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.

@Silkierabbit fantastic. If two of them are going, does that make the logistics easier?

Thanks both. Initially it does not but everyone was just told yesterday so think there will be others in same boat, we have a few months as can hold more than one offer. Will accept and try and find a way but not sure will be able to but is an academic local option, just very big and not specialised and teacher to staff ratio is double and concerned about pastoral care there but will see.

Excellent news @Silkierabbit. Got to say, ds has a 45-50 min commute atm and is refusing to look at 6th forms further than that.
I've finally got ds's mock results, which aren't great - 2 in the 30s and 2 in the 40s. He worked really hard [perhaps not in the right way] and school expects 7-9s. Not sure where to go from here. Already had a year of v good maths tutoring and does twice as well with the tutor as in exams!

Well done to your DD @Silkierabbit Does the school still do a full range of A-levels as long as everyone does maths as one of them?

Have they said what grade for those mock exams @aramox1 ? Could they have made the exams extra difficult so that pupils don't become complacent?

My DS has finally had an offer from one of the sixth form colleges he applied to. He has a telephone consultation with them next week. Just a back up really as his heart is set on staying at school.

Well done to your DD @Silkierabbit! How long would the commute be?

@aramox1 what have the school said about those grades? Are they offering any support to your DS? At our school they have introduced a period 7 for an extra hour every day for students needing extra support with content and revision following their mocks.

DD and I have an interview with the school leadership team for sixth form this evening. She has only applied for her school sixth form and she has the grades she needs for her subjects so I don’t envisage their being any issues.

We are still not sure if the assessments in March are another round of mocks or just assessments in class. DD has her Spanish speaking mock coming up which is just done in the classroom in timed slots. She’s not looking forward to it and can’t wait to be done with Spanish now.

Afternoon, I see that the exam boards have published their GCSE exam timetables online and, after looking through the subjects and dates etc, my daughter has a History exam in the morning on 9 June, followed by Physics and RE in the afternoon of the same day. Both the afternoon papers are 1 hr 45 and my dd is entitled to 25% extra time, meaning that both afternoon exams will be over 2 hours. Does anyone know what happens in this instance please? Thank you

You need to speak to the school and they will advise.

@StColumbofNavron

You need to speak to the school and they will advise.

Thank you. I have emailed the exam office at school so hopefully they will reply at some point, although communication isn't their forte so I thought I'd ask if anyone knew what would happen here while I waited! Thank you

What a nightmare @13lucky
Think children used to have stay overnight with a teacher but I doubt that happens any more. Let us know what the school say.

The subjects at the maths school are everyone does maths and further maths A levels and rest are maths related think its physics, economics, computing, there are only 70 per year with about 9 in a class so very small and specialised but that is what DD wants. It is far from here, maybe 1.5 hours each way so not really viable as a regular journey and very expensive area there and not one we would choose to live in so selling and moving is out.

@Silkierabbit could she lodge locally during the week (or for a few nights if there aren't classes every day?

That is we are trying to see if its possible at all, she is quite grown up for her age but not sure if there will be age restrictions to 18 rather than 16 and also need to make sure she is safe. There is an area we used to live around 45 mins away where we know a lot of families which could be one option but not sure how viable a one as she does need some supervision and demand for teenagers is not high.

Well, DS has returned from school today to say that he submitted his 6th form application in form time today putting paid to my control freak tendencies - we had had a brief chat about it but I was going to look at it before he submitted it to check he'd sold himself enough...apparently the form tutor asked anyone who hadn't done it to do it there & then!

@13lucky my daughter is doing all 3 of those exams so I just looked at my calendar to check and she has History and RE on Thursday 9th and her Physics is on the Wednesday 8th. I thought all the different exam boards had the same timetable?

DD would not show me hers either and even did our parents one for 1 college then told us. Saves me a job but did make me nervous and no idea what she wrote. Quite scary having teenagers responsible for themselves though needs to happen. Though the scary bit will be next year for DS as he wont be capable of any of this. Dd did maths challenge today, ds school not running it.

