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. 🙂

We've got lots of science resources, maybe too many! If ds works through them all it will take til August while Frankenstein languishes unread...

DD is doing 3 sciences though its English and History that get moaned about here. She is very strong in physics and chemistry and much weaker in biology. One she does most seems to be maths but she has 3 Maths ones.

DS insists he doesn’t have any exams and we haven’t heard from school that there are. He is pretty studious and diligent though, so largely letting him crack on. He will be mortified if he drops any sort of grade so maybe this is the moment for him to possibly do so and realise even if you are good and stuff a bit of revision is still a good thing.

Hey everyone, hope everybody is enjoying the long awaited sunshine! We are not really able to do too much at the moment. DD has to eat 6 times a day (supervised by me) as part of her meal plan so it makes going to see friends quite difficult. She doesn’t really want to see many people anyway and she isn’t meant to exert herself too much. So feel a bit housebound.

The only good thing about this is that DD is doing a shed load of revision! They have their exams week beginning 21st June. Thankfully she was able to return to school the week just gone and she doesn’t feel like she’s behind from her time not in school as she was able to use the Teams provision. Her Maths teacher has offered to give her a couple of sessions after school after half term just to go over some bits that she wasn’t able to get the hang of virtually but other than that she’s quite confident.

Hope you and dd can get some sun today @Rollergirl11, and that she's doing ok at home. Having online provision sorted out is the one bonus of this year

Finally, DS1 has confirmed he does have some revision to do, but he says he knows what he is doing so I’m going to mostly trust him with an occasional ‘any revision’?

Glad your DD is still doing so well academically Rollergirl Mine appears to be trying to catch up for socialising missed in lockdown but hopefully will fit revision in somewhere.

Discovered DS has to write a speech for his English Language speaking test, this is DS who is often mute and doesn't write. I said DS I see you have a speech to write. Yes he said and walked off. He also claims he doesn't need to revise ever as he is a human encylopedia and human calculator. Trouble is tests up until now have been short but that won't work when he has 2 years tested at once.

I was wondering about that Eng lang speaking test too- last time ds had to do a speech he had a panic attack. Can't find out if they are doing one this year and if it's an actual gcse one. Mfl oral is bad enough..,

Our school does them in y9, DDs was first term of y9 which seems way to early. She struggled with it and was allowed to do it with no audience in the end. It doesn't count towards the GCSE grade just goes on as pass, fail, merit or distinction I think. I would maybe ask the teacher if he's likely to be very anxious and see what adjustments they can make.

DS did his spoken language last term, had to be in front of an audience with 2 or more people. He chose to record his at home with us watching and we asked questions at the end. It goes on the GCSE certificate as pass, merit, distinction next to their exam grade

It's a massive leap to have two years' testing at once, isn't it. There's no way ds can revise more than a small proportion of the syllabus, I'm just hoping this doesn't count towards predicted grades for 6th form - but then again the last 18 months have been such a write off I'm not sure what he can use.

I feel glad DD had exams after Easter (and was very diligent about revising). Although English still hadn’t given them their results back by half term - DD would like to have all her results back!

Had a lovely sunny day out eating ice cream at a thatched cottage pub by the river and then canoeing for 2.5 hours seeing the wildlife. DS even started chatting a bit. DD will see her friends in London on Friday. Hope everyone is having a nice half term.

Sounds lovely Silkie. We’re in Dorset seeing my parents - first time staying with them since last July! DS has a cold bless him - just think he’s over tired and rather run down. Am glad that our school has a “no homework in the holidays” policy that is reasonably well stuck to so neither of mine have work to do. Just a bit of beach time and lots of food!
Hope everyone else is managing to get a bit of downtime too.

Gorgeous weather in our corner of Lancashire, not that DD has spent any time in it at all, she's very much against the outside unless there is a football involved .
We're having a day out in Manchester on Friday, other than that a quiet week. DSis came to visit with her kids last weekend which was fantastic!!!!
DD has actually been working quite hard on revision, they are having formal exams the week after half-term with everyone in the sports hall, allocated desks and external invigilators. French and German speaking is the week after but nothing on the English speaking so far.
Silkie your day sounds lovely

That sounds lovely QueenMabby hope you enjoy your time in Dorset.

