Year 11 2023-24

[Maxus]

Anyone else got kids starting year 11 in September?

First of all, breathe!

Secondly, get her to make a list of the themes of the novel. And then for each theme, a couple of quotations. Some of them will cross over. If she can do it without looking, that'll be a great start.

Same for the poems.

Then breathe again. Mocks are just to help us to know what we need to go over again.

Poor dd is missing her geography mock tomorrow morning as she has orthotics appointment instead, such rubbish timing! She’s stress busting by trying to organise a post exams holiday, not sure they’ll actually get anything organised, there’s 10 of them trying to agree on what to do!

Her prom dress arrived yesterday, she’s not tried it on yet!

We went to see Macbeth yesterday, thought it might be useful (ds in y9 also doing Macbeth). It was really, really long! Not sure dd got much out of it, did reveal that ds isn’t paying attention in class (why are they carrying bits of trees?) at least he’s got a couple of years before the exams.

@MrsHamlet we went through the same thing. I told my DD to do her best to revise given the limited time she had - she actually sat both Eng Lit papers this round. She created flashcards for the themes and mind maps for characters for all texts, but not for all poems as she ran out of time. There are 2+ months from now to the real exam to cover all gaps.

@wonderstuff is that the Dock X production with Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma? We went to see it in Feb half term and we loved everything apart from the costumes. (To me, it looked lady Macbeth was going to a 9-5 job in the morning and the kids in the play looked like posh kids from SW postcodes - that ruined it a bit for me, I was trying to ignore it and focus on the superb acting).

@anoukis it was Dock X, I liked the staging and I thought Indira Varma was fantastic, but I was quite underwhelmed overall, I didn’t think Ralph Finnes was particularly powerful. Ive definitely seen better Shakespeare, but can’t decide if it’s Macbeth that’s just quite inaccessible? Or if it was the super uncomfortable seats that just distracted me?

Last day of mocks here! DS just has psychology this morning.

We went to the RSC production of Macbeth in the Summer anoukis and wonderstuff. It was okay but I've seen better. It did allow us a nice weekend in Stratford upon Avon though, which is always welcome.

DS wants to get a summer job too @Gazelda For some reason around my area they only take kids post GCSE. I think it's to do with the child employment laws.

@Waspie I'd love to go to a Stratford production of Shakespeare, it's high on my list. Not Macbeth though :)

So DD is happy with her Biology and Physics results, she was told verbally by the teachers her mock grades. I'm concerned with the English Lit papers (not sure why as we have no indication of grade yet) and Add Maths.

Question: Add Maths FSMQ OCR is optional at DD's school, available only to set 1 kids and taught (scarcely) after school. It is graded A-E and it is a level 3 qualification I believe. If DD takes the exam and doesn't score high enough (say C or higher), does it need to be included in uni applications? (I am guessing yes). What I am trying to understand is whether she should take the exam if we don't have confidence in a high enough grade.

Hope all going well with your kids mocks.
DS had college interview got told he will be accepted got email confirming it. He just needs at least a G5 in maths to do core Maths. They never mentioned his English which was a G4/3 in Nov mocks. Just says he has to be available in August to discuss A Levels choices after he has results.

DD is doing her mocks this week and last and she's been bingeing maths past papers with her dad to revise.

Using previous years grade boundaries (we realise these can only be a tough guide) and often under marking her when not sure , she's consistently coming in just under a 3 after getting 2s in both Novembers mock and last years y10 mock.

Tiny, tiny baby steps I know but I'm so proud of how she's pushing on I could cry

Rough guide, rather!

Our mocks were last week. DS feels he did reasonably well, but time will tell.
Results just before Easter.

He's borderline for F/H for maths and combined science, so he has been pushing hard with those.

He has a "Destination Day" tomorrow at school, where they get 1:1 time with staff, current sixth formers, careers team, and local colleges.

Then we have parents evening on 21 March.

It's full-on! I don't recall any of this when I did O-levels.

Any tips for History (edexcel). DS just can’t push into a grade 5 which is really frustrating.

@tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz that’s fantastic, so glad her hard work is paying off.

DS dropped further maths @anoukis - he got a 5 in the November mock and it just seemed a pointless additional GCSE. Like your daughter's school it's not taught, it's just an extra curricular after school one day. We talked to the maths teacher and all just agreed to drop it. DS is now concentrating on core maths and getting good results. Further maths after school group is now just the "hardcore" of kids who want to do further maths A level.

@Tebheag and @tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz very positive updates, well done to your children!

"Destination Day" sounds good @gingercat02 I hope it went well.

@Panic71 - DS says History is about structure as much as knowledge. He suggests doing a past paper question and then reviewing the mark scheme for that question to see where your son might have gained/lost marks, then trying another question, incorporating what he picked up from the mark scheme and so on. Time management is also so important in History - it's easy to go over time on each question so be ruthless about only spending the right amount of time on each one, taking into account the number of marks available. This is DS' downfall issue with History (and English) but he's working on it Best of luck!

Morning, well I tentatively asked DD if she has had any mock results back yet from what she took the over the last few weeks. She did slightly better with 2’s for most of them except Biology which was a 1. Better than last time as all were 1’s, except a surprise 5 with English. She has not heard back from English and Maths yet. To be honest I am just supporting her as she has been trying. She revises at home and goes to extra sessions at school. Will be glad for her when it’s all over and she can go on to college and the next steps. GCSE’s just are not for DD.

It's good that she's showing signs of improvement though.

My son got some of his back yesterday. He scored mainly 1s and 2s in the November ones. He has been doing a bit of revision, as I've been forcing him to, and has extra maths and English tuition. But has managed to go down from a 2 in maths in November to a 1 in the recent ones.

He hasn't got English back yet but has been told by the teacher that he hasn't done very well. In November he got a 1 for language and a U for literature.

He has a place at college in September and can start on a Level 1 course with no GCSEs. So it's not the end of the world if he fails them all. But I do feel for him as he's struggled with school his whole life. I hope he's able to feel more successful once he's doing a vocational subject at college.

Yes @AmyandPhilipfan that’s exactly what I thought. The work is showing that it’s going in the right direction and proud of her that she is persevering.

Yes DD is looking at level 1 courses. She has had a complete wobble and decided she does not want to do the health and social care she applied for. She wants to do art and design but will need 3’s to study this so will have to look at other courses in the meantime and build a portfolio up as she didn’t take this at gcse but has a talent for art. She took DT which I personally thought was a mistake at the time as I think she could have got a very good grade if she took art.

Well life has just thrown a curve ball, my dbil died yesterday, his dd is in the same classes as my dd, we’ve always been really close, he was fit as a fiddle and only in his early 50s. How do you focus on exams after that? It’s such an awful shock. Letting the kids stay home this morning, dd has a food tech mock this afternoon, not sure whether to send her in or not.

@wonderstuff
I'd suggest a couple of days off, go in again on Monday, unless she wants to do the mock.

@TeenDivided that sounds sensible. They’re in a friendship group together and while I’m sure the group will be supportive I can imagine they’ll be questions and it’s going to be really hard for the next few weeks. My heart breaks for my niece.

@wonderstuff Sorry for your loss. Absolutely I would let DD have some time away

@wonderstuff how awful. I'm so sorry for your loss

Thank you!

Waspie ta!

Ahhh wonderstuff that's such a shock. I'm so sorry for your loss x