GCSE Support - the results are in

[SheilaFentiman]

Continuing the threads we had going during revision and waiting for results day!

Same here for one of my DC, we have received one subject for another (He has requested 2). We are dealing with the examinations manager, is it possible to get hold of them at your school? They do seem to be replying but have said that it’s very busy so will take a while. I have also emailed a teacher about a grade query but they haven’t responded.
I am in awe of all these schools that are taking an active interest in reviews over the holidays, our school is never very interested despite being a very high achieving academy.

@SummerCycling322 yes AQA Biology. DS one mark off G5.

College registration went well - about half the kids had a parent with them. DD’s grades were lower than expected and she has to resit English so she was feeling quite nervous. The teacher who did her course consultation was lovely and suggested that she might do better overall switching A-level business to ctec as it’s got a mix of coursework and exams, plus modules can be retaken if necessary. We’d talk about this in advance but the teacher helped DD feel a bit happier about the decision. She’s also going to do btec sport and A-level psychology. Because she’s borderline with her GCSE results she’ll be encouraged to check in regularly with her head of hall to make sure she’s doing ok. We both felt very reassured by how supportive they are and the college has a very strong reputation for this. DD now whinging about her perfectly fine ID card photo, though lots of smiles and giggles for the first time in a week.

@MoFoFlo you mentioned Head of Hall. I wonder is your DD going to L? I only ask as mine is - I'd never heard of the Hall system before yesterday, but perhaps lots of places use it.

The best way IMO is to first watch something (anything, as many as you like) they know really well without subtitles (kids' films are good for this because hopefully simpler) and stop and listen again any time there's something they don't understand (again, write it down then and there). Listen as many times as needed to work out what the word is, look it up and write it down. If you can't work it out, stick the subtitles on and work out what it is that way. There might be a lot of pausing!

Second option is watch something more grown up with subtitles but make it something they are prepared to watch a few times because they will want to go back and watch again without subtitles once they know the plot etc. This can also be a favourite film but something hopefully with more adult dialogue.

Also, try to find a radio station or pop music in the target language. Have the radio station on in the background when eg tidying their room or cooking something. They absolutely won't understand everything but just hearing it and the rhythms/sounds is good. As time goes on they may find they recognise more words (feels like such a win when you finally work out what the hell they are talking about).

If you can find pop music that they like in German, Spotify on a phone has lyrics which is massively helpful (look up the words and write them down!).

Podcasts are great. DD has been listening to an intermediate French one on Spotify and it's fab because it discusses loads of different stuff (good for vocab) but at a speed that is comprehensible. Start with an easy one to build confidence.

Thanks for this BonjourCrisette . At the college open evening I noticed that the language department had loads of popular films in Spanish on DVD/Bluray for the students to borrow (glad we've still got a DVD player!). DD has been watching loads of Dr Who (David Tennant era) in Spanish and I hope it's helped her. I think she sees it as a good excuse to watch Dr Who really!

DS decided last night that his perfectly good Superdry backpack is going to be too small for college, uncomfortable to cycle with and not waterproof enough, and has chosen one that is out of stock everywhere - that'll be me dragging him round Sports Direct this afternoon to find an alternative.

Yes, she is. I’ve been really impressed with them so far and friends’ kids have done well and been very happy there.

A new bag is the most important part of any new school or college. Everyone knows this!😂

DS has gone for a US preppy inspired canvas bag.

@spiderlight that is so funny, ds got his Superdry backpack in year 7, it seemed so expensive at the time. However it is still going strong and he has decided to keep it going for 6th form as a good luck charm!!

Oh that's reassuring, thank you. We don't know anyone who's been (we're the other side of town) but DD was really taken with the music department on the open day and it instantly became her first choice. She said she had a really lovely member staff looking after her a bit yesterday while they looked at a timetabling nightmare, and they seemed really keen to sort things out, which bodes well.

They’ve got a great reputation for music @TheTurn0fTheScrew

Most of DD’s friends are going to Xav, but she’s strongly preferred L since the first taster day back in Y10. Both good colleges but L is known for being very supportive and they get great results.

Everyone's been so supportive on this thread it would be great to carry on a year 12 support thread if everyone's up for it?

@spiderlight @mumonthehill I've just order DS a new superdry rucksack - his brother's had his for years, it's indestructible! 😄

Definitely 👍

Dr Who sounds absolutely perfect! Very glad to help.

Another thing is just reading. Magazines are good as the articles are manageably short and things like Elle and Vogue are available in tons of languages. I buy myself a supply of French magazines on holiday every year and read them slowly for months. Plus if you have a keen reader who already owns a Kindle and buy foreign language novels, you can look up words from the device itself (but do write them down!).

Fab. I'll need someone else to set it though as don't know how.

Definitely

Yes!

Shall I make one in Further Education? Or here?

I think Further Ed now as no longer in secondary? What does everyone think?

That's what I thought, esp as some people are moving to college rather than sixth form and doing a whole range of different things.

Yes, I think previous Year 12+ threads are usually in FE.

Has anyone else had a look at the script for AQA English Lit? Very strange result here for one of my DC’s (twins). His score for one paper was 78/80 and for the other paper was 38/80 seems like such a large disparity.

This sounds like a good idea.

We're feeling quite deflated and anxious here. We did a couple of dummy runs to her back up colleges, but without traffic, it was almost 50 minutes, but in traffic it's going to be well over an hour. Maybe an hour and a half. It's a very popular, busy city. I looked into buses and possibly taking her to a bus stop 20 minutes away, which is the nearest one, but apparently it would still take her an hour and 15 to get there on the bus, so that wouldn't make any sense. She absolutely hates the thought of this.

Waiting to hear back from one other Sixth Form, but it's got a bad reputation and they don't offer the main subject that DD would want to take. They do offer re sits though, so we'll see.

Starting to think about A Levels at home again now, but lack of socialisation is such a big negative.

I have asked my HOD to call several like this. I think it's definitely worth a look.