[quote Rollergirl11]@13lucky my daughter is doing all 3 of those exams so I just looked at my calendar to check and she has History and RE on Thursday 9th and her Physics is on the Wednesday 8th. I thought all the different exam boards had the same timetable?[/quote]
My dd is doing AQA board for Physics and it says Thursday 9 June for Paper 1

@Silkierabbit I hope that you can find a solution as she is so keen to go

The independence is hard to navigate sometimes, its a fine line between support & control I know. For the first time during the conversation about the form, DS uttered the age-old words "It's my life..." which always make me think of an old Tampax advert

@13lucky RE GCSE exams are on 16th and 26th May. History and Physics GCSE are on 9th June as is A level RE exam.

Information from AQA here www.aqa.org.uk/exams-administration/dates-and-timetables/search?f.Subjects%7CS=Religious+Studies&meta_d3=07Sep2020&f.Qualifications%7CQ=GCSE

[quote MrsPnut]@13lucky RE GCSE exams are on 16th and 26th May. History and Physics GCSE are on 9th June as is A level RE exam.

Information from AQA here www.aqa.org.uk/exams-administration/dates-and-timetables/search?f.Subjects%7CS=Religious+Studies&meta_d3=07Sep2020&f.Qualifications%7CQ=GCSE[/quote]
My DD is doing Edexcel board for RE and it says Paper 3 is 9 June

It's Wednesday 8th June for edexcel paper 3, there is no way they would schedule physics and RS at the same time. There is a central OfQual timetable to avoid such clashes.
qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/Support/Examination-timetables-for-UK-Edexcel-GCSE/GCSE_Summer_2022_Final_v1.pdf

[quote MrsPnut]It's Wednesday 8th June for edexcel paper 3, there is no way they would schedule physics and RS at the same time. There is a central OfQual timetable to avoid such clashes.
qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/Support/Examination-timetables-for-UK-Edexcel-GCSE/GCSE_Summer_2022_Final_v1.pdf[/quote]
Hope so...but this is what it says online (see attachment - taken from here: qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/Support/Examination-timetables-for-UK-Edexcel-GCSE/GCSE_Summer_2022_Provisional.pdf

[quote MrsPnut]It's Wednesday 8th June for edexcel paper 3, there is no way they would schedule physics and RS at the same time. There is a central OfQual timetable to avoid such clashes.
qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/Support/Examination-timetables-for-UK-Edexcel-GCSE/GCSE_Summer_2022_Final_v1.pdf[/quote]
Ah ok, looks like it was Thursday 9 June on the provisional timetable but I see it has changed to Wednesday 8 June on the link you have posted above. Many thanks.

Well done to your DD @Silkierabbit she did well just to get an offer. DS is doing the IMC tomorrow. Worked out this week that he got a merit in the Senior Kangaroo so pleased about that.

We have sixth form "guidance meetings" next week, my list of questions keeps growing but I don't think the meetings are very long. They are doing them online and suggest that a parent should attend so I'm pleased that I am supposed to be there!

His school have started doing extra revision sessions but some of them are at times he can't do, I think he is going to attend the ones he can make (except French). Apparently the English ones are "invitation only" so we've not heard about that (they also clash with when he has PE but he wouldn't mind missing that!) I guess I'll try and keep encouraging him with English at home (and watching Mr Bruff on youtube!) He has lots of study guides etc so just needs to actually use them.

Our guidance meeting was quite thorough. I was really impressed. I expected 10
Mins at the absolute most but it was an easy 20 mins and really helpful with the ‘offer’ at the end.

Ds has Covid so has been self isolating all week. Not much work sent home from school and due to technical ness up he didn't get to sit the intermediate maths challenge today. Feeling cross with the school as he needs to have all lessons. Literally half the class are off so the provision should be better.
Virtual Sixth form event was a bit boring too! Interviews next week so Ds needs to think quickly now about his third and fourth A levels (4th will be AS level initially).