GCSE and A-level guidance has been issued

[TheletterZ]

The guidelines for the GCSE and A-levels has now come out.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/877842/Summer_2020_grades_for_GCSE_AS_A_level_EPQ_AEA_in_maths_-_guidance_for_teachers_students_parents.pdf

Main points, schools will come up with the grades using their professional judgement and performance in exams, assessments, in class etc...
They will then rank the students in each grade band.
This will then be subject to statistical analysis by ofqual and might be adjusted.
The results will be published ahead of the usual schedule and certificate will look exactly the same as any other year.

My year 11 DD is looking at the predicted grades on her last report, which went on her 6th form application. And hoping her most recent Maths mock (early March) will make a difference.

aut0 the teachers will decide on supporting evidence. It’ll be impossible for you to predict.

Genuinely surprised that a year 11 at this stage has never seen a predicted grade, only a target grade. My DD's school don't grade mocks (they give a score and paper median), but they have predicted grades since December (when they were required for Sixth Form applications).

aut0 not everyone else is consistent. Plenty of students have inconsistent marks over years 10 and 11. Individual teachers will make judgements on their students based on many different factors. If you’re dd hasn’t discussed grades with her teachers then I wouldn’t try to second guess if I were you.

But others are saying she should know. Our mocks were before Christmas and she didn’t finish some of them.

We discussed predicted grades at parents evenings too. I don’t think the schools will be giving any indication more than what’s been said already about what they will use. It’s just wait and see now

I’d find it unusual if they’d not discussed grades with teachers. But guess not unheard of. There’s nothing that can be done now, probably better if you just wait and see. You’ll drive yourselves mad otherwise second guessing without much info

My DD has been ridiculously inconsistent in Science, depending in whether she has done any revision (none in November, some in March). We are just waiting to see what happens. We cant do anything about it. Don't envy her Science teachers at all.

We had 2 lots of mocks, should have been 3

I don't provide predicted grades, school asks us deliberately not to. However student know mock grades and I have conversations along the lines of if you work hard you should get a grade X.

You cannot know what the teachers will use. Every teacher and subject will be different. There will also be an element of gut feeling, particularly when it comes to ranking.

@aut0replenish are you genuinely concerned your dd won't get into sixth form or is it just that she's going to feel she hasn't done as well as she could?

My dd has been saying she knows she'll be disappointed as she was planning to ramp up the work on her sciences and language over Easter and she knows she could do better. But I'm definitely not going to encourage any retakes. September will be a fresh start and she can focus on achieving her potential in A Levels. Those are the exams that really matter anyway. I think it would be hard to be revising for 3 or 4 GCSEs whilst starting A Levels and it could potentially cause some mental health issues?

Opposite of my DD's school then.

If you had no idea what your DD was going to get on results day from sitting exams and now have no idea what she will get on results day from teacher assessments then there is actually no change in your level of knowledge. If you weren’t panicking about it before (to the point where you hadn’t asked teachers at parents evening ‘what do you think she is headed for?’) then why panic now?

Now I’m wondering if we’ve missed something but can’t see anything.Most stay on at 6th form regardless but she’s not happy so has chosen to leave.New one wasn't bothered at interview as they take everybody as long as you get course requirements.

It’s getting on the course I’m worried about, 2 subjects needed supporting GCSEs and they want 8. She’s only taking 9 and a possibility she could fail 2. She absolutely would have passed all the exams as it was a case of simply learning course content, one was an easy subject she just had to park in order to deal with MH.

I know I’m worried re studying for GCSEs alongside Alevel prep. She loves one of her A level subjects and has been studying it already. Seems a shame to divert from that.

Sorry crossed post. Parents evening we obviously discussed concerns but got loads of advice as a while ago, was getting support with MH and had started prep for exams early. Nobody said what they thought grades would be. Wasn’t worried re not getting 8s and 9s as we’d be happy with 6s and 7s given how hard she’s worked on MH.

1. she hasn’t failed anything yet

2. if she has failed anything she hasn’t yet been rejected from her chosen course (sixth forms have been told to be flexible with entry requirements)

3. if she does fail and is rejected from her chosen course then other options are available. Lots of kids change their minds on results day or even after starting college

4. if she does decide to resit it could be fine.

Deep breaths and stop worrying about things that haven’t even happened, might not happen and even if they do happen could be fine.

Our school sent the grades they intended to submit to us a couple of weeks ago. This is against the guidance now issued but we have that info already. I don't know what they expected us to do with the knowledge but I will get an idea of how much the school's grades are adjusted by (presume will only be downwards!).

Thanks. Deep breaths def needed.

Can’t do alternate Alevels. 2 are areas she’s really strong in and likes. Had to really work hard to find the third but it will be fab for her and she’s really excited with her choice. She’s def going to study the 2 supporting GCSEs just incase.Hope they’ll let her start the course if there was a disaster and wait for the resit results if needed.

But yes there isn’t much one can do so pointless fretting too much.Being cooped up 24/7 doesn’t help on that score though.

Our school sent the grades they intended to submit to us a couple of weeks ago.

Do not assume that these are the grades that will be submitted to the exam board. Those do not need to be submitted until 29th May and a lot of work will be going into them between now and then.

I did predicted grades after our most recent mocks, don’t know if they were ever sent to parents, but they were not the same as the predicted grades I put on a spreadsheet the day schools closed. The ones that got written for parents were kick-up-the-arse predicted grades.

They were explicitly advised to be the ones that would be submitted, taking into account a range of data.
They were different to mocks, aspirational & all others provided previously.

The school are idiots then because the guidance about how to create those grades wasn’t issued till yesterday. They’re also incomplete without the ranking info.

That school is stupid!! And probably going to get a DfE bollocking and a load of parental complaints.

Wow. Before the guidance was out? What were they thinking?

It was quite odd at the time, we were aware no others schools had issued this info and the guidance wasn’t out yet! And that other local schools were continuing to set tests which would help the pupils ‘improve their grades’. Needless to say, once the grades were issued, DS has zero motivation.

Not sure they could be bollocked by DfE as the guidance (not to) wasn’t out at that time they issued them.

So the school can't be asked to do what they are supposed to be doing in the way they are meant to be doing it and instead are choosing to dust off some grades they found in the back of a cupboard a couple of weeks ago?