Year 11 - 2024-2025 Support Thread

[QueenMabby]

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

My child had timing issues in their mocks (knew content, but missed high scoring questions as they ran out of time) Other than practise, do you have any recommendations for working on timings?

https://global.oup.com/education/product/9780198359197/?region=uk

This series is the best by far.

Do they know how many minutes they should spend per mark? That would be my starting point.

I agree that minutes per mark is also a good one. For subjects like English knowing how long to spend on each of the essay questions (including planning time) also helps.

Start with doing practice papers with no time limit to see how long it actually takes. What is taking up the time? If they are having to think for a long time to retrieve the information then maybe some factual revision is needed but otherwise just lots of practice so they are used to the style of questions. Also get to know the mark schemes so they know what detail is required.

Dd got her mocks results last week. She was very happy as all 9s so she now has a very good idea of how much work is needed to maintain that grade level into the real thing. At least this means that she can have a good rest over half term.

Parents' evening is not until after half term and then A-level choices need to be in the week later.

That's astonishing @QueenMabby -what a clever (and hardworking!) girl she is.

Here, parents evening is next week. And DD2 cannot go to it because (wait for it) she has a Symphony Orchestra rehearsal. At school. We asked if she could come but apparently it is too inconvenient to rehearse without her, despite the fact it is her last parents evening before her gcses.

She seems unsurprised, if disappointed. I am, as usual, baffled.

@minisnowballs - that's crazy! Surely if it's "only" a rehearsal they can get along without her just once! Parents' evening is so important this year.

Dd is having a quiet week in lessons as they're going through the exam papers and she doesn't have much to work though!

Outside of lessons is a different story as the school musical is next week so it's a last push on rehearsals. She has nearly 18 hours of rehearsal time this week!

@QueenMabby I do get that it would be easier for them if she were (say) one of nine or ten first or second violins, rather than the only person playing her part.. but it does seem odd to me.

Nonetheless, they are adamant - so there isn't much we can do about it.

Sounds like your DD could do with the downtime so it's good she hasn't got too much to do in class.

wow @QueenMabby those are incredible results, well done to your DD! I think there was just one student who got all 9s in DS's school for the mocks this year. Great that she can have a good break over half term.

I've never had DS at a parents evening. It has always has been on a Wednesday early evening and he's got his music lesson then. This time it's a Thursday and I wonder whether we should take him. But he's got running club and would rather go to that I'm sure. Wouldn't the students know how they are doing anyway? It's only 5 mins, just enough time for them to give a quick summary and I'll be taking notes. Can't imagine they'd have much to say to the student that they haven't already in class, and we've never had the impression that his presence was needed.

@DataColour I think this must vary from school to school. Student attendance was non-negotiable at the school DD2 was at before, also at primary after KS1. Sixth Formers at DD1's school had to cancel other commitments, including jobs, to attend their parents evening last month. I guess that's why I think it's odd that it is not encouraged here.

DD2 just doesn't like the idea of people talking about her when she isn't there! I can see that too.

@minisnowballs that is interesting. Never been told to have the DCs with us for any parents evening, primary or secondary!

Also compulsory for pupils to attend with their parents at our school too. Ours is also on a Thursday and dd will miss netball club and probably dance as well.

It's not compulsory at ours, but they are strongly encouraged to come. I do think it was helpful having DS there, even if the feedback wasn't new to him (although I think some of it was) it doesn't hurt to have it repeated, and given some more weight I guess.

@herigoagain what subject is this? For example, some subjects like PE, it’s useful to do the multi choice questions first to warm up but then go straight to the 9-16 markers, ensuring not taking too long with those but at least getting the big hitters done, and then go back to the shorter questions. I’m not sure how many subjects have multi choice and long answers. I think multi choice is quite rare, but I imagine a similar strategy could work for most papers.

Ds2 had been in bed ill for 2+ days.

I am starting to get a bit aware/worried how close we are now. It's Feb. It's only a few months off now. I don't even have his timetable from school yet. He's got mocks again in March. How many weeks is it till 1st exam? Shit!

I hope he feels better soon @Oblomov24. 13 weeks (yesterday) until DD's first exam (German).

She put her A-level choices in yesterday. Maths, FM, Chem and Bio.

