She’s been predicted 8s quite solidly but as she didn’t revise a English for mocks (too busy focusing on other subjects) she got 6s and her predicteds now stand at 6
6 for Maths
7/8 for Textiles
6/7 for food tech
5/6 for French
8 for RE
5/6 for both sciences
6/7 for geography
5/6 for history

Solid enough... she was aiming for more 8s and maybe some 9s but I don’t think the school will be that generous. It’s a notoriously high achieving state that sets its mocks and predicteds quite low to keep them all in their toes, and I guess that’s going to bite them all on the bum now as the data is going to be lower graded 🤷🏼‍♀️

DD has just received exercise sheet (using bands and tins of beans!) from the school netball captain! DS (cricket) is currently collating exercise clips to send out to his boys.

Bit confused here as ds had been predicted all 8s but did slightly better with his mocks and there was 8 weeks left to go - so would his grades stay the same or will they allow for the extra time - also isn’t it adjusted due to age. Ds was born in August (he’s determined for all 9s which I don’t have the heart to tell him won’t happen)
I think in previous years only 1 or 2 have had that.
He’d been chasing the coat tails of the prodigiously clever pupil for the last 6 months

He’s talking about resitting any that he doesn’t agree with.

He’s not like my other DC he’s a novelty nobody else in my family are academic

Have any of you been contacted with regard to work/study?

DS has been told (unofficially) that no formal work will be set or marked for Y11s.

He is hoping that they will share some enrichment / bridging material for maths, and wondering about the possibility of trying to self-teach Level 2 F.Maths in an attempt to bridge the gap to A-level.

Please don't contact the schools! We know nothing. I know it is hard. But please wait.

Schools at present are trying to sort out on site provision and staffing.

I think we will be given until mid May ourselves to sort out these grades.

The minute I know anything at all official I will give people on here a shout.

PushtheTrolley it’s hard to know at the moment. I would try to come over as calm as you can about it, tell him to wait and see what happens when he gets the results and he will have the chance to resit. That buys time to adjust to the change of circumstances.

Unless things change drastically we are going to have to be supporting them through some potentially harrowing news in the not too distant future and everyone may feel differently about grades by the time they are out.

I guess that’s going to bite them all on the bum now as the data is going to be lower graded

Not necessarily. When the school submits grades they will need to look at whether they fit with the entry profile of the children and the normal performance of the school. So long as that happens I imagine OFQUAL will just accept what the school says.

So if your DS's school submits results that look right then the way it does mocks shouldn't be a problem. The only way it could affect things is if the school submits grades that are wildly out of line - then the mocks might be an issue because OFQUAL would want to look more closely at how the school came to its conclusions.

My hunch is that nobody wants parents up in arms or an enormous number of appeals to deal with. So I suspect that if schools keep their submissions within reason most will be accepted without too much hassle. Given that teachers are human if they genuinely feel someone's on the boundary of 4/5 they'll tend to opt for the 5 especially as that's an important boundary. So there probably will be some grade inflation.

@Piggywaspushed

@Postnotinhaste agreed, sadly I think as major an issue as GCSE grades obviously are to y11 students and parents, they are going to seem minor in the grand scheme of things over the next few weeks.

I am another who has been incredibly tearful about the abrupt end to y11. We had a lovely email from DS’s head of year on Thursday night and I spent most of the evening in tears. But actually I think those tears, whilst triggered by the whole school thing, were as much about the whole situation we find ourselves in. The worries and fears that we all must have about elderly parents, children, friends and family who are medically vulnerable, friends and family who are front line NHS workers (we have a lot of those ). Who knows where on earth we will all be by July.

On a more cheery note, happy Mother’s Day to you all At least we are not having to spent it nagging about exam revision.

Thank you for those reassuring words, @HPFA

Yes absolutely @HPFA very reassuring and wise words there.

I love how supportive and sensible everyone is on this thread.

also isn’t it adjusted due to age

GCSEs are not age standardised / adjusted (nor are SATs?).

Yes Panda you’re right and it’s about the whole situation. I think there is a pretty good chance DH and I have caught it from DS who was ill the week after the Italy ski trip returned so although I am obviously sad about what’s happened , it’s not been my priority. All good with us so far.

@roselalique

Thank you - I should say I'm not a teacher or anyone with inside knowledge so these are just my own judgements. But people who are "in the know" are kind of saying the same thing.

twitter.com/teacherhead/status/1240560026353270785

If parents and children are to buy into the system it needs to be seen as fair and the only way that's going to happen is if the students are given grades that roughly align with what they've been led to expect by teacher predictions, mocks results etc. Obviously there needs to be some checking process to make sure that schools aren't wildly over optimistic. But if your child's always been predicted a 6, if most of their tests, mocks etc have resulted in a 6 (or have shown a rising curve towards that) then they ought to be given a 6. That's the only thing that's going to feel "fair"

Both my DCs (Y11& 13) at different schools are still getting online lessons in accordance with their timetables until the end of term. Both are still getting revision stuff, Mick papers etc, and DS has been told to finish his written course work for A level DT.

DD just doesn't see the point. Cannot motivate her at all which is sad as she was working really hard. She should be changing school for 6th form and it feels as if she really is in limbo ☹️