Year 10 - 2023/2024 Support Thread

[QueenMabby]

Hi all

A new thread for those needing support (or just wanting to chat or rant!) with teens heading into their GCSE years.

We do an iGCSE so MacBeth and An Inspector Calls are coursework and we then have Of Mice and Men and the Poetry Anthology for the exam.

We've just moved to iGCSE for Eng Lang too so have coursework for that at some point. So far she's just done the AIC coursework. I didn't see it. Assume it was ok!

@icanbewhatiwant - that's tough with your ds. What is an 8 or a 9 can depend so much on the day. Or the marker! I have a friend who marks for English GCSEs and can see how differently two different markers may view pieces of work. I'm not sure even Oxbridges distinguishes between an 8 and a 9 when they look at GCSE results.

Dd was cross because in Biology everybody's test scores are coloured in on the teachers main sheet. Red for below expected grade, orange for expected and green for above expected. Dd has 9s for all of her tests but her boxes are all orange because that's her expected grade! She's rather they predicted her an 8 so that she can exceed expectations!

She got 100% in her first Greek mock which was good. Next mock for that is next week and then one in April. (first was language then next two are literature).

She's very busy at the moment. We also have parents' evening next week and she's going to Germany on her language exchange!

Apparently the school don't ever put 9's as a target grade in year 10. The head of science apologised to Ds that his target grade for the sciences is on 6/7 on my report. He said he'd email the teachers and tell them to change it to 8. I'd rather it was on the lower side, then Ds can be pleased when it's better.

Ds's English teacher read out his work to the class. He was annoyed. He said luckily half the class were on a trip otherwise it would have been worse. She said it was the best year 10 piece she'd seen for a while and deserved a grade 9. But apparently she's not allowed to give year 10's a 9. He was secretly pleased, though kept saying he didn't want it read out.

Oh no, @Oblomov24! I have so been there - booked tickets to the British Library harry potter exhibition on the same day as the school nativity play once.

Dd2 does actually seem to be doing the `Importance of Being Earnest - but i wasn't going to take her to see it. She has also done some coursework on the Crucible, seems to have read of Mice and Men. Don't know which Shakespeare - have parents evening next week so might find out.

Having been round this before, I would absolutely recommend the Deutsche Bank shakespeare plays done in winter at the globe - they're cheap, stick basically to the text and are designed for GCSE students. We saw their macbeth a few years back and they seem to be doing R & J again this year.

Would also really recommend a trip to Stratford, to do Shakespeare's birthplace and the other properties - there is always just lots of spontaneous shakespeare there and my DDs got really into them. Also watching Upstart Crow is surprisingly illuminating.

We are seeing the Fiennes Macbeth tonight - without our Year 10 who is obviously away at school - with DD1 and our foster daughter who both dropped english but did it for GCSE - looking forward to it- now feel I should be ceding our tickets to a GCSE student though!

Dead jealous that you get to see Fiennes Mini. Let us know how good it is.

Thanks for the advice re other options. I will look into all these. Wish ds2 as doing Of Mice and Men because I enjoyed it.

Unlike icanbe's ds who seems to be flying (bless him) I can't seem to make ds2 do anything other than the bare minimum. That kid seems happy with a 6, aiming for a 7. I have talked to him about all this. But I just can't make him be something that he isn't. He's different from ds1 and I just have to accept that.

@minisnowballs so envious of you getting to watch Fiennes in Macbeth. We wanted to go when it came to Liverpool (we are in Manc) but didn't have a free evening.

DS is studying "An inspector calls", "Jekyll and Hyde", Julius Caesar, and another one I can't remember. He seems to enjoy the texts and doing ok in English.

Regarding "modern adaptations", we took the DCs last year to see Jekyll and Hyde done by uni students locally. It was set mostly in a brothel, with all the related goings on! Luckily the DCs took it in their stride! Mortifying though. We are going to see Tempest at the same venue and this time I've read the blurb properly and it's NOT a modern interpretation thankfully!

DS has exams once a week or so for various subjects, doing well in Maths still, a mixed bag the others. His behaviour at school has been the issue this month, so he is currently on a Xbox ban for the foreseeable.

Can confirm the Fiennes was exceptional. Not sure they made the most of the vast space they had, but the acting was superb.... Not sure how much actual use it would be for studying GCSE but it was incredibly good.

