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.

I'm not sure if Ofqual came out but DD has just changed schools and done some subjects in different orders - history is completely back to front and they have said they are only doing 3 topics out of 4 and said she only needed to learn 1 of the 2 topics they did this year. She has just spent a week and caught up that.

I think she still has some subjects to catch up where content has differed - think 7 subjects she has now done all the new schools y10 work (and in a few cases all their y11 work) but has 5 subjects with things to catch up - the 3 sciences bits and pieces, economics is completely new and further maths she was doing the level 3 and school do the level 2 though said they did enter 1 person for level 3 last year. Could do with knowing which one it is though. She seems very on top of it and also doing an hours walk / run a day and meeting friends.

DS in y9 going into y10 on the other hand

@Silkiecats
Your DD is so organised. She’ll have caught up/overtaken the rest of the year 11 pupils in her new classes before too long.

My DS enjoyed the first day of his cyber security course which I’m relieved about. How did your DS find it @PaddingtonPaddington?

@zighead snap! DS was buzzing and looking forward to more tomorrow.

Glad to see this thread!

Am just trying to figure out how best to support DS for his revision. If I ask him he's done revising in 10 minutes!!!

Grades are ok - but he can do better so I would like him to at least do some catching up in the summer but he really doesn't want to.

I’m going hands off for the summer. He has a year of basically constant revision and exams ahead of him and every holiday is likely to involve revision so I’m just letting him chill. He has decent grades so it feels ok to do this.

In a breakthrough - I almost fell off my chair, DS1 has informed me that he has plans to go for pizza for a friends birthday in two weeks. This is his 2nd engagement since starting secondary school. Hopefully this is the start of a little social life for him.

@StColumbofNavron That's great news about DS going out with friends. I must admit my DS very rarely does anything social and most of the time it's because I've suggested it. At least we don't have to worry about where they are or drinking or drugs I guess.

@SunflowersInTheShade Ten minutes revision sounds like my DS too. I wish he would do some work before going back to school but apart from his Spanish and chemistry homework, I think it's unlikely.

Still can't believe they are going in to year 11. I'm not looking forward to it at all

We've done nothing over the summer, but before we go back we're going to set out a revision plan/schedule or else it won't happen. To be fair, she does alright without it but could smash it if she did a decent of amount of revision too.

@CornishGem1975 that sounds like a good idea. I’ll do the same with DS1.

My DD is a stationery geek so I'll least be able to get her excited with post its and highlighters and colour-coded charts .

I asked DD yesterday if she had any work she should have done over the holiday. "Fortunately" it's only taking photos to be source material for her art work - although knowing DD it will still take her ages as she will take what looks like 100 identical photos and reject all but 2 of them.

It's interesting how different children seem to think differently. DD had plans of plans (and lots of highlighting) as a Year 10 exam revision schedule. I still have to do DS's (taking A Levels next year) for him - or as per others on here it will not get done. He seems unable to work out without prompting that things like having a list of topics covered might be useful. I'm sure it must be something to with the way their brains are wired - he's very impulsive which I think is a teenager thing and doesn't see the value in a revision schedule when he can just study the first thing he thinks of. Even though he has evidence that this method means he ends up not covering loads of stuff.

Hello! Signing back after a nice long holiday. Ds has no specific work from school but has 'plans' to do some bits. Hoping to get him back into his MFL and do some science in the two weeks to go before they go back. Has everyone else understood what the syllabus/exam changes are? I looked it up but it still seemed quite vague. Shakespeare coming up so will try to get him to watch a video- tho since he refused Inspector Calls, not v hopeful. Hope everyone is well and not too daunted!

Hello my DD is starting Year 11, is quite motivated at the mo, but has spent most of the holiday day time babysitting, assures me she will do some school work after the bank holiday. Nice to meet you all. This is my first GCSE experience, as she's my oldest so it'll be good to have a handhold

Glad you had a nice holiday Aramox We are currently on holiday and having a nice time. Dd did a weeks ukmt maths and caught up history as changed schools. Ds has been doing nothing but is doing activities on holiday and starting to speak.

Hi all (and welcome to @Allotment123!)

We are back home after our break away in the UK which was nice and I'm trying to encourage DS to at least think about school work. I pointed out to him how many (or rather how few) weekdays there were before he goes back so he has done a few short bursts. He's not keen though and very easily distracted! I am trying to get him to focus on English and Drama as those are his weaker areas. I'm a bit worried about his Drama portfolio as I don't really have much of an idea of what they want, hopefully he will get guidance from his teacher.

