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

I am delurking to say DS1 is also playing the grades game and I have had to bribe him with a meal out to even get him to go to the school to get hos results. He was perfectly happy to wait for them to arrive in the post (school are posting any which aren't collected by the end of the day!)

I am glad he is relaxed about them but then he's into his college regardless so I suppose its not a worry for him. His friend on the other hand needs 7s in maths and physics and chemistry for a levels and attends a school which doesn't turn out the best grades (although it's improving) and he is an absolute wreck.

I think the worst thing about this debacle is the unnecessary stress our DCs have been put through. DS2 goes into Y10 in September and I'm dreading what nonsense is going to come with that:(

@Heifer

I could only get it to work on a laptop? It wouldn't open on my phone

I think that's because it's a huge file once generated.

Probably! Technology isn't my thing

Can I just check if I've missed anything.. Do we know for sure what results they are getting tomorrow?
Is it jus the CAG with final coming next week as Ofqual said the other day, or is it the final results with a mixture of CAG & GAV?

I'm confused about the same Heifer. We still haven't heard anything from school so I'm hoping for clarity today

@Heifer

Can I just check if I've missed anything.. Do we know for sure what results they are getting tomorrow? Is it jus the CAG with final coming next week as Ofqual said the other day, or is it the final results with a mixture of CAG & GAV?

I would like to know this too!

[quote Shimy]**@Madhairday* Dipping my toe into the murky dating pool waters...DS2 here, 5ft 5*, pimples, very musical, funny, not outdoorsy, thinks himself quite a catch . No idea what kind of girl he’d like to meet but ideally one that doesn’t have BO.[/quote]
This has made me laugh so much! God help us if our kids do see this thread DD is totally oblivious to her needing to address that 2 hours submerged in water DOES NOT negate rhe fact that one will still produce sweat!!

I am genuinely looking forward to seeing them mature over the next few years with you all.

@Shimy aw he sounds great, confidence is everything!

And I am not even going to start on the fraught road to finding spot treatments that actually work...

@Heifer qualifications.pearson.com/en/support/support-for-you/results-for-teachers.html

www.jcq.org.uk/exam-centres-to-receive-2020-gcse-results-as-planned/

Yes final grades tomorrow

Our Principle tweeted good luck to Yr 11s this morning, so I asked the question re what grades we were getting. Haven't heard anything via Twitter yet - but a letter just arrived from the school which included the following

As you will have seen in the news, the government have now decided to use the Centre Assessed Grade ( grade awarded by school based on evidence of your work) if it is higher than the Ofqual calculated grade. You will therefore just be receiving one grade per subject – your actual results!

Clears it up nicely.

Principal - How I wish there was an edit button on posts!

I would like to put forward my 6'3" DS for your DD's consideration @IheartJKR
He's kind and funny, very laid back, loves football, racquet sports and Bakewell tart

Hi @itsgettingweirdand @ealingwestmum! Glad to hear we are all back swimming to a certain extent. At the moment we have 8 hours pool time but only 3 "official" hours. All a bit all over the place still.

DS also small- esp for a swimmer at 57" and convinced no girl will ever look at him, despite being amazing at most sports, very bright, enjoys reading, films and is v v funny. Maybe one day...

@IheartJKR ah thank you, was just reading about your DD prior to that and thinking the same, she sounds perfect for my DS, also we're a tall family so tall girls are very welcome!

@Shimy I like your DS's style

Our head has said we're getting CAGs tomorrow.

Can I ask, before all of this C19 stuff happened, were any of you planning to 'reward' their results? If so, are you still planning to?

singingstones And justhere

You are both making me smile

I think most definitely our teens should relinquish personal agency to us....and mumsnet in general.

Thanks Heifer

I'll get ds to get his laptop out later (new one for college ) and have a look.

Another swimming family here, not my y11 but my younger DD is a club swimmer. She's not in the top squad but is back to 5.5 hours a week now with strict Covid protocols in place. Her lane position means she's on the rope in the deep end which is quite tough (no push-offs, more turns, harder to rest) but is loving being back.

It's funny isnt is how we meet people all over different threads. I remember discussing way back in Feb how we were juggling counties and revision after jugging counties training and mocks! (Although ds was just relay team as a) our county is tough times and b) he is disabled so although good every millisecond counts!)

Now were discussing how they are only swimming 3 hours a week, no exams and what will happen to results!

Esther; you already know I am big fan of your DS

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn - DS was getting a new PC for post exams as a reward for effort this year. He revised really well from October mocks onwards and gave up a lot of stuff for school work. But that was effort based and not results. He got it in May instead for transition work and to sweeten lockdown. We always rewarded effort rather than results - right back to year 6 SATS.

@EasilyDelighted

Another swimming family here, not my y11 but my younger DD is a club swimmer. She's not in the top squad but is back to 5.5 hours a week now with strict Covid protocols in place. Her lane position means she's on the rope in the deep end which is quite tough (no push-offs, more turns, harder to rest) but is loving being back.

Ds managed to get lane position 1! Not bad for a kid who only just entered the squad! So he gets full wall. But his lane all do as they are the end (we have double lanes) and so distance down the side slide up for each 5 second start.