I always think that taking students to see productions of Macbeth increase their enthusiasm for the play, because it literally brings it alive. As you'll know as a parent, getting a teenager interested in a play is half the battle, as it increases motivation to study. In terms of helping students to learn / understand the nuts and bolts of the play, it helps with general shape of plot (but can also be confusing, if scenes are left out) and understanding of characterisation. However, for a guaranteed traditional performance of the play, which is faithful to the original's structure, I don't think you can beat the recordings of the RSC productions which are available to view online (subscription). They may not be 'trendy', but they are really helpful. Let me know if you'd like the link.

Very curious as to how your yr10’s are punished please. Not my DD but her friend has received a detention after receiving 4 detention marks as follows…

1. early September forgetting text book
2. late September homework day late
3. mid October forgetting chemistry folder
4. today forgetting revision folder for checking so it’s 4 minor incursions since year start. I thought it had to be per term but it seems they’re carried over for the whole year. Do you think this is reasonable or a bit over the top?

@NotDonna my Ds school has some incredibly complicated system where they for any rule break or bad behaviour, or forgetting books/equipment, they are given a number on a scale. The number is preceded by the letter C, so it’s C1-C9 scale. C1 is basically a warning, but if you get a few they add up to a higher number on the scale, from C4 onwards are different types of detention (lunchtime, after school etc). I think a C5 is isolation, C7 is suspension, C8 permanent exclusion.

I can never get my head around it, and the teachers get confused too!

Oh crikey that is complicated! You’d hope they don’t forget books 7 times and be suspended!

Isolation and exclusion for being forgetful seems counterproductive and wrong to me. And I do get frustrated with DS2 for the silly stuff and can understand why teachers would, but I'd be concerned about this as I'm not sure that it's actually an appropriate solution. My kids secondary gives "behaviour points" for not being "prepared for learning" but these don't seem to add up to a detention as often as the school handbook suggested they might at the beginning of year 7.

@NotDonna I don't think it's unfair to get detentions for cumulative actions but if it's onnly 4 minors then it seems a bit mean that it counts over a year rather than a term as you said.

Our school has demerits and detentions and the detentions have ranks. They start with a lunchtime one which are called "reflection sessions" and go all the way up to a headmaster's Saturday detention!

DS had three detentions in one term in year 10 (the only ones he ever had). One was for chewing gum in the line up for class, and two for not doing homework. These were straight to a lunchtime session which seems more harsh than yours!

Ooh yes that does seem harsh - straight to lunchtime detention for forgetting homework. Chewing gum I get as that’s a deliberate choice rather than human error of forgetting. I also understand the repeatedly ‘forgetting’ can be deliberate and does need sanctions.

Dd has spent the whole of the last two Saturdays in school. I'm thinking she might just have to live in!

She's supposed to be going on her language exchange abroad tomorrow but strikes mean we currently have no flight. School are scrambling to find an alternative but we still don't know for sure. Hopefully we'll hear later today. 🤞🏻🤞🏻

Parents' evening tonight. The first in person one since before Covid and it'll be good to see her teachers in person.

Pressed post too soon! Hope everyone else's DCs are doing ok. Amazing that we're over half way through the year already!

Ouch @QueenMabby hope flights are sorted.

We've just had parents evening too - thankfully remote given how far away we are - but first time we've really got a feel for anything from her teachers.

Really good to get a sense of how DD2 is doing - though teachers seemed really baffled that she'd joined Parents Evening from her boarding house- the only child who did. Is it not normal for a child to attend them in Year 10?

Hope the trip works out @QueenMabby sounds stressful.

We just had parents evening too (online) and year 10 students are definitely expected to attend. We only managed to see half her teachers which was a bit disappointing but they were all very positive. What they said didn't seem to match up to the slightly disappointing predicted grades she was given in her mid year report so I'm wondering if they have been told to be very cautious about predicted grades. It must be tricky to predict at this point in year 10 but it did seem very strange for the teachers to basically say they expect DD to do better than the predicted grade they had given - why did they bother giving them?

@IThinkIMadeItWorse I think that can be quite normal (we've been through this one once before) - closer to the time they get a bit more realistic. In last year's report DD2 was apparently ;working at' a 9, but was predicted a 7 in English. I suggested she took it straight away and cut her losses.

Turns out they just don't predict above a 7 until Year 11. So probably the positive stuff is more important than the predictions.

