Year 10 2024/2025 - come and join!

[36and3]

A thread for those with kids beginning their GCSE course next month.

Dd is my oldest so this process is a first for me. Her options are: triple science, Spanish, history and food/nutrition.

We've spent the summer organising her room. We've bought revision guides and files etc for every subject and she's excited to get started!

Would anyone like to join me for the ride?!

That's awful @MyBestFriendKenny do you know the source of the poisoning? Well done to DS. What a shame he can't fully enjoy the moment.
Maths clinic sounds brilliant @SatsumaCat I wish we had that for DD.
She's been selected for the Paris trip so I will be selling a kidney at the weekend to pay for it. She's so excited.

Selecting unis like St Andrews don't use UCAS points. Instead, they make offers on specific eg A levels. If you drop a grade in one subject you can't compensate for it by a higher grade in another subject, as you can with a points offer. Points offers tend to be made by recruiting ie "bums on seats" unis which need maximum flexibility if they are to admit enough students. Selecting unis like St Andrews pay no attention to DoE unless perhaps for eg volunteering relevant to an application for medicine. But the fact that the volunteering is within DoE is irrelevant.

Plus, I'm not sure where your friend is getting the 3 A levels aren't enough. St Andrews offers are clearly stated on website as being made on the basis of 3 A levels and no points are given for extra curricular nor do 4 A levels give an advantage, as the offer will still be based on 3 .

Sent ds in today, assuming his tummy ache was related to the history detention he got yesterday and had to leave work to pick him up at lunchtime, dd has a temperature and I’ve got a sore throat, hoping we’re all feeling a bit better tomorrow!

Think there’s a lot of lurgy going around, DS has been off for three days now with a bad cold (maybe… his close friend just had covid). It feels more critical to catch up with content now!

DS has just started Year 10, we've not had any information as to when the work experience will be yet. He has had the ambition for Years to work for Lego as a designer. Being a Danish based company I think it will be a bit of a trek from near Cardiff to there for a week! Does anyone have any info of possible placements that might fit this brief?

Really sorry about the cats @MyBestFriendKenny .
There a lot of lurgy going on around here too - DS2 (in yr 8) was ill at the weekend - he was most put out to be better by Monday!
DS1 still isn’t getting very much homework - am starting to get a bit worried. Apparently suggesting any revision is “putting too much pressure on him” and “suggesting he is rubbish as it’s extra work the teacher’s don’t think he needs to do”. Argh!!!! Wish his teachers would be clearer on the need for independent study, he might listen to them!
Mind you next week he has 2 lots of NEA’s (like coursework but done in class) in history and English and he has begrudgingly done some work for those so I suppose I should count my blessings. I really hope they go ok…🤞.

Are you all starting to get first set of predicated grades too? It's all getting real!

@RealHousewivesOfTaunton @MrsMcNallysMaureen @Walkingbkwrm thank you. It's just been a nightmarish week. I can't stand to think it's deliberate as my neighbours are seemingly a good bunch.

The homework really hasn't ramped up yet and DS just doesn't seem to have been given the resources or much guidance on what he should be doing!

DS has been off for a couple of days this week too. Just a cold but he was dripping snot and just not fit to go in. Yuck.

My daughter was so happy to hear this news today - she was just saying the past couple of weeks it was unfair they won’t be getting the equation sheets like the last few years! Let’s hope they keep them permanently but good news for our year 10s

schoolsweek.co.uk/gcses-exam-aids-to-remain-for-three-more-years/

@Peasinthefreezer rote learning science equations is just silly anyway, so that's good news. You can only learn them by doing questions and ultimately you will remember them anyway by the time you sit the gcses if you've done enough questions in preparation.
DD is happy with her subjects so far. She did well in a food tech test this week. A few science end of topic tests are coming up in a couple of weeks.

DD is also enjoying the new stationery. She loves the idea of being organised more than the reality (and I know where she gets that from!)

Love your username by the way

DD is exactly the same, as am I!

Thank you. It was one of DD's favourite books when she was little. We still shout 'fetch your mother's floor cloths Maureen' whenever the opportunity presents itself.

DS isn't really into stationery. He likes dismantling his equipment though, much to my frustration! His favourite is to take his pen apart, write with the bendy tube of ink and then wash it in his blazer pocket so ink goes all over the laundry 🙄

@RealHousewivesOfTaunton my DS got ink all over the inside of his blazer on day 3 of y9

They're so thoughtful, aren't they? Last year I found out that DS had a racket going where he'd sell school ties to classmates wanting to avoid a detention for losing theirs, then come to me saying he'd lost his in the changing rooms so I'd buy him replacement stock. Thanks DS. Nothing spells "I love you" better than scamming your own mother.

DS doesn't have predicted grades yet but his target based on progression from SATS (which he didn't sit because of COVID ) is straight 9's. I've reminded him that he actually needs to work for them, they won't just arrive because of his innate wondrousness.

@RealHousewivesOfTaunton that tie scam is genius. He will go far.

DD's school have asked us to complete an Ofqual survey about the formulae situation. She told me she has already completed it too in the hope that they are supplied for future students too.

Do you have a link @MrsMcNallysMaureen? There's been a lot of chat about the formula sheets. Most think it's daft to make kids memorise formulae in the age of Google and that the focus should be on showing that they can apply them.

Some people say the formulae sheets are only for Combined science and do not apply to those doing triple science 😮 Is that right or just a rumour?

https://ofqual.citizenspace.com/public/gcse-maths-physics-and-combined-science-2025-7/consultation/subpage.2022-09-20.8715115722/

The link. There's quite a lot of information. I don't remember the triple science answer @XelaM hopefully it is explained in the link.

Our understanding is Maths, Physics (Assuming they mean Triple here) and combined science.

The OFQUAL survey is to see if it should be extended beyond the 2027 cohort.

DD & I saw David Tennant & Cush Jumbo in the current West End production of Macbeth. It was incredible. Seeing the text performed by such a talented cast has really brought it to life for her.