Yr10 predictions and grades beside myself

[Sham7863]

Hi I’m absolutely confused and don’t know what to do I feel it’s over before it started my sons grades and predictions won’t get him into any sixth form or college he has always been slight slow and had help but really trying in high school he been predicted 4+maths and English lit 4- English Lang 3+ and so on he on target with few and some 2grades behind he so wanted to do law his heart is on what do I say to him how do I support him apart from tutors as I feel he copes well with 121 is it doable can we change the predictions if we ask school sorry I’m not good with all this I feel is it my fault I let him down as parent

What were his predicted grades/flight path from earlier on?

I would dissuade him from a subject he will need tutors to get the gcse grades for as I would imagine he’d then struggle with a levels/uni.

There is absolutely time to improve if he's in Year 10.
If he's always struggled, he might not be capable of top grades, but there's no reason why they shouldn't be good enough for A Level.

DS's predictions changed every time he had a report :)

I absolutely disagree with the PP re tutors. This time last year (when DS was in Year 10) he asked for a tutor in physics as he was on track to get a 2/3 in GCSE. A year later, he is predicted a 7+ and is considering taking it for A Level. The tutor has been able to work slowly on an individual basis, which is clearly something he doesn't get in class.

Also, don't beat yourself up. As a parent, there is only so much support we can give our children. In the end they have to be the ones to put the effort in. Do you think that seeing these predicted grades might give your son a boost?

I'm in between the views of the 2 PP.
Tutors can definitely help and are worth it because doing better will give him in general more options.
However, if he struggles to meet the minimum criteria for A levels even with tutoring then maybe A levels isn't the right route.
If you haven't already then look at BTEC options, e.g. Business and CILEX (sp).
You need a Plan B. he needs to know it isn't A levels or failure.

You can't change these predictions, and they do not directly affect anything. The reason for making these predictions is to give you warning that, as things stand, this is what you might expect. Far better to know now when there's time to do something about it.

The first thing is to work out whether this is where he's at because he genuinely struggles, or because he's not been putting in the effort. If the latter, the first thing to change is attitude! Tutoring may well help, but it sounds as if there's a lot of ground to make up to get into a very competitive area. At least if you start now, you'll be able to see what difference it's making before you get to applying for post-16 courses.

If he's had support in school, it sounds like he may not be cut out for a career where you need to be able to work very independently. Start looking for a plan B. What is it that interests him about law? What other careers might meet that interest? Often youngsters have only heard of a very limited number of different careers. Can he get a careers advice session through school?

www.lawcareers.net/Starting-Out/Law-Apprenticeships-Guide/WhatIsALegalApprenticeship says something about an "intermediate apprenticeship" which doesn't need A-levels and gets you into the administrative side. I don't know how many of these apprenticeships there are, but it might be something worth investigating.

Tutors are definitely helpful. I would not hesitate trying a tutor for maths and English.
Find some good resources for the other subjects.
CGP books for his boards are good.
Try Seneca learning too

There are lots of YouTube videos on all the gcse subjects and topics which might help to clarify and reinforce.

His attitude to learning is very good on the latest report but I think disruptive classes isn’t helping when other children misbehaving it’s having a effect on other pupils who want to learn and yes btec is a option we thinking but do you think with support and help and tutor for maths and English he can turn it around or to late and yes we arranged careers meeting

And I meant the aspirational target can it be changed to at least 5+

Many kids improve on their predictions through hard work.
Once your child can understand the work then it’s about practising lots of gcse questions.
My ds is also in yr 10 and he struggles with English too. I’ve made sure he understands the texts, we’ve been to see one of them as a play. His school is organising another.
I’ve got him the cgp notes for the books and I’ve been getting him to learn a poem a week from their list using books and YouTube videos so spending 10-15 mins about 3 or 4 times a week.
He enjoys listening to them being rapped
On top of that, he reads every night and reads news articles on bbc on his phone.

Starting now, it's realistic to get from 4+ to 5+ in maths with some tutoring (assuming some extra time put in practising as well as the tutoring sessions). I know less about English.

I'm not sure what his grades are in other subjects, but it doesn't sound like he'd be able to get to the sort of grade profile he'd need to be applying for A-levels. Maths and English are the ones to focus on to help give him as many options as possible post-16.

Hard work matters - my DD2 was predicted a 5 in maths in Yr 10, got a 7. In fact most of her grades were in the 5-6 range except English and French - she ended up with 6 in Physics (miracle) and Drama, everything else was higher and she got 9 in English Lang.

However, you do need to be realistic - if your DS is being predicted 3-4 then A levels and a law degree may not be his future.

No it certainly isn't too late and I would arrange to go and meet both his maths and English lang teachers to see where you can help him.

There are lots of YouTube videos by teachers trying to help those students who seek out the information.

I will say re English lang that I looked at past GCSE papers with Ds1 as he struggled a bit with that subject. He looked at one question at a time, gave his answer and then we looked at the mark scheme answer to see what he should have said. All this is available online with a quick google, so find out which exam board his school use and look at past papers.

He also practised writing stories as quite frankly he was rubbish at it, and his teacher agreed to read them and give him feedback.

Predictions are just that, a guess. They are not set in stone, he can hopefuly work hard and improve. He has a lot of time before his actual GCSEs if he is in year 10.