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Original poster

GCSE Summer 2020 Thread 10: Carry on Corona Cohort ‘The Next Step''

999 replies

OrangeCinnamon1 · 20/08/2020 13:52

Welcome all to the 10th Thread for this year's GCSE cohort - the Corona Cohort!

This is a thread for supporting all young people ( and their parents) who were examined for GCSEs 2020 regardless of the institute they attended or the grades they needed. 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 needed/deserved/wanted 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 it us 'results day ' most have GCSE results and some awaiting BTEC results .

We are all ALWAYS 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 popping this here.

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User120673 · 22/08/2020 23:07

@EasilyDelighted he will be able to start his A levels as long as he takes the resit in November.

EasilyDelighted · 22/08/2020 23:09

That's something, but it is a big setback. Are any of his friends in the same boat?

Londonmummy66 · 22/08/2020 23:12

itsgettingweird oh yes - remember a load of the grammar school boys doing that......

User120673 · 22/08/2020 23:17

@EasilyDelighted quite a few of his classmates in the same boat. His closet friends are from his football club and all go to different schools. They were all going to go to the same sixth form, but Ds will now have to find another one.

Monkey2001 · 22/08/2020 23:20

Just to clarify on medicine.

Doing Biology and Chemistry with another science is good enough for all medical schools.

Doing Biology and Chemistry with a non-science is good enough for all medical schools other than Cambridge colleges. It makes NO DIFFERENCE at most even if your third subject is art or music.

Doing Chemistry with Maths/Physics or Psychology will be sufficient for more than half.

Doing Biology with Maths/Physics or Psychology will be sufficient for almost half.

Doing just Biology or Chemistry and any 2 other subjects good for UEA.

Any 3 A levels good for Newcastle - Art, Music, Film studies would be fine as long as you get a high UCAT score.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING for medicine is that you can get AAA in your subjects (unless you meet widening access criteria). DS1 did not do Biology as none of the ones he wanted to go to required it and the subject was not taught well at his school (no A* in over 70 entries in his year). He got 3 offers. His GF did Biology and Chemistry because she wanted to do medicine but really struggled with Chemistry and got a D (A level Chemistry is difficult). If she had done Maths or English she might have been going to medical school in September.

It is a good idea to do both Bio and Chemistry but only if you are confident that you can get AAA.

stoneysongs · 22/08/2020 23:20

This is why the govt's line of "but people are disappointed every year" is so infuriating. Yes - sometimes people do mess up their exams but that's hardly the same as just being handed a grade that you is lower than you deserved, it must feel so unfair.

EasilyDelighted · 23/08/2020 06:39

It sounds as though @Monkey2001 knows a lot more than me about science choices for A level so I will clarify that I'm speaking from my own (non-medical) experience rather than having specific info about HE entrance requirements.

EasilyDelighted · 23/08/2020 07:27

I agree that the arbitrariness this year makes the whole thing worse and undoubtedly accounts for the quiet social media etc. Those that had lower than expected grades can't establish why (sickness, missed a page or whatever could have happened in normal times). Those that got higher grades wonder if they were because of a mistake and not what they would have achieved. My DS achieved a stretch target grade in one of his, but his friend did not (same subject same target grade). Yet the friend scored higher in the mocks and has consistently (he thought) been strong in that subject. They are both a bit sad and confused about it. I really feel for your DS @User120673

0DimSumMum0 · 23/08/2020 08:08

Surely 6's in foundation papers aren't right? I'm all for them keeping the grades that they worked so hard for them but for the foundations it just seems very unfair, especially for those that have sat the higher ones.

Monkey2001 · 23/08/2020 08:49

There is a lot of unfairness this year, OFQUAL were monumentally incompetent. It will probably be one of the case studies in future management courses of a blinkered approach - having realised that the algorithm was producing such large discrepancies compares to CAGs, they should have realised they had to change track and go to negotiated moderation. They fiddled whilst Rome burnt and there was no other rational conclusion than use of CAGs after the A level fall out. The algorithm for GCSEs would have resulted in even more wrong grades.

A teacher friend at a school with no 6th form said they were told by SLT which grades they could have and all they could do was rank the students within those grades. I will be interested to hear whether CAGs changed anything for them.

Oblomov20 · 23/08/2020 08:55

I am so sorry User. That is so shit. Like, really crap. How is this ok? This really bothers me.

Why is the only option to find him another 6th form? If there was any justice, what you really want is for his school to be held to account, it raised to a 7, and him allowed to do his A'levels.

User120673 · 23/08/2020 09:18

Thank you for all your supportive comments. I really appreciate it as at the moment we feel as if we have no where to turn to. My son was desperate to get away from his present school as for the last 2 years he has been bullied there. The sixth form he wanted to go to is oversubscribed so they have rejected him because of his grades, although he had a conditional offer there. My son is really down and I am worried about his mental health. He is in meltdown at the thought of returning to his present school if we cannot find another sixth form.

Heifer · 23/08/2020 09:19

@Monkey2001 thank you so much for that medicine information - I had looked so hard at what needed for a Biology degree but we had assume as no chemistry A level being taken, medicine was off the table! First uni I looked at (Southampton) excepts without Chem, so will take a good look into it. Also put me into the direction of other courses DD might like. We will get looking later today so thank you.

User120673 · 23/08/2020 09:23

In December 2019 he was predicted all 6/7s and on the strength of those grades we applied to the sixth form he wants to go to. I can’t understand how they changed so much.

