GCSE History - end of Y9 report, DS graded a 2

[AtomicBronde]

Without going in to too much detail, DS has hardly been in the same classroom as his history teacher this year, due to a combination of Covid etc mostly online learning, although this isn’t an excuse for the poor grade, it certainly hasn’t helped.

He has the knowledge but can’t put it down on paper very well, can’t seem to quite grasp the PEER structure paragraphs when answering questions.

He’s now thinking of dropping history, he’s taking two humanities, he was graded a 5 in Geography.

I want to encourage him to continue but just wondered what his alternatives are? Can you start another subject at the start of Y10?

Ds had to pick his options in Y8, while away from school due to Covid, so didn’t have the luxury of options evenings etc

I will discuss with his teacher but just wanted some advice here too. Grade 2, at this stage, can he pull this back with work?

He's got 2 more years, he could pull the History grade up.
What he is allowed to do will be dependent on the school.

At DD's school an otherwise able and capable and non-SEN student wouldn't generally be allowed to drop something just because they weren't doing well. They'd be expected to try to sort out the issues, at least before y11.

Swapping subjects would be hard - it needs to be something in the same timetable block for a start, but also there would be a year to catch up.

In lots of schools they wouldn't have even started the GCSE history syllabus until y10 so there should be plenty of time.

For the PEER stuff, can he practice writing each bit as a clear separate sentence? Or look at previous work and use different colour highlighters to see what he is missing? Can you do some discussions with him to help bring his arguing on? Is he making connections and causal links when revising?

Presumably the 'grade 2' is a 'working at' rather than 'predicted'? i.e. Currently he is writing grade 2 style answers. Even if he 'just' improves his answer style by 1 grade per year, he'll be at a passing grade 4 by end y11.

The best thing Ds's school did was provide a WAGOLL (what a good one looks like) and it was colour coded. They don't do PEER as such (I am assuming point, evidence, explain/expand something) but they do lay it out for each question.

For the PEER it would be colour coded to see each thing separately and they can replicate it plus it shows the length of an ideal response to a question. And yes, he can massively improve his grade. He has 2 years to go and History is a 2 part process, one knowing the facts (AO1 for OCR) and then 2, applying that knowledge. It is a method and can be taught and learned. He is clearly good at writing essays due to his Geography grade.

Ds1 was about a 4- at the end of year 9 without lockdown interruptions he got a 9 in History at GCSE.

I think WAGOLLs are useful too. They need to be provided at different levels. No point showing a grade 2 person a grade 8 answer (or at least there wasn't for my DDs). Better off showing them a grade 4 answer first.

Thanks for your great responses!

Target grades are 5-7.

We bought (possibly too late for the latest review but I wasn’t aware it existed until recommended) the Practise Paper Plus. Talked through Ds’s paper and where he went wrong. It gives examples of answers using the PEEL format, but there’s LOTS of reading, something DS sadly doesn’t do as much of these days!

Thanks for the WAGOLL info. I’ll look for online links and talk through with Ds.

@ViewFromTheTowers what a brilliant achievement for your DS, he must have work incredibly hard.

I’m really hoping that there will be far fewer interruptions in Y10 and I will continue to encourage and support. Quite hard though with a dc who can be defeatist.

Sorry, I meant PEEL, point, evidence, explain, link.

@TeenMinusTests that’s a good way of looking at it, achieving a grade 4+ with work could be possible.

He might just come in to his own in Y10, have to admit, he’s had a pretty lousy Y9.

I am grateful my y9 son's report only gave gcse grades for maths and science, as I think seeing what he might achieve in history and Spanish, wouldn't be helpful right now.
My son loves history but his writing isn't great. I am hoping they will do a lot of work on the essay writing etc in y10. Hopefully gcses in 2023 will also take account of how much school they have missed.
I think he will realistically be aiming for a 4 in history, although I don't think he needs to know that at the moment.

@1starwars2 it’s interesting how schools differ.

I like your school’s approach.

Yes, I don't like their approach to everything but I was pleased that his report was focused on behaviour (all good or excellent) and engagement in learning (positive for everything he is doing at gcse), as I think that is all we can ask of them at the moment.

I would say to your son that he will learn and improve a lot in the next 20 months.

Would he want to change subject?

I would have preferred DS chose some less academic (heavy on the writing subjects), but he can't be persuaded.

At our school you have to do 1 of history and geography then 4 options one of which can be history or geography. They don't start new subjects in y10 but policy varies by school - your schools website may have details on under curriculum.

You normally increase by 1 a year though grades below y10 can be inaccurate esp if limited teacher contact. If he is weak at writing geography may be easier to achieve a strong grade in. I would speak to school and see what they advise and also try and find out course content, its easier if he is interested in the subject.

@Silkiecats the ops son has chosen options in yr8 so probably not easy to switch.

Op does he enjoy history, is he inspired by the topics? He can totally move from a 2 to a 4/5 in two years. Talk to his teacher, look at revision guides - is it an issue with revision or how hecwrites the answers?

@clary we have to push him to revise but he did quite a lot of revision for history.

It’s the writing side he’s struggling with, he tends to rush through reading the question and then hasn’t answered correctly, or has but not using the PEEL format.

Time and time again we have to tell him not to rush and really read what’s been asked.

He does enjoy history but hasn’t enjoyed this year as it’s been mostly online.

@AtomicBronde I used to get mine to underline the key words in the questions for all subjects, then tick off when they have answered that bit especially if it says when and why etc so they know they have answered each part of the question.

Those answer examples are the WAGOLLs and are useful to help plan answers. When you say there is a lot of reading what reading? Is he doing AQA History? I can highly recommend Gerard O'Toole on YouTube who is a History teacher and clearly intended his videos to be for his class but then accrued a few hundred subscribers. He is great and asks questions as well as teaching www.youtube.com/channel/UC1lF39sOAN8bUH5QjXI3G_g

Your Ds may or may not have covered some of the GCSE content some schools cover it over 3 years due to the sheer volume of work. If he is willing you could get him to rewrite just one answer using PEEL and get his teacher to look at it and give feedback.

@ViewFromTheTowers regarding the reading, meaning in the revision guide we bought, possibly too late for this years review.

That’s a really great idea, getting DS to rewrite using PEEL! This I will need to possibly need to encourage but we’ll see.

Thanks so much for the YouTube link this is something DS needs, something to watch rather than read currently! From an avid reader in Y6/7, there’s been a slow decline to where we are now.

I will sit down and watch with DS during the next few weeks.

DS is doing Edexel History.

The revision guide had many pages of example question/answers, tips etc

Ds seems often overwhelmed by so much information to take in!

@AtomicBronde The youtube chappie Gerard is Edexcel and he is great. Rewriting using PEEL means he only has to do it once, colour code it and use it as a template in future.

Sadly it is a lot of information to take in but GCSEs are elephants and the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time

Use the summer holidays to go over what he learned in year 9 with the help of YouTube, far more exciting than just reading alone. When he comes to re-watch them he can change the speed setting to 1.5 or even 1.75 speed on the videos. There is a wealth of teachers putting this stuff on YouTube to help their class but also others studying the subject.

@ViewFromTheTowers thanks so much! I think this is the way forward!

I think you really need to establish if he likes history or not. If he can get a 5 in geography which is a great above average grade - then he is clearly bright enough to do well in history if he wants to.
As you would know a 2 is an ideal grade level for a year 7 so there is alarm bells ringing for me why he can get a year 10 grade for geography but is getting a year 7 grade for history. Ask him, and then ask his teacher.
History is a lot of work and if he doesn't like it he would be better off moving which is not impossible if the school agrees.