Starting Year 11 GCSE 2021 Thread 2

[indy69]

Just continuing on from thread one. Let's support each other through these difficult times. Here is the earlier thread. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3653238-Starting-Year-11-GCSE2021-title-edited-by-MNHQ

I'm just really hoping whatever they decide it involves keeping the kids at school (virtual or IRL) and engaged up to end of June when exams would have finished. I don't want my DD sitting around for months on end with nothing to do. I know some kids and families really struggled with this last year.

I agree
It’s going to be no good for their MH if they have nothing to do at all
Not sure how poor teachers are supposed to keep them all motivated though

DD is being kept very busy today, she's had two Google meets and her English teacher told them they will be continuing as if exams were still taking place, they want to make sure as much of the content is completed as possible.

We just had a link sent for an online parents evening next week, I just hope they give some guidance soon as to the plans but not holding my breath.

HOY sent a nice motivational email to them all last night which finished with you're all amazing and you can all do this.... whatever this is!

DD still seems on the edge a bit though I'm trying to stay calm and go with it for now whilst helping DD2 who is Y6 and trying to WFH

Oh it's just a complete balls up... dd is down even though she's in a really good position, she had her mocks in November and gained 7s and above she feels demotivated and is gutted she's misses her last drama performance. She feels like it's all been for nothing. I'm trying to comfort and motivate her but it's not easy.

DS is having a ‘live’ timetable so I assume they are going with business as usual. He is only coming out of his room to make cups of tea. He missed them when he went back last term!

That was nice of the HOY @UncomfortableSilence

DD’s school seem to have taken a calm and practical approach. They say they will need to carry on studying to progress to the next level and so there is no air of giving up and their response seems to have rubbed off enough on DD. However many of the departments have got a good way into the syllabus. DD had completed Maths and was solely working on FM which they expect to finish by half term and then it was all about revision. I know many aren’t in the same boat.

Expecting to be twiddling thumbs in Spring DD has ordered all her classical Civ and English A level books and seems to now have gone from demotivated at the bottom of a slough of despond to steaming ahead and positive, I am sure the rollercoaster of ups and downs will continue.

Hope your DCs are not at rock bottom like mine seemed to be yesterday.

@PettsWoodParadise - well done your DD and the school. I’m hoping my DD will be the same once she gets back into the swing of home schooling. Yesterday she declared that there was no point in working any more as exams are cancelled. I did point out that if she wanted to progress to A’level she needed to keep up the pace and that there would certainly be ‘some’ method of assessment. Today has been a good start with a full day of live lessons from school which DD has engaged with.

GCSEs will be awarded on teacher assessments according to Gavin just now

Thanks for update. Did he say what exactly will contribute to the assessment and how, ie what per Celeste, if there’ll be new assessments etc?

No we were watching at school, he gave absolutely no further detail just that the finer points were still to be finalised.

How's everyone feeling after Gavs announcement?
I'm starting to panic. Will they get back to school with enough time to prove themselves and provide enough evidence for grades?
Our school did winter mocks - but how can they use these results when the kids didn't even have a proper education April to July.

Name change, back on here so I can voice my doubts whilst presenting a positive outlook to DD.
We have a report from Spring 2019 !!! with predicted grades,6&7s, then some results back from paper 1 mocks in December, few 9s & scrap 7 in maths.
They were due to have another round of mocks - paper 2 & maths again this month.

The cags let down some of our kids very badly last year. Just wondering what covid secure bribes I should be sending into school

I’m thinking the schools will use a baseline of their own predicted grades, add in mock results and spend the next 3/4 months having the students under a continuous assessment. Otherwise they’ll struggle to keep the students focused and striving to improve and learn.
Have they actually said how students in Scotland and Wales are to be graded this year?

At DDs school we get predicted grades at the end of each term and how these compare to the previous term so to be honest I’m not worried
They also did mocks in December so they can use those too if necessary
I know we are lucky

I have a very demotivated Year 11 here, it's so tough on them and so early in the year to be thinking that is it.

"The education secretary also said there would be a "further detailed consultation by Ofqual" that will begin next week and last for a fortnight."

From the TES new pages

Yes a consultation for a contingency plan about what to do if exams have to be cancelled... a contingency plan they’re coming up with after the event.

Why are we not surprised @Stormer

I am disgusted that there was no contingency plan in place before the announcement (and that's not because people in education didn't think it would be a good idea)
Just thought I'd highlight what timescale the politicians are working on...
I feel so sorry for everyone at the bottom - children, teachers, school leadership teams. So much anxiety, waiting for the 'grown ups' to finally make some decisions.

TheFaithful info about timescales always welcome here! I just couldn’t resist pointing out the irony of the govt saying they need time to come up with a contingency plan.

Fancy needing a contingency plan. Who would have guessed? I thought they would have had a plan B up their sleeves. Not to have is pure stupidity. I didn’t think even our govt could be that stupid.

Our school have emailed today explaining about the next few months, mock results, teacher predicted grades based on previous work before exam cancellation and what route may be possibly taken in line with how the students were graded last year. They are encouraging continuous assessment and saying that now and the next few months matters as much as their previous work and mocks. It was a good email and I feel confident that they are going to do the best they can in such a situation such as this.

I'd like to see the gcse grades of the people in charge of the government. At the moment they are getting a 'U' in this subject.

DD’s mocks were due to take place after Feb half term. School have emailed today to say that A level mocks, which were due to take place next week, will be taking place then instead. They still want to hold GCSE mocks & will advise us when “in due course”

Suspect this will be after the consultation period which the Head is pessimistic about only taking 2 weeks.

@Toobuktim

I’m thinking the schools will use a baseline of their own predicted grades, add in mock results and spend the next 3/4 months having the students under a continuous assessment. Otherwise they’ll struggle to keep the students focused and striving to improve and learn. Have they actually said how students in Scotland and Wales are to be graded this year?

My DDs targets are very low because of her Y6 SATs. I'm told she's passed her targets in almost all subjects - some by a long way. She messed up her mocks- in one she just cried. But that's ok, because that's what mocks are for. Her teacher and I have talked her through it and she knows what to revise and was feeling positive and has been working on it over Christmas. Her friend at another school hasn't even taken any mocks yet.

I just can't see how it's going to work