Returning to school

[Rosebud2005]

Can anyone share tips of how you’re teenagers are organised for high school? Ds is now heading into fourth year, the first exam year. I always got him wallets for his homework, last year he refused to use them and the bag was a dogs dinner! How can I get him to think about it and take more care of things so he’s organised for his future tests?

For many DC IME year 10 is a big wake up call. They suddenly realise it is serious, they are doing exams in these subjects and they all matter.

I think in yr 8 and 9 it's much harder to motivate as they know they are going to drop drama (or geography, or French) so bother less.

That said, yr 10 is also tough and you might need to give him some time to adjust. I think the experience of this year's yr 11 should be a lesson to anyone in KS4 now; mocks matter, marks matter, teacher assessment matters.

What is he hoping to do in the future? He needs to get good grades in at least some of his GCSE subjects to get there, so maybe have a chat with him about that.

But ultimately he has to want it and has to do it himself. If he's not able to motivate himself to some extent, he will really struggle in 6th form or college. My DS2 is my smartest child for sure, and did really well in his GCSEs (last year). I was happy, he was happy. He could have done even better in a couple if he had worked harder - but they weren't subjects he loved and he just wasn't motivated enough. It's fine. A grade 6 in Spanish is never going to be an issue in future life. He did well in those he really cared about (not that a grad e6 is a bad grade, for sure it is not).

You say 4th year and that it's his first exam year. Are you in Scotland?

My daughters school provides notebooks and textbooks, we provide all the writing materials etc. After she started Y10 she asked if we could go to WHSmith and bought several ring binders, dividers, plastic folders, index cards etc. She is quite organised though.
Maybe ask a friend with older kids or the head of year what materials would be helpful, and take him shopping so he feels part of it. I let my kids chose their book bags and whatever else they need - they don't want to stand out and if a certain bag etc is in, it's the one they want.
You can only encourage and support, ultimately it's up to them to do the work.

We are yes. I should probably have mentioned that bit

Ok, first a bit of perspective: S4 is useful as a "trial run" for exams as Nat 5s, in the grand scheme of things, are not as important as Highers and (unlike England) don't determine which school you go to "next" as almost all our schools go all the way through to S6.

So if he really cocks up, he can re-sit some Nat 5s in S5 (or evening S6) at the same time as doing Highers/Advanced Highers.

I believe that in the original concept of Curriculum for Excellence, Higher calibrate students wouldn't even have sat Nat 5s and should have proceeded straight through to Highers.

In practice, most schools took the decision that it was unfair on their young people to have their first experience of formal exams be the critical Highers in S5.

So look on this year as an opportunity for your ds to learn the importance of being organised, in a relatively safe environment.

I was fortunate in that ds always got himself organised - but even he acknowledges that he didn't truly realise how much ongoing study helped until after his Nat 5s.

Does his school produce a study guide or do study workshops? If they do, encourage him to do them. Ds' old school also did them for parents so that we could understand how they were learning and what we could do to help.

At this age, he does need to start learning to organise himself - but you can help in asking him if he has a study programme and what can you do to help.

Come across and pose the question again in Scotsnet - there are lots of people there whose kids have gone/are going through the process and/or are teachers.

Good to know thanks.