Year 11 - 2024-2025 Support Thread

[QueenMabby]

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

Order a couple of ‘paper’ prospectuses from a few different universities and have a look at what’s degrees are out there. Looking at uni websites can be a tadge overwhelming initially; but great when she’s an idea of the areas she fancies. Also look at UCAS info as you can put in subject combinations.

That's a good idea.

I do find websites overwhelming. As does DD. Image how revision is going with about a gazillion recommended web pages per subject!

@stickygotstuck oooh it may not be ucas that has the subject combination tool; it could be discover uni website.

Ds2 is asleep next to me. A week of mocks, Thursday maths 2 and RE was a killer. A very overly positive email from HoY Thursday night. He went with lots of mates to watch Wimbledon football Saturday. I love that he's out with his mates. 2 refereeing games this morning. No mocks tomorrow, 3 on Tuesday . Then we wait for results.

A lot going on for your DS but all sounds positive @Oblomov24
Me and DS sat down and red , amber and greened all the maths topics yesterday so he can now make a start on the reds. I def shd not be getting involved but I think it helped my stress levels and hopefully for that subject at least he has a plan now.

@SB1971 has he been told to start on reds? I remember being told that parents always want kids to focus on the reds and if left to their own devices kids will focus on greens. She said starting with ambers is a good approach as it tends to give quicker results and motivate the student more than tricky reds. They then tend to find that the reds have automatically turned into ambers as they e learnt foundations from the ambers. This is definitely what my eldest two did and seemed to work well. But nothing is set in stone!!

DD3 has got into her preferred 6th form school. We are totally shocked as it’s a faith school that’s incredibly oversubscribed! This means she can do all her subject choices (Sociology, Business, Politics & Psychology) - they do 4 AS then drop one. The grades required are 6’s so should be achievable - unlike her current indie that wants 7x 7’s minimum and obvs 7/8 in subject choices albeit they don’t offer all of those anyway.

@NotDonna
What a relief, you must be thrilled!

@NotDonna that is brilliant news!

Thank you @Oblomov24 & @minisnowballs shes now panicking a bit about making friends as doesn’t know anyone there or going. She’s been at her current school since yr3 so it’s a big change!!

What are their open evening, on boarding sessions. Email HoY now and ask for any support re friendship building.

She could be allocated a peer, put in touch with a couple of girls. Now. It's be enough to at least help her settle.

@NotDonna - what a relief! Good news for your dd. I'm sure the school will have taster days for offer holders and things on in the first week to help her settle in.

Dd continues being busy with no sign of dropping anything in the run up to exams! She has started revision albeit just small bits here and there. She has two music concerts this week and the finals of the school singing competition.

Two months to go until the first exam (MFL orals aside).

DD3 said she’d drop one of her sports (3x a week) after her competition last weekend but went this week and plans to go for one session next week. She’s still doing her other sport too (x2 a week). I think it’s hard to pull back and in fairness it does give them another outlet and chance to decompress.

@NotDonna if my DD1's friendship group is anything to go by, she'll be welcomed with open arms as they're all a bit bored of each other! She has several new mates who joined in the Sixth Form - one is from the local girls' indie, the other from another local school. You wouldn't know who was 'new'. Do you know anyone else locally who is going?

I must admit I keep looking at DD2's conditional place at our local sixth form, which gets brilliant results, would allow her to do the A-Levels she wants and is obviously free, and wonder why it is that she is so desperate to stay where she is.

But it is the music of course. I do MOSTLY get it. But it's a big sacrifice when she could just be at home.

@minisnowballs no we don’t know anyone! Lots of girls are leaving her current indie but to a variety of school 6th forms & colleges, but no one to the one where she has the offer.

I'm linking this thread in other threads. It was claimed that only high achievers are welcome, but I don't think that is true. We have all sorts here, many high achievers, but many others, some with sn, some have anxiety.

Remember my ds2 only got a 2 in his Year 10 mock for RE, at a catholic school! And he's too laid back, barely doing any revision currently. He finisihed mocks yesterday, had 3 in one day which was a bit tough, for a final day. He's on INSET tomorrow and they are all going to Thorpe Park for £5, marketing gift from TP. He needs a 7 in PE and Biology to do A'level's, but he finds Geography , Business and Spanish hard and boring, so I'm just hoping for a 5+ in those.

So I think all are welcome.

I've always found everyone here most welcoming and supportive, no matter what the issue with our dc!

Hi all - haven’t been a while but great to see all the good news. We had the mock results just before half term (which was a week later than most of you), DD did alright, she refused to revise for mocks as, according to her, “it’s just mocks eye rolls”. Couple of subjects were below her target grades but just by one grade so I suppose she knows where to put her efforts.

Her first proper exam is in a couple of weeks, Welsh speaking, worth 25% of the final grade. Then art at some point beginning of April. Her teacher rang me last day of term to see if I could cajole DD into doing work during half term as her work is unfinished - I did my best, but DD has decided she hates art and is not bothered by the grade she’s getting she’s quite good at it too, so it makes me sad that she’s given up but I’ve been trying to keep her interested in it by saying that once GCSE is done she can do it for fun and not worry about time pressures etc.

She’s been given a timetable but has not shared, I will ask again.

She also had a wobble re her A level choices and is now considering maths. Not sure what she’s thinking of dropping. She’s staying at her school for 6th form so only less thing to worry about 😅

I wish our school would share revision tips with parents more. I have NO IDEA what he should be doing at home at the moment or how to support it!

All I've done so far is ban sports during May and June, other than at home training, as the fear of an injury is too high!

Clubs and activities is a tricky one during exams. You definitely don’t want them doing so much their revision suffers but at the same time they need some downtime and something to look forward to! Dd has a dance show in early July so will continue to do her weekly dance classes. Netball will probably take a back seat. @JusteanBiscuits- as you say - higher risk of injury. Plus her training is much later in the evening and I’ll be encouraging early nights!

Son's sport has relatively high risk of injury. I do first aid for it and the kid last year with head injury and broken collar bone 2 days before a written exam really stays with me!!

Ds2 ran 5k again, got his time down from 21 & 1/2 minutes, down by 1 minute, to just over 20 minutes. This gets him 2 extra marks, in his GCSE PE.

Ooh well done @Oblomov24 DS! Very speedy!
Ohh maybe DD needs to start knitting as her new ‘sport’ to avoid injury. She’s had a couple of broken toes. But a head injury or broken collarbone @JusteanBiscuits is pretty disastrous !
DD has had percentages for PE NEA now albeit not yet moderated. English NEA marks are due back soon and she handed in her Food & Nutrition NEA today. So it’s good to have those all out of the way.

@NotDonna I reckon she'll still find her people! I should imagine VAT means a lot of people are leaving indies for Sixth Form and there will be many new joiners.

Ouch at the injuries. DD2 is generally a bit careful because of the music anyway (though she does do climbing at school as her sport choice and is honestly quite capable of falling over walking down the street) but I can see why you'd worry about team games.

We have a meeting about GCSEs tomorrow at school - necessitating a 645am start from home but I reckon we probably do need to go and get a handle on how it's all going to work. DD2 has an exam timetable but hasn't vouchsafed it to us. English and history coursework now all in, music recordings done. Just drama monologue and duologue and composition to go. And, you know, the real things.

I finally got Ds2's exam timetable, provisional. Only took 4 emails and 2 phone calls. Apparently they get released pre Easter.
I now finally know his first date and last date which was all I ever wanted.