Current Year 10 2020/2021 support thread

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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. 🙂

Oh and Dulling hope DD has a good first day back today! 👍

Gave up on catching up - apologies to all whose news I've missed!!! Silkie caught yours about DH, you must be very relived, and hopefully DS will settle a little more once he's back in the school routine
@Rollergirl11 DD's birthday is the 31st March and they are off school so have been suggesting that she make plans with some friends - the problem we have is the weather here is so unpredictable. We've had birthdays where we've been out in shirtsleeves and others where we've been clearing snow
Managed a whole week back in school so far - which is longer than they did in September, one maths test already and more to come next week. DD has admitted to being shattered, and the lesson with the maths test she really struggled to concentrate for the full hour
Just praying we get to Easter with no isolations and footie can start back

Great news and a huge relief for you all Silkies
The news here from South Wales is that years 10-13 will be having Lateral flow testing but not until after Easter! Who on earth comes up with these policies?!
The only good thing (from a purely selfish point of view) is that we’re less likely to have to self isolate over Easter. We’re not really planning on doing much, but it’ll be really tough on the kids if they have to spend the holidays stuck in the house.

Thanks everyone re DH. DS just had his fourth day back and seems happy to be back. DD has been in since last Tuesday and still no isolations, hoping can keep going until at least Friday's orthodontist. She is about to change tutor due to problems in other one which should be much better.

Was reading this thread and its quite worrying, hope its sorted out for ours: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/4194019-Teacher-Accessed-Grades-what-a-joke

Both have the Olympiad tomorrow. I was trying to make plans for Easter but its a minefield with possible isolations, stay local etc. I got very excited at the idea of outdoor swimming reopening, booked a lake then realised it would be about 8C with a risk of hypothermia, have booked punting and have booked a lido. Punting should be OK, lake I have put back dates to end of month and will push back again, lido I'm not sure about now as my vaccine looks like its delayed - DH has his. Really want to go out though. We've not really done anything since last summer due to house sale, lockdowns and isolations apart from work on houses.

Ds is really enjoying being back. He had an assessment this week for the possibility of extra time. I'm not sure how long it takes to get a decision back so I'm sat with my fingers crossed.

We have Parents' Evening tomorrow. DS distinctly unbothered.

Good luck in the Olympiads for your two tomorrow Silkies! Hope they enjoy the papers!

I am trying to think of things to do in the Easter hols but it's tricky. I think two families will be allowed to meet up so we are hoping to see family but they haven't got back to me about possible dates. Punting sounds fun, it's an age since we've been (but the important question of course - do you stand at the right end? Apparently they stand at the wrong end in the other place!) Has anybody else got anything fun planned? It is so weather dependent with everything outside and it just can't be predicted!

DS was assessed for extra time last term but they said he didn't qualify, school have said they can decide about rest breaks though. He will be able to use his chromebook as it is his "usual way of working" so that should be helpful. Hope your DS gets a helpful decision Pringle.

All the best for parents eve St Columbo - hope it is less frustrating that our experience!

Year 11 does seem to be a bit of a mess with different schools doing different things - why they didn't make a plan B at the beginning of the academic year is a mystery to me! Fingers crossed they will get their act together and release any adjustment guidance for the 2022 exams quickly. Must be a nightmare for teachers, I really feel for them.

I doubt we’ll really plan anything. We will see my family if we can but otherwise my DC tend to be fiercely protective of holidays and claim they are for ‘resting’ and ‘laying about’. I’m reluctant to have to pre book and wear masks for everything. They’ve been dying to go to the football pitch and play football/basketball so that might be the extent of it. DH also hasn’t replaced the car that he randomly sold back in Jan.

@IThinkIMadeItWorse Ds school has said about rest breaks too so hopefully that would help if they decide no. Did you ds have extra time in sats? I'm not convinced he will get it as he has never been given extra times in tests since starting secondary. Did you have to wait long for a decision?

