GCSE Summer 2020 Thread 7 : Carry on Corona Cohort, Cruising or Crawling to The Final Countdown

[OrangeCinnamon1]

Welcome all to the 7th Thread for this year's GCSE cohort ...or the Corona Cohort as has been termed by @FoolsAssassin.

Some of us have been here since I started first thread back in 2010, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. It is hoped this will continue. Going forward we intend to stay in secondary so any new threads should have 'GCSE Summer 2020 Thread # : Carry on Corona Cohort' in title just to make it easier to find.

From now on our DS/DD may go down various paths so we decided not to be exclusionary and stay right here in Secondary

Thread 1 The first GCSE yr 10

Thread 6 last thread

As the day progresses I just start to feel even more angry.
I have always told my dcs to try their best to get a decent education. I have always taught them that education is the key to social mobility.
My dd has worked hard for her GCSE’s . She was on course to receive top grades . She started revising last Summer for her GCSE’s ( she’s that type of child). Now she’s worried about her GCSE grades. She wants to do A level maths/Further Maths and has always received 9’s ( she loves maths) .
If she is downgraded to a 7 she may not be a able to do further maths. If she is downgraded to a 6 she may not be able to do maths at all.
She also wants to do Physics and economics A level. If she doesn’t get grade 7 in maths she will not be able to do these A levels at her chosen sixth form
I have friends whose dc were expected to get top A level grades, but have dropped up to three grades. That’s not on
I will definitely be writing to my local MP about this issue and I urge others to do the same.

How long can the places be held? Right up to start of September? It might not be clear on results day what the best option is, depending on whether a decent appeals process is in place or not?

I have written to my MP again - I wrote earlier in the week expressing bafflement over the use of mock grades. I have resolved to become a regular correspondent until this injustice is put right. It’s probably pointless but at least it makes me feel I am trying to do something.

The A level entry requirements will surely have to be more flexible or there will be total chaos with many kids failing to gain places. I suspect there might be more scope to do this where schools have 6th form and students are known to their teachers. Unless this is the aim of the algorithm - to limit social mobility and reduce the choices of state school students.

Hi everyone, Im new here. DD and I are very concerned about next Thursday. She has great coursework (7+) good mocks in November and March(5,6,6,7,7,7,8,8,9) plus she’s worked hard throughout and got a great report. I should feel relaxed but yesterday has thrown a curve ball.

@lilgreen Hi ! You're in the right place .. share your concern after the A level omnishambles . If a problem shared is a problem halved then we should be able to make it through this week !

Is there anyone on this thread who have DC that are just looking to scrape 4 & 5's ?
I'm just hoping my DD manages to get 5 GCSEs at grade 4 so she can go on to do BTECs. I was relatively hopeful that she would scrape through but following the A-Level grade shambles over the last few days I'm not so confident now.

She did her last set of mocks the week before the school closed and the school never released the grades as they said they would use them to help decide the CAG, so I really have no clue what to expect on Thursday.

I'm most concerned about English as in her previous mock she got a grade 3. We were using a tutor and she was attending booster sessions after school, but I think she probably needed the extra 3 months of study/revision to get up to the grade 4. Her English teacher knew how much effort she was putting in, I'm just hoping that will be reflected in the CAG. The original guidance issued by Ofqual advised schools that the CAG should be based on what the teacher thought the students would have achieved if they had taken the exams in June, hence the grade shouldn't be based solely on the mocks.

Now with the moderation and using the mocks as a fallback I'm really don't know what grade DD will end up with on Thursday. We are hoping she manages to scrape 4 or 5s in Maths, Combined Science, History, Computer Science and RE, but she really needs English as well.. I think I'm more nervous than she is.

Thanks @desertcoffeeyoga. In one way this system could benefit DD as she’s a hard worker all the time and this is recognised by her teachers. She struggles more with maths and science hence the lower grades but we got her a maths tutor in Jan and she improved her mock 4 in November to a comfortable 5 in March. Her maths teacher said she was capable of a 6. She just wants a 5. She wants to do A levels in Eng Lang, history and sociology and needs a 5 in maths.

I am guessing that the sixth forms will all accept CAGs as they know from bitter experience how error-prone the calculated grades are. They really will be on your side.

I think it would be inappropriate to use mock grades because one of the most important things is to try to establish a level playing field and a significant number of students will not have done mocks which meet the criteria or had hard mocks, or managed to get hold of the paper or etc etc... The fairest thing at this stage is probably to use CAGs.

