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

@Cherryonthetop2019 blimey, if that’s true it won’t be popular!

Thanks for the link to school performance stats. DS’s school has achieved well above local and national average for student achievement of both “above 4” and “above 5” grades for English and maths and has improved each year from 2017-2019. No idea whether that’ll benefit him in terms of CAG or GAV or whatever at this point, though. I think my brain is officially scrambled.

Our school has been silent as the grave....

Signing in again!

I feel sorry for the schools. Both of ours have done their best to keep us informed on both A Levels and GCSEs but every time they do something else changes 🙄

TES on what might happen with CAGs and GAVs on Thursday

www.tes.com/news/gcse-results-2020-expect-delays-schools-warned?amp

So basically that's back to the original (lack of) appeal process?

Realistically it's going to be impossible for an individual student to prove bias, so unless there has been a genuine administrative error, there's no grounds to appeal.

@singingstones at least they’re trying to get it all done for Thursday, thanks for the link.

Ds can collect his results from 9am onwards.

Before yesterday’s announcement the school had said they would use CAGs for entry to their own 6th form but in our area most students move onto one of the two large colleges.

Email from school this afternoon, ours will receive thier CAG on Thursday and these are the grades they will be using to confirm post 16 places. The rest is details of how to confirm thier places, no mention of GAVs, mocks or appeals.

DD has chosen her favourite meal for Thursday evening some shall be marking the day, whatever it brings.

Just as a change from all the talk of CAGs and GAVs and what on earth is happening on results day, I'd be interested to hear thoughts about a personal dilemma.

My parents are huge education snobs (my children are already considered inferior by virtue of not going to a private school) and have the view that anything less than full marks is a fail (they were the parents who, when I got 98% in an exam, rather than congratulating me, went on and on about where I'd lost the other 2% - true story). They are absolutely convinced that DS is going to get all 9s. DS will not get any 9s (unless he gets an entirely random and undeserved 9 as a GAV). His results are likely to be more averaging around the 5 level.

My overwhelming memory from my childhood is feeling constantly disappointed and not good enough because my parents were never happy by my (generally very good) results. I don't want this for DS. I am planning to not tell them his results. I am thinking about using "he doesn't want to tell people as he didn't take exams and they don't feel like real results" and making general comments such as "not as good as he'd hoped for, but good enough to go on to do what he wanted", which frankly should be enough. But I know they will push. My mother will probably cry. Does anyone have any wise words on how to deal with this? Anyone dealt with similar?

Just had an email from DS school - saying (thankfully) DS doesn’t have to wait until 1140 for his results. His CAGs will be sent at 0915 & he can still go in to collect envelope at 1140!

Also said they don’t know when GAV’s will be sent! But that the GAV will trump a CAG if higher.....

@RedskyAtnight we have the same issue with the PIL. It’s made worse because their other grandchildren attend a prestigious boarding school and one of them is also expecting results this year. I have already told H that we will not be giving them a detailed breakdown of results. MaiL particularly is the biggest snob I know and I’m not having it.

I’d tell them what to expect grades wise and explain that you expect support and positive comments or all hell will break loose...but I can be a tad confrontational about stuff like this....

mobile.twitter.com/JCQcic/status/1295748440450899968

So final grades on Thursday- just one grade we won’t know which area it’s from cags or algorithm but we will know their final grades! Yipee.

Crikey @RedskyAtnight are you me? Sorry you were made to feel like that too.

I would say “I’m really proud of how ** worked over the last 2 years, his teacher assessed grades allow him to do what he wants to do next” 😬 not sure that would pacify them.

God @RedskyAtnight and @Cherryonthetop2019 that sounds awful. Poor you and your poor DC!

I must admit I don’t have any advice based on experience - well FIL will almost certainly trot out the “gah, you’ve been handed out results like smarties so these don’t really count for much” type line to DS but the other three GPs have more sense.

I would be tempted though to go down the route of ‘results around what we hoped for’ and leave it at that, as from what you say they won’t be either sensible or supportive. I’m so sorry, that must be incredibly hard (and have been incredibly hard for you as a student).