Hi @PringlePopIt we didn't have to wait too long about a week I think. His primary never saw any of the issues he has - the SENCO was worse than useless - so he didn't get extra time in his SATS. He said he never used any of the extra time he was offered lower down the school so didn't really want it. We are relieved he will be able to use his laptop as he really struggles with handwriting. His spelling is terrible but they said if he had the spellchecker on he would automatically loose all the marks available for spelling, punctuation and grammar so they don't recommend it unless the spelling is so bad you can't tell what word they were meaning - usually you can tell what word DS was aiming for even if he has missed by quite a long way!

@IThinkIMadeItWorse Ds has been on the Sen register since reception but nothing was put in place for secondary really. I presume it's because although he was missing his target grades he was still doing ok comparably. He goes to pieces in class tests so GCSEs are a worry.
I hadn't realised how full on the extra time assessment was

Parents’ Evening complete finally. DS ridding want to be present until his business studies teacher insisted and then repeatedly mentioned ‘because I teach A Level Economics’ ‘when you do Economics’ which was nice. He is on course and working hard and they were particularly impressed with his commitment to online learning. Out of three kids it was only fair that we have one who didn’t need nagging and worked really hard because he wanted to.

They all said they expect and are working on the assumption that it will be exams as usual next year.

The history teacher explained a primary source to me and DH thought it hilarious (I am a historian) - we had 5 mins and the teacher has no idea what I might know or not know.

@silkies - no problem at all! I'll know where to post the link when it's ready x

ridding - what does that mean 'didn't'.

I am thinking off the back of that that exam pre/technique is pretty important and whether the school will teach/coach this in any great detail. Not over-revising, not getting stressed and not panicking and time management are such important skills if they do have to sit the exams.

@StColumbofNavron - absolutely! I agree - this could be another masterclass that I design and put on, especially for the current year 10's that will likely have to sit some kind of exam next year. x

Ds happy to be back (I think!). Several assessments taking place next week and RS GCSE 1st exam end of March )they take this GCSE in Yr 10 at his school). They'll have another one after Easter and use grades from these two tests and class work and termly tests to arrive at a centre assessed grade. It all seems to be ramping up.

Report in also and ds is hitting his targets so he's happy!

He's doing the Morrisby career Profile rest this weekend- has anyone done this?

Oh I’m going to Google that...

I live exams and revision. I am just waiting for him to ask for my help then I am ready.

DD's tutor is moving after Easter. Got her report and some of the grades were 8- and in red as they've set minimum target grade of 9 which seemed a bit ridiculous as an 8- will go to a 9- which will be a 9. One subject its also 8- as they averaged her y10 test (9- with her year 9 score which was capped at 7 and she got 7).

I finally got DS to suggest 4 options - I told him the Deputy Head had said if you didn't choose you might get none of your choices which was more or less what the e-mail said. Then I got out of him he wants triple science, computing, stats / FM, geography and history with drama as reserve. So I sent it in quickly. He was very amused the form went which humanities do you want geo, history, both. Which language do you want French, Spanish, I don't want a language and they had named the SN option as thrive which he renamed as buried. He hasn't been asked to join that which he's happy about.

Apparently DS got upset in science and ripped up his assessment sad fine now at home and seems to have been fine rest of day. Not sure how we will get him through GCSEs in only 2 years time and still no EHCP or assessment.

Hope yours got on fine in the Olympiad Its I've only had grunts from both mine which I guess means they found it difficult but communication isn't a strong point here. Good they both got to sit it and DS didn't rip it up, DD said he left an hour early but he was finished so that's OK. He never writes any method down so doubt he will do well. No idea about the punting Its I never done it myself only had others do it, have always been wary as when a student the doctors had a list of all the diseases you could get if you fell in on a big board every time you walked in and when I went to the other place the guy punting did fall in and was soaked. I wish we could use canoes or rowing but can't find anywhere doing that.

Thanks Silkies - DS seemed quite pleased after the Hamilton paper, he did answers for all six questions though he ran out of time a bit at the end. But having gone through the questions this afternoon it seems like he made some silly mistakes and got a few of them wrong so he is now not quite so happy. Don't think he will have done as well as he did in the Cayley last year. We have told him he still did very well to qualify and I think it was a hard paper. Hopefully the results won't take so long to come this time! Hope you enjoy the punting, you are right you really don't want to fall in - friends of mine used to try to do bridge hopping (back in the dim distant past of my student days) but it almost always ended with them in the river - shudder.

