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

I meant to say- this is a lovely supportive thread with lots of good advice and info so good luck to everyone's DCs for next week. Meanwhile I also have tomorrow's results to get through first

picollo. They are usually a bit lower. Boys tend to go either way tbh. I think the government may be banking on the mocks, in most cases, being the same or lower, where CAGs might be higher. The lower mocks thing is more marked at A Level.

They sound like good rules Orange (though maybe, in the spirit of the times we should introduce some new ones a day or so before the results come out??)

I think it will be interesting to see if there are inequalities that become evident next week, but I don't think it will be as simple as state / private.

Different outcomes for students from different nations maybe, or schools in England whose mocks results qualify for appeal compared to those whose don't etc. Maybe gender? (Is it true that the disadvantaged last minute crammers are more likely to be boys?) But I assume that gender is something they will have tested for before settling on the algorithm.

In any case it's not the fault of the student is it, if they can appeal with a higher mock result and someone else can't because they did their exam in a classroom instead of a hall. So no need for blame or recriminations, but definitely interesting to hear everyone's experiences and for this to be a place to air our grievances as well as our triumphs!

I am getting very tense now but also extremely grateful that it's not A levels ( to those dealing with both)

I still can’t believe what a shambles this is. DD is just laughing hysterically this morning and saying she no longer cares... I expect the crash will come later.

This is such a supportive thread - thank you for making me so welcome.

Ah - for some reason I thought the 'triple lock' was moderate ranking mark, mocks and CAG. I didn't realise that the CAG mark was still being ignored - that is bad.
I don't think resits should even be considered part of the 'triple lock' - totally unrealistic to be taking GCSEs in 'elective' subjects during A'levels in different subjects, during a pandemic, without proper teaching since March.

Alsoplayspiccolo - Can you reschedule your meal? I've booked to take DD to our nearest Mowgli (loves it) but for Monday 23rd as I knew she would want to be doing stuff with her friends first.

Thanks for the feedback on A level PE - I think DD would have been fine as she plays hockey for ladies 1st team so at a reasonable level.

Saying that I finally managed to access the past 3 years worth of our schools GCSE and A level results. I could never get the links to work before, but finally figured it out last night. I wanted DD to be prepared for best and worst case scenario with the listing grade. I wanted her to be aware that she "may" not get the grade that her teachers would have given her. I ended up going spreasheet mad, working out the average of her subjects over 3 years for each grade 9-5.

Thank god for those girls in 2016/2017! Our school has been slowly declining results wise, although not in attitude and general day to day stuff. It was once selective private school (when DD was in reception). It's taken 10 years to get to the new low of results of last year, but hopefully just enough in the last 3 years of grades to help DD achieve what she was hoping for.
It did highlight just how few A grades girls got at A level in any of the subjects DD wants to take which is a worry. I haven't told her that and not sure if I should or not...

I am sure every SLT must be pulling their hair out with all the continuous annoucements in the media withough being consulted or warned about first.

Could someone explain to me - with regard to the listing schools provided. If a school has averaged 4 x grade 9 at History in the last 3 years - does that mean they will give 4 grade 9s to this years? even if on the CAGs only 2 were suggested for 9?

I can't even get my head around how using Mock results will work - I had only just got used to the idea re no CAGs! :-)

The mocks thing at first sounds totally bizarre. However, there was a teacher on the Today programme who suggested two ways in which they might be useful in an appeal.

First if an individual got a mock result the same as another pupil in the school who got a higher grade, they could argue that they should receive the same grade.

Secondly, if they could show that the 2020 mock results were considerably higher than previous years using similar papers and marking, then the school could argue that this was a much stronger cohort.

The second of these options is relevant to DS's class's disappointing results and I suspect that the school will be putting in an appeal for all marks to be looked at again. We'll certainly be suggesting that they do so.

I'm taking the day off work and will play it by ear with what DS wants to do on the day but he is notoriously indecisive when it comes to last minute plans and also still very wary of eating out etc. I'm thinking meet up with his friend in the afternoon and takeaway at home in the evening.

Sorry, out of context post, I missed a page somewhere.

Heifer, I think the example scenario you've given is one where, possibly, Ofqual would moderate grades up?

www.gov.uk/government/news/triple-lock-for-students-ahead-of-a-level-and-gcse-results

Just re-reading the link from earlier. Is there any criteria for what a ‘valid’ mock is?

@PaddingtonPaddington I think they have to have been taken under exam conditions ie not in a normal lesson. Not sure whether there are rules about what sort of paper, how they are marked and grades allocated etc

[quote singingstones]@PaddingtonPaddington I think they have to have been taken under exam conditions ie not in a normal lesson. Not sure whether there are rules about what sort of paper, how they are marked and grades allocated etc[/quote]
DS did a few subjects in the hall and the rest in classrooms, split over a couple of lessons in some cases. So not a full set of mocks for these purposes? And missed some of the hall ones second times round as was ill.

I think my DS school obtained brand new 'mock' papers so no-one could have seen the paper before the mock. That was for mocks in November.
They then did further non-mocks in lesson time in February/March, which a lot of pupils cheated in by looking up answers in lunchtime, some were even allowed to finish these practice exams a day or more later (after having looked up the answers, obvs).
I hope they don't use those lesson-time non-mocks, which the school did call 'mocks' though.

But what happens for DC who don’t have ‘valid’ mocks?

I also wonder about exam access arrangements.
My DS was finally given exam access arrangement after a fairly traumatic mental health crisis during one mock, but these were not put in place for the mocks, but would have been in place for the real exams.

Yes, without 'valid' mocks, a third option of the CAG should be allowed, IMO.
Why is this an option in Scotland but not England?

What a bloody mess.

Indeed. And our kids still have to open the moderated ranking model results on results day without any idea how this new appeals process will work.

It’s potentially going to be a very difficult day for some and the thread ethos of basically don’t be an arse will me more important than ever.

Juts booked my appointment slot to get DS2's results...

Long letter with it, which clearly had not been rewritten to reflect last night's announcement!

Agree, Fools.
I feel so sad about the whole situation.
When they announced the cancellation of exams, DD was gutted, and so was I; it felt as though all the work and effort her cohort had put in over so many years was for nothing, in some ways. After the shock had passed, I was happy to be reassured that the assessment process to produce grades would be as good as it could be, and that the majority of pupils would get what they needed to move on, even if some grades weren't quite what they felt they deserved.

Following the announcement about teachers ' grades being ignored, and now the announcement about mocks, I feel more than ever that our DCs have been failed by the government.
Trying to "make it better" has just made it so much worse.

Same here with access arrangements for SEN. DD had the extra time for mocks but for the real GCSEs was due to be in a separate room, have rest breaks and a time prompt.

Singingstones -
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-53753118