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Original poster

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

993 replies

FoolsAssassin · 26/03/2020 15:07

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 .

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5
HPFA · 03/04/2020 13:44

I had a conversation with DD about the system - took her a while to grasp the idea behind the ranking but I think she got it. She's in a massive school so not at all sure how they'll manage the rankings in the core subjects but hopefully the school will submit realistic grades and it won't actually matter.

She says will definitely sit English Lang exam if she gets a 5 since it seems like it's going to be a "free hit".

Wheresthebeach · 03/04/2020 13:45

I hope school move to pre A level content, and starting research on EPQ's after Easter break. They have lots of info and dragging it out isn't going to help. I know some kids were hoping to improve their marks, but I presume coursework just before shut down would reflect an increase in grades, although there was a another 6 weeks work to do.

Shimy · 03/04/2020 13:46

@noblegiraffe @FlyingPandasI don’t think the exam boards will disadvantage them. My thoughts are, giving out more assessments after 20/3 allows schools a wider range of evidence to choose from. That’s where the unfairness comes into it.

noblegiraffe · 03/04/2020 13:50

Shimy School have been told not to disadvantage students who haven’t handed in work after schools closed. Schools have also been told to be very suspicious of work handed in after schools closed that is of a different quality to that done before.

Therefore schools will be making their judgements based on work completed before schools closed. No one will be raising grades based on work done at home to a higher standard because we have been told not to. And the evidence needs to be retained so any school would be mindful of this.

It’s not worth it.

EwwSprouts · 03/04/2020 13:51

I've explained it to DS. I think he will be disadvantaged by the rankings as he's one of those who only stepped it up a gear after mocks. So best hope is school as a whole produce fair and realistic grades so gradings do not come into play. On the upside he should get reasonable passes in everything. Bottom line told him it's nothing he can influence now so just forget it as best as can and use it as a life lesson for 6th form.

MirandaWest · 03/04/2020 13:59

DS says he is glad that he put in more effort in year 11 rather than leaving it all until Easter. He's got his own idea of how he thinks he will do. There's only one subject where I think he would do an exam if he didn't get the grade he's hoping for - he would really like a 9 in Music and I think he would have got one.

Wheresthebeach · 03/04/2020 14:17

The bit that still worries me is when a year was expected to do better than any previous year group...presume a combo of KS2 and Mydis testing would be used to support increased performance?

OrangeCinnamon · 03/04/2020 14:39

Last year was a disaster in parts for Dd she has been so much better since November though. Oh well onto College and make the best of that.

School have said to keep revising subjects that will be needed for A levels and Core incase of resit...seems like sound sensible advice.

The school did a live assembly for Y11 leavers ...I cried. They were so encouraging 'you will always be our students' lots of pride in them etc. No sixth form so next opportunity to get together is results day ....whenever that is.

The students have been reminded they can take this opportunity to really discover themselves and how their learning journey will progress. Sensibility all round it seems!

Fiddlersgreen · 03/04/2020 14:54

@Wheresthebeach this would have been our schools first GCSE cohort as it’s a new school that only opened in 2015 with year 7.
we have no previous results to look at so there must be another way of doing this, like you say, previous testing etc

MirandaWest · 03/04/2020 15:02

Am wondering whether DS's school will send us an email on this today. I imagine if not then we'll probably get one next week.

Monkey2001 · 03/04/2020 15:03

It looks to me like once the guidance has been provided to schools, the exam boards are taking a purely statistical approach. The means they will decide based on prior attainment of the cohorts and schools what grade distribution the school should get and then the school is responsible for ranking their students so that the expected results get distributed amongst the actual students.

It does not appear that the exam boards are actually going to look at any work at all. This means that however the schools choose to do their rankings, the schools are not competing with each other, it is just the students within the school competing for the grades nominally allocated to that school. Presumably the schools will have to justify why a particular subject cannot be approached in that way - for example DS's school did not have a proper computer science teacher until the beginning of last year, so last years cohort were significantly better than the previous year and they will hopefully accept that the current cohort would have continued that trajectory.

For GCSEs it is not a massive deal, apart from at the 4/5/6 level for Maths and English, this years results will be so odd that I don't think we can expect universities to differentiate between adjacent grades - so 8/9 will be similar, 7/8 will be similar. If GCSE students have to sit in the Autumn it is really not such a big deal and very good for them if they best grade is the one which counts.

More of a big deal for A levels. What will teachers do when they have people with offers which they will miss if they don't get the right grades and they don't think they deserve those grades?

HugoSpritz · 03/04/2020 15:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Piggywaspushed · 03/04/2020 15:28

On the plus side, many students will be very well prepped for A Level with all this bridging work being thrown their way to keep them busy!!

PaddingtonPaddington · 03/04/2020 15:38

Goodness this thread moves fast. Just catching up and also had an email from the school this afternoon confirming things I was worrying about:

  1. There is no need for students to complete coursework and they will take into consideration the quality of what was done so far even if incomplete.
  2. After Easter break bridging work will be provided eg for those continuing to A levels some prep work.
  3. If they want to take the exam in the Autumn they should continue regular revision.

Need to digest it all...

FlyingPandas · 03/04/2020 15:54

We have had a similar email @PaddingtonPaddington. Our school have stipulated that they will not be asking for any further evidence to support grade judgements, so we can breathe easy on that one at least.

I do think that the advice that has come out today seems about as fair and sensible as it can be under the circumstances.

Alsoplayspiccolo · 03/04/2020 16:03

Is there a risk at all that teachers' predictions/knowledge of individual students will be secondary to data management?
In other words, that students grades will be decided ultimately by desktop "computer says" number crunching?

Piggywaspushed · 03/04/2020 16:12

I think it'll be a combination. I think data guys might indicate how many of each grade we should typically award as a guideline and intervene if our distribution looks wildly wrong.

Oblomov20 · 03/04/2020 16:51

Well. I. Never.

Can't believe Head has written to all the children to tell them to stop working.

Very wierd.

sorrelli · 03/04/2020 16:53

Our school setting more work than ever. It’s getting a bit much!

Oblomov20 · 03/04/2020 16:57

Ds1 considering A'levels:
English Lit or English Lang
Business studies
Sociology or psychology

ICT

Any advice?
I think he prefers Eng Lang to Lit.
Sociology to Psychology

I don't know what to advise him. I'm assuming some see some of those as much stronger subjects than others?

Should be he reading up on the syllabus now, because he's got no other work?

Piggywaspushed · 03/04/2020 17:00

I teach two of those! It depends really. Psychology often has a high drop out rate as it seems sexy but they don't always do the fun stuff. It's a branch if science so that does need considering. Eng Lang is quite dry and technical but some units are fascinating. What does she want to do?

I am a fan of sociology : it really opens students' minds.

Piggywaspushed · 03/04/2020 17:02

Good idea to read specifications and also look at exam papers.

Wheresthebeach · 03/04/2020 17:03

School has emailed saying teaching and work will continue after the Easter break and then onto pre A levels. So DD will be working into June!

Wheresthebeach · 03/04/2020 17:03

But they have abandoned on line exams (thank God)

Wheresthebeach · 03/04/2020 17:04

@Piggywaspushed That would make sense, Data guy as gate keepers.

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