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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Y11 2023-24 continued

973 replies

Techno56 · 18/04/2024 12:24

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

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6
gingercat02 · 07/05/2024 13:35

Me too, but I have just been to check the official dates on the wall. DS definitely has biology 1 on Friday and history 1 next Wednesday

Gazelda · 07/05/2024 13:42

Biology for DD this fri too.

She didn't get up until 10 mins before she needs to leave this morning. She has to be in school earlier on exam days. I really don't want up have to spend every exam morning shouting at her to get out of bed!

omnishambles · 07/05/2024 13:53

It is International GCSEs if that makes a difference.

WarningOfGails · 07/05/2024 13:56

gingercat02 · 07/05/2024 13:35

Me too, but I have just been to check the official dates on the wall. DS definitely has biology 1 on Friday and history 1 next Wednesday

I just went and re checked too! Definitely not on Friday, phew.

iGCSEs must have different dates then omnishambles my DD has a clash too later in the season when chemistry, history and further maths are all on the same day!

Mysonwontwash · 07/05/2024 14:00

Hello all! My dd is still currently on a normal timetable for the next few weeks much to her disappointment. She did her art exam last week which was her biggest worry and it went really well so lots of pressure off there.
she has not been great for attendance and was on a reduced timetable for a year so I am so proud of her for just making it to year 11. She has a place at art college and needs 4 GCSEs which I’m hoping she’ll get.
I’m not pressuring her too much as she is constantly worrying about her future and school has not been great for her but I have promised I will pay for her tattoo licence as soon as turns 18 if she can stick it out.

stillherenow · 07/05/2024 15:05

We have Re first on Thursday. If that goes well we’ll be motoring . And yes biology Friday .
It actually doesn’t seem too bad once we’ve got this week out of the way, 2 lots of 2 weeks of exams. . I’m very glad she didn’t take further maths !

CactusPeach · 07/05/2024 16:38

It's here now 😬 good luck to everyone's children.

Dd has Biology on Friday too. I asked her if she wanted me to help her revise for it and she refused, as she has refused any kind of help all year. Tbh the school does so much guided revision with them I haven't pushed her to do much at all at home and I have seen her revising so I know she does, the question is just how effective how own revision is. She seems totally normal but I'm still concerned that either she's way TOO laid back or is secretly stressing out and not letting it show.

Dd's school has them in at 8am every day except for 2 days to do guided revision for whatever exams are up next and in until 4.30pm Mon-Thurs for more guided revision, they leave at 1pm on Fridays as normal except for the first 2 weeks where there's English revision because of an exam on the Monday and 2 Friday's she has exams in the afternoon. I'm planning to leave a small treat on her bed every day she's done an exam and make her life as easy as possible during this intense month.

dinomirror · 07/05/2024 23:11

For those whos DC struggle with anxiety, i found that Kalms really helps my Dd- its all natural as well and found in supermarkets

deuxgarcons · 07/05/2024 23:17

Good luck to everyone. Can't believe it's here now. We have English language paper 1 tomorrow (IGCSE) and Biology on Friday. DS has impressed me with his work ethic over the last few weeks having been very laid back for the last two years! Definitely need to get him some treats for when he gets home. He started study leave this week but they run a normal timetable so he can go in for revision sessions or help if he wants to.

GlomOfNit · 07/05/2024 23:18

CactusPeach · 07/05/2024 16:38

It's here now 😬 good luck to everyone's children.

Dd has Biology on Friday too. I asked her if she wanted me to help her revise for it and she refused, as she has refused any kind of help all year. Tbh the school does so much guided revision with them I haven't pushed her to do much at all at home and I have seen her revising so I know she does, the question is just how effective how own revision is. She seems totally normal but I'm still concerned that either she's way TOO laid back or is secretly stressing out and not letting it show.

Dd's school has them in at 8am every day except for 2 days to do guided revision for whatever exams are up next and in until 4.30pm Mon-Thurs for more guided revision, they leave at 1pm on Fridays as normal except for the first 2 weeks where there's English revision because of an exam on the Monday and 2 Friday's she has exams in the afternoon. I'm planning to leave a small treat on her bed every day she's done an exam and make her life as easy as possible during this intense month.

Yes, this week has finally arrived and I can't quite believe it. DS is acting quite cool but did admit to being a bit nervous. He mostly seems to be tired - he says he feels drained, and I'm quite concerned about him going into the start of the exam period feeling tired already! His school have done nothing but practice questions, revision sessions and recaps since Jan and I think it's mostly been helpful. He says he doesn't want to do any of the after school sessions that I think have been arranged, as he felt the last lot weren't actually as helpful as being at home. His revision timetable (as worked out by me!!) is to do two subjects/topics per afternoon, after school, roughly about an hour each, and I'm fairly sure that'll be ok because like I say, he does nothing BUT revision at school all day.

Like CactusPeach I can't really tell how efficient/effective his revision is, but he seems really on top of his topics when we chat about them. I'm mostly concerned that he'll get tempted off down irrelevant tangents or give too much information, or just answer what HE wants to bloody well write about! 😬 He's a sponge for information but I do worry about technique.

