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.

DS (going on to apprenticeship rather than A levels) has been set a few science and maths papers but the messages from teachers on his homework app have been of the "don't let your brain get rusty" feel rather than "you must do this to count towards your grade". He is likely to get better grades than he realistically deserves but he has now realised that himself and does feel a bit guilty. But when I said that I didn't care if he never picked up Romeo+Juliet again, he was visibly relieved and agreed to do a bit of maths every day to stop his brain rusting up (even plumbers need maths!)

I'm trying to get both of them to apply for jobs with a local supermarket, and have volunteered them to help out our village support network if needed. I'm working 3 days a week (NHS admin) and I need them to do something productive that may actually end up being a bit educational as well.

We’ve had an email from school saying they are setting on line exams in May as part of assessment. So full steam ahead.

Dd is seriously pissed off as she says they’ve already done so many papers surely they have enough.

I don’t know why they are going so bonkers - hard for them to stay motivated.

Someone mentioned upthread that the cut off date might be end of school last week but what then happens about subjects that had coursework that wasn’t even due in yet?
My son is working every day on Art and BTEC assignments

It is bizarre - some schools are asking for additional assessments etc to be done, and others (my daughter's school) has just said "We have everything we need. See you next year for A levels."

This vast discrepancy is actually starting to concern me.

But soft, what pipe through yonder window breaks?
The way I’ve read the guidance we’ve all had is that there is an opportunity to appeal about the process of how the grades have been arrived and an opportunity to resit if not happy with the grade awarded.
Given there seems to be a wide variation in the way in which the current Yr11 cohort are being handled to date perhaps all we can do is share our experiences for now?

@Wheresthebeach that’s actually really alarming.

How on earth can school be sure of any administered online assessments being scrupulously fair to all?

Quite apart from the likely discrepancies between students’ home circumstances, tech available, parental support etc that was mentioned upthread - unless children are at highly selective, exclusive, expensive indie, but then even then surely discrepancies will still exist - how on earth will teachers police to ensure tests are done fairly and rigorously? I mean you could get another family member to do it for you, or have a pile of books/notes to refer to when you shouldn’t have, etc etc. It just sounds utterly riddled with potential corruption and totally unfair to all. Poor kids.

You’re right @flyingpandas - dd is supper contentiousness and has raised the same concerns. I wonder if it’s because academically this year is viewed as a break out year academically. They’ve been saying since year 7 that this year is the most able they’ve ever had so they are, I fear, desperate for good GCSE’s. Hence the continuous proof gathering to show that results that are better than ever are justified.

But haven’t the DfE also said that there will be no league tables / stats reported for schools this year as exams are cancelled?

I get wanting the absolute best for individuals in an an able cohort - but as far as the school is concerned their stats won’t be reported anyway. Unless I’ve read that wrong?

Either way, it seems bonkers. And you have to wonder whether any ‘formal’ assessments done post the 20 March school closures will even be accepted as viable evidence by exam boards anyway (disclaimer: this is pure speculation, I have no idea). It all just seems such a minefield!

Let’s hope we have some proper clarification and clear guidance soon.

Ds school haven't set any work for Y11, just recommended that they start broadly reading around subjects they want to do at A level. Ds is hoping to do Geography, English Language, either Politics or Sociology depending on there being enough pupils for politics & has emailed sixth form to ask if he can do Btec level 3 Drama as his teacher says he should get a distinction at level 2. Do we have any idea of when in July GCSE results should be out?

DS’s school still setting work and quizzes just as if exams were still on. We have no clue what is going on, but are just going with the flow.

Tailored Tutors online are doing live-streams of y12 science lessons - might be helpful for some .

End of July I think Nat

I guess they are covering themselves in case of the autumn resists and making sure they are ready for those as long time to be doing not a lot then sit papers I suppose.
Is there a difference between state and independent going on at all?

DS feels so much better now he doesn’t have to do anything for non A level subjects and I totally get that.

@Wheresthebeach that's interesting, as at our school, this Y11 is one of the 'less academically able' years in recent times. There is more creative ability and more kids doing subjects like construction/tech/social care/PE but they had all but abandoned Further Maths. They're also regularly praised for being one of the nicest and kindest cohorts ever (exasperating for the teachers!)

