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.

Anyhow, enough of my irrelevant wittering - I'm sure alll will be fine with that, eventually..

Good luck to those with exams this week - @QueenMabby how was today?

I actually got an email from my DDs form tutor telling me the number of merits she received was not commensurate to the amount of effort she out in and level of achievement. She wanted to reassure me that she was doing absolutely everything she should and deserved more recognition that she was getting. So tell her other teachers that!
Fortunately she doesn’t seem too bothered and I think it actually motivates her to work even harder. My son is the complete opposite and needs loads of positive recognition which fortunately his school (different school, but both state) do loads of, even for the basic expectations such as tidy uniform and punctuality. DS is AuDHD though so punishment doesn’t work with him and he needs lots of positive recognition, which they give him and he responds well to. Luckily, things could be so different in a different type of school, I dread to think.

Good luck with all the end of year exams, early GCSEs. Does anyone else’s school give them ‘mocks’ at end of year 10. DS’s school do and all the teachers are piling on the pressure about revision timetables and how much they have done :-(

Well done icanbe for ds Head Boy application. Supersur that seems so unfair.

I'm starting to worry /wonder if ds2 actually knows how to revise. He says he does, but admits has never needed to as yet.

He only has small topic tests, eg the exams/tests coming up are only on:

Bio: B1, B2, B3, B4
Chem: C1, C2, C4, C7, C9
Phys: P1, P2, P6

I'm thinking I'm going to have to force him. I've downloaded the maths syllabus into excel, but will he tick it off? Or prefer an app. I've got all the themes and quotes for Macbeth, but will he use that? He has no drive, am a bit concerned.

@SuperSue77 that's lovely of the tutor though - how kind that they noticed. frustrating as it is. Glad they are better with your son.

@Oblomov24 - at least now gives you time to find out what works for next year's mocks. DD1 always like physical paper for ticking things off - and lots of flash cards. DD2, who knows... can't say she seems all that prepared.

How brilliant of your DS @icanbewhatiwant to apply for the Head Boy role.
So much can be achieved in life I feel by willing to give hard/scary things a go and I wish I had that level of bravery!
Not sure what I would do on the merits @minisnowballs -probably just grumble to my DH about it incessantly…
DS ‘s second RS exam was harder than the first he said but is over crucially now, the lesson time is given over to Maths which he doesn’t mind.
Am assuming they will advise how he will get the results-an email same as for Year 11 probably?

End of Y10 exams after half term here .

Not too sure if I’ve mentioned it on here before but both DD1 & DD2 (and DD3 by osmosis) were advised to look critically at subject topics and mark them green, yellow and red. Green - understand/know it; yellow - understand but unsure; Red - really struggling/ haven’t a clue. Then, to work on getting the yellow topics to green. What tends to happen is kids revise the green topics. Parents encourage the red. Which when it’s spelled out you can totally imagine. So once yellow is green, the red seems less overwhelming to tackle.

DD3 has done a revision timetable for half term (exams are after) which is pretty hefty but we’ll see how that works out. She feels pretty sure it’s a good plan so she’ll see herself how well she can stick to it and how well it works. She doesn’t really do practice papers but that’s how DD1 & DD2 did their GCSEs and A levels. And even DD1 now, taking her professional exams. She’s constantly doing past papers. But they have another year so a good amount of time to hone those skills.
A year! Where has that time gone!

@NotDonna
Hey you, how's dd1? Ds1 has 3 papers including Tax and FR in the next 2 weeks.

👋🏼 @Oblomov24 yes she’s also got exams! Always seems to have them tbh. They do both topics (BST & FM this time) the same day so it ends up being 8 hours of exams in one day. But if a killer. She’s taken a few days holiday and ploughing through practice papers. Her mocks went well but she wants to get high marks. It’s tough when they work FT too but luckily she’s not too bothered about using up some of her annual leave.

@Oblomov24 good luck to your DS1 and his exams!

Good luck to those with exams currently or coming up.

Dd had three today and is of course catastrophising over the couple of minor mistakes that she made rather than all the things she knows she got right!

Actual Greek paper 2 tomorrow but she has a sore throat and is feeling a bit grotty so I've dosed her up and sent her to bed!

Dd uses the Get Revising study planner. It's free but needs a bit of work putting in at the start.

getrevising.co.uk/planner

She's incredibly analytical about her revision but is a massive over-thinker once she's done the exam which is not always helpful.

@NotDonna I'd not heard the concept of concentrating on the yellow bits before - makes sense though... think I'll let all of ours know that. I have two at home with A-Level mocks after half term, which is occupying more of my mind. Last biology test was disastrous...it is just SO content heavy and she's only doing one science which means there's nothing supporting it if you see what I mean. the Year 10 doesn't get a lot of focus from me normally because of the other two - and the fact she's obviously not at home - but I will at least try to talk to her about it over half term.

@QueenMabby good luck to your DD today - hope she's feeling better. It sounds like she is super well prepared so should imagine she'll breeze through it. It is awful when they only focus on the mistakes though. Both of mine do this (and my foster daughter too)

No mocks here, just end of topic tests. He did OK in physics and chemistry last week, not his best but he didn't do too badly. He did better in music performance 29/30 and his teacher said that's the best he's ever played so that bodes well. Difficult to get him motivated these days to do any school work but the bare minimum because of all the sport etc as it's tiring and takes up hours on weekday evenings. On the plus side he did get 4 wickets in a interclub match last week and was person of the match (there were 2 girls playing in the other team!).

Thanks for that revision timetable link @QueenMabby it looks so useful. Also good luck to your DD for her GCSE tomorrow.

