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 .

[Northumberlandlass]

Keep dropping out of these threads!

DS did some mocks in Nov last year and some in early Feb. Did ok both times & I’m feeling quite chilled as long as he can do the A-Levels he wants (PE, Biology & Chemistry)
The school are providing work & ‘strongly recommend’ they don’t stop learning. However trying to motivate him isn’t going well. He’s agreed to do Maths work, Chem, Bio & PE ....

[Wheresthebeach]

I suppose that’s the risk @sandybayley...personally I’d still like to know. Can’t imagine they would be dropped by much, and I wonder how common it will be? After all they must have lots of evidence to hand to justify the mark if asked.

[Northumberlandlass]

@Mominatrix my DS rows too & is gutted everything is cancelled. He’d been selected for an 8 in JIRR too - extra heartbreak!

[Mominatrix]

I really feel for all the mums of rowers here. Especially gutwrenching is that the loss of the season makes the chance of rowing in the Coupe de Jeunesse (a race which his school rowers have been quite prominent in the past) impossible. Fingers crossed for Head of the Charles in October!

[sandybayley]

@Wheresthebeach - the exam boards will be watching very carefully for grade inflation. It's probably less of an issue for GCSEs than A Levels though.

As I have DS1 doing A Levels and DD doing GCSEs I'm more bothered by the A Level grades. Schools will know what students need to meet their university offers so could be influenced to be more generous than they ought to.

DS1 needs really good grades to meet his Oxford offer. I'm pretty sure the school will 'award' them to him based on his performance to date but whether the exam boards will accept what the school's assessment is another matter.

It will be interesting to see what this week brings in terms of guidance from Ofqual and the DfE.

[KingscoteStaff]

And the cricketers! DD has determinedly fitted in all her training sessions around mocks and revision - now looks as though the entire school, club and county season won’t happen. She is obviously gutted, and then feels guilty for caring when so many others have much greater problems to deal with.

[Wheresthebeach]

Yup here too. DD hoped to make euros and World's this year. No word yet as they are August but doubt qualifying comps will happen now. Hoping they postpone worlds to next year. Its hard on top of everything else

[Northumberlandlass]

I’ll have a chat with DS about trying to get some structure this week. I’m WFH & struggling feeling claustrophobic, DP is key worker so working extra hours & losing days off.

In fairness to him he went on a long bike ride every afternoon last week, but even a couple of hours school work each day & bike ride, leaves lots of time for xbox / mates....

Do we know when additional information will be available?

[Northumberlandlass]

Sorry for your DD @Wheresthebeach it is tough, knowing they’ve managed training & revision this far.

[JustHereWithMyPopcorn]

@KingscoteStaff yup, we have cricketing DS's here too, the older one plays club and school and plays seniors too. He was just getting back into nets training and loving it and it all stopped. I also miss it as it's the one sport I actually enjoy watching them play - usually sunny and usually there's a bar serving a nice G&T!

[Wheresthebeach]

Thanks @Northumberlandlass - I know nothing of rowing but it sounds like a huge amount of early training. I think the disappointment will sink in later in the summer after this all starts to sink in. Right now everyone is still in shock

[Wheresthebeach]

I find myself getting really irritated that they are taking so long to issue guidance...then I realise it’s only been a week....

It must be a mammoth job to sort this out.

[crazycrofter]

Sorry for all those who are missing out on sport/competitions/the whole season in some cases. It must be very disappointing. I've always wished dd was more sporty but now I'm rather glad she isn't! She's happy as larry with no exams to revise for, able to chill out all day and chat to friends online.

Ds has been more stressful as he needs to burn energy off. He has his weights in his room and the football goal in the garden, but on Saturday his last ball went over the fence! Somehow dh and ds managed to retrieve one yesterday using double sided velcro and a broom?!

I think we're all feeling okay about the GCSEs now. Hopefully dd will be given the grades she needs to get into the grammar sixth form. Given her offer was based on predicted grades provided by the school in Feb, I can't see they will suddenly drop these? It must be more worrying for those heading to university. But do we even think term will start as usual in September? Based on the recent 'six months' guidance, it could be Oct/Nov?

