Current Year 10 2020/2021 support thread

[Alsoplayspiccolo]

I can’t see a thread for upcoming new year 10s, so I thought I’d start one, as the long-running GCSE one I’ve been part of for DD has been a life-saver.

DS has opted to take history, German, drama and music, plus double science, maths, English x2, and RE.
He’s pretty bright and does well without having to break a sweat (much to my frustration!), but doesn’t really know what he wants to do in the future. He’s a music scholar at his school, so does a lot of music (DH and I are both professional musicians...or were, before Covid hit...) but loves history and English.

His school provided excellent online schooling and he was lucky to be able to go in 2 days a week for the last 3 weeks of term.

His sister has just finished year 11, so we are biting our nails, waiting for results next week. She has quite a different academic profile, having ADHD and possibly dyspraxia, and has had to work hard throughout the last few years.

I hope us parents of DCs just starting the GCSE journey can help and support each other over the next couple of years. 🙂

Hi piccolo . Great idea to start the thread.

DD is going into Year 10. She is taking English x 2, maths, combined science, history, RE, Spanish, drama and art. The rest of the family all prefer more maths/science/logical subjects so her love of writing/drama/art comes as a bit of shock to us!! Her school starts KS4 in Year 9 so she's already a year into the GCSE work for most subjects. She also did very well with remote learning showing herself to be very disciplined and self motivated.

Like piccolo I'm anxiously waiting GCSE results (DS has just finished Year 11 and is a very different type of child!)

Look forward to the next 2 years together.

Hi both of you. My ds1 is going into year 10. He is doing computer science, creative imedia, art and music. Also the subjects they have to take which are English x2, maths and science (can't remember if that's double or triple, I'll have to ask him. He also has autism.

My DS is also going into Y10. He’s chosen Spanish, Geography, DT and Drama (English Language, English Literature, Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics are all compulsory).

Hello all

DS is about to go into year but his school also starts KS4 from year 9.
He's taking the normal English x 2, maths and science and has also chosen German, computer science, history and drama.

Students 'chose' in year 10 if they are doing double or triple science

It's great to see DCs choosing drama and music. DS 's school encourages Spanish as the default MFL but he prefers German. Initially, we thought drama and music as options might not be balanced, but the idea of taking 2 languages when he has no real interest in pursuing languages at A level seemed equally strange, so we let him choose what he most enjoys. He can always learn a language independenrly, should be wish to, but drama is tricky to study alone.

I only took one science O level ( yes, many moons ago!), biology, and failed it, but helping DD get through the combined science course taught me all the things I never got to grips with and I really enjoyed it. It's given me the confidence to know that I can help DS too.

Will be interesting to see how drama is taught in September. I guess group work is out, at least in the short term? At the parents' meeting last term, DD's teacher muttered something about using filming a lot more, but I think he was still thinking through the options himself at the time.

DD's school normally start rehearsing for their big school production (the school is big on performing arts and has their own purpose built theatre so this is treated very seriously) in September. DD is very disappointed that this won't now be happening and hoping that circumstances will allow for something later in the (school) year.

DS had got a biggish part in his school play that was meant to in June so it was really sad when it got cancelled. I can't see it happening in the next school year either. He was so thrilled when the cast list went up

I have a DD going into y10 in September, she has a younger brother going into y9 with suspected autism. She's taking English x 2, maths, statistics, Level 3 Add Maths, computing, triple science and RE.

Her year started lockdown a week before the national one and are the last year back. Not been allowed in school at all. Had work via SMHW tasks set but only 3 lessons a day rather than 5.

My Dd starts year 10 this September. She's chosen history, geography, RE, music and french. She's a bit of a mid flyer grade wise up to now but admits that she has been coasting along doing just enough to get by up till now. Apparently the £95 wish list of pretty stationary she's just handed me will turn her into a grade A student going forward. I'm slightly worried that the ramped up work rate of the next 2 years will come as a shock although I'm sure she can handle it.

Hello please can I join you? DD1 starts Y10 in September too. Our first through so no idea what to expect. She's chosen Geography, Russian, Drama and Textiles as her options.

We've already had the fancy stationary order but did actually seem to motivate DD having different coloured files for each subject, she then decided she needed to fill them so hopefully will work nightshade DD worked really hard in y7, she was at a London grammar then coasted via y8 at a rural comp with no-one nagging her like at the grammar and her being worn out from y7. Y9 was mixed but she has decided to work through the holiday though learning computing (school made her switch to that and we have a different teacher each term) and politics which she isn't taking but good for general knowledge. She does lots of seneca to as school work was low. Though she wouldn't submit anything through lockdown or communicate so am hoping its not teacher assessment by 2022.

Has anyone got any tips on the best way to stay organised? Organisational skills are definitely not one of ds strong points!
He already use files to keep pieces of work neat in his bag.

