If a school normally down grades mocks GCSEs

[Curlyshirl]

What will happen now if they are to become evidence for this year’s GCSE grades? DSs school uses this tactic to motivate the students and basically give them a kick up the backside. Is this going to backfire big time if they’ve down graded the cohort compared to other schools?

No, because the student still did what they did in the mock, irrespective of what the school reported to the student that they got. It doesn't matter if the school told students it was a 2, if it was really a 6 that's the evidence they'd put forward to the board. The actual work is what matters, not what label the school put on it.

I'm assuming here that the school can grade accurately, knows the raw scores for the assessments and applies stricter grade boundaries for mocks as a way of providing a kick up the arse for students. The same exam, with the "real" grade boundaries (I use this term loosely) would actually come out higher.

That’s reassuring thank you.