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

Head teachers are certainly earning their money this year aren't they. The schools must all be digging out what mock results they have, ready for A level results tomorrow. And gearing up for many meetings with students to decide whether an appeal is worthwhile.

Another slight anxiety here, along with the silence from Qualifications Wales, is that there are very limited autumn resit opportunities. You can retake the usual English / Maths / Welsh (1st language) in November, but any other resits can't happen until summer 2021.

I agree Neutralintelligence. Given that none of this info is going into league tables, if a school has loads of appeal requests what is to stop them from prioritising pupils staying ?

Resits are a non starter in my opinion. Will interfere with 6th form work if there is more than one , loads of people haven’t had any teaching since March and if you change to a 6th form college where they don’t run GCSEs you assumably have to go back to your school. And who is paying for this, are they free?

Nicola S most interested in a) keeping young voters onside for next year and b) shafting Swinney.

Fridge Gav most interested in offering lots and lots of different appeal options while secretly hoping that once the Year 13s get through tomorrow they will want to forget the whole sorry mess and move on, albeit at their 2nd choice.

I thought this was very telling....

So the mocks is news to the exam boards as well... blatantly making it up as they go along...

@FoolsAssassin

Yes, I think resits are a non starter too. My daughter is going to sixth form college, so she'll have no one to help her go over the materials, to revise it etc and would have to do this on top of studying for her A levels. There's no way you could get the grade you're capable of if studying your GCSEs. Perhaps if you were just doing that and starting the A levels in Jan? But not a combo. It's just unrealistic.

Has anyone heard anything from their school, in light of the news?

The government and exam boards (and Ofqual) should not be relying on resits as a viable appeal option. Apart from being very unfair to state pupils who have not received any teaching since March and may not have finished the courses (though my DS did), who knows what the autumn will be like - there is a very strong chance that coronavirus will be rampant in schools and the community, that many areas will be in local lockdown.
Also resits may discourage pupils who have not chosen a particular subject at A'level from appealing because they may have drawn a line under that subject, but that does not mean that their GCSE allocated result is fair. Or maybe they will take the resit, at the same time as 4 completely different A'levels - imagine the stress.

Has anyone heard anything from their school, in light of the news?

No, but then nothing has changed in Wales (yet). Not so much triple lock here - more like door off its hinges.

@Rhubardandcustard i've written to my GP too. It is so unfair on all our young people and they are being treated with utter disregard. Not to mention the disregard gpr teacher CAGs. I've asked my local MP to talk to the local schools and enquire if, before this decision was made any kind of assessment was made on the potential impact of equality.

My Dd will be ok her college has extremely low entry requirements for her A levels we have no sixth forms so just have to move on.

But what about those kids in deprived areas in underfunded schools, who were still being taught the curriculum and didn't even get round to doing mocks?
Or the student with SEN who was still waiting their plan to be approved so additional arrangements not applied to their mocks?

If you want to write to your MP see link below and I urge you to, they need to work for us !

Click here to write to your MP

Dd had spring and autumn mocks. They didn't do all of the maths spring mock papers as they were the last week before schools closed and they were sent home early on the last day due to staff shortage. I'm sure i remember dd saying people in her maths class had already done the autumn maths paper with their tutor. Didn't bother me at the time but now I'm thinking it might be an.unfair advantage!

I don't see why this is worse than before. Are CAGs not allowed in the appeal? I thought it was moderated ranking mark, mock mark or CAG?
Pupil's choice - surely nearly everyone will find the mark they deserve in one of those choices?
I can only see pupils in previous years being annoyed that they had to sit the exam and had no other options. Those about to enter year 10 and 11 need not feel aggrieved, their studies and exams will likely be made easier since they have had disrupted education since March and will almost certainly have disruption for many more months. They will benefit from whatever benefit of the doubt is given to the current year 11s.

Not CAGs : it's the published grade, the mock, Or a resit.

singingstones, I wonder if Wales will follow suit?
We’re also in Wales but both DC’s are in schools that follow the English pathway...you can imagine the flack we may get from friends with children in state schools - double whammy.

On that note, and with reference to a PO who asked how we were going to deal with results posts, can we please avoid the state/private debate next Thursday?
I think it’s clear now that results have been completely taken out of our DC’s hands, whichever schools they’re at.

I don’t think CAGs are included, just mocks but on the subject of the recent change, can students ‘pick n Mix’ their results then? English from algorithm, Maths from Mocks, perhaps History from CAGs? Or do they have to choose just one set of exams I.e all Mocks or all Algorithms?

You’d assume that the CAGs would be much more carefully thought-out and rigerously considered, within Ofqual’s guidelines than any mocks that were administered long before COVID was a thing; teachers knew that CAGs would play a large part in the awarding of results, where mocks were inconsequential at the time they were sat.

Why is the government continuing to ignore teachers’ input?

I think, for a range of reasons, that the government is trying to decrease the numbers doing a resit. For one, they can't get the markers! And, yes, I've said all along that pupil or staff absence or school closures could interfere with resits.

Piggy, what’s your experience of mocks being a reliable predictor of actual exam grades?

I think, for a range of reasons, that the government is trying to decrease the numbers doing a resit. For one, they can't get the markers! And, yes, I've said all along that pupil or staff absence or school closures could interfere with resits.

Yes, if there are second waves, local lockdowns etc, will all students be able to sit the exams? What if they're in quarantine on the track and trace?

But, I've been an examiner for 15 years, and I've not been asked to mark in November. I think they're only asking team leaders atm.

I know two team leaders. They both said no...

Agreed @Alsoplayspiccolo

So for next week results day

Please try to be supportive and sensitive to others with regard to results. Success, or not as the case may be, is relative to each individual circumstance. This is also not the time to start an Private vs State vs Grammar vs Academies vs Whatever debate please.
Anything else to add ?

I'll try and remember to keep posting as such at regular intervals so new and established contributors aware of the ethos of thread. It may even be a new thread before then
On a lighter note Dd 'moving on to sixth form' pressie has arrived. Three lovely recycled leather folders in pastel colours with her name embossed in rose gold. Totally her and she will be over the moon. She did pick the colours so kind of knows they are coming.

I'll.give them to her after she has picked up results ...well done onwards and upwards kind of thing. Then it will be off to get 20 Chicken nuggets from Maccies apparently....

Not posted before but lurked on and off for a while. I can't believe the mess they've made of this. I have no words.

Good points re next week @OrangeCinnamon1 These threads have been so supportive & inclusive. Let’s continue with that!

Orange, those folders sound gorgeous! Any chance of a link to where you bought them from?

We’ve booked a table at one of DD’s favourite places as a surprise (somewhere you usually have to book months in advance, but we dropped lucky with them re-opening bookings after lockdown), but DD has been muttering something about drinks with her gang of friends at someone’s house, so now I’m not sure what to do!

I've been lurking here for ages too- can't believe they're making policy up on the hoof- what a shitshow!