GCSE revision sessions at school over Easter holiday

[longterminvesment]

DD has been given a timetable of revision sessions she can attend which is amazing and I really appreciate the time her teachers are giving up for these. We have to let school know if she wants to take part or not. I’m just wondering how useful these are going to be. DD is working really hard at home and getting on with her revision. Do you think she’ll get more done on her own? Are these sessions worthwhile for DC who are working well at home?

I'd personally encourage them to take any help going! One mark can make a higher grade!

As she is working well at home, I'd leave it up to her.
Way back, DD1 went to every English session going and the teachers kindly marked practice questions for her and gave her feedback.
We didn't bother with maths & science because I could do them 1-1 with her at home.

My DC's school revision sessions were mandatory (although I'm not sure they could have enforced this). My DD was hugely organised and self motivated and found them a waste of time (they didn't focus on the areas that she wanted to focus on).

So if your DC is similar and doesn't want to go, I'd leave it.

Does it say the sessions are targeted or for everyone? If your child has been specifically targeted, then the class teacher will think your child will benefit.
If it’s open to all students then you could check with the class teacher to see?

Some sessions DD went to she was the only one there!

My DS found some of them beneficial. As others have said he just chose the ones that he felt would be helpful and just revised at home for the subjects he could do well on his own.

Also travel to school may come into it. We were only 15mins walk away so easy to pop in.

Maybe get your DD to talk to teachers re how the sessions are run. e.g. Is maths going to be a 'taught revision session - lets all look at grade 8 trig questions' or more of a clinic 'please can you help me with X'. Might make a big difference to her.

I'd encourage her to go, the teacher's will be there to help and guide her and answer questions etc.

It certainly won't do any harm and can sometimes help with compartmentalisation etc

She should go. They're always worthwhile. They also build confidence.

Mine were mandatory. I was annoyed at this beforehand but once they started I was actually grateful for them. If I was stuck on a certain concept, I could ask the teachers for help at the session, they marked practice essays for me etc.

It would be a shame to miss these if the school is offering. There's quite a few of these in London ran by private schools over Easter and they're easily £1k per week, per subject.

I think this is where, as a PP says, it's really important to find out who is invited to the session and what it will cover.

The revision sessions at my DD's school were 1.5 hours on a subject and they basically went over commonly asked topics with some sample questions. Perfectly reasonable and useful, but in a lot of cases my DD was already comfortable in the topics covered so her time would have been better spent working on an area that she was less confident in. And the whole class (ish) was there, so no real opportunity to ask personal questions.

@redskylight Oh yes, for sure. I assumed the OPs child checked. The school I worked in did them in higher Vs foundation and in 2 sets for English so it made more sense. The higher sets it was more of a q&a type of thing.

I would definitely find out what's happening in the sessions. Is there going to be actual teaching going on? If so what will they be covering? Or will there just be someone there to answer any questions?

DD also been given the same sort of timetable. She will be going in. I am grateful that they are offering it. It's not every subject - french, music, maths and further maths. I think those doing art and cookery are also being offered lessons but that's it as far as I can see.

Mu DS has been given a timetable of sessions and he's chose to go to the 1s where he can finish his coursework, he won't be going to them because he'd burned out and really needs a good break.

*all

My DD also started her revisions and we found that Edumentors platform they are doing free GCSE mock simulations. She said it helps with her exam anxiety and it's good for practice. Maybe you can try it out too, here's the link https://edumentors.co.uk/blog/free-online-gcse-mock-simulation-on-edumentors/

My DD revises tons at home and achieves highly.

She intends to go to the revision sessions during Easter. Id take the lead from your DD if she is doing well.

Our school offer the sessions as online only so it means less time out of the day for staff and students. Online learning works fairly well in this instance.

DC1 will be going to hers. Sadly, very few kids at her school bother (only 5 kids at yesterday's after school revision class), but the upside of this is she gets some really great individualised input and the teachers are very flexible.