Year 9 - 2022/2023 Support Thread

[QueenMabby]

Hi
Having got a lot out of the thread for my ds who's just finished year 11 I though I'd start one for anyone wanting support/chat about dcs in year 9 from September.

Some schools will be starting GCSE syllabi this year and for those that don't there'll be options later in the year.

I have a dd starting year 9 in September. Her favourite subjects are languages and chemistry. We've not taken gcse options yet - that joy is to come.

Hi, I’d love to join the thread too (though we’ll be Yr 10 soon 😬)!

Good to hear all your kids seem to be sorted for next year and ready for the end of this year. DD has already finished school and has 9 weeks off with some homework (possibly, she is going to check).

She has chosen her GCSEs and is doing triple science, French, History, Geography and DT.

DD is dyslexic and thankfully they have done the tests this term to establish that she will get extra time in the GCSEs. She’s had this for a while for internal exams so we mostly wanted to know what was happening in case we needed to wean her off it 😂.

Also due to start their bronze DoE next year so needs to plan that I think.

Re setting, I have been told several times that it’s really about pace/style of learning and I do believe this. Maths, English and Science GCSEs will be set at DD’s school but they haven’t mentioned any others so we’ll see. I think sets can be helpful for the MFL too but maybe not at this point as you’re all heading for the same goal!

Hi @BreakfastClub80
DD is autistic but hasn’t been assessed for exam arrangements yet, I think they will do that next year as an EP comes in to do it (or did with DS). I invigilate at another school so I know what can be put in place and what I’m hoping she gets - computer use and ear defenders/ear plugs.

@CasparBloomberg you sound a lot more knowledgeable than me and I’m sure your DD will be sorted next year. There are so many ways to try and help accommodate the kids now which weren’t available when I was young!

Ds has had most of his end of year exam results back. He always says he's done really badly. But I think he has high expectations of himself. For example physics he got 78% class average was 61% so i say that's good. Ds thinks not. I'm sure it's a great result. I don't mind what grades he gets. I told him he can only do his best. But he tells me that's a silly thing to say and that he needs to do better than his best.

Not heard of Dr Frost. Ds's school does something called bedrock. He hates it. They've done it since year 7. It's English work. He was hoping it would end in year 10 but he now thinks it will continue. Anyone else heard of it?

@icanbewhatiwant my DD hates bedrock, she finds it incredibly boring and pointless. She even got her first ever detention earlier this year for not doing it two weeks in a row. For Maths they use sparx maths which she finds a bit annoying but not as pointless as the English on bedrock. They also use languagenut for languages. I guess it makes a lot of sense from the teachers point of view as it is all set automatically and there is no marking for them. I don't know if it will change in year 10. We still haven't had end of year results, school is doing very badly at communication at the moment. She finishes on 20th July and she is counting the days!

@icanbewhatiwant he can’t do better than his best though can he? That’s an awful lot of pressure already isn’t it. No one can give 100% effort 100% of the time. They need some 70% days. Are school a bit pushy or is this totally him?

@IThinkIMadeItWorse yep. Ds says it's boring and pointless.

@NotDonna no school aren't pushy. It's ds. He wants to be the best all the time. Everything he does is never good enough. I often wonder what GCSEs will be like for him. Not too stressful I hope.

@icanbewhatiwant It’s intrinsic. Fingers crossed his GCSEs won’t be too stressful and he soon has a more balanced approach. They can be so very very tough on themselves that it’s hard to watch.

@icanbewhatiwant - my dd can be the same. She came second in an end of topic physics test once this term and it was like some major disaster had happened!

Fortunately when they get into the gcse syllabi it becomes less about percentages and all about the grade.

If you're getting say an A star in something at 76% then it's irrelevant if someone else gets 92% - it's still the same A star.

@QueenMabby yes the grade boundaries can be so different in each subject. Some subjects a low percent grade can be an A/8/9 whereas other subjects a much higher percentage is required. I think their school reads out the test grades for the top few students after tests. Ds wants to be up there with the top students. I think he will find that more difficult next year as they currently have 2 top sets for maths and science. There will only be one top in year 10 so there will be more competition for the top spots. I am not sure I agree with telling the class who is at the top. Ds is only bothered about some subjects. The humanities and subjects like pe he doesn't mind what grades he gets.

🤔 mmm I’m not sure I like the idea of reading out the top marks either especially if they’re assigned to a name. We get given our DC’s score and the median for that exam, which is very useful.

Well we’ve just had his end of year report, very positive on the whole. Where he needs to improve the teachers have helpfully been very specific, so we know what he needs to target.
But what I was most pleased with was quite a few comments about his empathy and kindness towards others, and his ability to communicate in a mature way.

No doubt about it though, the next two years are going to be a big challenge!

God @icanbewhatiwant - that's awful! What a way to demoralise the children that are near the bottom!

At least at DD's school marks and grades are put on the papers and then handed out to each child. I mean the children do talk amongst themselves but it's not a public announcement!

Dd had a gorgeous comment from her firm tutor. Here's a bit of it:

"Mini-mabby is focussed, conscientious, and always giving of her best and at the same time, humble, kind, and lovely." 🤗

@QueenMabby only a few with the top grades are told in class. I'm sure it'll be the same few children who's names are called out. I don't think they get told the mark out loud. So the others won't know where their position in the class is. So those at the bottom won't know.

When DD was a lot younger, her maths teacher once handed back test papers and said to her “you can do a little scream in your head, well done!” after she did particularly well. I thought that was lovely 😊

Lovely comment on MiniMabby’s report there @QueenMabby , it’s always lovely if you think they ‘get’ your child. And also if they ‘get’ them positively 😂!

