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

Yes - GW was sacked as Defence Minister with Downing Street saying at the time that it had "lost confidence in his ability to serve" ( source - BBC) .. and yet .. here he is back again .. It's not our teachers you have to worry about telling the truth Gavin ..

@singingstones

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?

The college Ds has applied to has said don’t worry we have a course for you. For ds, however that would mean a Level 2 Btec course that would be so below his level in the subject it’s laughable. He would become dispirited very quickly.

Since we are talking politics, unfortunately Brexit being the only issue in last election and for the next year (until Coronavirus) meant BJ only filled the cabinet with loyal Brexiteers, so didn't particularly pick the right people for the job in some cases. unfortunately, he still needs loyal Brexiteers in his cabinet cos Brexit is still happening and he seems to value loyalty above all other qualities (e.g. honesty and competency).

Apologies for the 'B' word obvs.

So my guess is Gav stays, at least until the GCSE crisis next week.

Is it bad that I'm wondering if any major Tory party donors have children in A Level/GCSE years?

@happymummy2010 Dd similar, had a range of results in mocks/predicted u-8! Looking at results from school last year and looks like 6 will be max and really hoping English doesn’t go below a 4. Her 6th form place is alongside a sports academy and if you don’t get 4’s you’re not in. She has been training with the team for weeks, so would be especially hard. I wasn’t worried but after yesterday am now quite worried!

I’ve just come across this letter on twitter

twitter.com/whitleybayhigh/status/1294251136095072256?s=21

Apologies for the 'B' word obvs

Boris or Brexit??

@Northumberlandlass that is outrageous, an outstanding school being downgraded to that extent is absolutely a scandal. Those poor kids.

And that letter shows how the process that’s been carried out lacks credibility and the damage is now done. Personally I want to see CAGs used which I was against at first but can’t see any other option. And it should be done urgently as this is young people who have been through a lot this year already.

They had the data, they should have been able to spot things like this before, too late now.

Not news to anyone on here but the Guardian is now posting a story about GCSE results likely to be even more volatile than A Levels.

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/aug/14/gcses-2-million-grades-set-to-be-downgraded-researchers-warn

Great to see that the media is still following the story.

@Northumberlandlass one of the things I was holding onto was my son goes to a very good school with an outstanding rating that they have held for years and years. They always do well In exams and my son was due to do well as well.

I am really worried now as to what he will get. And even though he has a place at college these can effect his mental state and past college life. Everyone asks for gcse grades. And then for the rest of time he has to write down ones that make him look like he didn’t even bother trying.
He has medical problems and was working so hard.

It’s a well written fact based letter & a reality check. I’m sharing it on twitter.

My anger continues to grow & I’m feeling rather helpless that there is noting more we can do.

The government keep issuing statements about the results at the whole year-group level. They know full well that the moderation of individual results has been very inaccurate and unfair and they simply don't care.

chng.it/ZdwV6yxwPR
Not sure if this has been shared already, but just in case it hasn't.

That’s the top & bottom of it @neutralintelligence the Gov just don’t care.

The appeal/resit fee (potentially £150?) needs review also. For 9 GCSEs that is a lot of money. Also it is not technically a 'resit' - the exams have already been paid for but never sat. There is no paper to remark or even review - so that shouldn't be paid for. I don't think the examiners were even paid since there was nothing to mark. So exam boards are already sitting on a profit from this shambles presumably? it seems unethical to further profit from appeals/resits.

Has anyone else seen the proposed appeals process - it currently is a 9-step process with ever- increasing fees.
Surely that has to be totally scrapped for a one-step quick and straight-forward process.
Scotland has just simply replaced moderated marks with CAG - that is what is needed in England.
Appeals must absolutely be resolved before the first day of term - less than 2 weeks after results day - or else many pupils won't be able to take their chosen subjects or go to their chosen sixth forms.
How can the government just let this situation go on and on.

Step one is paying to check a mistake made the by school. So god knows how much time can be wasted on that before getting any further.
Less than 2 weeks between GCSE results day and the start of term for sixth form!!!

Bloody hell I hate the injustice of this !

Our MP is a very staunch Tory who generally goes along with whatever the party says. I’ve seen he is part of a group of Conservative MPs who are not happy about what’s happened with A Levels. I think for once that getting in touch with him might not be completely pointless.

Although don’t think anything useful will actually happen to help.

That is a very good letter. I always thought that subject level moderation would not work. Small cohorts are happy as they have better grades than usual, meaning there are fewer good grades for the larger centres.

I am with @FoolsAssassin - do not think CAGs are the best solution as they do result in grade inflation, but the best option from here.

I think the best solution would have been for OFQUAL to look at whole centre CAGs compared to what they expect from that centre and agree how much of a cut needed to be made across the whole cohort to meet the acceptable national grade profile. The centres could then have made the cuts from a position of knowing the students and their abilities.

But I think the algorithm should not be as bad for GCSEs as the numbers work better for statistics. It is still not good, but not as bad.