Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Exams cancelled

999 replies

noblegiraffe · 04/01/2021 20:13

Alternative arrangements will be made.

How stressful to announce that with no details about what will happen.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
16
KittyMcKitty · 19/01/2021 09:29

No criticism of the professionals giving their opinion on this thread but with a year 13 who hasn’t done mocks (did Sept formal exams whilst isolating with COVID) I’ve pretty much hit rock bottom and can’t see any future for him. Not worried about my yr 11 - she may not get grades she deserves but I’m 100% sure school will let her do the A levels she wants. But for my year 13 it feels like it’s over.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 19/01/2021 09:34

Kitty why does it feel like it's over for your Y13? What do they need?

OP posts:
NotDonna · 19/01/2021 09:36

Oh kitty! I know how you feel I have one of each as well. It’s not over though. It’s a mess but not over!

NotDonna · 19/01/2021 09:38

I’m on the applying to university thread with you and I think it’s the lack of offers that doesn’t help! He has 2. And those 3 others could be through any minute. It definitely isn’t over.

grauduroi · 19/01/2021 10:27

I'm with you there Kitty. My year 13 did mocky mocks in september (not stellar) and was due to sit another set in Jan. He has not coped well with lockdown (has anxiety and is an only so misses social company hugely) - his teachers in his report have commented that he has not performed as he was pre-lockdown but that he would pick up once back in school!

He is taking a gap year as he doesn't really know what he would like to do, but that is probably going to turn into resits and he is just getting really down about where his future is heading. He is a hard worker who wants to achieve but the isolation, lack of clarity about what is happening and when he can get back to school is wrecking his head some days.

MrsHamlet · 19/01/2021 10:33

@NotDonna

You really make them up?
Real conversation with my boss: Hod: you can't give that student a 2 in her report Me: why? That's what she is going to get. She does very little work and it's very poor. Hod: you can't give that student a 2 because her target is a 5. Me: but that's what she will get. Look at her book. Hod: well yes but her parents will complain Me: let them.

If I wasn't very experienced both as a teacher and examiner (and a bolshy cow to boot) I might have been "persuaded" to change it.

treeeeemendous · 19/01/2021 10:49

My issue with all of this is my dd is dyslexic so exams do not really work for her.

She does well in class work, homework, small assessments, end of unit tests then put it all together into one big exam and bam she falls apart. Her brain doesn't seem to be able to retain all of that information, she gets it confused and muddled. She struggles to understand the wording of the long answer questions and what they want.

I don't think exams are the be all and end all. I think it's really unfair that kids are judged on how they perform in one set of exams at 16. If we had a better education system where kids were assessed continually it would be far better. But it seems to me that all the assessments the kids seem to do here count for nothing.

MrsHamlet · 19/01/2021 11:23

The assessments I do in class count for nothing in the sense that I can't count them towards the result but they're vital for formative assessment.
Case in point: marked something a student did last week where he's got himself muddled part way through and wandered off down an ideas cul de sac. My feedback on that will help him to do it better next time. That's not nothing.

Piggywaspushed · 19/01/2021 11:26

mrs I really think that is not what happens in all schools. If anything it does happen the other way round but I have never been told to raise a grade.

I agree that work outside formal assessment point should count for more fwiw tree

Piggywaspushed · 19/01/2021 11:33

I genuinely do think you can measure progress in some subjects and not others. Not sure what word I could have used noble. I guess the reason why I think teachers are more accurate in subjects like English and history is that they ahve more evidence than a one off snapshot in an exam.

My schools does collect in our 'predictions' (I do hate that word) and I guess my views are coloured by the fact that they tend to be pretty much correct from me (give or take a few). That said, i still think the whole notion of exams as the kind of gold standard measurement is flawed!

KittyMcKitty · 19/01/2021 11:40

@noblegiraffe

Kitty why does it feel like it's over for your Y13? What do they need?
They’re applying for Philosophy & Politics and have UCAS predictions of AAA. The offers so far are AAB and ABB still waiting on 3.

Reading the consultation and listening to the talk in here about teacher assessed grades I just can’t envisage a situation with a positive outcome. Lockdown 1 was horrendous for him. He’s doing 3 essay based subjects.

He’s also at a grammar school and the algorithm fiasco of last year destroyed the schools CAG giving no consideration to the fact that it was a selective school and downgrading some marks by many grades to U’s. Even though we’re promised no algorithm this year I have no faith in it being anything other then a disaster.