@icanbewhatiwant that's great that your DS has applied for the head boy role. Hope he is successful!

Good luck to all those that are having mock and exams and real GCSEs.

DS is going on his DofE expedition this Thursday. It's forecast to rain heavily.

@DataColour - of course it's going to rain! Poor ds. Hope he copes ok. Neither of mine were ever interested in DofE for which I was profoundly grateful!

Have just dropped off dd for her exam. Herodotus today which is the one she's most anxious about. She was very nervous. It's only a 60 minute paper though so I've promised her we can go shopping afterwards.

Hope it went well @QueenMabby and the shopping was fun!

Thanks @SB1971 - she said it was fine. The 8 mark question was about the pygmies which was one of her faves so that was good.

Shopping was fun and we got her some new "music performance" black trousers.

Full on meltdown this evening though. Lots of tears about how she doesn't feel prepared enough for her internal exams and how everyone just thinks of her as the smart one and won't like her as much if she does badly etc etc and lots of other wildly catastrophic things. She felt better once she'd had a good cry though and has gone to bed ok.

She has physics, Latin and maths tomorrow.

@QueenMabby -concert wear - always cheering (DD2 is always trying to pick up more of it). So glad it went well. She sounds like such an amazing kid - but also such a perfectionist... poor love to think people won't like her if she does badly. Their identities can be so bound up with their academics at this age.

On the merits - I got an email from DD's tutor last night saying that the Head had now asked everyone to 'reflect' on the merit system and whether they were awarding the wretched things fairly... so maybe it has struck a chord with someone after all. He assures me no-one knows it was me who said something, so hopefully DD2 won't be too embarrassed. Though she did receive a highly suspicious merit for 'working hard in biology' yesterday. But if it means that every quiet and overlooked child is recognised for a couple of weeks before it going back to normal, I guess that is something.

It’s definitely something @minisnowballs well done you!

Well done @minisnowballs we have similar problems with the quiet consistent ones being overlooked in the reward system. DD has been given 0 points this term, I'm wondering if I should say something now!

All the best to those in the middle of year 10 exams (and real GCSEs!) DD got her timetable through yesterday, 7th to the 17th June. Looks like they don't do timetabled lessons but have supervised revision periods between the exams.

Hope your DS doesn't get too waterlogged @DataColour - it's very wet here. The lazy part of me was very glad neither of my children wanted to do DofE. I was a bit annoyed by one of the teachers who started telling DD's class that things like DofE and volunteering were important to write on their applications for sixth form, complete nonsense. They really don't care about such things, in fact I'm not sure they are allowed to discriminate on what is written in the "personal statement". I think DofE is a great thing to do if you want to do it but not really for any other reason. DD has two sixth form open evenings booked for early July.

Glad your DD's exam went well @QueenMabby sounds like she'd done well. Hope she is feeling calm about her school exams today. I wish my kids had a tiny bit of her perfectionism, they are the other end of the spectrum!

@minisnowballs that's great about the merit point system, progress I hope! We have a thing called value points and neither of my kids have ever had many of those, mainly through losing them through detentions. You can get 1 value point for something good, but then lose about 20 of them in a minor detention. I think DS is on negative points now. Neither of them seem to care at all.

Both DS and DD are doing bronze DofE which is pretty easy going. The skills and physical section is just getting their extracurricular stuff signed and the camping is fun and all of their friends are doing it so hopefully it'll be a great little trip for them. I think the volunteering has been really good for them. DS is helping out parkrun, as he's a runner himself he likes doing that. It has been particularly beneficial for DD. She's volunteering at a local community art gallery which puts on sessions for all ages and she's been helping out several times a month and she's loving it. She's very shy and awkward around people she doesn't know well, but it's really opened up her social skills and she's planning on doing it as long as they need her.

@DataColour that's lovely for your DD - I think the volunteering bit of DofE can be so valuable. DD1 worked in our local library, which is run by a small charity. She gained such a lot from learning to interact with the public there and we were really glad she did it.

I wish DD2 didn't care. But it seems she does. Currently she's having a big panic about how much revision she is going to have to do over the half term and how many text books she must bring home. Since she also has a bassoon a flute and a shedload of sheet music, I'm a bit worried about how she'll get it all on the bus and train.

Good for you @minisnowballs, I think we need to politely stand up to such nonsense.

Son has option to start CCF in year 11 or Year 12
I am concerned that he might be overtired in year 11

@newtothis15 what clubs does he currently do? What’s the time commitment for CCF? When I was in ATC (air cadets) many moons ago it was two nights a week plus Sunday mornings but not everyone always attended. I also had a Saturday job. I wasn’t tired and loved it. To be honest, it did me the world of good and I had plenty to say in my interviews. Is he interested? DD3 currently does several sports 2hrs x 4 nights per week plus 4hrs Sat. And occasional competitions. BUT they’re all for gcse PE so she can’t really not do them. She’s definitely not tired though.

MY DAUGHTER HAS BEEN STOLEN AND REPLACED BY A LOOK-A-LIKE STUDIOUS BEING!!

Seriously, how’s everyone’s half term going? Any holidays or just revision for end of years?
DD3 has had the latter as on return to school the exams begin. They’ve been told to revise all yr9 topics as well as yr10’s, which has been somewhat overwhelming for her. Zero notes made last year apparently. But she’s worked her socks off this week. A total transformation! Really hope she gets the corresponding results!

Ive been reading a thread on ‘higher education’ section on MN about motivation and work ethic - it really is food for thought.