Year 11 22/23 support thread.

[PritiPatelsMaker]

Does anyone fancy a support thread for the just about to start Year 11's.

I'm not Mystic Meg but even I can see a rocky year ahead of me...

Anyone fancy joining me?

There is no way DS could do 2.5 hours a night!

My school have them to buy on parent pay - I would assume budgets probably don't stretch to revision guides at the moment.

Nothing on parentpay, nor any mention of revision guides.

Might just order from amazon.

Slightly mad here with school already. Missed the meeting on mental health and supporting the kids, couldn't be helped I have covid. BUT just looked at the mock exam timetable 3 sets each one directly after October, Christmas and Feb half terms. HOW EXACTLY IS THAT LOOKIG AFTER MH! Dd is beside herself that they have been told they must study in the holiday before exams. She's an academic people pleaser ,so effectively no breaks for the entire academic year. Email going to school shortly re failing in there duty of care to consider students MH.

DD has already done mocks before the holidays and has official mocks coming up from October. Results were good. At or above where she should be for most subjects, including a good handful of 9s. The challenge now is keeping momentum going. The school thought it would allow some experience of exam procedure and help identify gaps before y11. It was very well managed by school and staff (I work there too) and has actually removed some of the anxiety around this year.

DD had a diagnosis earlier this year of a genetic condition (we already knew tbh, Covid simply got in the way of diagnosis) and she is dealing with monthly OT and physio, biomechanics and trying desperately to get to grips with using a laptop for writing heavy subjects like History, English and RS. She has lots of problems with her fingers and wrists and the weakness and pain have intensified over year 10, meaning she can't write as much as she would like. A double RS lesson for example, usually results in 5-7 pages of writing/essays and it's meant she can barely hold cutlery each evening. She hates using the laptop. She's queen of highlighters and post its. She has a really good system of recording and revising and the laptop is too clinical but she needs to master using it.

Anybody dealing with whether or not their DC does further maths GCSE? Our school offers it to all students predicted 7 or above but it's optional. DD doesn't necessarily enjoy the subject and won't do it at A Level but is wondering if it looks good on a CV? It's taught as part of normal lessons but on top of Higher Maths and GCSE Statistics (also taught in lesson time), is it too much? It's an extra 2 exams so around 25ish I think in total.

DD is so glad to be back at school and getting on with it. She doesn't like the anticipation.

We bought revision guides in summer 2021. School sells them prior to y10 and at significantly reduced cost to buying in shops.

DD has been using them in tandem with course materials to revise as she goes.

I'll order some today I think then.

Surprised people have been hearing about mocks; I literally haven't heard a thing and there's no information on the school website...

I don't think there's an expectation to know about mocks just yet. I know the plans because I work at the school but official communications will go out once they're all settled in and back in the swing. The admin involved means the planning will have started last term and the school will be prepping in myriad ways. In fact, we're already making plans for the actual exams next year. That all started in July too.

I only teach part time so am an exams assistant and do invigilation around my usual work. It's a huge endeavour getting mocks arranged.

Hello, joining in for any hints or tips for year 11 survival. DD has one result from last year which was really good and has given her confidence but her predicted grades and expectations are so high I am worried about managing her anxiety.. not sure on mocks yet but they did a subject practice paper they were told not to revise for which she duly didn't and didn't do as well as she liked which caused upset over summer.

We are just working on getting a balance. Lots of focus on sleep well, eat well, exercise but lots of down time too.

DD and her friends - luckily a lovely bunch - have decided to set up a weekly Dungeon and Dragons game after school. They're going to do it at each other's houses and it'll give them chance to relax and unwind. They also play Scrabble and Uno a lot and will be having some group study sessions. Again, arranged by them.

DD is prone to anxiety and has high predicted grades. I know it's worrying her but I have made an effort to never, ever mention actual numbers. I try and talk about learning and enjoyment rather than targets because I know that can be where her mind gets stuck.

