GCSE’s summer 2020 thread 5 - And then there were none..

[FoolsAssassin]

Once upon a time there was a group of year 11 students who had spent the last few years preparing to sit their GCSE exams in the summer of 2020. Then one day they woke up and found themselves as characters in a real life disaster movie and as if by magic the exams disappeared.

What lies next for the Corona Cohort?!

Thread 4
Thread 3
Thread 2
Thread 1 (Year 10)

Anyone lurking please feel free to jump on in .

Not really, as they hadn't finished but loads of subjects have some form of non exam work.

I think people's memories are shorter than we think.

In 15 years time, GCSEs will just be letters on a page and no one will look at the year and leap to conclusions.

In 15 years no one will care luckily, they are just a stepping stone after all

Although I know it doesn't feel like that for yr 11 students right now.

Are everyone else's children still revising?

100% agree with everything @ProggyMat said. DS would be furious if that was even suggested for the exact same reasons Proggy stated.

Is it likely that sixth forms will relax their usual minimum grade entrance for those that don’t get them with this system?

My dd’s school has basically said to just revise for subjects you might want to re-take for whatever reason.

The school has also just announced that after Easter all those staying on for sixth form will be getting some transitional work for their A level subjects.

My dd is therefore no longer revising but is doing some coursework for art.

Sotelo dd’s school has said that all those booing. To go into their (selective) sixth form will be awarded their place regardless.

Sorry - @sorrelli (autocorrect!)

I think they should award four possible grades:
High passes (7-9)
Mid passes (5-6)
Low passes (borderline 3-4)
Ungraded (3 and below)

But hey that’s just my opinion!

It seems odd that some schools are being told not to do any more revision but others to carry on as per usual.

All very confusing.

Hopefully clarification will come soon.

It’s not that long ago in the scheme of thing that there was significant coursework and controlled assessments in a lot of subjects. Then Gove came along and messed with them each year until we have got to where we are. A hangover from the old system in FS’s school is lots of testing along the way and his teachers most definitely have a very good idea of where they are likely to be grade wise.

The English and Maths will always matter and for those looking at things such as Oxbridge or courses that do require a specific GCSE these will matter but universities will take them being Corona cohort into account and ultimately the rest will be insignificant in time as they are superseded by A Levels or degree.

For some not going on to Further Education these will be potentially their main qualifications and it really does matter for them.

@FlyingPandas, the US does not have the same system of national examinations like the UK does. Grades are given for every subject twice a year set by each individual school, and internal final exams are also held at the end of each semester. All grades are recorded on a students transcript so that all US students will be able to demonstrate 7 complete sets of grades (most run on a 2 semester/year) along with a grade point average. This kind of schools can work easily with remote learning, so many schools will be able to complete the semester with some hiccups. In the big picture, the worst case scenario is that the students will only have one set of dodgy grades, and there will be no impact on grade reporting to universities.

DS and people like him will be impacted because they don't have any other meaningful grades. US universities will have to rely heavily on relationships they have with the UK schools providing the grades to assess how much validity to give the grade on paper. OK for DS who goes to a known school to these universities, not great for those who don't have relationships with US universities and have a demonstrated track record of sending students to the schools in the past.

@RoseLalique

Wow really?! I’ve emailed both the school and other sixth form to ask them this - silence!

My year 11 has been upset as she needed to do better on 3 subjects which she was really trying hard to do and the chance was taken away from her. Sixth form had said her place was secure as long as she did get those grades which now, based on her precious mock/predicted - wouldn’t happen.

@mrscampbellblackagain
Why on earth would my DD just concentrate on her chosen A level subjects- that’s another thread for many people
She, rightly or wrongly, has an idea where she ‘stands’ with those if she were to be allowed to sit GCSE exams and all of her other subjects.
I fink its summat to do with the fact that after 2 years of hard graft, attainment grades during that period of said work and the slog of sitting 19 papers over 9 days of mocks
I guess she is of the mindset ‘ no one is going to piss down my back and tell me it’s raining’
Sooo, if she chooses to resit I’ll support her in that
As an aside, as a horsey lass, I really love Jilly Cooper’s novels

I think many of the Year 11s will be disappointed if their grades are not what they'd hoped for. But how many of them, potentially after 6 months of no proper work are going to want to revise for an exam just to get a better grade? I suspect, other than cases where the lack of specific grades will hold them back (and how will this work, if it's holding them back from e.g. A Level courses?) most DC will just have feel quietly disappointed, and then move on with their lives.

@redskyatnight

My daughter will be held back from her enrolment in sixth form if she doesn’t get the minimum grades in certain subjects and was planning to use easter onwards to improve

I think the issue is that most kids improve from mocks, so how does that translate now? We were told at parents evening in Feb that adding a grade was easily possible, depending on work, 2. So how is that calculated now? Will our kids be further disadvantaged because they didn’t get the chance to show the impact of their extra work near the end of term? I don’t know what’s fair, but I wish the DfE would get a move on and publish their guidelines so we can put this all to bed.

@Piggywaspushed
My son is still working on his Art coursework and BTEC assignments, do you think/know if it is too late for these to be counted?
They are not past their original due date of course

I wish I knew! I have the same issue with the subject I teach.

My coursework has to be supervised in school, according to the rules. So, I can't get mine to do more.

DD has been told to continue Art and that it will need to be dropped in to school at some point. In the absence of clear instructions for DfE I think its sensible to keep working. If they announce no work submitted past closing date will be counted then it will naturally stop, but until that time I don’t blame the school for encouraging them to work.

The work has definitely slowed down in recent days, they’ve stopped all homework.

Pretty sure work will have to be proven to be authentic so any coursework done outside of school control may be problematic but that's just a vibe I picked up re exams and home work done after closure rather than coursework per se.

BTecs and vocational subjects will be causing enormous headaches in the DfE just now.

@Piggy You might be able to answer this -DS did his Oral French in February. Do you think that will count?

Yes, I do. It's evidence which presumably the school has logged.

That’s good to know. He really upped his game in that from the 3 he had in mocks.

Thanks @Piggywaspushed

Dd has over 20 pieces of work to do this week. Some set with a 2 day deadline for Friday.