The arrogance of the OFQUAL process is extraordinary, the education select committee told them they should release the algorithm as a matter of urgency a few weeks ago and they refused. How can they think they know better than teachers that students should have their grades increased or decreased by 3 grades? It beggars belief. Sally Collier and Michelle Meadows should both be sacked with dishonour!

@ areyoubeingserviced My DS is exactly the same as your DD. Been studying religiously for the exams for the last 2 years and hoping to take 4 A levels. Has been predicted top grades for all subjects but after the debacle of the A level results who knows what is going to happen. What I don’t understand is why are they using this algorithm surely the teachers who have taught these kids some for 5 years will know them better than anyone. It is a disgrace that the integrity and honesty of teachers is being questioned.

My DS doesn’t even want to discuss the results next week he has that much faith and trust in his teachers and expects to get what they have predicted him. I hope he is right 🤞

Yes I see what you mean about mocks. DD’s were done in exam conditions and her school mocks harshly. Also they’re in line with her coursework and class work so for her they are a good reflection but I understand for others they’re not.

The problem with CAGs is some schools may have been more generous but I do trust them to be professional.

• marks harshly

Let's hope that someone sees sense before Thursday - similar position here with a hard working DD who has worked so hard ...

@happymummy2010 all are welcome on this thread and there are a range of predicted grades at the moment we intend to stay here for next stage and beyond. Just with everything that is happening all is moving so fast.
Have you spoken to the school /College your Dd will be at to see if they can let her on to next stage with retake of English? What is the next stage for her?

I work in primary and have little respect for Gormless Gav or the rest of this government I’m afraid so not holding out much hope for a u turn.

@OrangeCinnamon1

I was going to wait until we get the results on Thursday before contacting the school and colleges she has applied to. I'm hoping somewhere will offer her a place even if she has to retake English. It would be great if she scraped a 4 and so could move on and concentrate on the BTEC courses without the stress of studying English as well.

I am in the final stages of putting in a secret sixth form application for DS to a college in another town that basically has no admission criteria. I haven't pressed submit yet, because when I ran it by DS he cried and asked why I was talking about it.
What is the point of a back-up college if he would be devastated to go there. It actually wouldn't even suit him because he needs the structure of a school environment where the teachers know him.
But if his maths or english are downgraded by one grade, he won't get his current school offer - which is daft because he would have got 9s in the GCSEs he is taking to A'level.

@happymummy2010
I'm in a similar situation to you but my DD's weak area is Maths.
She needs 4 grade 4's to be able to do her college course at level 3 but they did tell us back in January when she applied that if needed she could retake it at college.
When she did her mocks they only did one paper in Maths and her grade wasn't brilliant but she had been having a tutor since January which started to boost her confidence massively.
I'm so nervous now for Thursday but I dont like talking about it to her as she gets worried too

Also I worry that if his current school know he has a place at any other sixth form they won't prioritise him for leniency or flexibility in his required offer and might feel they need to prioritise giving any sixth form places to pupils who didn't plan and prepare properly for negative outcomes and have no other offers.

www.instagram.com/tv/CD3xt20or4B/?igshid=lsaz7lneucjq absolutely brilliant response from James O'Brien- hope the link works

Just wondering for those nervous about sixth form places - would it be worth contacting the schools / colleges now to say you're worried about what Thursday will bring having seen what the algorithm has done to A levels, and ask what they think their approach will be to missed grades? They might say they don't know, but they might be reassuring? They must be thinking about it mustn't they?

@neutralintelligence I think the DCs are going to be understandably fragile this week .. but also know that a lot of have lost confidence and do want to spend a minute thinking about different scenarios. DD fast asleep having not slept properly for two nights. The worry this debacle is putting these kids through is unforgivable - they won't forget this and neither will we

@singingstones good idea.. I'm also writing a few notes so we can make a plan with different scenarios

I really don’t think people who have been sacked for what GW did have any place in the cabinet, much less deciding the future of our children - no idea he had done that.

Think 6th forms are going to have to be flexible and I think it is common for a lot of movement after results, DD changed after a week. Rumour is DS’s school is just going to accept everyone as long as has space. Doesn’t help DS as not staying.

Personally I feel we are at the stage where given what has happened yesterday and with Scotland and Wales the results lack credibility.