Year 11 - 2024-2025 Support Thread

[QueenMabby]

Hi
A continuation for those of us with DCs going into year 11 - GCSEs are looming!

@Oblomov24 - that’s awful. I am so sorry to hear this.

@Oblomov24 - am so sorry to hear this-what a tragedy.

Oh @Oblomov24 what an awful thing. His poor poor family. That is just heartbreaking.

It is indeed. Ds2 didn't know him, had never spoken to him, but how sad.

This is incredibly sad - hope school are providing lots of support

Devastating. That poor child. I’m so very sad to read that.

How tragic.

Ds2 got mock results today. What can I say. 🙄 More effort needed me thinks.

He did good in science and maths, he actually did a bit of work for both. No English results till the new year oddly, he enjoys Lit a lot more than Lang. (Plus I myself reckon I could now sit the Macbeth and the An Inspector Calls paper ).

Low grade in Spanish and sports studies (literally the whole year got a 4 - which isn't great, is it?). The marking scheme was sent home for both sports studies and RE, equally tight. Presumably to reassure parents, show them how tight the marking scheme is? It was so tight it seemed ridiculous, 1 or 2 marks takes you up a grade from a 4 to a 5, from a 6 to a 7.

He needs a 7 in Sports Studies and Biology because he wants to take them both at A'level. Wants to do something footbally, physio or similar.

Well, can't say I'm happy with a 4 in sports, his favourite subject. He assures me he'll get a 7 easily. Hmmmm ...

I have parents evening next week.

DD's gotten all of her mock results now. She got a 9 in Latin, 5 8s in French, History, English Language, Chemistry and English Literature. Then 2 7s in Chemistry and Computer Science and 2 6s in Biology and Maths.

I'm really proud as very little revision went into these and all of it was crammed in the night before. She's disappointed that she "failed" two though - a 6 is considered below expected in her school. She's getting pulled out of her main Maths lessons to focus on increasing her Maths grade now!!

Well done for those with mocks results already. For those with grades lower than they'd like, fingers crossed this will serve as a well needed kick up the bum!

Dd has her German oral mock tomorrow and her Spanish oral mock on Thursday. She's been poorly since Saturday though so hasn't revised as much as she'd like. Plus we have a school concert tonight. I just hope she can get through her solo without a coughing fit!

Not everyone with lower than desired grades needs ‘a well deserved kick up the bum’. Some work their arses off and still don’t get those higher grades and are left wanting & disappointed.

@NotDonna
I'm finding this thread rather dispiriting in fact. My DD works hard, but will get nowhere near the grades all those who have posted so far seem to be achieving! I'm now wondering what is "normal"!!

I'm so sorry. That is so sad. His poor family.

Here are sobering ones from DS (16 yo) mocks in November. He’s bright, does well in class but falls apart at exams, especially timed ones. In particular he leaves multi-point questions blank or writes gibberish. He doesn’t get extra time with his access arrangements; just breaks (he says they don’t help), a prompter (he hates them), and use of a computer (somewhat helpful).

He wrote crappy answers on his mock English Literature paper (including some unrelated jokes), was asked to re-sit, and wrote even less intelligible answers the second time. It was similar for Drama where his teacher said his practicals were excellent but he just can’t write understandable essay-type answers.

English Lang: 3 (predicted 6 at the end of Y10)
English Lit: not assessable (predicted 6)
Maths: 5 (predicted 8)
Biology: 5 (predicted 7)
Chemistry: 6 (predicted 9)
Physics: 5 (predicted 7)
Drama: 1 (predicted 7)
Geography: 2 (predicted 5)
Further Maths: 3 (predicted 7)
Spanish: 6 (predicted 6)

DS gets his mock results next Thursday. He thinks he did ok and as best as he could but he is a bit disappointed with the non-calculator maths paper, apparently it was hard.
DS has been gaming mostly since his mocks finished, and there has been no homework either which is nice for him.
He had a couple of nosebleeds during exams and a headache towards the end of the week so he took a day off sick on Friday as he had finished his exams. He is prone to nosebleeds, so it wasn't alarming, but his music teacher must be wondering why there is a blood splatter on his listening paper!

Oh no poor DS. What’s happening? Does he say what happens? Mind goes blank? Exam fear or what? So frustrating to not be achieving his potential. Would extra time make a difference anyway? Or would he just write more jokes & nonsense? I’m wondering if he needs some kind of exam technique sessions and/or psychological help. But it really seems round hole square peg scenario. Exams really can be a dreadful way of assessing ability. Incredibly annoying for the both of you.

poor kid @Greenbriar - I really feel that GCSE 'all or nothing' exam papers are incredibly bad ways of working out who will thrive in the real world. On the plus side chemistry is a really hard GCSE, so if that's his best one then there's real potential to pull everything else up. The school really ought to be helping him to work out what's happening when he sits exams though when results like this come through.

