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 .

We don’t get given predicted grades either. However, at parents meeting I got told, DS got x in biology so they would expect x in the real exam......and so on and so forth for every subject. Those who get ‘given’ predicted grades how does it actually work? Do you formally get given a slip with the predicteds on it?

Cross posted with @Nolan yes, ours is very similar.

@sandybayley my DDs state primary shared her SATs results with her current independent school.
DD also did CEM MidYis in Yr7 and Yellis in Yr10.
@HPFA- thanks for the link. I’ve noticed there isn’t any info on how L6 at SATs played out at GCSE?

Yup, we have 'target grades' which are based purely on attainment at SATs - officially these targets are assessed and adjusted, but in reality DS's have never been, but his attainment (since moving to laptop working - dyslexic dx) has shot up at secondary, and I don't think it even took his (excellent) MIDYAS scores into account). I am hoping (school are usually VERY into their number crunching!) that the proof that ds has exceeded nearly all of his target grades consistently for years will mean that they aren't taken too seriously... His teachers have in a number of instances informally told him/us at parents evening his 'real' target is way above his on paper one...

Thanks for posting Piggy
Shimy we have 4 number columns. Not got it in front of me but something like :
Minimum expected progress
Aspirational target
Currently working at
Final expected grade.

I have always ignored first and second and looked at the last two.

Just checking in so this thread appears in my list!

DS is still festering in his bed/ texting / gaming.

He had applied for a job in the local coop , was turned down via email , but I've just heard he may be able to get an interview. I'm now not keen due to the way coronavirus is ramping up ( he's asthmatic), so think we'll put that plan on the back burner.

This may have already been asked on here, but what have your schools said about proms? I know they aren't a big deal but DS's school have refunded tickets and aren't planning on holding it at a later date. He's gutted.

@FoolsAssassin How interesting! I’d be staring at the last two columns as well. So when in the year do you get this? Is after or before mocks, do they send in an envelope to you at home?

@namechangenumber2 If he’s got asthma isn’t he meant to be self isolating? What in the world is he doing applying for a job at the Co-op?

He applied pre coronavirus @Shimy

Ok I am in Sims,.it is minimum expected grade , Aspirational Target Grade, Current Grade, Final Expected Grade.

They have been every half term since year 9. The Minimum Expected Grade is the same all the way down and the Aspirational target grade is the same apart from 3 subjects where it is 1 grade higher. I suspect they are based on SATs but have no real idea.

No predicted grades done at our school either. Makes this time quite stressful!

We have predicted grades, most DS was on target to achieve higher though

@FoolsAssassin yup we get something similar to that although it doesn’t have an ‘official’ predicted grade on. I think I have a reasonable idea of what DS’s teachers would be predicting for him based on mock results and feedback at most recent parents evening but don’t have the actual predictions written on any formal documentation.

Thanks for that most recent link @HPFA - more interesting reading!

DS1 informs me he is going to do some maths and history work this evening. I might fall off the chair in shock!

@namechangenumber2 no prom here for us either-just cancelled. I suspect most will be-the way things are going, I can’t imagine any large party type gatherings being permitted before 2021, if then.

Have to say my DS could not care less about prom but I really feel for the DC who were so looking forward to it, planning/buying outfits etc. Like all the sport stuff it’s perhaps a small matter in the grand scheme of things but it’s something else they miss out on all the same.

I think our DS’s are quite similar FlyingPanda!

I also feel for those who were looking forward to Prom. DS’s school are going to do a reunion at some point when able and although DS had no intention of going to Prom he said he might go.

With the reports and parents evening I have a pretty good idea of what DS is looking at. Feel for those of you who are much more in limbo

No predicted grades here either, and “working at” had always been based on 1-5 (5 being outstanding, 4 excellent, 3 working well) before end of year 10 exams.

We have minimum target grades. We will see how similar the marks awarded are. Its tricky for sure.

DD knows what her initial predicted grades were in December because the local sixth forms request them as part of the application process, and the schools are expected to supply them for this purpose. This was before January mocks though. Obviously she got a bit lower than expected in mocks because she was unwell.

Prom hasn’t been mentioned from our school. Nor yearbooks, hoodies or any other usual end of school celebrations.
They have said they will get the year group together at some point when this is all over.

DS wasn’t bothered about going to prom although I’m sure he would have if his friends ended up going. He is very upset about the football season being cancelled because the team he plays for were having a brilliant season and were neck and neck at the top of the table

Our school have said "We hope to be able to hold Prom, but have no idea at the moment if that is realistic. Don't spend lots of money on stuff for prom, but if we can run it we will.

I have also had an email for dd's head of house thanking me for all my support over the years - and a couple of teachers have posted FB posts saying "Goodbye" to their GCSE classes...

On the other hand - the school show has NOT yet been cancelled - it is pencilled in for the end of July... no idea if it has any hope of happening.

So they certainly aren't expecting them back to lessons, but are hoping there will be some school before the summer break.

There seems to be a big difference between the strict documenting state schools have to do and the range of assessments private schools have. This will be interesting, especially at A Level.

Doesn’t shock me about Eton though - I went to public school for 6th form and they hadn’t a clue about me and had no idea I was failing and probably just based everything on my good GCSE grades.

It was an eye-opener when I did my PGCE to see how time-consuming and joy-sucking all the assessments and documentation was in the state sector. Very handy for 2020 though!

@Proggymat

It may be due to the fact that not many pupils did Level 6 and according to this article not all schools even did them.

www.theschoolrun.com/level-6-sats-explained.

DD's school actually sent out a letter asking parents not to contact teachers about grades! I suspect it would probably be counterproductive anyway

That's interesting about level 6 SATS @HPFA. I had no idea some parents used to use them as a benchmark. The primary school dd went to was in a very deprived area, with around 65% on free school meals and they prepared her for the level 6 papers. I'm not sure who else took them, but it would have been a very small group. I thought at the time that it was a good school! But the stats would have shown only one level 6 that year which would probably put some parents off (not that any pushy parents came near that school!).

The lack of tracking in her current school was strange at first, given the way they used to meticulously move through the key stages in primary, with tests every half term/term or so. Ds, year 9, is in the state system and he gets constant assessment and tracking and I'm not sure I like it for secondary. It seems very hit and miss anyway - probably because he is hit and miss, often forgetting there's a test/not revising.

I think they'll look at a school's prior performance for independent schools - although maybe they'll want some evidence from the school that this year's cohort is similar in ability to previous years.

I'm still wondering what they'll do for home educated children!

DS's school had a (hastily thrown together) leavers' assembly on 20th March, albeit without a fair proportion of the year group who were self isolating/working at home due to underlying health issues.

They normally hold this in July (around the same time as prom).
The school are not expecting the Year 11s back. DS has already said there will be some of his year group he is unlikely to see again.
(Though I imagine school will try to do some sort of get together if it's at all possible).