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 .

This is the actual consultation document. The stuff about appeals is convoluted . It's on about page 35 onwards. Once you decipher it all it does make sense , even if it will leave some frustrated students. At least it gets rid of all of the hanging around waiting for appeals to come through (which most of the time are unsuccessful):

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/879627/Exceptional_arrangements_for_exam_grading_and_assessment_in_2020.pdf

Thanks Piggy, it is great to have the inside view. I agree that when it was first announced that there would be an appeal process, I assumed that would be for schools who felt they had been over-moderated. Nothing else is feasible, particularly as the boards are not going to see any of the students' work.

GCSE and A-level results days confirmed as original dates in August, not July.

schoolsweek.co.uk/coronavirus-dfe-confirms-august-results-days-abandoning-end-of-july-deadline/

Yes, they obviously realised that was ambitious!

Piggy : maybe the data used regarding teachers being "too generous" comes from the CIE board as they require forecasts to be submitted by schools/colleges prior to the exams being sat, or maybe they mean UCAS predictions which are notoriously over generous?

The source is UCAS ( which were never meant to be accurate predictions to boards and are, therefore, often different) and apparently predictions submitted prior to 2015 , which were for different qualifications. Both of these are therefore very dodgy!

Within a large department you will get teachers who comment hit a barn door and teachers who are pinpoint accurate.

The whole statement also pre supposes that exam marking is accurate...hmmm...

What happens to the grading of French and German GCSEs? They were going to be ‘easier’ ie in line with Spanish grades this year. Do teachers work on previous years then Ofqual bump them up?

@Zandathepanda there’s some guidance about that - something like 1% more should get a 4 and 2% more a 7

Yes the consultation documents says schools should not make the allowance for the additional 1% at grade 4 and 2% at grade 7 as the exam boards will be building that in to their standardisation.

Thanks for the explanations Piggy.

If not until August then how on earth are we going to know which school/college they will be at in September.

That would be the same normally though, wouldn't it?

But they don’t normally get their results till August, Christopher. This is the usual schedule. Many schools have sign-up on results day.

@ChristopherTracy has your DC applied to a Sixth Form and received a conditional offer of a place dependent upon GCSE grades?

Thanks for the explanation crazycrofter and SeasonFinale that makes sense.

@SeasonFinale will the 2% increase applied by the exam boards to grade 7 also be reflected in grades 8 and 9?

Yes, his current school haven't said how they are going to allocate places or what the entry requirements are going to be for retakes etc - or will they not allow retakes and just require them to leave anyway. Surely not.

They normally lose some boys and replace with girls for DS sixth form.

Christopher Surely his current school have an entrance standard for each A level subject. Do you think that your DS will achieve it- based on current attainment grades/mocks etc?
If you think he may be borderline it may be best to email school and ask how they are intending to treat ‘slipped’ grades since he won’t have had the chance to prove himself in exams.
Do you have a back up Sixth Form place?

@ChristopherTracy it usually says on a school’s website or in their prospectus what entry criteria are for the sixth form. Have you looked under ‘sixth form admissions’? I haven’t come across a school yet that doesn’t set this out quite clearly.

Usually there’s a bottom line - eg I think ds’ school want either 6 or 8 grade 6s. Some schools will specify Maths and English at 5 - or even 6. Then for certain subjects eg Maths you need a 7 if you want to take the A Level.

I assume schools and colleges will treat these GCSE grades as they would normally, even though they’ve not taken the exams.

They have said that they have not yet decided how they will carry out the sixth form entry this year and not to email them about it. I know the normal entry procedure - I am lax but not that lax!

Yes we have a back-up place but DS would like to stay on if possible. But if they dont lose some boys then presumably they wont be able to add any girls in as there wont be room.

Why would the procedure for this year be different from previous years?

e.g. If the school say you need 6 x 6s and then effectively they themselves haven't awarded that to a DC why would they be more lax?

Because they should be allowed to retake in September presumably back at the old school until those are marked etc?

I think they are leaving themselves open to accusations that they marked boys down that they wanted to remove from the school. It is quite fraught really.

I see your point re retakes, but if I thought the school I was at was going to abuse the marking process to mark down kids on purpose, I'm not sure I'd want them there at all.

And to be honest I can't see many kids actually being that keen to retake a GCSE other than to get a maths/English pass unless it is essential to life plans. If they can still do the same A levels (or BTEC) albeit at a different location I think they'd just move and be done with it.

I do trust my sons school to an extent but it does add a dimension of worry. When you look at some of the Kent grammars and what has gone on you can't fail to be cynical sometimes.