Year 11 - 2024-2025 Support Thread

[QueenMabby]

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

Have school given yours their exam timetable yet?

We haven't received anything, is it really up to us to find it on the exam board website???

Yes, DS received his personalised timetable in the week prior to half-term.

No. We haven't had our exam timetable yet. We only got our 2nd mock one, for next week, last week.

We have ours. It's been in our parent portal since about October. Wasn't announced through. It just appeared!

We had a lovely parents' evening last night. Lots of great feedback from DD's teachers. Just got to not get complacent and keep doing what she's doing.

No exam timetable here yet - I'm guessing they'll do it after mocks #2 (this week and next).

Ours is on the school website, we haven't been told but I was checking for something else and found it.
It's still provisional as the higher and foundation tiers haven't been finalised yet.

We got ours two or three days before the start of half term

We don’t have DS’ yet but we did get a list of all GCSE dates/ times in autumn. I asked DS to check about MFL speaking. After these mocks there will be final decisions about foundation/ higher I suspect and they are also still moving children from separate to combined science I think. DS has to make gains in some of his subjects, but way he is talking he seems resigned to not improving grades too much. Has anyone else had this? Trying to keep him positive/ make him feel his work can make a difference (without adding pressure)

DC had their personalised timetables before Feb half term. Now stuck on the fridge glowering ominously over breakfast.

DD1 did GCSEs last year. She improved 2 grades in most subjects (1 in a couple) , between November mocks and the real thing. The big ‘but’, is that she did a huge amount of revision from mid February onwards. So, at least 2 hours after school and 5 hours a day at weekends. By Easter, she was doing 6+ hours a day. Now, I’m not saying your son should do that, but grade increases do require a lot of extra work, but are doable if focused. DD1s friends who did the minimum didn’t make any improvements from their mocks.

The exams/assessments officer will definitely have a copy of the timetable and whilst I don’t believe in emailing schools constantly, i definitely think this warrants a polite request!
We don’t have our individual timetables yet, but got a generic one for all subjects which is still very useful.

This is very encouraging!

I am going to hang on to these words …

No timetable here either - I've attempted to cobble one together by knowing what boards DD2 does but I'm not sure.

A relief this morning though - conditional offer for our local Sixth Form - which is a really excellent one, and does the four subjects DD2 wants to do at A-Level. She's very unlikely to come back from her school for it, but I wanted one in place in case anything changes with the government scheme she's on and it becomes unaffordable, and with all the issues so many are having with oversubscribed sixth forms it felt like a real worry that she wouldn't have the place.

Just catching up after a number of weeks absent from the thread.
DS is mid second lot of mocks at the moment and has done some but not much revision.
I have been really struggling with him and his lack of effort-I actually have been going to the gym a lot more to take myself out of the house so at least am getting fitter ….

Hello all, catching up here after a while away.

Well done to all DCs who are managing to get on with revision, and wholehearted encouragement to those (like DD) who need to do a little bit more!

Can I ask a question about A level options please? Just started a thread but it would be good to pick the brains of you lot who are in the thick of it! 😊

DD needs to drop one A level subject from her application.
Which one should she drop?

She can't decide between French and English Literature. And she's not sure at all what to do afterwards.

Her options are:
-Music (non-negotiable)
-Maths
-French
-English Lit

TIA

Great choices. Personally I would go with French as I love languages and this opens door to MFL degree. However English lit is a fantastic A level. No help, sorry. Can she do tasters in all 4? DS currently has Spanish and Economics on his list of four and will only do one - he will do tasters in all 4 where possible.

Also schools DS has applied to have said options they put down now can be changed later, so maybe you can park it until summer? DS put four down for one school and Spanish as reserve in other two. Good luck!

Thanks @Hollyhedge .
That's just it, she likes both! But I think French has the edge. We're just not sure which is more useful for future uni applications?

The issue is neither of the two colleges she has applied to are letting her put 4 down in her application.

One has said she can try all on taster day, but that's not until June/July and she feels stuck not knowing for sure if she'll be allowed to take one of them. Unfortunately, she was talked into dropping maths at interview. Regretted it straight away!

The other college says only 3, no option to do 4 at all

If she is dropping maths, what is the other one? Músic and ??

At the moment, she is down for Music, French and English Lit on college 1 (the one who says she could potentially do 4).

Same for college 2 (the 3-only one), but they are asking if she wants to swap Maths for French/English Lit. Hence asking now 😊.

They do offer Core Maths for 1 year as a sort of AS, but not that useful.

@stickygotstuck
On the other thread, someone mentioned that A level French was less predictable in the sense of what vocabulary etc might come up, plus one is competing with candidates whose first language is French. I also believe that the literature essays have to be written IN French...
On the other hand English literature will be more "known".
If she's considering a Scottish university, such as st Andrew's, she'd be able to pick up the subject she didn't do at A level and even get a degree in it.
The advantage of maths is that it's not an essay subject, so maybe less "heavy"

Ignore apostrophe in St Andrews!! Autocorrect

@stickygotstuck In the Dark Ages, I did A level English Literature for a term and a half, then swapped to French, so I’d say the latter. But it depends which she’s better at, what she likes more and what she wants to do in the future.

Core maths as an AS type qualification is very useful if doing social sciences A levels (ie, psychology, sociology, economics, politics, etc and if not taking A level maths). Some universities such as Bath, Lancaster & Sheffield (there maybe others) offer a grade reduction if student receives a B (bath & Lancs) or A (Sheffield). My middle DD took it alongside Psychology, Economics & History and says it has really helped with some of her BSc Business modules such as quantitative analysis etc.

Mmmm my gut says music, maths and French as it keeps lots of doors open including MFL. Mathsy subjects and of course music! Which would she get the highest grades in though? For a lot of degrees the A level subjects don’t matter but grades always do. Does not having English Lit rule degrees out that she’s interested in?

@ali
@aliceinanwonderland , thank you. I also see that as one of the advantages of Maths for someone who is prone to overwhelm.

Thanks @ChannelLightVessel , I think French has the edge as what she enjoys more and is naturally good at.

@NotDonna thank you. The grade reduction may be interesting. I'll see what DD says.

I think she is leaning towards those 3 too based on liking them more. But she's trying to be practical and do English rather than French because its seems wider and may keep more doors open? I'd say her highest grade would be French. Music the lowest purely because my understanding is that it's very hard to her high grades in. But there's no swaying her in that one.

That's the difficulty, knowing which doors you don't mind closing when you have no idea what to do and are 15. I wish A levels weren't so bloody narrow. I have very strong opinions about that myself!