[Wheresthebeach]

I think it will start in Sept and then we will have another lockdown over the worst winter months - Dec-feb depending on when cases rise.

[HPFA]

This just out from ASCL - guidance for teachers about assigning grades. Lots to think about.

www.ascl.org.uk/ASCL/media/ASCL/Help%20and%20advice/Leadership%20and%20governance/CV-Emerging-principles-and-guidance-regarding-teacher-assessed-frades,-summer-2020-30-March-2020.pdf

[sandybayley]

Thanks @HPFA - interesting to see the table on SATs and GCSE results. I'm guessing that DD's state primary shared her results with her independent secondary school. Would that be that standard practice?

For A Level students I'm guessing the GCSE results are key? DS1 didn't do SATs.

[Piggywaspushed]

All that pretty much fits in with teacher think on MN. Have to say, though, AXL, are a particular subset of the profession. rank ordering students is easier said than done in subjects like English in schools with large year groups. ASCL also do not mention coursework .

But it does strongly suggest evidence will only be asked for where things look inflated and that extra work will not be required. Both good things!

[Piggywaspushed]

ASCL

[HPFA]

@sandybayly

Yes, that was the bit that stood out for me too. It seems unfair to judge pupils on how they did at age 11 but clearly there are strong links.

[Mominatrix]

Thank you for the link. However, what happens when a student has never taken any national assessments prior to this due to being at an independent school, never had any predicted grades given, and they are at a super selective school to boot?

[Piggywaspushed]

Never had any predicted grades? Really??

[crazycrofter]

@mominatrix and @piggywaspushed we are in a similar situation. The school don't really do predicted grades - at least not to parents. They work on the basis that everyone is aiming for 7-9, mostly 8-9 and all are capable of that. I guess for the one or two exceptions, they must be aware that they're on a different trajectory. However, for the last few years well over 90% of grades have been 7-9 or A/A*.

On the other hand, they clearly do keep predicted grades in their system as dd accidentally saw hers when they were being given their reports before Christmas. I think they did CATS or something similar in year 7 too, so that would be evidence of prior ability/starting point - do your school do those? And I guess the school's usual spread of GCSE grades would also be used as a reference point.

[Piggywaspushed]

I cannot imagine a school where parents put up with not being given tracking and predicted grades. that is an eye opener! Personally, objectively, I kind of approve ,compared to schools which gather them with statitically meaningless frequency!

However, I am sure those schools do indeed track internally and have target grades generated form things like KS2 (if done) or CATs as benchmarks at least. Plus, the prior performance of the school will be very telling .

I have a very personal dilemma which is that , on a good day, 4 of my GCSE class (mixed ability class in a comp) might get a 9. I know there is nothing wrong with an 8 but it feels like Sophie's Choice deciding which ones to give them to. I am sure I'll be counselled that 4 is unrealistic... two of them got 9s in mocks (based on probably very tenuous grade boundaries) . But the two who didn't have superior coursework!

Gah! Too much anxiety!!

[Fiddlersgreen]

Don’t envy your job right now @piggy

Our school doesn’t give predicted grades either, or at least we hadn’t received any yet. The last week the kids were in school we were receiving their latest mock results (taken end of Feb) so perhaps we would have been given predicted grades after that.
We were given a table of “target” grades way back at the beginning of year 10 but they were very low and my lazy, disinterested DS had already surpassed most of them in his first mocks back in November.

This was supposed to be the schools first set of GCSE results having only opened in 2015 so no previous years results to look upon.

[nolanscrack]

Ive had three do/doing gcses at Eton the most weve ever had is the housemaster saying something like "should be all A* but a bit of work needed for (say) Biology" and at parents meetings with the beaks they might say"definite 9,Oxbridge def possibity if he does this subject for Pre U or A level"

Academics are taken as read,not worth fretting about for us.