Y11 2023/24 thread 5 - results!

[Techno56]

New thread as no 4 is nearly full

Good to hear I ain't the only one dreaming about results day!
DS is definitely getting nervous doesn't seem to like being on his own as starts worrying about results!
He has had his appointment come through for registration for city 6th form. They seem to do a whole week of inductions freshers day etc. Really wish they had better transport there
@BlackBean2023 hope she has a great first day at work
@YellowphantGrey thats awful to send it out now. DS school let us know from the beginning though left it till late to tell us core maths was oversubscribed!

Maths A-level is not for the faint-hearted! At my school they need an 8 to study it as we find that with less than that they do not have the algebra skills necessary.

With a grade 6 in maths GCSE you are really asking for trouble at maths A-level. The teachers there must have the patience of saints!

Mine has been flip flopping too. Wanted to do Geog, and at uni. Now wants to do Econ instead. We'll have to see what the results are and go from there. Sixth form discussions/registration are in the afternoon so not long to wait to see if they're ok.
Definitely a disparity about expectations/grades when comparing. College is the fall back as they want 5s. Sixth form want 6/7s.

@Countrylife2002 Same issue with my DD and friends she has been left out whilst her friends go out. A great falling out just what DD needs before results! I have said the same that there will be lots of different students from different schools to form friendships with at college. I just feel for her that at this point she is on her own. So instead of the friends to go with to collect results with I am there to support her. Well waiting in the car whilst she nips in to get her results.

Under 50 hrs to go 🙈.
Wishing good luck to everyone. Hope they all get the support they need to help them with the next steps whatever they are.

Getting nervous now. Ds wants to check his results at home, talk to us about his A level options, then go in to enrol.
He did quite poorly in the mocks, pulled his socks up so results are anyone's guess.
He had to enrol with some random subjects due to mock results so we're hoping he's done well enough to do some chosen subjects.

@YellowphantGrey gosh that all sounds stressful and completely disorganised of the school! It is inevitable A level choices will change once results are out.

I really sympathise with those having friendship issues right now. My DD has never been great with friendship groups (part of the reason she wants a new start at different 6th form). She has worked quite a bit this summer so not much 'hanging out' with other friends thankfully as I fear she may have been in a similar situation. I too am hoping for new positive friends doing A levels.

DD is very snappy now if we mention doing any bridging work. I am just keeping quiet until after Thurs but goodness knows what motivation will be like if things don't go her way.

I was chatting at work yesterday about the well meaning comments from others (who don't have y11s right now) that 'it really doesn't matter what they get, things always work out'. I have to bite my tongue when given this snippet, as 1. I've already done this with older DD so do have a bit of experience and 2. To them, at this time, it really DOES matter. They have spent the last 5 years being told by school how important GCSEs are. Dealing with their emotions is our concern, not necessarily that they don't get all 9s 🙄.

Do we know when schools find out the results? Is it the same time as us?

Schools find out results the day before.

School will have them tomorrow.

To complicate things here I am on the SLT at DD's school so all my colleagues will know her results 24 hours before me - for obvious reasons I'm not involved in results analysis this year

DD is one who got all 9s (except for maths 😂) in her mocks and I’m certain she has not replicated that in the exams and it’s frustrating that she went into them with that expectation. So disappointment feels inevitable. She is very focused on college now thankfully and seems to have got the message that it’s mainly about a step to the next stage so hopefully she will bounce back quickly from any upset. I am only really worried about history as that’s her top subject and I’m sure she misunderstood one of the essay questions. It would have been a good essay but possibly not answering the question properly so I’m not sure if that would have pulled down her grade. If history is ok, I think she will eventually be ok with the others regardless from an emotional perspective, which obvs is all I care about .