He’s also applied for deferred entry and I don’t think uni’s will be as generous with the deferred students if they miss a grade.

He’s had COVID in September and for reasons I don’t want to go into it was a truly awful time.

I just don’t think the dice will roll in his favour.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 19/01/2021 11:40

How can teachers be ‘accurate’ in a subject where we know that even trained examiners that subject can’t be in any fine sense ‘accurate’, piggy? That’s what I don’t get in what you are saying. What does that grade represent and would two teachers independently assign the same mark/grade?

OP posts:
Piggywaspushed · 19/01/2021 11:41

Sorry got distracted by DS. Am not arguing that progress in always linear by any means. That is why I don't like terminal exams.

Piggywaspushed · 19/01/2021 11:42

Two people might be more likely to look at it than in an exam, noble . Certainly true of coursework! Three or more people look at an NEA of the class is quite small.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 19/01/2021 11:59

Kitty just bear in mind with teachers talking about the fine details of Ofqual's proposals etc, your DS will get grades that are as fair as your his teachers can make them. The algorithm last year threw up some truly bizarre decisions that should have been checked by a human before release, and that is gone.

The grade distribution will be generous and universities need bums on seats. Even if he doesn't get the grades needed for the courses he's applied for, it's not game over. It's just slightly different game. Clearing is always an option.

It sounds like he's had a really tough year. The work that he does now will contribute, he has time to improve and show what he is capable of. He's a bright boy, the school know that.

OP posts:
Stormer · 19/01/2021 12:17

The work that he does now will contribute, he has time to improve and show what he is capable of.

Completely agree.

The big kicker though for all is ensuring the motivation is kept up. Or rather, is re-ignited if it was snuffed out by exams being cancelled and general despondency. It’s hard to be motivated when you don’t know what exactly you’re working towards and your teachers, who you have to trust to steer you, don’t know themselves what the end destination is.

The effect on morale can’t be quantified but it’s definitely a key metric at play here.

Piggywaspushed · 19/01/2021 12:24

I am mulling this and might prefer a kind of version of the US system : like a Grade Point Average or the Scandinavian continuous assessment systems. Too late now for this lot. I am blue sky thinking.

The trouble with England is it thinks A Levels , in particular are our USP, attractive to foreign candidates at expensive schools and are somehow international gold standard so must never change.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 19/01/2021 12:26

I know, Stormer, teachers have a big role here in keeping the momentum going and continuing to have high standards and expectations. It’s obviously much harder when we’re not in the classroom so we need to try to keep on top of them as individuals as well as as a class.

Parents are obviously also key players.

OP posts:
Stormer · 19/01/2021 13:05

Absolutely parents are key players. And of course the students themselves. It’s a triumvirate, innit Wink

It’s just tricky. Because teachers can’t give certainty as to how the grades will be assessed and what material will be counted, and no one can retrospectively reverse the exams cancellation announcement

For that reason I really hope this year’s marks are deliberately on the generous side for all. As a whole, the current Year 11s and Year 13s deserve it.

Stormer · 19/01/2021 13:07

*The exams cancellation announcement without a ready contingency plan is what I should have said.

portico · 19/01/2021 16:20

Spent a nasty hour helping my son on algebraic fractions. Took me ages to find the chapter. Apparently, it’s called linear equations in some books lol...., sums up the gcse journey if 2020/21 lol

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 19/01/2021 17:08

Algebraic fractions aren’t linear equations :(

You can have linear equations with algebraic fractions. But a lot of equations with algebraic fractions end up being quadratic at GCSE.

OP posts:
portico · 19/01/2021 17:15

Hi noble, I meant I happened to find them on the Linear Equations chapter

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 19/01/2021 17:18

I was suggesting that I’d have similar difficulty in finding them!

If you ever need any maths help maybe pointing you in the direction of better organised resources, let me know!

OP posts:
KittyMcKitty · 19/01/2021 17:23

@portico

Spent a nasty hour helping my son on algebraic fractions. Took me ages to find the chapter. Apparently, it’s called linear equations in some books lol...., sums up the gcse journey if 2020/21 lol
My children find / found Corbett Maths really accessible for GCSE maths (better then Hegarty). It’s really well organised Smile
Exams cancelled