Think he is going to need quite a bit of support with revision and organisation to get through the next year. The school did put some English support in place last year so hopefully that will continue. Waiting to hear what the adjustments are and which English Lit option the school will choose to drop. Don't think all the changes have been announced/confirmed yet have they? Of course it may all change again before next summer, hey ho.

We have places booked to look around his currently preferred sixth form on Sat 4th Sept so that should be interesting, he'll need good grades to get in there though so I think we probably need to think about other options as well. Thinking about sixth form colleges just makes me want to stick my fingers in my ears and sing la la la! I just stayed on at my school sixth form without really thinking about it so the system here is a bit different.

Hope everyone is having a lovely summer. When does everybody else go back? DS is back Friday 3rd but he has to go in for a covid test on Thursday 2nd.

Glad you had a nice holiday Its. Dd is back on 9th, DS on 6th. We also have open day on 4th and dd has already been on current schools 6th form open day.

Hello all and welcome to newcomers.

Not much to report here. We haven’t been on holiday but have had a few day trips with DS3, but mostly I am under an immense deadline so stuck in reading/writing and squeezing some conference attendance.

@StColumbofNavron and @CornishGem1975, I have a lovely dd, new y11, who is hating the idea of this school year approaching. Looking at 4,5,6s but capable of 6,7,8s if she works, a big if as she’s a bit of a party animal.

Have arranged a maths tutor but I’ve seen your discussion about setting up a revision plan and would welcome any suggestions - I don’t know where to start to cover 10 subjects but want to begin in September as we mean to go on…

Any advice as to where to look gratefully accepted. I’m thinking three nights a week and a couple of hours at the weekend to get into a routine.

Hi all you lovely people, hope everyone is well?

We have had a decent summer holidays. Managed to get away for a week in Devon and also a fab 10 days in Mallorca in the sunshine! The extra testing/admin was a headache for sure but so worth it to manage to escape Blighty and get some much needed sun!

My two start back on 9th September. DD was doing a bit of work in the first 2 weeks of the hols but not much since. I think she is quite anxious about going back to school. I was hoping that she would be in a better place mentally for the start of Year 11 but it is what it is. She is weight restored back to her pre ED weight now at least. But with that comes a lot of self loathing, extremely bad body dysmorphia and very low self esteem. Their brains are the last thing to restore so ideally we need to push her weight higher than what she was before for her to be rid of all the eating disorder thoughts and behaviours but I think we will struggle with that.

On a nicer note, I was contacted by DD’s English lit teacher over the holidays. She absolutely adores DD and thinks she has a huge talent for English lit and creative writing. She wanted to ask my permission to get DD in contact with a past student of hers that is studying English literature at Cambridge and for her to become DD’s mentor and sort her out with a visit to Cambridge, help her with UCAS forms when it comes to it etc. Her teacher thinks that DD is Oxbridge material and that she should definitely be aiming high. For sixth form DD will continue on to the schools sixth form which is good academically but not great facilities wise. They had their taster day at the end of term.

Can’t believe all our DC’s are going in to Year 11. What a strange 18 months it has been for them!

@Rollergirl11 pleased to hear of improvement, it is a long road isn’t it. Strength to you all. The mentor sounds fabulous and perhaps a good way to take her mind off other things just a little.

@Ifeelmuchlessfat I need to speak to DS1 to get his view on how he will organise himself but I think 3 subjects per weekday evening at 30 mins each - we don’t properly concentrate for very long. I revise by looking at the material and making handwritten notes, then typing up, then answering questions with long notes to hand, then putting them to record cards and writing answers then answering without notes - works well for essay subjects.

We’ll also get the revision books and work through those which is how he might chose/prefer to work through.

Hello hello hello.

I go back to school a week today. Ugh. It’s been such a nice long break this time.

DD has really been cracking on the last two weeks. With Art and Product Design she had a lot to do, and I was worried that nothing seemed to be happening but she’s been very dedicated to it and her PD project book is an absolute work of art.

She needs to reread her English texts too, which will be more of a struggle to encourage. I’m a complete bookworm, I find it so odd/sad that neither of my children enjoy reading.

