Hi, DD is starting Year 10 as well. But I have a slightly bigger gap than many of you, so my DS is about to start Year 13. So we have missed the exam fiascos so far, but are anticipating having no university places for them and they have missed tonnes of school.
DD's school also start GCSEs in Year 9, but Year 9 tends to be relatively relaxed (knowing from when DS went through), and it ramps up in Years 10 and 11. Don't know how DD will cope. DS is very, very motivated and hard working. DD is on planet zorg half the time (has been all her life - it is much better than it was, but still). Quite bright, but struggles to focus or something. Was given extra time in Year 7, because of repeatedly only completing 70% of tests (although usually getting most of that 70% right). They ran a battery of tests (only internal), don't know what it is, decided to trial extra time - discovered it made a huge difference (moved from Set 2 to Set 1 in both maths and science once extra time given), but nobody actually knows what it is. Theories have been floated about either some form of ADD (presents differently in girls, I have been told) or slow processing. Still doesn't finish exams with 25% extra, but more like 90-95% attempted rather than 70% without.
Was actually happier at home during lockdown in terms of schooling (although missed her friends, she has a lovely circle at school of about 10 good friends, who seem to be all towards the youngest of the year and ignore the rest of the year). Apparently the teachers are going to come to them rather than they going from class to class due to bubbling, which I think will be better for her (I think she struggled with changing all the time, time being really not her thing). But I don't know how this will work with the various subjects.
She is doing the usual plus geography, modern Hebrew and biblical Hebrew (it is Biblical Hebrew or RS at her school as compulsory) and - this year, French. The French is a whole nuther story. French was her best subject ending Year 8, but a friend wanted her to do media studies, and she was a bit scared about taking two languages (even though she is good at languages), and media studies clashed in the pools with French, not Hebrew. I thought media studies was probably a mistake for her, but couldn't talk her out of it. So she did media studies. Anyway, lockdown happens, and part way through lockdown, once they get the online schooling going, she seems to have realised that, with the friend not there, she doesn't enjoy media studies, and she wished she had done French! She was too scared to tell me afraid I would say "I told you so", but she asked the head of year could she change , and amazingly they said yes in principle if we supported her - so she told DH to tell me! Presumably the fact that everybody had been out of school for months meant they felt she wasn't so far behind, and we promised to get a tutor over the summer (and DH speaks French and can help her). So I bit down on my urge, and wrote an email to the school, and the last two weeks of school she was in French! And we have got an online tutor for the summer to help catch her up, but it is only once a week so I don't know. And I feel very conflicted about it, because media studies was not the right subject for her, and for her to do it for another two years didn't make sense, but to in theory be a year behind ....
Oh and she is also doing photography out of school, because that is the subject she really, really, wanted to do - but the school dropped it a few years ago when the budgets of the state schools were cut so badly. But somebody mentioned someone who was doing it privately, and we contacted the teacher, and she has been working quite hard on that during lockdown. Not 100% sure about her doing that either, except that photography is something she is good at - this being on planet zorb aspect means she can focus on good (mostly nature and wildlife) photographs. It was the other aspects of media studies that just didn't fit my quirky DD.
So I am anticipating quite a journey with one who is a lot less conventional than DS.
