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

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn

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?

I have no idea! I had planned to, but wasn't sure how. I know some of DS's friends were getting a certain amount per grade, so for instance £10 for a 5, £15 for a 6 and so on. In the past I've rewarded DS for his mocks, but more for the hard work he put in rather than the actual grades - he's a lazy so and so and revision was hard going.

I know he has his eye on a pair of trainers so I might offer to get him those

@whoamitojudge

Can I join the matchmaking group? My DD is 5ft 11 and loves aviation. ( she wants to be cabin crew!) We went up to Heathrow the other day to watch planes and she was in her element 😂

Ooh a matchmaking group?! What's this? I've got a, IMO, gorgeous 6ft 2 rugby playing son up for grabs. I think he's every girls best friend...

I love how the last 48 hours of needing distraction after such drama has resulted in match.com!

Argh did not mean to create a link then 😱

@frustrationcentral - Your DS sounds my DD's cup of tea :-) She is a 5 feet 5 hockey player. She is happy and confident with her looks, but as she goes to a girls school so says she isn't great around boys, but she is fine with boys at hockey so I think that's in her head. She is VERY fussy though, any potential boyfriend would have to be smart, good looking, sporty with a sense of humour - and and lots of drive to do well in the future too. Prof rugby player idea apparently ;-)
I bet we sound a right lot pimping our children! :-)

Hi all

Getting close now. DS is going into school for his, his dad and I will wait at the car, he needs to register for sixth form too so we will have quite a wait.

I’ve bought him an Apple Watch and we are going for a meal tomorrow evening. His dad is giving him a sum of money for his future. He’s worked so hard and fully deserves this no matter what he comes out with. I want to treat him.

I am reporting since of these profiles to DS and he says we are weird!

He is planning to put a shout out to the last 2 years of GCSE students at his school on his Instagram, thanking them for any subjects where he might have got a GAV based on their work!

@Sarahbeans I assume you know that Apple usually do an educational discount if you can use a school or college e-mail address. I am still using my 2011 MacBook. DS does not approve of Macs any more as they are bad for gaming but I still like them.

I haven’t really thought about getting DS something Or at least I have thought but he is tricky to buy for. He’d love a(nother) guitar but that’s not something I would just produce. And also more guitar pedals and a pedal board but again something he’s been thinking about for ages and will continue to think about probably...

He’s going in at 9 for his results - no emails here. And parents not allowed on the school site - we’ve been told if we have to bring them to park a couple of streets away and wait for them to come out. So at 9 tomorrow I will be sitting chewing my fingernails near school...

Who has a younger DC going into year 10? I imagine an amount of us do

Mirandawest yes I do

Dd is in a mood. I expected about the exams, which she confirmed by saying: ‘No matter what, it doesn’t feel like you’ve earned it - I am dissociated from my results’.
‘Anything else?‘ I said.
‘I didn’t think I would give too much of a but it’s the feeling of impending doom that’s getting to me a bit’.

She didn’t sleep very well last night it’s going to be a long day.

@MirandaWest my parents used to do a really sweet thing when giving us presents they could not buy without us - they would write out a cheque with a picture of the item in the box for the amount and a description in the words.

DS2 getting money because DS1 did. DS1 had a sliding scale where he got the middle amount if he got an average mark for him, higher and lower if he did better or less well. He needed the motivation because he was very lazy in Y11, DS2 did not need the motivation, but they both have a strong sense of fairness so DS2 got the same deal for doing work to date and transition work. I think he is going to use it to buy some more weight plates if he can find anywhere with stock.

DS's GF said her reward was a packet of munchies !

@ealingwestmum

Argh did not mean to create a link then 😱

Bet you did! .

Just catching up, so many lovely messages! First good night sleep here ... finally! I am doing a tea party to celebrate. Having a very mixed ability group I always reward effort only.

Wishing everyone all the very best for tomorrow X

Will there be a separate thread for the results or are we posting the good or the bad on here ?

Shimy!

I always read the results threads even though my son wasn’t getting his. No idea why. But this time I will be posting. Feels weird. I will be happy if we can just get passed him having to do English and maths

Haven’t asked DS how he wants to do results but have booked table for lunch with lots of Steak so he’ll be happy!!!

Poor Dd - because of all the new meds she’s on she’s not allowed to drink alcohol. She’s just found the non alcoholic fizz and non alcoholic cider I hid away for tomorrow and says she can’t even drown her sorrows!
She hasn’t found my secret choc stash though...

I too laughed at shimy's ds and the non BO girlfriend match.

And that he thinks he's such a catch!

I've got one of those. Ds1 tried on his 4 suits (that my Dh bought from eBay for a few quid.

I tell you my Dh is incredible. He should be a personal dresser. He has the most incredible eye for a clothes bargain.

But he works for a water company. And only intends to quit for his dream job. Which he'll do for free. A bra fitter.

So DS1 this morning is prancing around all over the house, showing me his suits and telling me what a catch he is !

and I tell him you do look incredibly dapper, you look absolutely bloody amazing in a suit - some people really suits suits and he certainly does.

and he went yeah I know mum, you know I'm amazing!

and he does honestly think that he something special!!

God help me!

Thanks for all the lovely comments about "over ambitious" parents. Dismayed, but also comforted (if that makes sense) that others have had similar relationships with parents/in-laws. Though DS has now said he won't be telling me his results anyway, which obviously gives me a cast iron reason not to tell them :)

(Hoping DS didn't actually mean it about not telling me the results. I'm thinking I'll be able to gauge how he's done by when he tells me. If he rings me up from school that will mean he's done better than expected; if he tells me as soon as he gets home he'll have done ok/well enough and if he hides in his room for hours and can't be persuaded out for food, he will have done badly).

Loving the dating agency twist the thread has taken! Can I offer up a tall (six foot one) DS with a quirky sense of humour who is the one who does all the stupid/outrageous things that other people think of but would never dare to do (I am not sure whether that is a plus point or not)? He's more likely to have girls as friends than girlfriends as he's apparently a good listener (I credit myself with this as DS is so used to my random rants about things that I'm cross about, he knows that the way to handle them is just to say "um", "yes" and "that must be annoying for you" at regular intervals, whilst nodding sympathetically).

We are going to Brewers Fayre for breakfast. Feeling a bit low rent...

Lanky 5 ft 11 DS does not really socialise out of school, his friends don't do parties or even socialising . He plays an esoteric brass instrument, has never drunk any more than a shandy , shows no interest in girls, watches a LOT of sport and still has lots of cuddly toys.

I still maintain he is quite the catch! He hugs me every single morning.

We aren't getting emails. Bit annoying as then I could hack his account .

Just received this from the school so it appears that we won’t ever know how badly the GAV’s may have been?

@ealingwestmum

Thank you 🙏