Current Year 11 2021/2022 support thread pt II

[StColumbofNavron]

Thread for those with Y10s finishing July 2021 ready for Y11 in Sept 2021.

All welcome.

@StColumbofNavron glad DS’s week of mocks have gone well. My DS is not so happy but he’s usually quite negative so you can’t really tell tbh. Fingers crossed for 7,8 and 9 grades, he’ll be gutted with a 6. No idea when he gets his results.

Will you be pleased if he stays on at the school sixth form? My DS wants to stay at school but the grade requirements are strict so we will have to wait and see.

Good luck to your DS for next week @Nard75

Thanks @zighead. My DS is also hoping to stay on at his school for 6th form same as DS1.

@zighead we’ve been really happy with the school and it becomes a consortium with a number of others for sixth form. It’s a decent school academically so really it just comes down to a fresh start further away or carrying on walking distance from home. The content of the history course is important to him and his school offer the one he finds most interesting.

Hope your DD manages to get through mocks and relax afterwards, such a stressful year for them Rollergirl Hope they make a decision on France too, I remember our school insisting they were going to Italy with a 60 year old teacher with heart issues when it was dire in Italy and people were dying in beds at home. School were like is there an issue in Italy? , it was early in pandemic but still. I sent the teacher lots of links from Italian news and told him he wasn't to go. They do health and safety assessments on everything under the sun so I said get them to do a risk assessment if you go into hospital or a child does and you really should not be going. He was very happy someone cared about him. A few days later it got cancelled. Actually got all money back which I wasn't expecting.

Putting up first Christmas decs and DD has the light up penguin in her room. School have explained all the different grading and apparently even though they tell parents they are sending through one set of grades they send through another higher ones to sixth forms so that is sorted. Though we need to be careful as there is an issue with her being new and teacher assessment and a few exams sat late but should resolve over year.

Sorry to hear about your dd @Rollergirl11 - there's a lot going on but hopefully she's almost through her mocks now. 4 weeks to go for the main mocks here but English Language on Thursday. Ds still saying he's not sure how to answer the questions but I think he is in a bit of a panic now. We're going to look at a past paper tonight.

How did all your dc manage to revise on top of a normal school day?

@Lightsabre DS1 was staying at school for an hour for their study hub and then a couple of hours from 8-10ish. I’m not sure the late session is the best personally and yesterday after his history exam (one of his favourites) it turns out perhaps his method isn’t working - it was the first time I’ve seen him stressed these mocks so we are going to hone the revision over Christmas.

Sorry to hear your DD has been struggling @Rollergirl11 hope the school have come to their senses about the ski trip now and the mocks are not too stressful.

@Lightsabre my DS found Mr Bruff videos on youtube really helpful for English revision, he has ones where he goes through each question and what the examiner is looking for. www.youtube.com/user/mrbruff/playlists

All the best to those still in the middle of mocks. We are waiting for results, he has a one-to-one session with his drama teacher this afternoon to go through his paper so we should at least hear that one today. I think his drama portfolio still needs a lot of work, he hasn't been focusing on it (though he's been going to a lot of rehearsals), I'm not sure when the deadline is but hopefully he will find out. Parents evening coming up soon which should be interesting.

We've also been doing his sixth form application, school wants them done before the Christmas holidays so they can check them all before the early January deadline. I got a bit frustrated with the website at the weekend but I think we figured it out in the end!

DDs mocks are finished - not sure when results will come in but probably in dribs and drabs I suspect.

They have an internal sixth form day on Friday as their school has a sixth form and about 70% go to it where they get to have a day experiencing the lessons and the 6th form common room. Then in January there are two taster days coordinated throughout the city.

DD not sure between this school and another local school so hopefully the taster days will help.

Thank you @IThinkIMadeItWorse - I had a quick look at Mr Bruff but he uses the AQA syllabus and ds is doing OCR for language and Pearson Edexcel for Literature. There's very little revision material for OCR compared to AQA and I'm wary of confusing ds but at this stage prepared to try anything! I'll maybe have a look through first - hopefully the guidance on analysing structure, language and form is similar across the boards?

