GCSE's - How much are you supporting your Y10 student And In what ways?

[Charliesunnysky10]

Hi, my daughter had some unexpectedly poor GCSE grade predictions just before October half term and it's switched her off learning. I'm annoyed with the school for shattering the confidence of a previously motivated pupil with some projected scores from a test in Y7, and have arranged to see the head teacher on Wednesday after making a complaint.

I'll be asking how i can work with the teaching staff to undo this damage and in the meantime I'm wondering how other parents of Y10's are supporting their children please?

Why did she switch off? What grades did she get in mocks? Wasn't she compelled to put the work in to get what she thinks she's capable of? Talk to each teacher, ask what needs to be done. Get books, tutor, whatever she needs. Encourage her, as to what is possible and what she can achieve rather than letting her turn it into such a negative. That seems defeatist to me.

What are you actually complaining to the Head about?

The school have to make accurate predictions at this point. If indications are that she'll perform only to a level you feel is 'poor', a complaint won't change that.

Are you saying the previous projections from KS3 were motivating but unrealistic compared to what teachers' professional judgement says now, or that the 'predictions' are just a flight path from Y7 which have already been surpassed?

Forecasting isn't there to make false reassurances. You can make sure that she completes every piece of class and homework set, redrafts and improves work according to feedback given, listens to teachers, does extra reading and 'optional' tasks.

@Oblomov22 She switched off because the MidYis chances graph said she had just a 7% chance of getting the 9's she'd been working hard towards, based on a Y7 test she didn't perform well in.

She is trying to get back on track but can't.

I want more support from school. I'm annoyed they derailed her learning and more so that they're doing little to understand how crushed she is and help me rebuild her.

Thank you for those suggestions too.

I'm sorry. I don't know what that graph but means. What were her actual mock grades?

DD has tuition twice a week for maths, English and science. She is shy and tends to work better in smaller groups there than her large groups at school. The tutor also sets regular homework.
I've also purchased the textbooks/workbooks for the exam boards for the other subjects. Every once in a while we will sit down together and work through them, but she prefers for me to leave her to do it lol. We can go days without doing anything and then have a few days of lots of work. She doesn't deal with pressure well so am really guided by her.

Does your DD know what she wants to do after school? DD has been to a few college and university open days, and decided what course and uni she wants to go to. She knows it super competitive and that's given her the encouragement to work hard. Maybe if DD has a goal even if it's to pass English and maths, and she concentrates on those?

@Curta She is in the top set for all the subjects there are sets for, and is always in the top 5% for termly exams. Her end of year reports always show she's mastering in all but 2 subjects. However the MidYis forecasts her a 5 in most sukrvts and the occasional 6. She has friends in lower sets who don't get the high test results who've been forecast 8's. She feels humiliated and stupid. I've told her Midyis is unreliable and it's what she does now that makes the difference but she's still not responding.

My complaint is how they delivered the news to her, and the lack of support it helping her overcome this setback.

Thanks for your suggestions too, and balanced opinion. I do need to hear it.

@Oblomov22 She's not done mocks yet. She does them at Christmas in Y11.

@KurriKawari She got a bursary for an independent girl school. I can't afford tutoring on top of the fees, but I'm ordering some workbooks. She doesn't know what she wants to do but I'll see if there are some work and uni open days to inspire her - great suggestions- thank you

OMG that must be costing
a fortune!

She switched off because the MidYis chances graph said she had just a 7% chance of getting the 9's she'd been working hard towards, based on a Y7 test she didn't perform well in.

Dear god, what an utterly fuckwitted thing for the school to do. I'm not familiar with MidYis in particular, but any sort of prediction made 5 years prior to an exam should be treated with massive caution, and IMO never shared with pupils or parents.

You are absolutely correct to complain about the impact that this has had on your DD's motivation.

The only possible excuse that they could have is if they presented them alongside teacher assessments of your DD's capability in each subject, based on current performance. It could have well boosted your DD's motivation if she had seen that she is actually smashing those predictions (which it sounds like she is).

Did they provide any info on predicted grades based on current performance?

Please tell your DD that it sounds like she is well on her way to being in that 7%!

@whattodo2019 DD found lockdown so hard and the standard of home schooling provided by the school was non existent, so we are cutting back on lots such as holidays etc so she gets the education she needs for the next two years. Think it'll all be fine when she's at college. The joys and stresses of being a parent!

@Charliesunnysky10 it is annoying that they shared all the info with her, the must have known how demotivating it is. And did they have any suggestions on what she needs to do next?

So what went wrong on these tests that suddenly negate her top set ability and high achievements in previous tests? Why have they suddenly downgraded her? Is this a progress 8 thing?

Is she usually resilient? For Ds his year 7 "flight path" was seen as a challenge to him to absolutely smash through it and he did. The school have acted appallingly to do this to your DD. But it does sound like she is on her way to those high grades. Ds was "predicted" a grade 5 at best from his KS2 SATs in English Language and achieved an 8.

I would help your DD see that this graph is wrong, help motivate her onwards. Show them all how well she can do, that she can be that 7%.

The issue for students who perform well in SATs and CATs tests in year 6/7 have high targets. They then spend a few years thinking they're underperforming. Try to boost her confidence & also tell her it's unlikely early in Year 10 that she will be on target.

I have seen a decline in mental health of students since I started teaching 21 years ago and I personally feel that this scenario is very damaging for young people. Then the stress of getting all As at A Level to get into a half decent uni.

I'm not sure why you're complaining, what you need to be doing is asking why her projected scores don't reflect the huge progress she appears to have made based on teacher grades.

My guess at the reason is that the school loves this kind of thing - little x was only projected to get a grade 5 based on her ability when she came here in Year 7, but then ends up actually getting 9's! What a fantastic school we are!

I also have a DD in Year 10 and currently offer no support - she just does her work.

@WellingtonSquareTree I think she was a bit overawed in her first term at the school. She is usually resilient but feels beaten by the odds. I'm so glad to hear your son did so well in the face of this. I think hormones are in full effect for her. She's very upset about it all.

I would just reaffirm all her previous achievements. Ask her if she is top set and achieves high scores in the top 5% how does that explain the predicted grades she has compared to the set below? Get her to see this is ridiculous by the school. Something has gone very wrong.

I know with Ds the system wouldn't allow the teachers to input his actual grade for maths as it only allowed a 1 grade above his target of a 6 despite getting mid 90%s on all papers throughout yr10 and yr11.

It is amusing looking back at Ds's predicted grades in yr10, predicted 4 grade 7s as his highest prediction, he got mostly grade 9s, his lowest grade was a lone grade 7!

Impress on your DD how amazing she is and this one piece of paper is not the sum of her.

DD is in Y10 and she isn't doing anything extra. Just reading and sleep. She's exhausted by all the ramped up work.

A couple of revision guides and our dd has a maths tutor as she was behind by the end of primary.

I can’t believe year 10’s are going to Uni open days 😯

Thank you all so much for your suggestions, experiences and feedback. I've noted down what needs to be done and we're already making progress.