Year 11 2023-24

[Maxus]

Anyone else got kids starting year 11 in September?

Yes, my daughter is.
She's been set some revision for over the holidays. She is predicted 9s in all but drama (a 7) but she is very lazy and doesn't do alot of revision, knowing she gets 7s without revision. It's infuriating.

@Nowanextraone it’s the laziness with my daughter that very much infuriates me. No revision, I despair. Anyway ordered an English language revision book today and will sit with DD and look at the exam technique questions. She has a giant maths work book I ordered to practice. She want’s to do nursing. I was looking at health care assistant etc but surprisingly her friend pepped talked her and said aim high Ella. Aim to be a nurse and there are lots of areas to go into. So I will use that to try and get her to focus.

@Midnightstar76 it might be worth looking at past papers with her and the marking guidance so she can understand what they are looking for.

I too have a lazy DS but he does well generally and that only reinforces his belief that he doesn't need to revise - argh!

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn thank you for the tip e.g exam papers. Going to try and tread carefully and not bombard her but she will need to pull her socks up. I think the problem is that she see’s the straight A students and has compared herself to them then given up and thinks I can’t achieve that so what’s the point. I want to change this mindset to she can do it and she can pass with a 4!

Hi got DS doing Gcses next year. Can't believe he has 2 lots of mock exams to do! Not sure he has done much revision keep pestering him to do some. Only had a little bit of work set over the summer.

@Nowanextraone opps didn't mean to quote you.

Our school only do one set of mocks @Weedoormatnomore literally as soon as they get back after Christmas. It annoys me as they don’t get to relax over that break because of it.

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn my DS school do mocks Oct/Nov seemed to vary which teacher I spoke to at parents evening so guessing some October some November. Get results 8th December. Then mocks presume Feb with results on 15th March. Sure his Eng teacher said they where doing a new English book too but not been told which one x

Just been on this year's gcse page and noticed some kids appear to have a lot of results. Which subjects do you get 2 marks for? Dreading next year!!

We mainly used the guides for English and maths. For English Literature we used the FlipsCo Cards and for maths we used the Corbett cards - both extremely useful and very affordable. Hard copies - not electronic, but well worth it.

Thanks @NellyNutmeg off to order some

Yep DD, no homework set over the holidays and tbh I’m struggling with it all. DD was predicted 9s but yr 10 mocks were 3/4s. Encouraging her to read/revise 😬

Thanks for the thread. DS2 going into Y11 in Sept. He doesn't seem to have any summer homework. His books are a mess and he has lost all his physics workbooks! Trying to get him to do some revision as he has mocks in November. He's bright but lazy and arrogant and thinks he'll be fine 😵‍💫
DS1 GCSEs were the first to be cancelled for COVID so I haven't actually experienced them sitting them.

One of the English language guide books landed in the post yesterday. DH got on at DD to tidy her room which she did. I mentioned the book that came and the need to work for what we want and I got a massive scowl and told not back yet. I am so frustrated. I keep saying we must do this and she replied not we , me! We will see. Going to help her sort out her work notes etc as it is an utter mess. It’s all just chucked in a box.

Yes my daughter is going into year 11. She's very anxious about it, got all 8s and 9s in her mocks and been revising in the holidays. She's a massive swot which I never was!

My DS will be going into Yr11 in September.
No homework or revision given from the school for the summer hols which I was surprised about.

I am definitely more nervous than what he is for his exams

Don't forget the contingency dat (or dates, rather, but the first two are within the main timetable):
(para 17 in the AQA document)
The awarding bodies have designated Wednesday 26 June 2024 as the ‘contingency day’ for examinations. The afternoons of Thursday 6 June and Thursday 13 June have been designated as ‘contingency afternoons’ for examinations. This is consistent with the qualification regulators’ document Exam system contingency plan: England, Wales and Northern Ireland – gov.uk/government/publications/exam-system-contingency-plan-england-wales-and-northernireland  The designation of ‘contingency days’ within the common examination timetable is in the event of national or significant local disruption to examinations in the United Kingdom. It is part of the awarding bodies’ standard contingency planning for examinations. Centres must therefore remind candidates that they must remain available until Wednesday 26 June 2024 should an awarding body need to invoke its contingency plan

Joining please. My son has done his short course RS GCSE this year which was good experience. First mocks in November.

Very little homework set for him over the summer. The exception is in the subject for which he was without a teacher for over half a year. The new teacher has given them lots of reading and revision tasks.

He is very able, but quite lazy. He got an 8 in the RS short course which has provoked a flurry of revision yesterday and today. I've been researching revision aids and putting together a google drive folder of resources such as past papers. I've bought pads, revision cards, post it notes, and printed off several of the weekly revision timetable templates provided by his school.

Joining in here too - I was on the previous y10 chat a bit, but I suspect there’ll be more to talk about this year!

We’re now back from our family holiday so it feels like the run-in to return to school. I found it very odd going through existing school uniform with DS, asking ‘can we make this last until June?’! He seems to be past growth spurts so hoping I don’t need to buy anything. If he gets into the sixth form he wants, he’ll need to wear a suit.

He didn’t have any school work set for the summer, so hasn’t done much apart from a bit of practice on Spanish vocabulary as that was his worst result in his end of year 10 exams. We went to France for our holiday, should have planned that better! I’m trying to encourage him to do some work on his English Lit set texts before they move on to different stuff when he’s back, but he’s still in summer stupor mode at the moment!

My son didn't get any homework, I pleased really as he needed a complete break. He did maths revision and some music when he felt like it but that's relaxing to him. It will be all go from September untill June so he definitely needed the break

What are peoples views about part time working alongside GCSEs? DS will turn 16 in September and is keen to apply for a Saturday job (or Sunday!). I know from my own experience that it can be great for quickly developing maturity, and he certainly has had the time to spare during y10, but I’m weighing this up against the ramping-up of school work. Anyone got thoughts from older DC? I’d impose a limit of 8 ish hours a week I think, and he may very well not be successful in finding a job, but our local part-time and temp job market looks buoyant right now, so just want to think it through in advance. In my mind, the benefits to him at this age would not be about money, it’s about building experience, but keen to get other perspectives.

Ds going into yr11. No homework over holidays but being in Wales they have recently sat 45% of their final
science exams so nice to get a break.

I've been wondering the same. I think it does wonders for independence.

However I don't think we'll encourage it in DD's case. She's doing Art GCSE which is taking up huge amounts of time, far more than any of her other subjects. She also does an 4hr extra curricular activity on Saturdays which she loves.

So I don't think she'll have time for anything else without risking her resilience and MH (we've had problems with her being a perfectionist and getting herself into a state).

I'm already starting to look around for options for next summer though - either a volunteering role or part time job.

NCS looks like a great opportunity but I don't think she'll have the confidence to go for it herself. She'll be too old for me to insist or sign her up for without her agreement, so I'm going to drip feed it's benefits and fun element over the year in the hope it piques her net rest.