Thank you also @StColumbofNavron - I hope your ds has done better at History than he thinks.

Things seem to be getting reviewed now for DD. The mock grades were really good but some assessed grades were low as she is new and lack of evidence and especially an issue in Economics as a new subject and her mock was weak as she had not had time to catch up a year by herself on top of everything else. The assessed grades were fine in half the subjects and lower than mocks / past results in other half so been discussing with school / teachers and one teacher has said as exam sat late she cannot count but has got evidence from old school and raised predicted to 8 from 7, mock was a 9. Another subject raised there's 2 grades no idea why they had anticipated a 6 as lowest she has ever got has been a 7 and she is often 8 or 9 so now that's an 8. Another one is refusing to budge from a 7 despite her mock being a 9, said she needs to sit a second mock and get and 8 or a 9 then he will move her to an 8 but she's completely worn out with exams. Also not sure why 2 9s would equal an 8. But one science predicting a 7 should not be a huge issue but she is worried for Further Maths A level as it says all sciences at 8. Its that rule that is silly though more than the anticipated. All predicted grades are 8s and 9s but there are a fourth set of grades that go to 6th form higher than anticipated so that will be fine.

She is dropping economics though as too risky with teacher assessment, I think by the end she would have been fine but they have tested her on a year she has not done. She wants the A level. Further Maths also said they won't enter her for level 3 or GCSE further maths as she has only been to 10% of after school lessons. The no GCSE is fine, no idea why school were insisting on that but want her to sit level 3 and she wants to and can do it well. So am investigating going private but needs to be with a teacher incase teacher assessment or if her maths teacher can help as she has done first year of A level maths with her. Not heard from stats but she has missed lots of their after school but got 2 mocks at 9 plus so hoping that won't have an issue. It makes sense she goes down from 15 that was silly but just want it sensible ones to drop. Not heard about French but she is adamant she is taking that, would be surprised if result was good but a lower grade in French would be less of an issue.

The cancer tests showed a second mass in adrenals so doing more tests to see if at stage 4 but her school are being lovely about that. DS is really struggling but will have to wait to sort that.

Glad things are becoming clearer for your DD @Silkieschickens 15 would be a silly number to take so hope that she can drop the sensible ones and she's not feeling stressed about it. Sorry to hear the cancer has spread. Fingers crossed for the results of the further tests.

DS thinks he got a 3 in French which I think means they probably won't let him drop it as they will assume he can get a 4 in the summer. It feels like a waste of time but I am feeling resigned to it now. Such a shame his school are so inflexible, if he was at a different school he could be doing a different subject and come out with a better grade but they insist that everyone must do French! Not heard yet about statistics but the SENCO said she will push for it with the head of maths so I'm more hopeful there.

I am a bit worried about drama, "lots of room for improvement" was what he said after his meeting with his teacher - at least he is trying to be positive about it! He loves the practical side but the written stuff (exam and portfolio) is challenging for him with his dyslexia.

We are counting down the days until the Christmas holidays!

@Silkieschickens, really sorry to hear about the second adrenal mass. I hope you get clarification on it soon. So good that the school are being supportive of your dd. Yes, it would be wise to drop her GCSE's to a more manageable level but she sounds enthusiastic which counts for a lot!

@IThinkIMadeItWorse, I don't know why schools 'force' pupils to go on with languages if they're clearly struggling. I get that it's useful to have a language skill but not to the detriment of other things. Are there any after school sessions he can join for support?

Ds got his English Lang paper 1 mock out of the way yesterday. He thinks he did ok but struggled on one question and ran out of time (despite extra time). Did what I told him not to do - spent too much time on the lower scoring questions. He's hoping for a 7 but we'll see. He needs a 6 for sixth form applications.

DS2 finishes his mock exams on Wednesday and then Thursday and Friday he is at home and not back until the 5th.

Spanish speaking today and then he is finished. External sixth form application then some light level revision over the holidays and making a proper timetable for the new year.