Got Ds2 Report card. It was good. He's got 2 weeks left.

Last night took ds2 to his first ever concert - the Weeknd. (Did have a 3rd ticket for ds1 but sold it once he found out he'd got his post 1st year Uni, Camp America place). It was spectacular. Ds2 knows all the lyrics to most of / many of his songs, as do I. He played 33 songs. The crowd sang every word. (Not dissimilar to that touching clip of Glastonbury Lewis Capaldi), which is surely just the ultimate compliment to the artist? Ds2 is now spoilt re future events, I tried to explain that not all have that much showmanship.

Ah @Oblomov23 that sounds great. What a fab way to end the school year. How’s DS1 doing? Enjoying his uni course? Not sure if you remember but we exchanged messages last year re accountancy apprenticeships etc. Camp America will be amazing. DD1 is flitting back and forth a bit atm which is lovely for us all but especially for DD3 (my yr9).
DD3 has been given some work over the holidays- some booklets to complete for the sciences and a thicker one for maths plus ‘An Inspector Calls’ to read. I overheard her being delighted with a friend that ‘it’s really thin’. She’s not an avid reader unfortunately. 🤣 The only subject she’s remotely interested in is history.
Im taking her to Kensington Palace today to see the ‘Crown to Couture’ exhibition. We’ve never done a London museum/gallery/exhibition before but this one sounds right up her street with a combo of fashion and history.

@NotDonna

I've just sent Not Donna a private message.

Remember her? God, I'll never forgot her! She was so lovely to me, discussing her eldest dd, And then my ds1 finally got his PwC place. And then I saw her on the year 9 thread! Her youngest and my youngest the same age!

Well, my ds2 got his timetable for yr 10 today. It looks ok. He dislikes his Geography teacher who is also HoY and even I find him a jobsworth - I think he's petty because he's trying to get promoted to senior leadership? , so box ticking, including detentions (for a child who has never had them before) which seem to be for incredibly petty reasons.

He's only allowed to do combined science. Which is a worry because he's sporty so needs Biology A'level to go into anything sporty.

End of term tomorrow thank goodness.

It's end of year for us tomorrow too. Although...........DS is going to pull a sickie and going with DH and DH's brother to watch the Ashes! I asked DH to ask the school's permission to go, but it's only a half day and DH is teacher too (not at the same school and he's already finished) and thinks it's fine, so leaving them to it 🙄They have tickets for the weekend too, but it looks like the weather will make it a washout for the weekend, so I guess its okish! Plus, DS plays cricket for a club so he's really into it. So today's his last day in year 9.
We still haven't got his timetable for year 10, don't know whether his options have been accepted, feel a bit in the dark about it all. I guess his options are ok, otherwise he'd have asked to choose alternatives.

@Oblomov23 that sounds great! What an experience.

@NotDonna that exhibition sounds good. I'm in London this weekend with DD who's just finished year 8, so might consider that. They aren't always interested in the exhibitions I drag them to, but this one sounds good as DD is also interested in history.

Hope everyone's DC has a good end of term!

It was good @DataColour there's plenty of tickets and if you’re feeling spendy ‘The Pavilion’ in the gardens is nice for brunch or lunch. Lots of the Met Gala outfits. Didn’t take as long as expected - 1.5/2hrs. The Ashes will be great and I’m sure school won’t mind half a day.
Do school offer A levels @Oblomov23 if so what do they say about combined science and the prep for A level?

Yes, their 6th form is superb.

I am writing to confirm that your child will be in a group that will work towards the Combined Science qualification. This will give them the best chance of achieving a high grade in the GCSE exams and therefore making it more likely that they will meet the entry criteria should they wish to continue Science to A-level. This is because there will be less pressure to cover additional content required by Triple Science and therefore more time to master the material that they do learn. We will continue to review this decision throughout Year 10 to make sure that this remains the most suitable course for each student. If a student is making exceptional progress in Combined Science, we may in rare circumstances look to move them onto the triple course.

So, I guess combined science is ok for A'level. Ds1 dropped from triple down to combined, plus he was never that science'y. But ds2 is sporty so will need A'level Biology for anything sporty - whatever that is.

That sounds very encouraging @Oblomov23

@Oblomov23 - that's interesting that you don't get to choose which science route to take.

At our school we're told that combined science makes the A level individual sciences more of a jump as the content is not covered at such depth but that a bright child can make the jump with some summer transitional work.

We get the choice at our school with dc who are intending to do science a levels recommended to take separate sciences unless they have particular humanities they want to take as combined then gives them an extra slot.

Does combined science at your school mean they have an extra slot or so they do they stretch the two gcse course over the same timetabled time as for the three individual sciences? Some schools use the combined/separate sciences split to effectively stream their cohort so need to use the extra timetabled time for covering the content for two GCSEs even though it's enough time for three iyswim.

They've changed the rules at DDs' school between the Year 11 (who did triple) and the Year 9. Now the top set covers all the combined stuff in two years and then they choose at the end of year 10 whether to continue with triple or revise combined for a year.

The latter sounds dull, but given the scramble DD1 had with Triple in the same time everyone else was doing combined I can see why they're doing this. There is no extra option slot if you don't choose triple.

DD2 would have gone for combined anyway I think, as she doesn't love science.

In new school musicians have a separate combined science set, I think, which goes faster or uses fewer lessons but only does combined, so that they have more time to practise. But I'm not really sure how that will work in reality.

Oh and she's feeling very grateful that she's going as the entire music department of her current school has just resigned. Again. They've only been there a year. Likelihood of that twilight GCSE still running slim to none I reckon.