We haven't even had mocks yet. DD2 has hers in January. I've just seen the schedule - she only sits 11 papers. Her sister sat (she counted indignantly last night) 24! On the plus side, less stress, but on the minus I guess more rides on each paper.

GCSEs are clearly considerably less of a slog though when you only have to do eight, and because they are IGCSEs you're allowed coursework. She has picked coursework heavy drama and music, and for her english and history have coursework too. So much will be in the bag before she even gets into the hall.

Not really a fair comparison with poor DD1

@Greenbriar hope the school gives him some support, as it looks like he's got great potential. Does the school have any exam support sessions or workshops? Or could you ask for any help? The multi-point questions are the hardest definitely. This is my DS's downfall too especially in the sciences. My DH who's a chemistry teacher says that it's just doing lots of them and getting the terminology right and making a valid point for each mark available. Sounds like he is great at Chemistry though.

@minisnowballs
What did your school advise re doing eight GCSEs ( viz a viz university applications) and is it working well for your DC not having the pressure of extra content?

@aliceinanwonderland DD2 is at a specialist boarding music school, which is why she's only doing 8, as the spare time is taken up with practice periods for her instruments.

It does take the pressure off, which is just as well as she's doing a variety of music exams and diplomas at the same time and the pressure on those and her ensembles doesn't slacken due to GCSEs.

She is academic, as it goes, and the school has indicated that she's a good possible Oxbridge candidate. She's just been offered an academic scholarship to go with her music, based on History and English papers and a General paper. We've been told even Oxford and Cambridge only consider your best 8.

@aliceinanwonderland Well, a 5 is supposed to be equivalent to a C in old money I think (going even further back, to an O level pass/CSE Grade 1), so for a lot of students 9 Grade 5s would be a fantastic result. And of course there will be some students for whom getting any GCSEs at any grade will be a real achievement.

My DD is predicted 10 Grade 9s, which is certainly not average, but on the other hand, she has ASD and OCD, and she finds going to school exhausting and stressful. She struggles with answering essay questions in a time limit because she is autistic, and is going to have extra time for Geography/2xEnglish in her mocks in January. We have just managed to find a therapist for her OCD, so I hope that will help, but she comes home every day with her hands bleeding from excessive handwashing.

To be honest, I’d be happy for her to be less academically successful if it meant her mental health was better, but that’s not the way things work.

@aliceinanwonderland
Please dot feel that way. We are a nice lot here really, and we have a variety of children, some uber bright, some musically gifted. Some of us are bang average. (I include me myself in this category!). This thread welcomes all, and we all try to be encouraging but sympathetic. Admittedly many post about high achievers. Many posters just need their dc to get enough to get to the next stage, whatever that may be.

Remember that my ds2 got a 2 (an F) in his last RE exam, and that's forced RE at a catholic school. Tee hee.

@NotDonna -sorry - I've just read my post back and it wasn't at all what I'd meant and does read very flippantly.

What I meant to say was for those children who haven't put much work in or who do the bare minimum then mock results can be a bit of an eye-opener as to what is needed for the real thing.

I appreciate that many children work very hard and don't get top grades and I didn't mean to imply that a kick up the bum is what they need!

@aliceinanwonderland - my goddaughter is doing 8 GCSE's. She's spent the last 11 months in hospital so needs to drop down enough to enable her to catch up and be ready to take the exams with her peers. She's been told that having 8 won't impact her ability to apply to university.

@Greenbriar - your poor ds. How come he's not allowed extra time? Is it a stress issue that prevents him from completing the exams or something else? Can he complete the paper OK if there's no time limit? If he can then maybe start doing practice ones with him where he has no time limit, then start imposing a time limit even if that is say 3 hours at the start so he knows he can easily complete it in the time allowed. Or start a timer when he does a paper that counts up and not down to see if that allows him to complete a paper with no pressure.

Dd says her German speaking went ok today but that her teacher went "off-script" in the general conversation and started chatting to her about things that aren't on the syllabus! Spanish speaking mock is tomorrow.

Ha ha! You’re all good @QueenMabby i know you won’t have meant it!

Hope everyone good. DS’ mock results so far mixed and in a couple bit lower than hoped, although not unexpected, and he is someone who really needs to knuckle down. Can anyone help with maths? His maths in previous years was strong but this last year it has slipped. He is getting a strong 6, but for A level needs at least a 7, ideally an 8. They did all 3 full papers. They use Sparx but I have read mixed reviews and think maybe for practice (not homework) he should do maths genie or Corbett. Has anyone got suggestions for revision/ revision strategy. There is so much out there hard to know what to do…and I think he finds it overwhelming (understandably). He needs to find a routine that works and stick to it. Advice appreciated.