Current Year 11 2021/2022 support thread pt III

[StColumbofNavron]

Thread for the parents of DC sitting their GCSEs in about 4 weeks time - eek.

@StColumbofNavron just seen the English advice, very helpful, thank you

Shit! 2 weeks to go! Am nervous for DS. Wasn't worried about DD at all, didn't need to be. He needs to crack on with revision but its not happening.

Happy Birthday to your DH for Sunday @MirandaWest hope you have a lovely weekend celebrating.

DS is currently saying he does not want to go to prom @legosnowqueen As parents we have had no information about it but he thinks it's on the 24th June maybe? He's really not very interested.

DS says his French oral today went well today, better than the mock - I think he got a 3 in the mock so who knows maybe he will pass after all?!?! I'm not holding my breath, he does no work in the subject! Drama performance exam all day tomorrow, the drama teacher said that parents might be able to go and watch but I have heard nothing so not sure if that will happen or not.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see DC's drama performance this week @IThinkIMadeItWorse. Spanish oral not until next week.

No mention of a prom for DC's school but given that they seem very slow to tell anyone anything, we probably won't find out if there is one or not until the GCSEs have started!

It's a slow build, but I guess the exam season has started already really.

Not convinced by the DC staying in school for revision purposes during the first fortnight of the written exams period though.

DC finishes school one week today, then on study leave, only returning for the exams. I really have no idea how it's all going, but there does seem to be a lot of revision going on. Practical subjects now finished; slightly last minute but at least we can forget about them. 16 May is our start date.

No study leave for dd. They're expected to be in school in between exams. She's not happy about it as she revises better on her own.
Anyone else's school doing the same?

Thanks Louis

No study leave here and expected to be in during breaks in exams which start on 16 May here, just French speaking so far here Looby DD also not happy, better at home and says she is not doing it and what are they going to do about it. 😂She does have a point.

DD does not want to go to Prom, think they have a leavers day as well which I think she will go to though up to her.

She has gone down to maths school for offer holders today.

School are not doing study leave here either, expected to be in lessons between exams. I think it will be better for DS as he is too easily distracted at home.

I did get to go and watch this afternoon and his drama class did very well :)

Hope your DD enjoyed the maths school @Silkierabbit

Can I join you?
No study leave here, and exams start in under 3 weeks! Unlike me, DS is very relaxed about the whole thing. Does anyone else have a DC who isn’t feeling the pressure and isn’t motivated to revise? He asked me to draw him up a timetable, which I have, and is revising per the timetable but I suspect doing the bare minimum… how much is everyone else’s DC doing? I’ve got him on 2x 50 minutes a night and 3 at weekend days, plus some extra sessions in school, but I assumed he’d be panicking by now and cramming/ doing extra. Do I need to add to his timetable?

Welcome! That's about what ds is doing. 2 sessions most evenings. 3 some weekends but exams drag on so long I don't think pushing for more is sustainable. Also I think boys esp can be more stressed than they seem- ds often appears horizontal but is fretting away inside.

Ps suits: Burton looks ok and has a sale on.

Thanks @aramox1 , that’s reassuring! Though I really doubt my DS is fretting inside or out …

I am a complete parental failure as booked concert tickets for DD the day before an exam.(without checking) I have now said she can't go and I am literally the devil. She had just made an 8 page power point of how unreasonable it is, and how she'll be too upset to do well in her exam!

Loving the PPT commitment.

I nearly did this with Harry Styles but realised it was at Wembley (a good 2 hours away) and DD has a 9am exam.

I nearly did the concert thing too! Luckily I caught myself in time and booked a later date (though I now have an 8h round trip to drive him there😐)

I wanted to go to a concert myself but as I'd need to get there around noon and stay till 10pm I've decided to give it a miss and help ds with his maths exam revision which is the next day. Such a shame that the fun stuff is restarting just when they need to concentrate

We have a concert too but thankfully it's the day of an exam and he doesn't have an exam the next day.
My poor DS is very stressed and upset and about everything it seems. Possibly a friendship issue too? He's very private so you can't get anything out of him. Exactly the same as me annoyingly with my parents when I was a teenager.
Have a good bank holiday weekend all

@aramox1 thanks for the Burtons tip...

We had booked tickets for Ed Sheeran on Sunday 12th & DS has an exam the next day. It involves an overnight stay due to distance. I'm going with a friend instead...DS has been okay with that...

Ds definitely prefers to revise at home - he doesn't find class revision that useful. Having said that, it does sound like they're doing past papers for some subjects in lessons so I'd say that was good practice.

He received the grades that are being submitted for his music composition and performance and he's happy enough with them. He'll need to do well in the exam to get the grade he hopes for. Music grade boundaries are high traditionally but he's banking on them being a bit lower this year. He seems a bit obsessed with grade boundaries and working out how many marks he'll need for each component. I thought it was all standardised?

We had drama practical before Easter, and although he vaguely mentioned it happening he didn't really share until he was out of uniform and I asked why! Then I saw a lovely picture of him performing for it in the newsletter and had a bit of a sob at my PFB growing up.

He has been less committed to revision recently, but school is all revision at the moment and he worked hard before the mocks so has a lot of it and its really practice now I think. He did leave the prep for those until the last two weeks as well but then was hugely committed so perhaps this just works for him, though I worry about A level. It worked for me at GCSE too but at A level it fell apart. I know I cannot project onto him but it is at the back of my mind.

Don't you worry that being in full-on revision mode already at school, the youngsters may be fed up with it by the time the exams finally arrive? DC didn't

DC2 has already flagged up that they're not happy with the revision-between-exams-in-school until half-term. Quite easily

I'm really looking at it as school time = revision time and home time = light touch revision/free time. A bit like a job. You might be fed up, but it still has to be done because the report still needs to be written/exams still need results (whatever they may be for each young person).

Lots of frantic Spanish practice for ds this weekend as he has his Spanish oral tomorrow.

Dd happy to help him and although that's good because she likes languages so she can understand the questions she's asking and the responses he's giving it's also been a little bit not good as she's really good at Spanish so keeps correcting him! 😳

He does feel more confident about it now though although not looking forward to it.

French speaking exam for DD tomorrow.
I see a lot of revision is happening (after emerging from bed around mid day)

Good luck for the language speaking exams tomorrow.

Our school has confirmed what we thought for study leave. They are in school for full days doing revision classes around their exams up until half term. After half term they can choose to revise at home and just come in for their exams or they will continue with subject specific sessions at school. Leavers celebrations are on Thursday 23rd June and that is the last day of exams.

We almost had the issue with the Harry Styles at Wembley concert too. A few of her friends are going but DD was very sensible and decided she didn’t want to risk it. But she just went to see Foals at Olympia at the weekend and she saw The Wombats over Easter so she’s had her fix of gigs until after her exams now.