GCSE Summer 2020 Thread 9 : Carry on Corona Cohort ‘Let’s Ofqual the whole thing off'

[OrangeCinnamon1]

Welcome all to the 9th Thread for this year's GCSE cohort - the Corona Cohort!

This is a thread for supporting all young people ( and their parents) taking GCSEs regardless of the institute they attend or the grades they need. It is respectfully requested that we are all supportive and helpful to each other.

If you want to start a debate e.g state vs private - please do not within this thread.

Similarly it should be recognised that the grades our children need/deserve/want will vary across the board- we wish to celebrate and comiserate with all. One same grade outcome can simultaneously cause joy and despair for different posters and their families. Please be sensitive when responding to threads about grade outcomes.

Some of us have been here since I started first thread back in yr10, 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 on the Secondary Education Board (at least until Mumsnet HQ chuck us out ) as from now on our DS/DD may go down various paths such employment, apprenticeships, higher ed etc so we decided not to be exclusionary.

Any new threads should have 'GCSE Summer 2020 Thread # : Carry on Corona Cohort' in title just to make it easier to find. There is no preciousness about who starts new threads!

At this precise moment in time we are still awaiting GCSE results . At first these were to be that seem to have been produced by an algorithm that also takes very little account of Teacher Centre Assessed Grades. There is an appeal process but it was changed to include mock results and coursework, then taken down again for review. Now it has been decided that the higher of Centre Assessed Grades and Calculated Grades will be awarded in two parts??!?!

We are all STILL trying to protect our young people's mental health, which the government claims is their priority...when they talk about wanting students back in schools/college in September...

First Thread

Previous thread

So let's start with more confusion. As noted in previous thread it's not yet clear exactly what will be received on Thursday:

schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-unable-to-explain-gcse-results-day-confusion-as-williamson-contradicts-his-own-guidance/

Checking in with slide rule , old Amstrad and my old maths textbook with the algorithms in the back, in case!

Thanks Orange

Note there's been silence about any appeal processes. Arguably we still need one for students who are unhappy with CAGs (and can prove they are not consistent with recent work, for example).

Classic Gav there, not content with wrecking the process of deciding on grades and then causing a massive problem for universities, he can't help but carry on fucking things up

the DfE press office said this morning it was unable to provide any clarity on the situation

Imagine working at the DfE

I have a friend that works at the DfE! She is a v sensible friend as well, so our recent conversations have involved skirting round education matters as she is not meant to have an opinion on them.

Just pulling up a chair so I don't lose the thread...

@confusedbutheyho you might note that there is some confusion about what will be in envelope results wise ..
See above

Thanks Orange thread 9 - wow! Will there be a thread 10 before Thursday I wonder 😂

Thank you for the new thread @OrangeCinnamon1!

Checking in, so they’ll be awarded the highest of CAG and GAV but not quite sure which results are coming this Thursday, with maybe more next week and then Gav suggested certificates next week, which usually we don’t get to October . No mention of appeals.... I’ll be so pleased once the schools send an email out telling us the process.

Thank you Orange
How surreal these threads are now compared to the start - not all what I imagined we’d be saying at this point in time .

We’ve had radio silence from DD’s school. I’m trying to be patient as I’m sure they’ve all got better things to do behind the scenes than deal with pushy over-anxious parents...

I'm looking forward to her memoirs Redsky!

Must be so dispiriting clearing up after Gav over and over again, every time he does an interview

Ha @janie74 I've been checking my email folder where all the school's emails go veeery regularly today.

We have had lots of helpful info from the school in one video they explained that they would be very surprised if any appeal was needed for CAGs but we'll see.

@FloweringFlowers

Checking in, so they’ll be awarded the highest of CAG and GAV but not quite sure which results are coming this Thursday, with maybe more next week and then Gav suggested certificates next week, which usually we don’t get to October . No mention of appeals.... I’ll be so pleased once the schools send an email out telling us the process.

Me too, we've heard from neither DS's school or college! I'm guessing they're trying to fathom it out as much as we are

It baffles me that this man after doing so much wrong is still causing confusion and getting it wrong.

I have taken the day off work on Thursday to get my sons results as he cannot get there on his own from where we live and there is no email option.

Due to things happening at work I cannot just take another day for the next few weeks. This is turning into a nightmare

Lovely opening post, Orange.

Radio silence from DD’s school too.
Last week, following A level results, they had a huge banner up outside the school, boasting about their results. I bet they’ve already got the GCSE one up now! 😂😂

@OrangeCinnamon1 thanks!

You’d think the least they could do now is make at least that clear

Radio silence from DD’s school too. Suspect the teachers will be worried about backlash too.

Thank you @OrangeCinnamon1
Just checking in!

I would imagine the schools are scrambling to keep up. I think they will let us know when they know I would imagine

Flippin 'eck, I can't keep up with you lot! Thanks for the shiny new thread though.

We have radio silence from school also but I note the head has tweeted about explaining things to the Yr 13s in an email today. Obviously Yr13s are more important but there are 200+ Yr11s who'd also quite like to know what's going to be happening on Thursday!

Heard from my dd's school. They want to redo teacher grades as they put in grades strictly in line with the orders at the time in April - rank all students and give equivalent grades according to previous years. They were forced to rank students who were equal and some may have different grades, but should really have the same grades.
Head now says it's clear some schools have put in could get on a good day grades and he doesn't think that's fair.
Basically he says it's a shit show.

Thank you for such an inclusive, lovely opening post.