I would also be tempted to give this sort of grandparent a lecture on student mental health being the most important thing and overriding all grades in terms of importance especially this year. And trot out a few examples of students with chronic mental health issues that developed as a result of highly unrealistic parental expectations etc etc. Possibly not a massively sensible thing to do (these types probably wouldn’t believe you anyway) but it'd be bloody tempting.

I too can empathise Red. I’ve often wondered if it was just that generation, or cultural (in my case).

But we need to fiercely defend our own not to feel like we were made to feel. If that means sticking to the one line mantra of he did well enough to move onto the next stage in his life, then stick to that only. Let them push. ‘Repeat’ is what politicians are taught to do, but I know are parents are trickier to deal with!

Good luck.

@FlyingPandas I have already primed H that the line will be she has done brilliantly and will be going on to do the things she loves and then change the subject.

Personally I only see them if I have to. They ignore my birthday every year and show little concern for me generally. I will not be speaking to them about it.

@RedskyAtnight

Just as a change from all the talk of CAGs and GAVs and what on earth is happening on results day, I'd be interested to hear thoughts about a personal dilemma.

My parents are huge education snobs (my children are already considered inferior by virtue of not going to a private school) and have the view that anything less than full marks is a fail (they were the parents who, when I got 98% in an exam, rather than congratulating me, went on and on about where I'd lost the other 2% - true story). They are absolutely convinced that DS is going to get all 9s. DS will not get any 9s (unless he gets an entirely random and undeserved 9 as a GAV). His results are likely to be more averaging around the 5 level.

My overwhelming memory from my childhood is feeling constantly disappointed and not good enough because my parents were never happy by my (generally very good) results. I don't want this for DS. I am planning to not tell them his results. I am thinking about using "he doesn't want to tell people as he didn't take exams and they don't feel like real results" and making general comments such as "not as good as he'd hoped for, but good enough to go on to do what he wanted", which frankly should be enough. But I know they will push. My mother will probably cry. Does anyone have any wise words on how to deal with this? Anyone dealt with similar?

I'm preparing myself for similar @RedskyAtnight . I was never good enough as a teen ( failed GCSE's then excelled at college - because I chose what I wanted to do for a change..). My year younger DB went to private school and came out with good grades, not amazing but solid B's and C's. Roll onto DS, he's a bright lad, predicted good grades even on subjects which he hates ( English!!). Not a genius by any stretch but seen as an able learner. My Dad in particular has always felt nothing below a 9 would be good enough for him. When he's done well in tests the response has always been " well what do you expect" rather than " Well done Grandson", so a lot of pressure. I've been preparing my parents that DS isn't a grade 9 student ( he'd like it in Maths but I don't think he'll get it now), and I don't want to see any level of disappointment in him - particularly now it's out of his hands. I think they mean well, they're very close to DS ( we lived with them when he was tiny) but I don't want him to feel the pressure to keep them happy. They compare him so much to my brother, who went onto good stuff - unlike me..

So Thursday. My plan is to support DS with whatever results he gets, good and bad. Talk through options, then at some point call my parents and I will talk to them first..

I’ve been there too. I’d go with DS is happy with his results and so are we. We’re proud of how hard he’s worked, do congratulate him. If they ask what he got look surprised and just repeat

This thread and the links have been invaluable

@Rhubardandcustard what a relief!

@RedskyAtnight I can’t really add to what others have said - my family brings its own challenges, largely to do with them thinking their distant o’levels were much tougher than anything young people today face, etc etc - but I would also take the ‘X is happy that their results enable them to move on to the next stage in their chosen path’ approach. And then change the subject.

@RedskyAtnight I have also been pondering about how to play this. DD feels that she can't win because if she does better than expected it will be 'oh but you didn't actually sit an exam and teachers inflate grades and hand out As to all' blah blah and then if she doesn't do well it will seem even worse if her teachers did not give her a good grade for the same reason. I am going with 'she has got what she needs to move on' line to anyone who asks (assuming and fingers crossed that she does of course).

I wear my 4 O level passes like badges of honour now. And the whole family smile with in-joke fashion every time my mother comes out with the but she could have so much cleverer than her brother line. Which is often, and not just because she’s 80.

Thankfully I too have mellowed and don’t take the bait anymore

But she could have been. Can’t type anymore.