Hi, can I join in? DS starting y10 in September and doing all the usuals, plus history, geography, Spanish and drama. Drama is his favourite so he'll be heartbroken if they can't do the school musical and theatrical productions. He's looking forward to going back to school as he struggled with motivation and organisation during lockdown; but with a lot of scaffolding and support he managed to keep up with the work and submit everything he was supposed to.

My DS is so disorganised too but thankfully y9 next year. My DD has one file per subject on her desk with dividers in to put in each different topic. She also uses flash cards, she writes herself for revising - just buy them and she writes them. Will have to work on DS as everything seems to be 'filed' on the floor just randomly. He says its all in his head.

Oh yes, any organisational tips would be extremely welcome!

DD is a file per subject and differently colour coded cue cards person :)
And pastel highlighters (are they a thing everywhere?)

For the less organised, having spent the last 2 years tearing my hair out about DS's notes (or should I say the lack of them), it's worth pointing out that actually there is so much online these days and so many good revision sites, that if your child is not the greatest at keeping their notes in order or up to date or they are entirely incomprehensible, it really isn't the disaster it would have been "back in the day". In fact DD's school has now moved to a position where textbooks are entirely online and they are not allowed to bring their school notes home except before exams. I don't think this is ideal either, but is a testament to how school notes are no longer the be all and end all.

Oh yes pastel highlighters are a necessity apparently. She's ordered files for each subject to keep notes in at home and then a smaller binder to take back and forth to school - the idea is she will sort and file any notes/handouts each evening.
I bought a big whiteboard for her room last year which did help to keep the 'to do lists' up to date and stopped things being forgotten.

Yes seneca seems good for revision and is one thing DS will do. He does also love a whiteboard though last time he had one he just wrote alpaca party time on it and I've never seen him write a list in his life. He has autism so its so much harder to organise him, I've had to read and write everything for him in lockdown. May need to do that for next 5 years. At least DD is super organised.

My ds is doing English x 2, Combined Science, Business, Maths, Computer Science, PE, Food Tech and History as his ks4 choices. They start in y9 at his school.
He's not doing eBacc as he's dyslexic and struggled with MFL.

Hi everyone
DD1 will start y10 in September: 2x English, RE (compulsory, scowls), maths, triple science, Spanish, Engineering and Geography.

She will (or not?) be the 1st person in the family to do GCSEs: DS will be going into y12, so missed his GCSEs. (Tries not to think about next week’s results.)

DS is very academic but struggled with organisation used to keep everything (from pe stuff to notes and folders) in a massive box in his room and was very resistant to change.

Start of y10 he agreed to a systems overhaul, and we bought a job lot of white magazine files from IKEA. Each one got labelled with a subject, and he kept notes, exercise books etc from y10 and y11 in them.

He and his sister both say that quizlet is ‘amazing’- I think it’s an on line version of revision cards, which they both embraced but now prefer the on line version. They argue that they can access them all via their phone when they are on the train to school etc, rather than carrying piles of cards around.

Also spent a tidy sum on CGP revision guides, (often recommended by teachers) for the sciences and DT. I bought the English lit ones for the books/ plays DS was doing, and he said those were helpful too.

Good luck to all the y10s : I really hope it goes smoothly. (I work in a primary, and my secondary 2 have worked hard but really missed the human interaction).

Organisation was a nightmare for DD, because she has executive function issues.
We made sure she had clearly labelled files and the first thing she did each day after school was to sort that day’s subject files, finish any class work etc. Ideally, she’d also read through her notes/watch videos to make sure she understood the topic...but in all honesty, that really only happened when she had homework to do in that subject.

As Redsky said, class notes aren’t the be all and end all; as long as you have a copy of the exam spec for reference, there are enough online resources and revision guides to make up for anything missing from lessons.

I will say, from experience, that year 10 goes quickly, and the end-of-year exams are a real way marker before mocks ( probably even more so with this cohort, having missed out on year 9 exams and, in our case, parents meetings), so students need to get into their stride pretty quickly in September.

We have compulsory RE too, no idea why, non-religious school and not the greatest results in it but I don't like it either. You have to take half as an extra or take full course but 0.5 as an extra would mean DD had 11.5 incl on Level 3 which is crazy so effectively she had to chose it. Though she prefers doing full with children who want to do subject than mixed ability compulsory half where the kids just mess around as they don't want to be there. She moaned about it for 13 years, coasted in it then start of lockdown decided she loved it, started studying it properly and went up to predicted 9 (from 7) by putting some effort in. Though am glad its an easy subject to study if we go into lockdown again. School didn't really do any practical subjects during lockdown - it was just teach yourself and a title.

DD isn't doing ebacc either, a lot in her school aren't, its a very sciency school. My husband is French though so she's good at French and she did German at grammar but current school its one language maximum.

I will try and get out of RS for DS, think they let SN kids out of it and some government rule if you write can get an exemption though DD said people who tried this had massive battle but won eventually with a snazzle-frazzle-razzle from school. DS normally refuses RS lessons but I got them to do them over lockdown by not telling him it was RS, was the philosophy half. He just asked if it was some wierd extra curricular thing and I said yes and he said that's fine then.