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

Any teachers on here? Do you think they will keep the year 11's in school/home learning til July this year to make sure they have covered the curriculum?

treee. Good question. DD1 just did fun stuff after they finished GCSEs year before last. DofE, language trip, and other bits and bobs. No ‘learning’, but of course they’d finished the curriculum pre exams plus could do fun stuff back then. Who knows this year especially given our system is so exam focused rather than for learnings’ sake.

@NotDonna last year as soon as the exams were announced as cancelled in March they never went back. I don't think that it would be right this year not to take them back after Easter . But I guess it depends at what point the final assessments are being made until and presumably some subjects finish the syllabus earlier than others? DD has certainly already finished the 3 books in English Lit, they hadn't gotten around to poetry yet. Maybe they will now still do it?

Also our school have already announced that all school trips have been cancelled for 2021, so I can't imagine there would be much fun stuff

That’s what I mean treee re the fun stuff. Totally agree about letting them loose too early.

My DD said tonight in a fit of frustration that there was no point in doing her homework as there’s no exams. It’s so hard for them all. Suck at home with no obvious end goal to work towards, and no fun stuff until everyone is vaccinated.

DD has realised there is not going to be a prom. She has declared she's is still going to buy a dress I'm not paying for it! and will just walk around the house in it.

She hasn't yet decided she doesn't need to work. She's been practicing for her music listening exam and has started practicing her drama performance which we've been told will be assessed when she's back in school. I don't think schools will be fully open until after Easter, so when she will be assessed I don't know.

Oh god, prom. I’m hoping school will be up and running by late June and they can have something? Or am I in denial?

My DD does drama too. I’ll have to ask her what the score is what she’s been told about that. I know from a friend who teaches drama GCSE at another school that the teachers will be assessing the students and it’ll only be a short performance. They’ve already had to change so much with drama.

@LynetteScavo my ds didn’t do great in his year 6 sats either and for the first year or so at high school his target grades were averaging around two below his working grades. At the end of year 8 they re-assessed the pupils and then gave them “teacher predicted grades” and “current working grades” and they continue to be a far more realistic interpretation of what he is and should achieve.
In the letter we received they say that the “centre assessed grades” used for last years contingent took in a wider range of factors and that grades now aren’t set in stone. And that if the government ask the school to follow a similar process then it is vital that they stay focussed, complete current work set and expect to be back in school soon to be doing more internal assessments and completing the curriculum.
They were also told that they would be in school till July like previous years and it’s important to remember that the work they do sets a basis for wherever they go next year.
A lot of the students carry on and go to the attached 6th form, so I can’t see many slacking off really.

At the end of year 8 they re-assessed the pupils and then gave them “teacher predicted grades” and “current working grades” and they continue to be a far more realistic interpretation of what he is and should achieve.

If only! DDs school absolutely refused to change any of her targets. Teachers that didn't know her really didn't want her taking their subject (who h made me very cross as it's a comprehensive school and I thought it was poor form to discourage less able students have to pick either Geography or History). Two of those teachers have been very pleasantly surprised, and questioned DD on why her target grade is so low. We've had no communication from the school about GCSEs, but they have cancelled next weeks online parent's meetings (without telling us, I had to query why I couldn't book) and are refusing to let me have copies of mock papers incase they need to be used as evidence. I am so nervous about all this. It's the not knowing.

DS will get his mock results next week - I'm very nervous as he did zero revision for anything and am expecting low results :(

We have parents evening next week too, so I'll obviously be asking what he needs to do to ensure he gets the "expected grades" we received just before Christmas.

DS is feeling very stupid for not revising for his mocks now, but lesson learnt - it has made him more determined to engage in the online learning and do everything to the best of his ability. So hopefully the mocks won't be a huge part of the teacher assessments and if he has massively underperformed then he'll be able to turn it around.

