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

Thinking of you Piggy & teachers tomorrow. Horrible position to be in. I guess for every success and individual thanks you may get, can’t offset being accused of grade injustice, direct or indirect. The separation between a flawed system and teachers will be hard for some to grasp.

Apparently the algorithm has given a 6 to pupils who would have taken the Foundation paper. Schools can only see the upgrades so God knows how weird the downgrade would have been.

twitter.com/Samfr/status/1296122332432433152

Had a chat with DS about tomorrow. He maintains I am worrying more than he is, and also that he still won't tell me his results.

He then revealed that one of his closest friends took an overdose a couple of days ago. Thankfully friend put out on social media what he'd done (DS didn't see it at the time as we were visiting his grandparents), and an ambulance was called.
Friend was taken to hospital and is now ok, but I was shocked. I'd known (from what DS said before) that he was having some problems, but not realised they were that bad. Horrible to think a 16 year old could feel that low.

Then had a long chat about DS about how I hoped he could talk to me if he was worried about anything, and also to let me know if he was finding supporting his friend difficult - it sounds like friend is using him a lot as an emotional sounding board- and it was ok to find it difficult.

Frightening how we don't really know what is going on in our teens' minds.

@HPFA but the pupils get the higher of the grades don't they? So surely they would get the 6 although that makes no sense if they weren't eligible for a 6!

That’s a very tricky situation @Piggywaspushed - I don’t envy you there. Maybe some obfuscation around grades being moderated by SLT is needed. Unless you are SLT, in which case good luck.

I feel quite sick with nerves already. Just hoping the grades are reflective of DD’s huge effort. She will be distraught if she misses 9s in her two languages (9s in December and March mocks, 98-100% on all papers... am I unreasonable to hope??). Apart from those two, as long as she gets into sixth form and passes Maths and English, she’ll be happy. Maths is her more worrisome one.

Gosh good luck with that Piggy

I have family members who are teachers inc a head of humanities and they are not looking forward to being in the firing line tomorrow.

Very unfair to teachers as you say. Especially difficult if a school has tried to standardise their results in the hope of being left alone by the algorithm. I imagine things might have been a bit different in those schools if a) the plan from the start was that teacher grades would be final grades and b) you were allowed to rank people equally.

Red - that's exactly how I would have played it . Poor boy and terribly hard for your DS too. Dd had a group of friends who had various MH issues last year and she found it so hard to stay her usual positive bouncy self while trying to support them with self harm , depression and eating disorder (3 individuals in a group of 6 friends)

@RedskyAtnight - What an awful situation. I’m glad DS’ friend is getting well - I hope they’ll receive some help. Poor DS having to carry the burden too.

@Comefromaway

I understand that mindset a Piggy. It sums Ds (Also asd) and science up. Target 6 through secondary but very old fashioned teacher who refused to make adjustments) not asking him to teach differently just follow what was in ds’s plan such as using laptop instead of copying from the board. Science tutor said capable of 5/6, constantly achieving 1/2/3 in school and had pretty much given up completely.

OMG has exactly same for ds with science. He also has asd. Science actually a string subject and love for ds but teacher in year 9 hated him. I thought ds was making it up until she told me herself that he's never pass because he had poor social skills and illegible handwriting. He has a scribe!

Always predicted him low. Swapped teachers yr 9 to lower group and his more dictions went up. Had her again yr 10 as she teaches top group and I was worried but she tended to leave him alone this time and he plodded along.
New teacher for yr 11. Plenty of top of the class grades in modules assessments and 9 in his mock - top of the class!

This is why I'm a,ways for grateful for teachers who believe in their students. It doesn't matter to me what grade they help them achieve as a kid can only do what they can do. But belief in them makes so much difference to them aiming for their best.

I also meant to add, not diminishing anyone feeling injustice, just the venting towards teachers as the most obvious target to place blame.

@Cherryonthetop2019 What a snooty email! Sounds like they’ve all just had enough but they’re taking it out on the wrong people. Let’s hope tomorrow will bring renewed energy for them because they’re going to need it.

@Devlesko onwards and upwards!

@RedskyAtnight
What a horrible situation, I hope DS friend is recovering ok. It's so important for them to understand that sometimes it's hard to be the friend, and you're there to help, it's so good that he felt he could tell you about it.
DD's bestie has some MH problems and her home life isn't the best so I do keep a close eye on that.

Pearson have just announced that BTEC L1/2 grades will not be issued tomorrow now

@GreekOddess I assume the school didn't give any of their Foundation Paper students a CAG above 5. But the algorithm presumably gave a couple of students at the top of the ranking list a 6! so they've done very well out of it.

I can see how these things might have happened. We have reason to believe DD may have been ranked no 1 in RS but she's never been graded higher than a 7 so I assume that will be her CAG. Unfortunately there are below 15 students in that class but if there had been 15 then her CAG might have been raised if the algorithm said someone in that group "had" to have a higher grade than a 7.

Good luck tomorrow to Piggy and all teachers being put in the firing line by this debacle. And thanks to Piggy for all the frontline advice which has been extremely helpful on these threads as I mostly lurked amongst them.

Exhausted ds today by taking him and a friend to an inflatable water park. Pancakes requested for breakfast and results email due after 8am. I just can't wait to have them and for this sorry situation to be over. Fully expect ds to be fine and get good grades but have serious worries for a few of our friends. Will be more anxious waiting for word from them than anything else which I know is a comfortable position to be in. Ds heading to have dinner with his girlfriend and her family afterwards so no celebrations here sadly but he will be happy.

I hope tomorrow isn’t as bleak as you think it will be @Piggywaspushed

Oh @RedskyAtnight how sad. A boy DS knew did kill himself a few years ago. We spoke a lot after that about confiding in someone he trusts, even if it’s not me if he is struggling. So hard being a teenager.

I am beginning to feel quite nervous - DS even asked if I was ok before he went to his Dad’s!! He doesn’t usually notice emotional cues!!

@RedskyAtnight and @Cherryonthetop2019 ughhh, poor you for different reasons . So many people with so many different problems.

@itsgettingweird Love that!
DD decided to test me the other week on all the different types of planes. ( I failed miserably 😂)

Hah! Definitely NOT SLT !

I think I just feel a bit rattled and having my own DC to go through it adds to that anxiety. Thanks for kind words!

I think I need to get off the WIWIKAU Facebook group as well as they are a bit feisty for me with their comments!

@MrsHamlet
I have to admit I’m a bit obsessed with that too 😂

Here's an interesting one:

twitter.com/Samfr/status/1296128307788947456

Schools who've moved to having a lot more students sit Triple Science have seen them benchmarked against cohorts when only the top students were sitting Triple Science. So grades have gone up....

I love Sam Freedman. Wish he was my HT!

@TheySeeHerRowling (love the name! ) welcome and good luck to your DD.

@ealingwestmum sorry to make you aunty we're all young at heart (but seem to have aged 10 years over the past week!)

@StillDumDeDumming so sorry to hear about your DH.

@singingstones

Just leaving this here

This is just cruel!

@Baileyscoffeeandcampfires Accountancy and engineering both require A’level Maths. She could still get into I.T though, what about something like this :
ITMB