We still don't know when MFL oral recordings will take place. Easter is late this year and we only have a week after the Easter hols in school before study leave. It's going to be a tight fit getting all of the year through in that time!

Our school have said that the language orals start on 22nd April so straight after the Easter hols. We had a slightly alarming email saying that it is less than 40 school days between now and then but I suppose there are also three weeks of holidays. I think her first written paper is English Lit on the 12th May but we haven't had an official timetable from school yet. I suspect they won't start study leave until at least then but they may try and continue revision lessons between exams until half term. They tried with DS's year but by the second week of exams people just weren't turning up so they started study leave.

We received the official personalised exam timetable for DS yesterday - first exam is on 12th May and his last exam is 18th June, so it is all seeming very close now. 2nd set of mocks straight after half-term.

Does seem very close. Does anyone else's child use SaveMyExams? We have a paid subscription for DD1, which she shares with our foster daughter - so it looks like one child doing six a-levels. I've just realised I can also add DD2's GCSEs to it. Looks like an easy way to get past papers at least?

great that your DD is doing well! Homework consistency is a issue with DS too.

We had work experience end of year 10. DS was an architectural assistant for a week at my friend's practise. At the time although he enjoyed it, wasn't something he had in mind career wise, just fitted his skills set. But recently, he's been interested in architecture, so it might well be something he considers as a career. I've just sorted out work experience for DD in year 10. So difficult to get anything at just 14yrs, she only turns 15 in the summer, so she's ending up working with me.
Had DS's parents evening yesterday and it was mixed feedback. Able, but could do better if he applies himself, although a cliché, is literally what they all said. He needs to take ownership of his work and have more self motivation, so true and I completely agree. He needs to spend less time on Minecraft and more time organising his revision and see where he needs to work harder, not necessarily longer time spent, but more effective revision.
Would be interesting to know if other year 11s are like this?!

Yes!! Other year 11’s are 100% like this. We need to sit down with DD and talk about the timeframe left, and what she needs to achieve to really consolidate/learn her stuff. It is that discussion about how much she should be doing. She suggested an hour a day (and then back-tracked to 30 minutes 🤦‍♀️). I think that is okay. But I am wondering about half term and weekends. I feel like 2 hours a day revision on weekends isn’t a huge amount. Maybe 5 hours? Which can be done on one day? Or is 4 hours enough? For half term I feel like one day on, one day off is okay? She hasn’t got anymore mocks.

That's reassuring @phyllidafosset . Sometimes I feel like DS is in the minority when I read about how motivated a lot of the DCs are on this thread!
DS has a long way to go I feel with his revision, 10 subjects plus FM. We need to sit down with him to prioritise.
I think 5 hours is a lot per day at the weekend, if that with or without the breaks? DS manages around 3 I think if he hasn't got anything on that day. And about 1-1.5hrs in the evening, less or more depending on his clubs etc and also if he's been to intervention during the day he doesn't want to do as much in the evening, which is fine as I think intervention is probably more effective at the moment (when he's still going over general revision content) than him doing the same thing at home. Closer to the exams, when he knows exactly where his focus needs to be, it'll be better to do that at home than doing an intervention at school on a topic he is already good at.

As DD’s mental health is so poor atm, I’ve told her to do nothing until after half term: 5 lessons a day and homework seems quite enough.
I’m not sure how much more content they have to cover: they’ve certainly done the set texts in English Literature, and I think they’re probably just consolidating in Latin and English Language as well.

@DataColour
My ds2 is the same. Capable of so much more if only he applied himself!

Including set homework I think about 4 hours at the weekend is probably not unreasonable.

In the Christmas holidays dd was revising for her mocks in two blocks. 10am-1pm and then 3-6pm. She probably wasn't doing a solid 3 hours of work on each block but not far off. Each block would have three subjects in with an hour each.

Closer to the exams she would do three 2 hour blocks to give her enough time to do a past paper. Most papers were shorter than 2 hours so she would have time to mark it too.

Six hours isn't a lot in that context. She would have a 2 hour lunch break and the whole evening to herself. She found it easier once she was in a routine.

That’s what my DD did over Christmas too( apart from Christmas itself)
Far more than my eldest did at the same stage.