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...

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Steady JustHere; turned 52 here last week. Please don't make me Aunty

Just received email from DS school saying they’ll receive the ‘official’ results earlier than expected so they’ll get their official results tomorrow (CAGS or GAV whichever is higher?)

He’s adamant he’ll not open the email!

I wonder if any of us are anywhere near each other? Would be weird if any of our DC did know each other although unlikely

I’m struggling to settle to anything as well and have resorted to cleaning. I might as well use the nervous energy for something useful. I’m way more anxious for these results than I ever was for my own.

I notice the school have updated their website to show a much fuller list of A-Level ‘top performers’ - which gives me a startling insight into how many students were hammered by the algorithm. There are at least twice as many DC on there now

When we went to Chester zoo last week, we had said both children could get a toy animal. DS persuaded us to get him a (large) tiger. As it’s going to be staying at his dads house (and being a part time pillow), maybe I’ll get him another animal. And a card.

I do feel a bit unprepared for there actually being results tomorrow

I know what you mean @MirandaWest
I've felt ready for ages, until now

Dd has arrived. Nice moment with dp - not sure if I have said, he had a massive brain haemorrhage in February and doesn’t follow everything yet (still recovering) - he said to her ‘bloody well done for surviving all this shit’. He can’t always find words or understand what I’m saying and especially new stuff like Covid and algorithm. I thought it was very sweet - made me a bit teary.

That’s lovely @StillDumDeDumming - I hope he continues to recover and improve.

Welcome @DadDadDad and a huge happy birthday in advance, what a day to celebrate. I had mine just last yr so we’re still close in school age.

DS1 & DS2 couldn’t be more different.
DS1 not remotely interested in dating. just loves gaming and being left alone. DS2 likes nice deodorant, will shower during the day if he’s too sweaty and asks me to check his breath intermittently (as you never know when you might get lucky ) as he puts it. DS1 puts in the minimal effort and loves yelling, “I’M A SLOB’! He growls whenever girls/dating is mentioned.

We’ve had lovely letter from school to say results will be available at 8am tomorrow online and they’ve got a team of teachers waiting to field any queries. Also reassurance that 6th form admittance will be very lenient “in the spirit of kindness that is much needed right now”, their words not mine.

for you all Stilldum for surviving this shit. Hope your DH’s speech recovery continues to be swift.

i'm sure some of our children know each other in real life through mutual friends ( 7 degrees of separation and all that.) especially those of us in London, most people there seem to know each other!

Aww @StillDumDeDumming that’s lovely. Best wishes for his continued recovery.

@Shimy both your boys sound fantastic! And what a lovely email from school too.

Oops sent too early. I remember when one Mum posted a link to her daughters youtube channel and it turned out my DD knew her mutually.

Popping in to say had email from DD's (Hopefully) new school to ask her to send in a photo of her results tomorrow when she has them in order to confirm her place. Still biting my nails that she gets the grades she needs as we can't afford to send her if she doesn't get a scholarship. She says she's taking DC1 with her but we are all driving down with her (she wants to be on the doorstep at 8am whereas DC1 was still in bed at that point last year).

Good luck everyone!

Dd having a full on sobbing , snotty meltdown

Has apparently charged her mind re A levels and is just completely confused as she has no idea what she wants to do as career or even at uni (or not )

Currently down to do a levels at local sixth form college in accounting, sociology and computer science .
Now looking at btec business and medical science and a level psychology . Any combination of the six subjects would be fine .

She should get 5/6 all subjects tomorrow including triple science, sociology and computer science which she took as options
Just don't know how to advise / help. It seems so hard when you don't know what direction to go in career wise and she wants to keep lots of options open but by not doing maths or one of the triple sciences she's worried that she is closing certain doors forever . She has just seen her brother do 2 sciences plus maths and how hard they were .
She's lost confidence in her ability to learn / work after six months at home doing not a lot . Just want her to be happy

@StillDumDeDumming Wishing your DH a full recovery. That must’ve been scary.

@FlyingPandas Thank you. They certainly make me laugh.

I haven't been on this thread before, sorry to crash, but just wanted to give everyone a socially distanced gesture of solidarity

Dd1 gets her results tomorrow, after a year pretty much wrecked by her ASD and various comorbidities We're hoping for good results in English and Theology but the rest could be anywhere Maths likely to be OK, but Science probably not

She wants to do A-levels, so as long as we get the grades for that, we're happy

@Baileyscoffeeandcampfires Does her school do the IB at all? It’s generally good for students just like your DD who don’t want to narrow their options to early, although I hear it’s also quite heavy going academically and if she’s looking at BTECs then perhaps she prefers something more vocational.

What really are her strengths? Which subjects has she performed the best at and enjoyed the most?

Ds is already taken, in fact its his girlfriend's birthday today.

He's had an email from college asking students to take a photo and email their results tomorrow prior to enrolment on Monday.

He told me earlier that he was going to get his sister to drive him to school but he's changed his mind now and it's going to be me.

He says that prior to lockdown he was doing shit in classwork but good in actual tests.

[quote Shimy]@Baileyscoffeeandcampfires Does her school do the IB at all? It’s generally good for students just like your DD who don’t want to narrow their options to early, although I hear it’s also quite heavy going academically and if she’s looking at BTECs then perhaps she prefers something more vocational.

What really are her strengths? Which subjects has she performed the best at and enjoyed the most?[/quote]
No ibac - none of the schools have sixth form around our area

She could cope academically with 3 a levels but just gets herself so anxious about everything that we were looking at a single brexit just to take some pressure off

She's good all rounder . Not creative or musical (none of us are ), likes explicit right or wrong outcomes but not naturally good enough at maths that she would sail through maths or chemistry at a level.
I suspect accountancy, engineering or something IT based is where she could really go far . She excellent at being logical and puzzle solving.

She does have a back up place at local tech college on the public services course. However a friends dd did it, got a triple distinction star but was only bored silly as she got through the all of the work in less than 2 days a week

@TheySeeHerRowling good luck to your DD

Thanks, frustrationcentral

They've all been through so much already

I hope tomorrow brings everyone what they need to move on

@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 😂

We have a airfield by us for small planes. Right opposite ds school. He loves going to watch them and take photos.

Some days he'd come home from school and when I asked how his day had been I'd get "great, this plane (no) took off at X ......"

@Zandathepanda

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 love non alcoholic cider.

Ds won't drink. He's adamant he's never drinking (I feel I should get this on record for future ). Not even the non alcoholic stuff.

He takes baclofen which does advise not to drink with it but a beer would be fine. My dad and brother always offer him a beer when we get together but he always declines.

At his age me and my friends would share a 70p 2ltr bottle of cider!

Flight radar 24. That's all I have to say.