Y11 2023-24 continued

[Techno56]

New thread for when the other one fills up, I need somewhere to panic away from my son 😁

I am increasingly grateful that DD’s uniform (jumper, shirt and skirt) doesn’t have pockets, so the chances of carrying anything inadvertently are reduced. Bonne chance to our linguists today.

Do the school not remind them again and again and again? Dd said it wouldn't be possible to forget the amount of times the teachers tell them. If the teachers aren't reminding them, they should be!

@MonkeyTennis34 They go in to school all day and have focused revision sessions there, I think that's better for my Dd, I'm sure she's doing more effective revision at school than she would at home.
They're doing early starts asking them to be in for 8am for last minute revision too which means she's not worrying about getting to school on time for the exam because she's already there although not on time usually arriving at 8.30am.

Wow, I feel like that's harsh though considering the revision material wasn't even for the subject they were sitting so clearly weren't trying to cheat. Hope it all works out okay for him/her.

Oh gosh that poor kid

I invigilate and go to great great pains to say the "Please check your pockets now for any unauthorised items ... basically folks, empty them and we'll give you your stuff back later!" part very loudly. Because there is always at least one student who has something, even if it's just their exam timetable.

Ahh feel so bad for that student.

French apparently appalling but everyone found that !

Oh no - really wanted French to be ok!

Zut alors!!! Why was French so bad? 😧

@WinkyTinky that’s all I have so far. DD is good at French though so presumably it really was hard!! We shall see…

DD (AQA French - predicted a strong 9) says this:

“The listening was hard and you really needed to focus. Most things I picked up by the second reading but I had to make a couple of educated guesses.

The reading was straightforward and I was able to go over all my answers and was confident by the time the exam finished.”

Thank you for doing that @tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz the kids (and parents) will appreciate it.

Me too. Everyone is rooting for him/her as s/he is a really lovely child (I'm trying to be very vague here) and it was just a silly mistake which wouldn't even have helped them in the exam they were in. I do hope the school manage to appeal to AQA's sense of reason, and at least salvage the rest of the exams for them.

I hope French wasn't as bad as your daughter's initial reaction @Countrylife2002 Was it listening and reading today? If so, there is still writing to go and that might be comparatively easier if L&R was very hard.

Sorry, I now realise that DD’s French update sounds a bit smug in context. I should have refreshed before posting. Hope it wasn’t as bad as first thought for your DD @Countrylife2002.

Waspie it's weird but because we have the cohort for their Y9, 10 _and 11 mocks then the Real Thing you get to know tye students. And become very invested. You have the privilege of seeing the kids that are reluctant, rebellious and generally putting on a I Don't Give a Shit front initially, grow into kids who come in willingly and really try

But yes the other points I emphasise off script are -

For exams with several tiers/papers like science once I've said please check to ensure you have the correct paper ... when they just look at me I'll say "You need to actually look down at your papers guys - if it's the wrong one we need to know NOW!!" Then I stop talking until I at least see a handful check!

DO NOT FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY WRITE ON YOUR HANDS! We have been known to take a baby wipe and make them scrub their hands clean.

We're like Mother Hens in that exam hall

Ds texted that French was ok but he got put into foundation due to his really bad mocks. So annoying as he was on track for 6's and 7's which is why I was hands off, but he just couldn't be bothered.
He really got his arse kicked by his mock results then started working so we'll see.

She’s not worried as everyone found it hard and she could answer. Shes a 8/9 student and says the listening was the really hard bit. She has a good ear though so I’m not worried either!

History tomorrow is the really big one for dd. This is so key for her. I’m keeping everything crossed!’

Mine said French was ‘meh’ 😂

French was ‘not awful’ 😄

Nothing tomorrow then Maths on Thursday

Thank you @tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz that's really kind. DS says their senior invigilator/exams officer is really quietly spoken and the head of year (enormous, booming, hearty PE teacher type) repeats everything she says at 10 times volume to the room. They need to get the poor woman a megaphone 😂

Business will be under way. Apparently, it's normally OK, but can suprise you

Oh god, I can only sympathise with that kid, and their parents.:(
@MonkeyTennis34 I thought it’s really harsh making them go to school, but since then many posters saying the same. My idea of study leave is a day or week before exams, so that can prepare for the exams! Once the exam is started, it’s not study leave, it’s exam day 🙁
But I also completely understand who would benefit from sitting in the class room to learn together than doing nothing at home- mine is happy at home, but would have solve my umpteen problems of mid day drop of and pick ups ( or walking in sun last week and now rain 😌)
Haven’t heard anything from after Business.. and tmrw Comp Science

Ffs I messed up not letting ds come home. He says everyone just messes around.
He could have told me before! Grr.
Tough evening ahead as he has history and computing tomorrow.

DD has said similar about aftet school revision sessions ... annoying thing is the kids that dick about and distract others are the ones who probably doesn't need to revise as they ace exams

DS said French listening was hard but he didn't think it was as hard as last years (which he did for his mock). Reading was ok.

History and CS tomorrow too. His History teacher gave them his predictions today so will see whether those come true.

Hope Business/Mandarin etc went well for those sitting those this afternoon.