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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

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

999 replies

OrangeCinnamon1 · 18/08/2020 12:56

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 Grin ) 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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FoolsAssassin · 19/08/2020 21:22

Good luck everyone.

EwwSprouts · 19/08/2020 21:25

Good luck to all.

Back in March lots of us attempted on here to predict the grades our DC might get. Be interesting to see if we were remotely close. I'll see if I can find the thread, might have been in this series.

boredboredboredboredbored · 19/08/2020 21:27

Yes good luck one and all. Dd isn't sure she'll sleep tonight and I'll be the same. We can collect from school but it's in alphabetical order and Dd isn't until 10am. Nail biting!!

cheninblanc · 19/08/2020 21:30

Good luck tomorrow everyone x

cheninblanc · 19/08/2020 21:31

Good luck tomorrow everyone x

SultanasofPing · 19/08/2020 21:31

My dd has refused to do any A level bridging work until she gets results tomorrow so it could be a good couple of weeks of cramming!! (for the match making Wink she's 5 ft 1 (on a tall day) super petite, not in the slightest bit interested in boys and is hoping to do A level sciences - biggest issue for 6th form is clothes as she's so little she thinks if she wears a black skirt she'll look like the lower years - this is a fear based on experience as in year 10 she was asked by a teacher if she knew where she was going around school and was kindly directed to the year 7 corridor - she was too shy / awkward to correct them) Grin

itsgettingweird · 19/08/2020 21:32

@MrsHamlet

I'd like to point out at this time that I only take gin shaped bribes. One of my year 11 offered me an open bag of haribo for a good mark in an assessment in the week we closed. Sadly as he hadn't answered the question set, that was never going to help.
Ds has actually written a thank you card to each yr 11 teacher, his 1:1's, his keyworker and senco/asd co ordinator and the HT. he's out them in a gift bag with a tin of gin/vodka or whatever. Wasn't cheap but managed to get the tins at equivalent to £1 a head! (Still cost me about £30 to get it all).

I left him writing the cards himself but did read them as I sellotaped bags across the top.

They are so ds and hilarious 😂 but also very sweet. He's said he remember when he first went into HT office to show him something he'd made in lesson (remembered and said what it was) and then thanked HT for helping him with the bullies.

Drama teacher he thanked her all the extra hours she worked for them to do shows when he was sure she'd rather be at home with her own child 🤣

He's told his senco thankyou for believing in him and giving him the support to survive school Grin

You have to know my ds to get it but his teachers will laugh 😂

He's still fairly chilled.

Devlesko · 19/08/2020 21:32

Good luck everyone. Thanks
Will report in tomorrow, thanks for such lovely threads. I think I lurked too much. Grin

Comefromaway · 19/08/2020 21:33

Ds had to hand his bridging work in last week. For once he was motivated to get it in on time in case they used it as a decider if he didn’t make the grades.

FlyingPandas · 19/08/2020 21:34

@itsgettingweird can I adopt your DS please? He sounds amazing!

Good luck everyone for tomorrow. Keeping everything crossed that all our fabulous DC get the results they need and deserve, ready to move on to the next stage of their lives Smile

Alsoplayspiccolo · 19/08/2020 21:35

EwwSprouts, I was wondering about those posts this morning. I wonder if I’d say the same grades now, even before DD gets her results?

Good luck to every single DC on here. It’s been a rollercoaster, but I can’t think of anyone I’d have rather been on it with than all the lovely people on here - your humour and kindness has been wonderful, and if that’s anything to go by, your DCs must be lovely young people too.

Here’s to them Wine

itsgettingweird · 19/08/2020 21:35

@EwwSprouts

Brave move from school. Parents now allowed in playground tomorrow & leadership team will be out there too.

I hope everyone is respectful to the teachers. I suspect school was one of those who played it fair and safe, they've said a couple of times historic data only, no 'might have improved in run up to exams'.

I think schools have results now. They probably know they're safe todo this Grin
MrsHamlet · 19/08/2020 21:36

@itsgettingweird he sounds gorgeous! I have all the cards I've been given in my 20 years in the classroom and I treasure them all

Fiddlersgreen · 19/08/2020 21:36

BTec grades pulled on eve of results day www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-53843148

Janie74 · 19/08/2020 21:39

How lovely @itsgettingweird! I am sure the teachers will be delighted. I’m planning to drop some goodies round to school on Friday when hopefully things will be calmer for them all. I wanted to send something in for DD’s maths teacher earlier in the year - she’s been so patient, supportive and kind with DD who really finds maths hard - but I was worried it might be misconstrued as a bribery attempt! We had an email from school sternly telling parents to back off so I didn’t dare after that! Grin

Good luck to all DC tomorrow - may we all get a reasonable amount of sleep Smile

Shimy · 19/08/2020 21:41

@SultanasofPing At last! Someone with a petite dcSmile, your DD reminds me of me that age. What happened with the teacher would be pretty normal. I’m 5ft 1 too. Lots of suitable beaus to choose from here, all different heights and sizes.

itsgettingweird · 19/08/2020 21:43

I'm happy to post ds results too.

Apparently he isn't going to open them 8n the car and wait until he gets home.

I asked if he's trying to give me a heart attack Grin

RedskyAtnight · 19/08/2020 21:43

Sultanas my equally petite DD (going into Year 10 in September) sounds like yours! She's stated her biggest concern about going back is that some of the Year 7s will be taller than her (from past experience, they will be!) and that she will be mistaken for one. She did perk up when DS pointed out that Year 7s get priority in the lunch queue so perhaps it would be good to pretend to be one, but then un-perked when she realised that due to Covid, Year 10 and Year 7 now have lunch breaks at entirely different times.

Wheresthebeach · 19/08/2020 21:45

Good luck everyone.

It may be a long night....

EasilyDelighted · 19/08/2020 21:46

DS has several BTEC subjects, we are so pissed off.

GU24Mum · 19/08/2020 21:52

Another delurker coming out of the woods at the 11th hour!

Our school sent a letter late afternoon which was very cautious and pessimistic - said that grades discussed at parents' evening could have been to boost confidence...... lots of info about resits, CAGs were the "most plausible" ones - I'd (clearly wrongly!) thought they were "on a good day but not an exceptional day" grades.

Not expecting to sleep much tonight!

Fiddlersgreen · 19/08/2020 21:53

@EasilyDelighted my DS only has one.
How can they decide this right at the last minute?!

At it’s such short notice, does this mean we will see the result given tomorrow but that it may change? Or we won’t see them at all?

EwwSprouts · 19/08/2020 21:55

itsgettingweird I hadn't thought of that. Fingers crossed for all!

Fiddlersgreen · 19/08/2020 21:55

We haven’t heard anything from school since the end of term when they told the arrangements for results day.

DS will go in at 9.30 to collect them.

Does anyone know, are all the results on one sheet of paper or do you get separate pieces of papers for each exam board?