@ShowOfHands my ds is doing further maths, we are working on the basis that he will sit it for now but it can be dropped as a bit of a release valve if he wants to later. It’s keeping him engaged with maths at the moment which is a good thing i think

Hi can I join you. I have a DD in yr11, it’s interesting reading the different expectations on here. Her school isn’t great their communication is really poor they even removed predicted grades off the school reports after covid! Many parents complained especially for Y10 kids.. She thinks she’s on track for good grades in the maths/science subjects but struggles with English. I was really frustrated as her English teacher on the 5min video parents eve call, just said “well she’ll pass” a G4 would be fine, if we weren’t being told G7+ in most of her other subjects and she tells me she hasn’t learnt much English since primary school! We’ve just found an English tutor to try to see if a 1:1 will help her.

Three days back and DD already has a detention for not doing homework in one subject over the summer and has lost her travel card. Sigh.

DS school set zero homework over the summer holidays and he has now been at school 5 days and still no sign of any homework despite me querying this in year 10 and being told year 11 would be a huge jump up in the amount of work being set. My DS2s school have already set 6 pieces of homework for him and he's year 8. I honestly give up, seems like we are going tk have to get DS through his exams with no help from the school.

Same here Hellocatshome. No homework set yet

Yep zero summer homework and only one piece so far. My yr7 child has been set more homework both in summer and 2 pieces already! It is worrying

The yr7 child is at different school.

Same situation with us yr8 at a different school has loads of homework. Yr11 has none, last year he hardly had any either but I was assured they would hit the ground running homework wise in year 11 but I am not seeing it.

Biazzare isn’t it? When she was in yr7 they were swamped in the first 6wks to the point the parents complained it was just blooming ridiculous then now in yr10 & 11 been hardly any constantcy- I do wonder if it’s because they are focusing on lower sets so they can get as many kids as possible to ‘pass’. Teachers only have finite time to set & mark homework so focus on those needing the most support… ?? Frustrating though when you have an able child whose cruising at G5-6 but not being encouraged to stretch 🤷🏻‍♀️ it’s a poorly performing comp.

Its a good theory but my yr11 is in the lower sets and is getting no work so either the whole year is getting no work to do or his school are concentrating on the more able students 🙈

I cannot honestly believe the amount of work DDs school is piling on her, well not just her, everyone.
We had tears last Wednesday evening as she was stressing out.
It just seems that since her school recently lost their Outstanding status which they had had for years & have been downgraded to needs improvement (due to not dealing very well with behaviour & bullying issues - all the children had to fill in a questionnaire from Ofsted) they are obsessed with getting as many children as possible to gain at least a level 5 in every subject.
DD is on course for a mix of 7s, 8s & 9s but the sheer amount of work is horrendous.

Plus DD has just told me that her English GCSE class are not very happy with their tutor as apparently she hasn't been marking their work over most of Y10.
I feel I need to speak to DDs HoY but DD was adamant that I don't rock the boat just yet 🤷‍♀️ (probably because I tendency to rush in like a bull in a china shop, which I'm working on curbing)

That does sound like she's at danger of being overwhelmed @TracyBeakerSoYeah. It must be disheartening when she does work that's not being marked too.

DD doesn’t have any revision homework yet but we have a Year 11 parents evening coming up for parents when they will talk to us about revision methods, expectations etc, they are putting on a really good evening for us with four different sections of talks and well-being chats.
I am nudging her to do some little bits when she hasn’t got anything set but I am bit pushing it as our mantra is ‘happy & healthy’ rather than top grades.

First week back was ok - this week - COVID!! DD been in her room/bed for 3 days now. i am grateful that it's now though and not half way through the exams!

Looking for a large (A2 or larger) wall calendar (month by month), dated (i.e. not blank) for 2022/2023, and a physical wall calendar (not one of the print option ones). I've failed to find something despite numerous google searches.

Does anyone have any suggestions/ideas?