@Wheresthebeach that makes sense, as broadly speaking schools should be submitting results that are in line with previous years. So better results might raise concerns. However, they've said they'll look at previous attainment too. I assume this particular year at your school will have come in with higher SATS results and probably higher CATs in year 7 if they take them? So they shouldn't need even more data collected now to back up their results.

Yes they did testing in year 7 and have a very good record in term of progress. I think they are just being a bit over the top.

Article suggesting how NRT could be used:

ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2020/03/gcse-results-in-english-and-maths-whatever-approach-is-taken-here-is-how-it-should-be-validated/?utm_source=FFT+Education+Datalab&utm_campaign=ef923dd9fc-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_03_24_11_14&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_69bf38d335-ef923dd9fc-209859397

So interesting how each school is tackling this differently!

DS's computer science teacher has set them a mini project of creating their own website (with advice about things to use, things to include, things to try etc). DS is actually excited by this, and it feels like a better use of time than more revision/assessment etc that they might never need/use.

DD’s best friend (same school) contacted their HoY, saying she was worried that she couldn’t complete work set because she has 2 siblings and parents at home, all sharing a limited number of devices. She asked whether she would be penalised (ie whether currently being done would be used as evidence); the school’s response was to suggest that she travel to the school to collect a laptop. 😒 Her mum had to then point out that unnecessary travel and contact is not allowed! School then told her she should only do coursework, eg art, DT, which does rather suggest that nothing else now matters.

Very interesting reading different schools approaches and experiences. DS is having very, very little set work other than on a small number of courses that they haven't finished where they seem to want to get them through the core content - in comparison dd definitely has a full day of work to do. They have however sent out a very sad message about prom- saying given the long term advice on social distancing measures, they are cancelling this rather than postponing it :-(

I'm focusing on ds reading around his core subjects for A level. We're order A level text books for two of the subjects, and he's doing maths (his other one) every day as he's got loads of resources there. I have resigned myself to the idea that trying to keep him revising/working for subjects he cares less about

I have just ordered DD the CGP books Headstart to A Level Biology/Chemistry to keep her occupied if school stops setting work after what would have been the study leave date. She’s also doing English so I’m guessing there’ll be a hefty reading list.

I do also wonder whether private schools continuing to set work has juts as much to do with parents wanting value for money for school fees?

I would guess this is part of the motivation but I also suspect they're testing online lessons etc as good business continuity. If you think Covid may reappear again in the autumn after a summer lull there will be no excuses for schools not having at least tried to set up a contingency plan.

The whole question of whether year 11 work done now can be used as evidence is stressing me out now.
At the beginning of the week, DD has virtually no online work. She’s still not getting much, and very little is marked “send to me”.
However yesterday, a subject teacher sent an email that said she would be setting a mock in a few weeks, in case students were unhappy with their previous mock result.

How can that be?

If teachers can see from their data that certain children will probably want to resit in September, it makes sense that they should keep all their skills fresh. I don't want DD to get a disappointing result in (let's say...) French in July and then have to start revision from scratch for the resit.

With regards to her A level subjects, I definitely want her to keep up her studies - especially the Sciences. English and Philosophy will be mainly reading.

Yes that makes sense @KingscoteStaff.

Tbh I’ve decided to leave DS to do his own thing until after Easter now and then knuckle him down with prep for A level. He’s not being set anything formally by school and is really, really resisting doing anything school related at the moment. And I know him well enough (he has aspergers and adhd and I recognise his stress indicators all too well) to realise that pushing too hard will just be counterproductive.

I worry too that if he wants to resit anything he may well be —very— a bit rusty but it’s a chance he and I am going to have to take (and suspect he won’t want to retake anything anyway!)

Having reviewed all his school reports for the last three years I am trying to tell myself that all DS’s listed grades (end of year 11 targets, mocks, term assessments) are between 6 and 9. So in theory, teacher predictions should be between 6 and 9, shouldn’t they, and therefore his allocated grades should be between 6 and 9? Maybe that’s wishful thinking but it’s keeping me calm (ish).