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GCSE summer 2020 thread 6 - Carry on Corona Cohort, Further adventures aboard the Corona Charabanc.

961 replies

FoolsAssassin · 16/06/2020 21:06

The summer of discovidtent for the Corona Cohort trudging on towards results day.
Ofqual have done them a little video to explain their results:

Please feel free to join us to see what twists the next bit has in store for us all.

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20Newnames · 25/06/2020 21:50

We had an email refunding payments for the prom today. They still hope to hold ‘something’ when allowed but it felt very final to get the refund 😕

Oblomov20 · 26/06/2020 17:39

My friend just posted this petition.
This can't be right, surely? Down by 1/3rd? We've all talked extensively about how they are going to calculate GCSE grades, and all the different aspects that are going to be taken into account.
Is this really true? Or just scaremongering?

GCSE summer 2020 thread 6 - Carry on Corona Cohort, Further adventures aboard the Corona Charabanc.
MirandaWest · 26/06/2020 18:11

I saw that too - not sure what it’s based on. Need to investigate a bit more I think.

MirandaWest · 26/06/2020 18:15

A quick google suggests that up to a third may be downgraded. Which is rather different from that petition which seems to be suggested individual grades would be downgraded by a third ie 9s going to 6s.

I think there is some grade adjustment each year anyway

Oblomov20 · 26/06/2020 18:21

Per Miranda's link:

"But according to inewss_, the results suggested by teachers are 'too generous' and will be downgraded."

Which is a completely different thing!

sandybayley · 26/06/2020 18:35

That petition makes me cross. Doesn't link to any evidence. It's referring to some research of an education think tank which invited schools to submit their initial assessed grades and found (in their opinion) the grades were over inflated.

I told a friend yesterday on Facebook that they should be careful not to scaremonger by sharing such stuff.

sandybayley · 26/06/2020 18:36

@Oblomov20 - I suggest you tell your friend to think carefully before sharing!

MirandaWest · 26/06/2020 18:55

I don’t understand why people just share things without looking into them properly but I suppose I am scientific at heart

20Newnames · 26/06/2020 19:02

I just had someone send me that petition 🙄. When I questioned where it was from and what the source of the info was they then said “That’s what we think it’s BS. But 50000 sharing and signing means a lot of scared people!“.

OMG, they have no clue they are part of the problem or scaremongering 🙄. This is a person who regularly sends me this sort of crap and then when I call it out or ask for details they always say yes we thought it was crap too but thought you’d like to see it! Hmm

I think I’ll not bother paying any attention to it!

sandybayley · 26/06/2020 19:57

@20Newnames - yes! The person who shared it was a primary teacher but still should know better. Their reasoning was 'it might be true so I'm going to sign it'. Heaven help us. Went down massively in my estimation.

Last day of DD's bridging work today so end of school. Her new sixth form put on a really good Q and A forum via teams earlier this week and I think she's mentally moved already.

Monkey2001 · 26/06/2020 22:11

Love this thread, you are all too savvy to been taken in by distorted statistics!

Yes, the expectation is that as the HEPI report showed that grades were on average half a grade up on the normal grades, around a third will go down 1 grade, but the schools which have already mapped the grades onto results for the last 2 years should be OK, the ones where grades are up without good evidence of prior attainment for the cohort are likely to be adjusted.

sandybayley · 26/06/2020 22:35

@Monkey2001 - I love stats and find it painful when I see misreported ones.

I actually did a secondment at DfE working on comms for another policy area and the statisticians were bemused by my interest. I did my best to change some of the lines-to-take used by the DfE. My favourite one was 'we have more teachers than ever before'. Yes but there are more pupils than ever before! I think they still use it though 🙄

Monkey2001 · 26/06/2020 23:21

I did a maths degree, but managed to avoid stats throughout my education. I now find them fascinating, I might look into doing a MOOC or two.

Monkey2001 · 26/06/2020 23:22

....... education is wasted on the young, they don't appreciate it!

Monkey2001 · 26/06/2020 23:25

I obviously don't mean that really! Just that it would be fantastic to have adult maturity when you have the opportunity to learn, even most of the bright ones find it difficult to feel positive about all subjects.

Rhubardandcustard · 27/06/2020 08:48

My dd feeling much happier after a virtual enrolment couple of days with her intended 6th form college this week.

Got to join in a few taster lessons on line, meet her potential teachers for the subjects she wants.

She’s very excited about clubs and enrichment activities. She’s got some bridging tasks to complete over the summer.

Just the long wait for results day now. 54 days and counting.

Monkey2001 · 27/06/2020 11:04

@Rhubardandcustard that sounds great. Is it a state or private school? Would be good to hear state schools managing to do so some of this, but the only person I know who had something like that was private.

crazycrofter · 27/06/2020 11:55

Dd has a virtual induction day the week after next - state grammar school. I really hope it’s a positive experience so that it allays her anxiety. The head of sixth form mentioned that they would be put into groups of five to get to know each other.

Rhubardandcustard · 27/06/2020 12:21

@Monkey2001 it’s a state 6th form college. She doesn’t want to stay on at her current state school 6th form as she has picked a couple of courses that her current school don’t do.

She was very impressed with how it was done, not the same as her actually going for the taster day they had planned for last week, bit it was better than nothing.

She joined in a few taster lessons of other subjects she was looking into as well, but it made up her mind that the ones she had originally chosen were the right ones for her.

Monkey2001 · 27/06/2020 12:29

Good to hear @Rhubarbandcustard and @crazycrofter. Anything which helps them out of this limbo is good

StrumpersPlunkett · 27/06/2020 18:20

Hi folks,
I came seeking clarification on the 30% downgrade that I keep reading in the paper. It sounds like a video explaining it has been posted but I can't find it.
Is it really likely to be 30%? they won't take them down passed mock grades though will they?
DS1 will get 4-8's if we go on his mocks but if they down grade by 30% he wont pass English!
eeek

sandybayley · 27/06/2020 18:29

@StrumpersPlunkett - read down the thread. We've agreed that petition is scaremongering bs.

StrumpersPlunkett · 27/06/2020 18:52

thank goodness, do you think it is possible that they would end up with less than mock results?

sandybayley · 27/06/2020 19:06

@StrumpersPlunkett - impossible to say as it totally depends on your school's approach to mocks.

DS1's school likes to put the wind up pupils by setting really hard mocks so I'm certain his A Level results will exceed his mocks. DD's school seemed quite generous with her GCSE mocks so I'm expecting about the same.