Worried about year 10 and gcse's

[Manchestertimes]

I am so worried about my year 10 childs GCSE's being taken in 2022. He does them over 2 years and has already had to isolate three times this term. If they got back on 18th Jan he will have missed 8 weeks of school.
I just hope the government make some changes to the GCSE's in 2022. Anyone else concerned.

I just hope the government make some changes to the GCSE's in 2022.

I would be hoping they make some chances to the teaching to make up for those 8 weeks lost. For 2022 I would be crossing everything I had for exams to go ahead. Being in a year with cancelled exams isn't a good place to be.

Perhaps you could get a tutor to help of school won't be able to? I would imagine for 2022 it's totally achievable without a tutor, so long as the pupil puts in the effort.

Yes I do want the exams to go ahead but would like some of the content to be reduced. The school has been great and has provided live lessons and my son has a maths tutor but he is lazy when he is working from home so I have to keep an eye on him.
I know most people would say he is old enough to take responsibility for himself but he has ADHD traits (been assessed) so I need to be actively involved with him.
Many children will be in a similar position so just hope this is taken into account for the 2022 exams

I've got one in y10 - we've been lucky that she's not had to isolate yet (unlike y9 brother who has had to isolate twice) but we've got the 2 weeks of remote learning which could well be extended as we are Tier 4. I am concerned that y10 aren't being prioritised at all and remote learning was only half the normal lessons in the March to July lockdown. I found lots of different sources for DD for that one and she used those - school weren't happy but her grades had gone up on return so I'm optimistic she can keep up. But it's the unknown of what the system could be - thankfully her school did assessments in everything last term and got grades recorded (apart from biology and physics were teachers are off long-term sick but she did biology test and has y9 grades in both those).

She is hoping it will go to teacher assessment but who knows - either is possible and think they just have to prepare for both. But I really feel for the kids - its 2 years of stress and uncertainty and no after school activities or social contact for prolonged periods. And y10 and y12 seem forgotten about - in March they were out first by a week and last back.

On the plus side she's learning how to learn by herself which is a skill you normally wouldn't need until university and I think it will help her prepare for that. I really feel for the SN kids in those years - I've got one in y9 and he is struggling so much more and no help available as no EHCP at all - I just have to not work and do 1 to 1 with him all day. I can't tell him when school will be open, when it will be closed and every change he screams for 2 weeks and its constant change.

Silkiechickscat you have absolutely nailed it! Year 10 and 12 have been forgotten about. It's the uncertainty that causes the stress. I know nobody knows what will happen but it's so hard for the kids.
The only positive is this time whilst the schools are closed my son can still go out. The previous periods of isolation have been really hard.
The main problem with remote learning is the school sets too much work and he isn't really learning it, he is just completing it.
When they are in school they do the work and can revise in the evenings.
Surely something will have to be done to help them.

I could have e written your post back in May, worried about my Y10 DD as was then. It was all focused on the trauma of the Y11s and 13s and exams being cancelled but no thought of Y10s. Well yes our Y10s became Y11s and there have been months of lost teaching. So many changes have happened and the uncertainty about the next as yet unknown changes is so unsettling. It is like they can’t have a bad day just in case the teacher remembers that particular piece of work when it comes to a possible assessment.

I do feel for you as this drags on. I remember being told ‘it will all be fine for your DD, it will all be over by then’. But it wasn’t. I hope though with the vaccine it will truly get more predictable for the current Y10s and 12s.

They won't make any decision about the current y10s until at least August (and more likely October). They will be seeing how learning pans out this academic year, and how the y11s get on, and how well or otherwise the adjustments they made for current y11 work.

If in doubt get your DS to concentrate on
a) core subjects
b) any subjects important for next steps A levels / college or whatever.

That's all you can do right now. No point expending energy on anything else when there are so many unknowns.

(My y11 isn't well enough to attend school. Has gone from being on track to pass all her GCSEs to only even aiming to sit 4. Mental health is more important than any exams.)

Thanks for your responses, lets just hope it works out for all the children in exam years.