Thanks @StColumbofNavron, appreciate it. I’m going to look at devising a timetable with her, but I can get her to THINK about school atm. Reading all your posts on here I seem to be alone in having a very school-averse teen who has no desire to learn and doesn’t really enjoy any subject, apart from sport possibly.

She’s predicted low grades because she doesn’t do any work above the bare minimum to keep her head below the parapet. I know she’s capable of more, I just hope I can persuade her to do what’s needed this year.

@Ifeelmuchlessfat I don’t think you are alone, I will also definitely have this with DS2 who is going into year 9. He has zero interest. He is quite good at art - does some incredible work at school (I cannot draw a circle) but with 3 weeks for homework he just doesn’t do it and draws some stick men or similar quality thing that clearly took 3mins. I don’t really understand how he can feel comfortable handing in that level of work, I would be embarrassed.

Would it help to work out what sort of things she might like to do post school? This may not be great advice, but DS2 doesn’t know what he wants to do but is interested in various ideas - chef, graphic design, music tech, history teacher! He isn’t as studious as DS1 who has very clear goals and not as naturally able (but still could do well if he works hard) but ultimately for any of those options it may well be fine to get C equivalents. So my strategy is not to set him up for something he might not achieve by pushing him to achieve high grades (because he simply pushes back and refuses), rather I’ve said even if he wants to get a job in Tesco after school that he still needs the 6 in maths and English and across the board. This keeps the options he is keen on open. I’ve looked at uni courses and they don’t have all AAA requirements for the sort of things he would like to do at present. Obviously we will push for him to work as hard as possible to achieve the highest he can, because it isn’t going to hurt his progress to do so, but given his reluctance this is the stance I currently have. I’ve also unfortunately discouraged art or graphics as GCSE choices because it’s evident he won’t put the time in outside of school. He only really gets two options after a language and humanity and we’ve discussed it and he agrees he is unlikely to work at art but he will at music so he will prob do music and I think he said Food and Nutrition.

Sorry for the essay there, but I think what I’m trying to say is that pushing doesn’t work for everyone and actually it may be fine to do what needs to be done to get the grades for what comes next which might not require hi-flying. I also haven’t actually said it all to him explicitly like this. I’ve made clear we expect hard work, but I have been sharing his options with him and send him courses, apprenticeships from time to time so he can see what is possible.

DS1 used to read lots but now will only read sports news online. A bit of a problem since he thinks he is doing a History degree eventually.

@Ifeelmuchlessfat

Thanks *@StColumbofNavron*, appreciate it. I’m going to look at devising a timetable with her, but I can get her to THINK about school atm. Reading all your posts on here I seem to be alone in having a very school-averse teen who has no desire to learn and doesn’t really enjoy any subject, apart from sport possibly.

She’s predicted low grades because she doesn’t do any work above the bare minimum to keep her head below the parapet. I know she’s capable of more, I just hope I can persuade her to do what’s needed this year.

I’m lucky with DD (to an extent. She does the things she enjoy without me asking, the science is more of a battle. Once she’s in 6th Form I’ll be on Easy Street with her, I hope) but my Year 8 DS is not the same at all. His exams last term nearly killed me; I’m dreading GCSEs with him.

@Rollergirl11 I’m so glad you’ve had a lovely holiday. Fingers crossed September can be a fresh start for your DD. Interesting for her to have Oxbridge on her radar too. Either is such a wonderful place to study. I really wish I’d pulled my finger out/been pushed a bit more at school, I was bright but lazy but I would have loved learning like that.

@Ifeelmuchlessfat it can be easy to feel on mumsnet that everybody else's children are heading for all 9s but I think those with more average children are perhaps a bit quieter about it. I suggested to DS he might want to do some more English or Drama this morning (we will be out this afternoon) but he simply said "no" and disappeared into his room - he is reading a book so at least that is something, he reads a lot which I am grateful for but often returns to easy familiar reads and doesn't stretch himself (in fact often if I suggest something he will completely refuse - I have taken to casually leaving books lying about where he might possibly pick them up!) He has what they describe as a "spiky profile" so once he is at sixth form just doing his areas of strength (science and maths and more maths) I think he will be fine.

@Rollergirl11 so pleased you managed to have a lovely holiday and your DD is on the road to recovery. Hope she gets a chance to visit Cambridge it's lovely (I may be biased!)