@LynetteScavo ... the only target grades of DS's that have ever been changed were Science. I am assuming this is because he didn't do Science SATS (I think some kids did, and some kids didn't). Stupid if a student is clearly capable of something not to target them accordingly :(

Judging a student for their entire secondary school education based on a few days of tests when they are 10/11 is ridiculous. My DS didn’t particularly like primary school and didn’t really try hard for the sats, it wasn’t important to him at the time. From the moment he started high school he just loved it and blossomed. We did have a couple of queries regarding his initial target grades in year 7 and 8 from his teachers, but all of them said they judge the student on the work they produce in their lessons and don’t categorise them on what is on paper.
I’m sorry for your dd @LynetteScavo there just seems to be such a wide ranging difference between schools and how they interpret sats results and future performance.

@Toobuktim I would also suggest that judging adults just on a set of tests taken at 16 is also ridiculous.

I wish secondary school was properly assessed the whole way through

Dd's school is now taking December's paper 1 mocks very seriously. Some papers are being triple marked for moderation, results delayed until grade boundaries established. All while the teachers are providing online content.

What a mess....

Dd's stats were strong, she worked consistently over the years, revised but this year was supposed to be a steady acceleration not peaking in November. We didn't want her in a constant state of perfection and revision for two years. We preached 'work steady, balance other activities, closer to exams really concentrate' - how can anyone award an appropriate grade to that strategy.

I'm a bit late to join the thread, but I have a year 11dd too. She is disappointed that the exams aren't going ahead but seems to be staying fairly positive. Luckily, her school did the first set of mocks in November/December, and she did extremely well, so that is a good starting point. The school is planning a second set of mocks in March, so will just have to hope that they take place. They have also said that they will use other evidence, including work submitted online etc. It's a tough situation for the kids, I really hope that they can all stay motivated.

DD doesn’t have her mock results yet. I’ve got too long emails from her HOY and Headteacher about what they’re doing regarding GCSE marking. I haven’t had the strength to read them yet - need a large gin.

My DD also doesn't have most of her mock results back yet (just 2 which she did very well in). The teachers seem to be holding them back for some reason as we were expecting them as soon as they got back.

DD has had two mocks back, History she did great, maths not so much.

We are supposed to be getting the rest in a report prior to parents evening next week.

I am going for a head in the sand, fingers in ears approach.

DD has been effectively out of education since May with anxiety & depression. Yesterday she did 20 mins independent work which is the first independent work since May.

We are on a slow ramp up now she is on working meds, but the target was to be ready to sit 4 GCSEs in June.

I have no idea what will happen now, but she can't do more than she is doing so we are keeping on on our current plan, and just hoping a) that CAG deadlines are late enough for her to show what she can do, and b) school is able to take where she was a year ago into account.

After all, if school can't assess her at passes for English & Maths she'll have to 'retake' them in November anyway. She needs the biology knowledge for college.

DD is asking about school attendance and prom. I haven't the heart to say there is a good chance it won't happen. What i am saying is that school won't take her illness against her when it comes to deciding if she can attend.

Just catching up on the thread again.

DS’s prom was cancelled for this July, the week after they went back in September. At the time I was furious because we’d just had a relatively “normal” summer and I couldn’t see how they could cancel it that far ahead when things were getting back to normal , how wrong I was!!

DS’s school have gone into their lockdown teaching timetable which they set up in October, so he is have 1 live lesson a day and then work set for specific subjects at specific times which follow their own timetable. It seems to be working well. He’s annoyed about the maths one as they aren’t allowed their mics on to ask questions (they are in all other lessons) which sort of defeats the point!
He is feeling quite positive now. The teachers seem to be implying that they think the grades will be based around their target grades from KS2. His target grades are high but achievable so he thinks it’s all going to be ok, I really don’t want to burst his bubble but I’m not sure it’s going to be as simple as that.

The teachers seem to be implying that they think the grades will be based around their target grades from KS2.

They surely can't do that on an individual basis. That would be too ridiculously unfair towards pupils who came from less good primary schools. It would also negate all the good work they had put in.

Yes as a cohort there should be some sanity checking, but it will need to be mainly based on stuff a lot more recent than that. (My DD got

This in the paper this morning

And the end of the article

Random tests of unknown format is worse than exams in known format.

Standard tests that can be sat on different days is daft.

Doing tests remotely but invigilated online is different from doing a test 'online'. My DD can't do online tests, it blows her brain and she can't type.

@TeenPlusTwenties
I’m sure it will be far more detailed than that. Maybe they’ll be used along with a combination of teacher assessment.