Any teachers out there? Wanting advice re. DSs normally high achieving school mock GCSE results.

[muminthesummer]

This is a school in an affluent area which normally gets way above average GCSE results. They did mocks before Christmas and results coming back now are much lower than normal and in some subjects absolutely dire. This is obviously really worrying for actual GCSE marks this summer. What do teachers think? The school had fairly good provision in lockdown one - no live lessons or much in the way of feedback, but quite good lessons on PowerPoint etc.

Bear in mind that the school choose how to set and mark mocks. They may have chosen to mark harshly to give them a kick up the backside about how they are doing. It may not be an indication of how they would have performed in the real thing.

What feedback has your son received? Does he know what he needs to work on?

What year is your DS? Y10 or Y11? I'd be concerned, if Y11, if his marks will be used to help determine his final grade, now summer exams have been scrapped.

How well did your DS engage with the lessons? However good the powerpoints were, if your DS didn't have the self motivation to work with them, he'll have struggled in mocks.

I'd be asking to speak to the head of year, I think, to ask about the mock exam results this year, and see what they say.

They're year 11! My Ds actually got towards the top of the grades, though still lower a little lower than expected. A lot of DC who normally achieve well have really flunked them.

High grades will be really hard earned this year compared to previous years, when you consider most has been done remotely since March and for many, peppered with repeated self isolation.

How do you know everyone elses' mock results?

How do oyu know the mock results of previous years?

It is generally accepted that most schools mark mocks hard, and individual students' grades can increase significantly by the time final exams are taken.

@Seelineline The marks are read out to the class so ds knows all the marks. The teachers have said the marks are low.
@cptartapp does that mean marks will be low this year or do you think they'll be adjusted with grade boundaries?

Presumably it's a strategy to keep them on their toes and working right up to the moment that final assessed grades are submitted.

@MargeryMcLatchie probably although now GCSES have been 'cancelled' I think they'll be some worryingly stressed DC and parents. If it is the case I hope it doesn't backfire with some DC.

I have this same question so glad you asked it!
How can they have done as well as previous years in November mocks when they missed out April to July face to face lessons.
I selfishly want them to keep the good marks and be marked up and ignore the bad marks !
Surely if the whole class have done badly in one subject the teacher and school won't be happy with having very low marks for everyone?

What marks are students getting?

And what would they normally get

@MarshaBradyo for example mainly 4s and 5s for Chemistry, but quite a few 2s and 3s. DS got a 6 which was one of the highest marks but normally would expect to be a 7 or 8 (historically). Apparently DC who are normally more clever than DS got less than him. Similar picture to this in most subjects. This is in contrast to another local school who don't normally perform as well in league charts but seem to have done much better in their mocks.

At our school they gave out stats on engagement levels during lockdown and they were really low and they said it was their best week so far - it was something like 25% of students did nothing, 25% did less than 50%, 30% did 50% to 75% and 20% did 75% to 100%. Timetable was reduced to 3 lessons a day rather than 5 and not always following curriculum. So would imagine there would have been an impact on results and a greater gap between those at private / grammar and comps and those with parental help / tutors / support and those without. I would imagine they will adjust up like last year.

DD is in y10 and she thinks their school are doing maximum possible justifable grade but each school will vary. If he's just a little down think it will be fine and adjusted up but would ask school if you are concerned.

My DS did do all the work set last summer, but I think that a lot of his peers did too with only a few exceptions. I'm really surprised how badly they seem to have done as a whole.

He did say that a teacher had said marks might be adjusted. I didn't realise this happened.

This says only about 40% of pupils were returning work in lockdown on average (30% in deprived areas, 50% in least deprived).

www.nfer.ac.uk/media/4073/schools_responses_to_covid_19_pupil_engagement_in_remote_learning.pdf

Think there were a lot of kids telling parents they were doing work but not actually doing it or logging on at start of lesson and cameras off so can play on phone / ipad / zone out. But results were up quite a lot in the end:

feweek.co.uk/2020/08/20/gcse-results-2020-top-grades-increase-with-nearly-four-in-five-pupils-achieving-a-pass/

SEriously ignore other schools marks. Each school sets their own mocks. Maybe old papers or may be written by their own teachers.