Heifer · 23/08/2020 09:24

@User120673 - that sounds so hard for your DS (and you). Good luck with finding a new 6th form - and I really hope he LOVES it.

0DimSumMum0 · 23/08/2020 09:29

@User120673

Thank you for all your supportive comments. I really appreciate it as at the moment we feel as if we have no where to turn to. My son was desperate to get away from his present school as for the last 2 years he has been bullied there. The sixth form he wanted to go to is oversubscribed so they have rejected him because of his grades, although he had a conditional offer there. My son is really down and I am worried about his mental health. He is in meltdown at the thought of returning to his present school if we cannot find another sixth form.
This is really awful and I really feel for you. I really hope you can find somewhere so that your son can get away from where he is. This is a perfect example of why this years grade allocation has been so unfair.
Heifer · 23/08/2020 09:42

This made me laugh - I am on a fb group page called WIWIKAU (What I wish I knew about Uni)

Someone posted
People keep talking about DS and DD. Sorry for being dim, but what does that stand for?

There were a few replies (spot the MNs) but this was the best.

It starts as Darling Daughter and Darling Son but ends up as Debted Son, Debted daughter ...$$$

sandybayley · 23/08/2020 09:42

@User120673 - your poor DS. I hope tomorrow you can phone round and sort something out. There is something really rubbish about Sundays when you're fretting and can't speak to anyone to move things on.

icanbewhatiwant · 23/08/2020 09:45

@Heifer ds1 is studying biology at university, he didn't do any other science A levels. Only because when he went to 6th form to do his A levels he had no intention of going to university. Then at the end of year 12 decided he wanted to go to university. He'd not really taken the right A levels. Most universities wanted another science A level plus maths. He's not at one of the top universities though. But it is our nearest. Someone further up said they need more than one science A level to go into a career in science. I hope that isn't the case.

I have suggested ds2 look at what he needs A level wise for his university course. But he's not definite what he wants to do. So unless they are set on a particular subject that's not easy to know. The 4 A levels he wants to do are in the first 2 columns (they choose one subject from each of the 4 columns) so he's having to do 2 he doesn't really want to.

Some of you have heard from the schools/6th forms. We've not heard much at all. Only that the first day will be induction day. Ds3 is going into year 7 of the same school. All we've heard is the form he will be in and where to go to on arrival. Nothing more.

Monkey2001 · 23/08/2020 09:50

@User120673 that sounds awful. Can you pull together all the evidence for an appeal? You will need more than 1 mock result as a lot of schools used evidence over the 2 years, but if his English teacher is willing to say that he would have been assessed at a higher grade based on recent work if the school was not constrained by prior cohort results, they might listen.

Also, remember that the 6th form answer may not be final, they will have an appeal process and may be waiting for decisions from some offer holders which will release places.

Good luck.

stoneysongs · 23/08/2020 10:02

Were his school any use when he was being bullied @User120673? (Maybe not if it went on for two years)
But if they were supportive, would they make a call on your behalf to the college he wants to go to, explaining the circumstances and the additional reasons that moving setting would be beneficial? And that he scored higher in the mock etc? Sorry if you have already tried this..

Heifer · 23/08/2020 10:02

@icanbewhatiwant, DD will definitely be ok to do a Biology degree as she is also taking Pyschology which counts as a 2nd science in all but Scottish and London Unis. I had no idea that medicine was a possibility without Chemistry though.

itsgettingweird · 23/08/2020 10:03

User sorry about that. Sounds very tough on your ds and of course you too.
Having a child who was bullied and having to make decisions in secondary to avoid that (from juniors) and then moving again because of bullying in secondary I totally empathise.

Do 6th from have a waiting list? Is there still people waiting for confirm or deny?
Do you have previous reports or something with mock grades etc?

I hope you find him somewhere. It's awful when we watch your kids making decisions based on the behaviour of others rather than what they could have and want.

FoolsAssassin · 23/08/2020 10:13

I’m so sorry User. Are those the only two options, nothing further afield, even if it means more travel’

I might be tempted to see if I could get through to the Pastoral care dept at college and explain about the bullying, say how worried you are about him having to go back to school and ask if they can think of a solution to sort this. Bit of a long shot but sometimes the right sympathetic person can make things happen.

Monkey2001 · 23/08/2020 10:17

@Heifer

From my spreadsheet which I need to check as I just had to add Southampton in!

Universities Not Requiring Chemistry A Level

Bio or Chem + another maths/science
ARU Bio or Chem + another maths/science
Leeds Bio or Chem + another maths/science
Barts Bio or Chem + another maths/science
Sunderland Bio or Chem + another maths/science

Bio or Chem + another maths/science/psychology
Manchester Bio or Chem + another maths/science/psychology
Plymouth Bio or Chem + another maths/science/psychology
Sheffield Bio or Chem + another maths/science/psychology
Kent and Medway Bio or Chem + another maths/science/psychology
Leicester Bio or Chem + another maths/science/psychology
Keele Bio or Chem + another maths/science/psychology/economics
Lancaster 2 from Bio/Chem/Pscyhology

Bio + another science
Southhampton Bio + Chemistry, Physics, Psychology, Sociology, Environmental Studies or Geography

UEA - Bio or Chem plus any other 2
Newcastle - Any 3

You should check the latest information on their websites though. Also seewww.medschools.ac.uk/media/2357/msc-entry-requirements-for-uk-medical-schools.pdf