Here, we found new school parents evening baffling in a completely different way - REALLY weirdly relaxed about GCSEs.

We have moved from state to independent education- because DD2 is a specialist musician on the government's music and dance scheme.

However, with normal lessons, DD2 is proceeding in the way she was taught in her old school and as she saw her sister do - so making flashcards and revising as she goes. She has designated prep time and needs to fill it with something other than playing solitaire and using what'sapp web to whinge at us about the food.

Revising is apparently weird at new school- a bit like going to your own parents evening, so she is causing quite a stir. The maths teacher said she was 'the most determined student she had ever met'.

I can assure her Britain's state schools are full of them - you don't do well in a school with limited resource without taking responsibility for your own learning!

We asked for reading lists and documentaries for history, English etc. Teachers had clearly not been asked this before.

So it's been a recalibration and a culture shock for us really...The school's results are fine and her predictions above what they were at her old school - but perhaps they just tell parents what they want to hear?

DD2 emailed me afterwards - "I'm quite pleased with that - but they don't half make a fuss".

Thanks @minisnowballs sounds like your DD is going to do very well.

The frustrating thing is that DD needs to be thinking about sixth forms and what subjects she wants to do this year, the open evenings are this summer and they apply in the autumn term of year 11 (schools here generally don't have sixth forms.) It's tricky for DD to choose what subjects she wants to do if they have all under predicted. This wasn't really an issue for DS as it was always very clear where his strengths (and weaknesses!) were but DD is much more of an all rounder. Sigh. I'm wondering about emailing the school to give them some feedback on how unhelpful (and discouraging) the "predicted grades" are/were.

@IThinkIMadeItWorse that does make it really hard. Hopefully they'll be more helpful if you speak to them. You can usually change subjects later - but I appreciate that isn't that helpful if you're applying to different colleges depending on what they offer.

I'm glad our school has a 6th form. My older 2 only wanted to stay at the same school with all their mates. Ds3 will too. I'm sure there would be more options at other places though. They choose their A levels but there is always the option to change if grades aren't as good as predicted.

We have the problem of transport here. There are colleges further afield but getting there isn't easy. There's a bus that takes an hour and 45 mins to do a journey that takes 25 mins by car, only one bus each way too, so they have to get on it early and then it leaves at 4.30pm. Then the nearest city would be a train ride. But a lift would be needed to the station. For the 6th form at their school, we have to apply for a spare seat on the school bus. My older 2 were refused a place on the bus because the 6th form at another school is nearer, but it's over the border so not our catchment school. It's so silly how it works. Then we pay £350 a term if we get a bus space. I am hoping Ds will get a bus seat. But it's a way off yet. So I'm not thinking about it.

In our school there would be a detention for each of those transgressions! Depending on the severity of it so it goes up in 15min increments up to an hour. DD is having an hour detention this week due to 3 uniform issues, where she forgot a PE sock once, forgot her skort a couple of times, throughout the year. Seems harsh to me, but teaches her to pack and organise herself better I guess.

We have parents evening in April, not sure if it's online or not yet. DS's performance in assessments have been largely positive recently but his behaviour at school has been well below par and it's been a stressful few weeks as a result.

DS doesn't want to stay in the school's 6th form as apparently that's boring. There's a few within cycling distance so hopefully it'll work itself out. The mocks exams for predicted grades are in Nov which they use for 6th form applications, which is what we've been told so far.

I think our parents eve is in April and pupils attend. DD will be looking at other 6th forms as we’ve been unhappy with the school since the new head. Plus they don’t offer sociology which she fancies. No idea where she’s got that from but…
Thinking of detentions etc do yours get merits as well or house points etc? I don’t think our school (I did, even at senior school) but not sure if she does. Must ask!

Lovely parents' evening here. Four teachers told me dd is a knowledge sponge and one said he would cry if she didn't do his subject at A level! Hope he has plenty of tissues!

She's predicted a 9 in the subject she's taking this year which is good.

Dd is very academic so nothing to worry about there. As a parent the highlights for me were the two teacher that said how positively she uses her abilities to support and encourage her peers and how happy she is to help anyone who is struggling. That was really lovely to hear.

We had parents evening too this afternoon- virtual which is fine-it works well.
A bit of a mixed bag for DS - a couple raved over him ,one said he talked too much and said nothing positive at all and the rest were somewhere in between.