I was also going to leave little treats out after exam days. Not sure I can manage to think of something every day, unless it's just sweets! I did stash away some small D&D related things though. I just want his path through this loooong period eased as much as possible, it's such a bloody long slog for them all.

He's had his Mandarin speaking exam but wasn't really counting that as his first exam - the first one is, like most of them, Biology on Friday...

WarningOfGails · 08/05/2024 06:26

DD wound me up yesterday. She usually has an activity straight after school on a Weds, which takes up the whole evening, so I suggested might be worth skipping during the exams (she does it on Friday too). She was grumpy but said yes she thought she should revise. Then did no revision all evening last night - went to the gym (fine), had her Bf round & they watched telly!!! Could have revised last night & got out to do her activity tonight! I think I’m going to back off over the rest of the exams - she knows how prepared she is (or not), she can make these decisions without it being a grumpy exchange between us...

wonderstuff · 08/05/2024 06:49

luck to everyone! Dd has started teaching herself guitar and seems to be spending far more time on that than studying! But really at this point I’m not going to argue with her, she’s worked hard up to now, she’ll be fine I’m sure. She’s a little stressed but not overly, I think after losing dbil it’s just not as important as it was. This awful English teacher is being an arse, constantly picking on dniece and not even doing much in class, showing videos mostly!
No study leave at all, school are threatening to withhold prom tickets if they don’t go in every day until the end. It’s poor I think holding that over them when they’ve all got outfits and are looking forward to it. They’re not giving tickets out until after the exams.

RunningAndSinging · 08/05/2024 08:29

Hello everyone - I’m a bit late to this party but would like to join you for the GCSE period. DD has Drama tomorrow and Biology on Friday. Art is done and she is on a weird board for German that meant she has done most of those exams already with one left which is in the same day as two others next week. DD has been working hard which is great but then you worry that they are going to burn out and she was so tired last weekend. Final push now I guess.

Good luck everyone.

JessyCarr · 08/05/2024 09:53

Good morning! DD in a heap with period pain today. Which play(s) is your DD doing for Drama, @RunningAndSinging ?

RunningAndSinging · 08/05/2024 10:04

Naughts and crosses. They very much focussed on the practicals until they were done and didn’t even do a year 10 written exam for Drama. Hope it will be ok tomorrow. Is your DD also doing Drama? Hope she feels better by tomorrow.

JessyCarr · 08/05/2024 10:40

@RunningAndSinging Yes she’s doing Drama (A Doll’s House). Also done very little at school on the written paper. Oh well!

PickleTickle · 08/05/2024 11:43

What do people think about the possibility of letting my child revise at home on Thursday for the four exams (about 5 hours in total) she has on Friday?

School are still doing lessons rather than letting pupils revise whatever they want during lessons - as they did for mocks. Not in favour of going against what school do but ...

I think she would benefit from revising at home - this would be the only time I do this.

Thoughts?

JessyCarr · 08/05/2024 11:56

@PickleTickle I’d trust your instincts on that as there can’t be many students with such a busy day on Friday (Biology, German, Sociology?). Best of luck to her.

PickleTickle · 08/05/2024 11:58

Thanks JessyCarr. I really appreciate it.

Waspie · 08/05/2024 12:28

Good luck to all of your year 11's!

DS' first is biology 1 on Friday (had MFL speaking last week). His school have sent home a timetable which was initially baffling but I think we've sussed it now It involves following regular timetable some of the time and then "special blocks" for two periods ahead of exams where they can go to the subject "hub" and be with a subject teacher for specialised revision. They've also got breakfast and afterschool sessions each day. The cafeteria is opening for them at 7.45am so they can get breakfast on site.

DS is still doing his extra curricular and has tennis matches Saturday morning. Given that he's [allegedly] doing 6-7 hours per day revision in school he is just doing an hour or so each evening. He's also been going outside at about 10pm every day and "shooting hoops" in the dark while listening to music Confused He says it relaxes him before bed so I'm letting him get on with it.

Countrylife2002 · 08/05/2024 12:41

PickleTickle · 08/05/2024 11:43

What do people think about the possibility of letting my child revise at home on Thursday for the four exams (about 5 hours in total) she has on Friday?

School are still doing lessons rather than letting pupils revise whatever they want during lessons - as they did for mocks. Not in favour of going against what school do but ...

I think she would benefit from revising at home - this would be the only time I do this.

Thoughts?

Edited

I’m letting dd come home to revise the entire time if she wants to.

LighthouseCat · 08/05/2024 13:12

@PickleTickle I'd let her stay home to revise if you think she'll use the time effectively. I'm going to be flexible about this with DD because I know she'll work hard independently and be potentially calmer from the quiet space of home. I can also make sure she eats properly which she often doesn't at school.

Waspie · 08/05/2024 13:21

@PickleTickle - I agree with the others. We've told DS the same thing. His choice.

PickleTickle · 08/05/2024 13:29

Everyone I have spoken to in rl agree with all of you.

She will revise at home - I work from home so can support her.

Very grateful for your views.

Good luck to all!

omnishambles · 08/05/2024 13:51

My dd is staying at school as she and we know that she would do fuck all at home. She is pleased with the decision as yesterday they got a history revision focussed class for just 3 of them!