Our school seems to be doing lots of assessments even though Yr10 did loads remotely in online school - I guess they don't want to rely on those results. Apparently they are going to change the way they communicate these results to parents next term so I don't know what that means. We have to wait and see.

Only one more week before we have our Easter break and the weather is currently looking quite hopeful so looking forward to meeting up with some family we haven't seen for far too long. I think some parts of the country have the Easter hols a bit later but ours go back on the 12th just as stuff starts to reopen! Hey ho.

Ds said the Olympiad was hard - he's not actually a 'natural' mathematician and doesn't really enjoy maths.

Ours go back on 12th too and was annoying though probably deliberate most things reopen on 12th. Though a bit is opening on 29th.

School still going well and both in. A few assessments but nothing compared to normal though they went assessment crazy last term so its nice not so many. DD got to orthodontist fine. Looked up forecast for punting and says mist, DH says do you want to change dates, I said well its a choice of mist, fog or rain.

I haven't been on this thread for a little while as it was quiet on the school front (amidst the twice-weekly Covid testing, which DS is coping with surprisingly well - he has ASD and I was dreading it!)

Anyhow - he wrote his Sports Science exam at the start of the year; since then there's been conversations about them having assessments as well if they wanted rather than the exam marks - it all got confusing. But - he got his exam results back this morning and he got a D*, so he's delighted . Also, it means no more assessments and he can put it behind him and concentrate on more important subjects!

I hope everyone else have DC who are coping with this all - only a week until holidays..

Big congrats to your DS Gumbo! He must be so pleased.

We finish tomorrow for the Easter break and looking forward to some down time. Hope the weather is better than predicted for you Silkies. We have plans to meet friends on Tuesday afternoon and currently the weather is looking quite hopeful, fingers crossed. Haven't made too many other plans and DH will still be working from home so I foresee lots of board games and watching Disney+ to try and stay out of his way. I really miss lazy holiday days browsing at the library and wandering around the shops with lunch at a cafe.

At least DS has said that I can cut his hair (with the clippers) in the holidays, it's been getting quite unruly. He had a detention after school yesterday, still struggling with attention and controlling his frustration at school. He is quite pleased they said they could choose which 19th novel to study so he has chosen "A Christmas Carol", he hates "Jane Eyre". I asked him if this meant we should (re)watch the Muppet version for revision :)

Great news Gumbo, especially as it means he can concentrate on the other subjects now. Last day of term here too - frustratingly DSS finishes on Thursday next week so he will be here the week that DD is back to school, luckily he will sleep through pretty much anything so at least he won't get woken up in the mornings .
We don't have many plans for the holidays - DD is very happy that football is back next week and in no mood to be "peoply", one thing that she has really struggled with since being back in the school building is the noise levels. She's already said that her plan for these holidays is to do very little and absolutely nothing to do with school!!!!
Normally they would have exams in early May but we've just had an email from school to say they will be the first week back after half-term. The email specifically says that year 10 will have a formal exam week and in the end of year reports we will get their normal ATL's, details of any gaps in learning and the grades that they are on track for at the moment. I assume that by specifying a "formal" exam week they will maybe in proper exam conditions in the hall but will wait and see on that.
V impressed at those whose DC's have done the Olympiad - whilst maths seems to have clicked this term (just in time) for DD, I think that a decent GCSE grade is all she can aspire to in that particular field!

Hi all. Much as I was desperate for them to go back, I’m glad it’s Easter now!

Have got DD’s parents eve the week we go back; am hoping for some sort of grade predictions. DD says she doesn’t want to know, as it will be too much pressure, but I would like to know what she is working towards.

@TheOnlyMrsW DD’s exams are the week after half term too. I said she needs to start making revision notes for her three sciences and Geog over Easter. Went down like a lead balloon. Will buy some (more!) new stationery to get her in the mood.