Just checking in. DD has had a bumpy time at school. Started to turn things around in yr11 but I think it was all a bit late. Constant friendship struggles too. Then ill at the start of exams, good middle phase of them, then ran out of steam for the last few. She's not feeling very optimistic. I just hope, if it is a mixed bag, that there are some nice surprises (looking at you English lit!). Went through this last year with other DD. She wanted me there when she opened the results. DD2 adamant she wants to do it alone.

100%. I'm not even meaning just something as hard as Maths, there are loads of differences between colleges/sixth forms and their requirements.

A popular school in an urban area with 150 places can afford to have high entrance requirements. It will lead to generally higher results and a more consistent ability cohort making teaching easier.

A large college can allow students more likely to end up with C to E grades, may be able to set subjects, or mix with BTEC certificates etc.

I've posted this on a previous thread but this document is very interesting. It analyses the A level grades based on the GCSE grades (Table 2 pg 10) Progression from GCSE to A Level, 2018 – 2020. Statistics Report Series No. 129. (cambridgeassessment.org.uk)

So, for example, with a grade 6 at GCSE a student has a 52% chance of getting an A Level graded C or higher in Maths. In History a grade 6 student has an 85% chance of an A level C grade or higher. (Picking on history as it's the subject before maths in the table). This is why schools/colleges want 7+ for Maths A level students. The only lower % is Double Physics to A Level physics which includes all grades 6 and under so not really comparing like for like.

We have a large sixth form college not too far away to which the majority of DS' friends are going in September. It has an amazing result average at A level (B), and is Ofsted outstanding, despite a PAN of 1,700 in year 12. Their published requirement is grade 5+. So that uplift to A level results seems incredible. However, speaking to other parents, the college is known for monthly "mock" exams and if a student is not felt to be capable of a C or higher they are quickly (and quite ruthlessly I am told) shifted to BTechs or other courses. This is how they maintain their high results.

Thanks for that Waspie - really interesting to see.

It’s always interesting to find out why certain schools have good results!

Ds is going to his school sixth form which is very bog standard. Pupils need a 7 to do maths, 6s to do sciences and 5s for all other subjects. So a lot lower than some on here. Average grade is a B- which sounds pretty good to me

Yes I agree, if some sixth forms will only take those teens with grade 8 plus they will ( of course) see higher results at A level. At ours, they need a 7 for maths, a 6 to do a science subject ( plus a 6 in maths) and then 5’s for English and other subjects.

Mine's school sixth form mandates 7s for all subjects doing A level in, 8 for further Maths (and 8 for Maths highly preferred) has to get 7 x 7s and nothing lower than a 6 (though anecdotally the odd 5 in a non A level subject can sneak across at their discretion). That is indeed how they get good A levels/uni results in the main. It is selective sixth form - like most of the school ones are round here.

I don't think this is new though. The high school I went to definitely 'encouraged' some people to go to college if they weren't cutting it.
It was consistently ranked highly and that's how they did it. 🤷
Same with grammar schools. They should be getting the higher marks as they've taken the more academic children...

DD doesn’t want me to go into college with her fair enough. She said she wants to be independent okay can’t argue with that but still giving her a lift. I think it’s more embarrassing mum alert!

@BlackBean2023 Ooh, that must feel odd knowing all your colleagues will know your child's grades tomorrow! May I ask if a teacher thinks a student needs a remark - say, if lower than expected or very close to the next grade up - would they approach you or not?

We have few cases where teachers request remarks - it's normally parents who drive the request

May I ask if a teacher thinks a student needs a remark - say, if lower than expected or very close to the next grade up - would they approach you or not?

Not because they're very close to the bect grade, because reviews don't look for marks. But yes if I think something is awry. I'll have looked at the question level marks for my class before the students come in on Thursday, all being well, so I'll speak to the students then.

This happened for my DC 2 years ago. Got an 8 when a 9 was expected in one subject. We would never have bothered with a re-mark as the 9 wasn't needed but the school contacted us and said they were going for a re-mark if we were happy with that. All good - it was changed to a 9 and we didn't have to pay or organise the re-mark.