It is possible that the marks are down a bit because of lockdown. However in my son's super selective he had a range of 5-7s in mocks and got eight 9s, two 8s and a 7 in the real gcses.

High achieving schools tend not to hand out high grades in mocks to prevent complacency.

DD yr 11 isn’t massively academic and got mock results today and they were dreadful.
In two science subjects one of which she was going to do for A level she got U’s think her target grades were 6’s and 7’s for these and she got an 8 in one of the last tests of the one she was going to choose at A level. Also she’s dyslexic so was assigned 25% extra time and didn’t take it as the exam rooms were freezing cold, they were in jumpers, the invigilators were grumpy and didn’t seem keen on them staying behind and she was already tired and extra time would have taken her beyond the school day. I picked her up and can confirm she was shivery and practically blue in the face every day. In a chemistry exam they didn’t hand out the periodic table until well into the exam. Those entitled to extra time weren’t given a separate room. I have emailed headteacher and got a bog standard reply basically suggesting DD emails teachers in subjects she’s concerned about and ask for feedback. She is so quiet and doesn’t like a fuss that this will be the last thing she will do. Fortunately she has passed maths and English but her A level options are severely reduced. Have tried to talk to her and be supportive twice today and both times she’s ended up in tears and shouting at me. Its so awful, they have had such a rubbish deal and the nightmare is ongoing.

@Randomrebel I feel so sorry for this cohort they really have had an absolutely awful experience. Reassure your DD that she is definitely not alone if my DS's school is anything to go by. DS doesn't say much but it sounds like loads of them have really done very badly and nowhere near their potential.

Seriously ignore other schools marks. Each school sets their own mocks. Maybe old papers or may be written by their own teachers

This is all very well until you want to use those grades to apply for another local sixth form 😢

@SeasonFinale thanks that's really reassuring and very good advice!

@MargeryMcLatchie

Seriously ignore other schools marks. Each school sets their own mocks. Maybe old papers or may be written by their own teachers

This is all very well until you want to use those grades to apply for another local sixth form 😢

When applying to different sixth forms they do not ask for mocks grades they ask for predicted grades which if a school as marked low for mocks will be entirely different.

I'm worried about this too. DS (Y11) really didn't engage with the lockdown learning from Easter. It was just huge amounts of worksheets etc, uploaded with no one to ask about it, and no feedback and he struggled.

He had exams in Nov on what they'd learned (having also had 2 two week periods out of school because pupils in their bubble tested positive) and he (unsurprisingly) has come out on 3s and 4s. His targets are mostly 7s and 8s. Unsurprisingly, because he's missed massive amounts of teaching he's not getting those grades when he sits exam papers.

And now we're back in lockdown again and they are (apparently) going to do more Mocks in March. Can't see it improving!

How can he be given a GCSE grade of this is what you got when a pandemic fucked up half of Y10 and most of Y11 for you...?

Teachers say they need evidence of what he can achieve - but this is not what he would have achieved in normal times. How can it be fair?

They could have put too big a buffer on the grade boundaries.

As the grade boundaries move each year it's good practice to apply a buffer of 5% or so to account for this. Sometimes the senior leadership team get a bit too over zealous, with results as above - widespread panic and confusion in pupils and parents.

Thanks @muminthesummer did would be doing 6th form at her school if the grades can be improved its so sad for them.

Same as DD’s school @NovemberR she really lost interest and became withdrawn angry and moody with me trying to encourage her in lockdown one and her school were just dreadful. Its so sad. She/we are doing all the right things and she isn’t sneaking off having any fun with friends like some of them were in April and some are now.

It's so rubbish.

DS is likely to be given CAG of 4 grades below his target. How shit is that? They are basically testing him on what have you managed to teach yourself over this two year course?...

Not blaming teachers, but the whole situation is dreadful. Wish they'd just award the whole lot of them their target grades and be done with it. How can they assess how pupils have done accurately? They've missed so much teaching - and some have obviously missed a lot more than others.