DD came home again today anxious, she has another mock tomorrow. I have just been told adrenal thing is benign though may need treatment and pre op tomorrow, op on Friday after quite a battle.

That’s good news Silkies. Less so about DD but hopefully manageable anxiety that she can channel. It’s not easy is it.

DD seems fine now and she was happy the second mass is benign so just the stage 3 breast cancer to deal with and surgery will hopefully take that all out. There will be more treatment after that but this is the key one. DD was very happy that famous people have messaged me. Christmas tree is up as well as light up robin and light up penguin.

Glad to hear some positive news @Silkieschickens, hope your op on Friday goes smoothly.

D has come home with his report today, the phrase "spiky profile" is so appropriate. He is doing brilliantly in the subjects he wants to do at A level so that is something. As I thought they have predicted him a 4 in French, there is an extra after school French lesson but it clashes with his option subject so he can't go, when they had before school revision before the mocks he refused to go. Still no reply from the school about entering him for Statistics, sigh. Parents evening on Thursday.

We had a long letter home today along the lines of 'we're hoping exams go ahead but here's what we're doing for teacher assessed grades'. Basically 3 assessments; mocks in Jan, a series of class tests after Feb half term and tests after Easter. So no real rest breaks.

I guess it's all up in the air at the moment anyway.

And ... we are done. DS1 has been off the last two days with another crazy, apparently non-covid cough that is keeping him awake. He got his Spanish reading result which was his weak point last time and is very pleased it is now much more in line. He said the free speaking test (as opposed to the bit you prepare) was tricky.

I'm glad we are done as I was beginning to stress with the schools communicating that they are not closing anything but may have to close a class/year etc. At least now it is just us to chill.

I've totally neglected to wrap anything whilst the kids were in school so now have to do it with them here.

What is everyone up to over the holidays? We have Spiderman booked and I have a few catch ups and planning on West Side Story but otherwise pretty quiet as revision, relaxing and deadlines for me.

@Silkieschickens hope everything has gone well today.

@Silkieschickens

Well confusingly those grades were not mock grades but anticipated grades which have been set quite a bit lower than she achieved in mocks and apparently is grades sending through to 6th form. I am trying to push for them to reflect her mock grades as she got 9s in the sciences, needs 8s predicted and they are predicting 7s for end grade. Quite worrying for teacher assessment as well. Trying to establish what on earth is going on.

Same here - not sure how this equates to what level the student is currently working/what they may be predicted if it goes to TAGS.

We are so glad to have made it to the end of term, it felt really long this year (I know it always does!) The good news from parents evening is that it looks like they are going to put him in for Statistics but it's just taking a while to sort out the admin. Parents evening was generally positive feels like there is a mountain of work he needs to do. Frustratingly the school lost one of his English mock essays (he did it on a school laptop) and that was the one he felt went well so that is a bit of a shame. Also the Geography teacher had not noticed that he hadn't joined the group for the new system (they switched homework systems at the beginning of the year - some subjects are still using the old system for yr11 and some have switched) so he's missed all the geography homework for this term! I'm quite worried about what will happen if it goes to teacher assessment, but I guess we can't do anything about that so no point worrying about things you can't change.

We haven't got too much planned for the holidays, think we all need some downtime. Hopefully meeting up with some family Christmas day and just after. Having said that I have asked DS to work on his drama portfolio this morning (mean mum!), he did the practical exam on Wednesday (which apparently went very well) so I wanted him to try and get some stuff down while it's still fresh in his memory.

Cancer operation went well, get results 3 weeks from it then probably radiotheraphy next. Will just have quiet Christmas at home though DD will be out socialising.

I think anticipated grades are very cautious TAGs atm as it is y11 evidence to be used primarily so early days, DDs got raised to pretty much all 8s and 9s so not too bad now, just couple of 7s and about 10 subjects have for

She also has an 8 for French but no TAG and level 3 further maths no TAG, both these are risky if go to TAGs as largely self taught and school said they had to leave these ungraded last year. Though more warning this year.