Anyone else's DC still working for GCSEs?

[Starlilly88]

My DD has been told by her school to still revise and work over the holidays, just in case the school decides to set them further work or tests in early May. Exam boards said no further work needed and my DD is now uncertain about further work. Anyone else been told to keep working? Poor child needs a break!

Y11 here, no formal/assessed work is being set. They have committed to providing specific A level prep in the summer term and encouraged DC to keep working on core and A level subjects but have openly stated that they will not be seeking any further evidence to justify GCSE grade recommendations.

This is a state school btw. I have heard (both on here and in RL) that some indies are setting a lot more formal work and assessments for y11 and y13 students - possibly to just keep the dc incentivised and working, possibly to justify the summer term fees!

Personally (just my opinion as a parent mind you) I think whilst that students can only benefit in the longer term by continuing to study in some way over the coming weeks, actually telling them that summer term assessments might be used as part of GCSE evidence is unfair. The vast majority will be feeling stressed and demoralised (at best) given the current pandemic situation we are all in, and with the best will in the world they will not necessarily able to produce their best work. And that’s before you even consider the ones who will be actively disadvantaged by their home circumstances.

But that’s just my opinion, others may disagree.

It would be extremely unfair for a school to set tests in May and use them towards their gradings.
Not because the whole school could 'boost' its results (because there will be statistics in place to prevent this I understand), but because children with better home circumstances would be allowed to leapfrog in rank order above those in more disadvantaged situations (eg limited internet access, parents still working, no private workspace, looking after younger siblings). Then if the exam boards downgrade the school if their submitted results are too high, the 'wrong' children will lose out.

I have a y10. if I had a y11 I would be wanting them to keep going with A level subjects if applicable, and work on Maths/English if borderline passes.

My daughter's teachers are just sending goodbye and good luck messages through google classroom, reassuring them that they know them really well so not to worry about any blips in assessments already done and advising them to keep going with any potential A level choice subjects

Seems quite a nice response really

some are also offering fun boredom buster quizzes but I'm not sure how many are being taken up on their offers

We've also had a message from the college she is hoping to attend in September saying that all offers already in hand are guaranteed regardless of results as they were based on predicted grades and interviews.

Ds is making sure he's completed the syllabus for everything he was due to take and then doing prep work for the A-Levels he plans to study. If he needs to resit after results, he revise specific stuff then.

His school have sent resources to help with KS5 but nothing formal.

No! Wasn't the guidance last week that came out of DOE that no further work will be taken into account at this stage? It's a child's choice if they want to sit the exams not schools. Dd will do well out of preficted / mock grades so I doubt she'll want to sit any.

I have been trying to encourage her to read more. Bought her Handmaids Tale last week as she'll be studying that at A-level. It's just the most bizarre thing though isn't it? No exams, results day, last day, prom?!

No! Wasn't the guidance last week that came out of DOE that no further work will be taken into account at this stage?
Yes, only work completed before the school closures is to be taken into account.

What others have said above- schools were told last week that no further work is to be taken into account. No Yr11 should be doing work towards GCSE'S now. I would raise this with the school if they are. ofqual were very clear about this.

The Ofqual did not actually say that. It said no pupil would be disadvantaged if they did no more work now, although not sure how they can guarantee that.

Ds last did Gcse work on the 18th March, he's not touched any since. His school have advised to keep revising if you think you may want to retake any subjects otherwise it's not necessary to do any. They are sending out some A level bridging work after Easter.

Ds has looked at some A level maths work a few times but I'm not going to push that too much over the next couple of weeks.

My dd received this from school this morning

I hope after few months of being very bored and having to spend all the time with me, my teenagers will welcome and appreciate school. I won't 'there are so many children in the world who don't have any access to education', I'll say 'remember 2020?'

DD’s school still setting work for 4 weeks! Then onto A level pre courses so a lot of work. While it seems pointless I think its good to keep them thinking and working, as hard as it is. I doubt the work will be used to support grades as they’ve lots of that already.

No. Having two weeks off for Easter holiday. When term starts school have said they will provide pre A level reading/tasks/online sessions.

DD school has basically said they want them to keep working and any lesson work/homework/tests they do next term will be very useful for the teachers deciding how to rank the students. Seems quite unfair to me, they should already have that info. No mention of starting A-level work either

Yes, mine did awful in a couple of mocks no doubt he would have put a huge push in and improved in real exams, so now improving any coursework and working towards an school exam in couple of subjects

If they took into account tests that were done after the closures they wouldn't even know the child had done the test themselves.

@Callo I assume that could also be said for any coursework they have done prior to schools closing if they did it at home

My son's school is setting a lot of GCSE work. They're compiling portfolios for each subject, and planning various exams/tests next term, including MFL orals by video.
Our school's interpretation of the Ofqual announcement was that it did not explicitly preclude work done after lockdown. Their view (rightly or wrongly) is that it will help the teachers decide on grades and allows students, who perhaps underperformed in their mocks, to demonstrate improvement. It's been made clear that this work isn't compulsory but essentially pupils would be very wise to do it (unless they are ill).
By the same token, some of my friends with kids at other schools have been told no further GCSE work is needed.

That's probably why a lot of GCSEs are fully exam based now. It says in the guidance "no student should be
disadvantaged if they are unable to complete any work set after schools were
closed" and ". Where additional work has been completed after schools and colleges were
closed on 20 March, Heads of Centre should exercise caution where that evidence
suggests a change in performance"
So the school wouldn't be able to justify work done since the closure leapfrogging their ranking over another child.
Not that it'll affect my dd as her school has plenty of evidence from before the closure.

Di you want the teachers to write whole new schemes of work as well as teaching the children of essential workers. They will still be following the same course. They can resit them in the autumn term if the grades aren't what they expected so yes they should be following the GCSE course

Year 11 and a Year 13 here. State school. Both still being set work that "must" be done. Year 13 has had email threats from tutor saying it will affect your grades, you have been warned etc. They've both been given loads to do over the 2 week holiday as well!

Sounds like Ofqual should have been clearer with their guidence if some are not doing any work and others are being told the work done now will impact their grades.

Ds did his mocks in November last year but some schools will use work completed 5 or 6 months later to decide grades.

How long will the work continue? The exams would have started in just over a months time anyway.

Dd will do any work set but they aren't using it to rank them. She had second set of mocks the last week of school then they are being given couple of weeks off

My son has been working solid for years, totally dedicated to doing well in his exams. He hasn’t picked up a book since Boris made the announcement. I don’t blame him. I’m giving him a few weeks off and starting A level prep after Easter - or he might turn into a PS4! Not even been on it since summer hols, now it’s morning, noon and night!
He won’t be doing any exams in the autumn I doubt, unless he’s not happy with hi English language grade. I guess if your child might be doing exams in autumn makes sense not to take too long off. But no extra work will be asked for. It can’t be anyway, they can’t be sure who did it.