Hope you have a nice day in Manchester TheOnlyMrsW DD is also mainly located in her room though has started going for a run for an hour a day early in the morning so sees more than her phone an hour a day. No idea about revision but think she needs a break and she is going down to London for day on Friday so will get out then at least.

Heard LA are having a meeting with us then issuing a draft EHCP so looks like we will get one, only took 3 years. But good he will have one for y10 and y11. He seemed to enjoy day out and its good we got him out as he's very anxious about going out after last lockdown and hardly speaking but he chatted a bit at the end of it.

Is it ok if I rejoin this thread?
Having started it back in August, life and lockdown rather got in the way and I dropped MN for a while.

I haven’t had time to catch up more than the last couple of pages, but I’m so sad to read about those DCs who are struggling with MH issues.
We’ve had our fair share here with DD (year 12), partly due to her ADHD and partly to do with lockdown and starting a new 6th form.

DS was ill for weeks earlier in the spring. The GP thinks it was gastritis, so prescribed medication but also found he had a severe vitamin D deficiency - hardly surprising after months without leaving the house.
He lost loads of weight, couldn’t eat without feeling nauseous, lost all his energy and his mood plummeted.
2 months of mega dose vitamin D3 have improved things, and he’s just been able to complete his DoE expedition.

Year 10 exams in a couple of weeks. His reports have all been pretty good, but I know he could be working harder - the exam results will be very telling.
He’s recently discovered girls (or, rather, one girl...) and now spends every minute glued to his phone.

To be fair to him, he’s carried on his musical activities as far as possible this year, and has been offered courses with NYO Inspire, NSO and ESO, as well as junior music conservatoire on Saturdays, so he hasn’t been entirely idle.

Welcome back Piccolo Glad to hear your DS is doing so well now but sorry he was ill.

Hi Piccolo - good to have you back! Sorry your dcs have had some thought times. Hopefully things are looking up all round.

Welcome back Piccolo!

Our half term ended up being a bit quieter than expected as I was feeling a bit under the weather Tues and Wed and DH also had to do more work than I was hoping but we did manage to see lots of friends last weekend and visit some family Mon and Friday. Not much revision has happened but a few little bits here and there so better than nothing I suppose. At least the weather was mostly good! We have played quite a few board games as well (DS is a big board game fan.)

All the best to those facing exams when they go back, DS's start on the 14th so hopefully time for a bit more revision between now and then. They have said that these results will be helpful to students when considering post 16 providers so I guess they will use them to inform predicted grades though I think they have more serious "mocks" next term (eeek - next term they will be in yr11!)

Hey all, slightly at end of tether here. DD seems to be revising, but there seems to be a lot of eyeliner/hair doing/outfit changing going on too. Exams are Monday onwards for two weeks. I hope she’s done enough, but if not it might be a wake up call.

Am really fed up with Year 7 DS though. Exams in every subject, inc Art, DT, ICT, Music. So much-too much- revision to do, and he’s just not bloody doing it. Complaining he’s no good at Latin, I had to explain thru gritted teeth that he’s very good at it, but he does need to learn the sodding vocabulary. I need a break from half term.

@IThinkIMadeItWorse I was thinking today about Year 11 looming. Year 9 seems like five minutes ago, and yet they are nearly at the end of the GCSE journey. DD will probably stay at her school for 6th, we’ll need to apply for scholarships next term.

Best of luck for dcs with exams this week. 🤞🏻🤞🏻

Ds has exams around the end of June so is starting to revise. Has anyone got any tips on the best way to make a revision timetable? Should he be going through the syllabus and making topics headers?
He is fine revising but still needs help with his organisational skills

It’s tricky. Sometimes revision timetables can be rather restrictive but it is important to cover everything.
DS made a spreadsheet of all topics within each subject that he needed to study. We then planned a week at a time so we had some flexibility around other commitments. As he finished a topic he marked it green on his spreadsheet. Each Sunday we’d check the spreadsheet to see what was left and choose the next week’s topics.
It’s important to test as part of revision so along with learning he also did plenty of practice question. HTH.