Year 11 - 2024-2025 Support Thread

[QueenMabby]

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

Hi has anyone’s dc who have already done year 11 ever found the mocks to be easier or harder than the real thing?

and for anyone’s DC who had mocks in the November of year 11 how did they approach revision and when did they start?

it’s 10 weeks to DS first mocks.

👍

@theorangecounty ha! DD2 has just started Great Expectations. Not sure she's going to be finished with it by the time lessons start on Friday, though she informs me she's 100 pages in.

Not sure she's getting quite the subtle nuances at this speed...might have been better with the York Notes.

@theorangecounty good to know I’m not alone, DD goes back tomorrow and is finishing her maths homework today there’s some art stuff to do too but I dare not ask.

Does anyone else have a child who has no idea what they want to do? DD has the problem of being good at everything but liking nothing. Not even art she seems to like anymore… She lost interest in sport during covid.

The only two things she seems interested in at the minute are German and chemistry. She wants to do A levels at the moment but I think she will struggle to pick 3/4. School had a careers event with people coming over to talk about their jobs but nothing got her interested. Not sure how to help guide her as education is so different in my home country.

Oh, and she wants to continue her piano lessons, I suppose that’s something. But doesn’t want to be a musician or anything, and refuses to do the grade tests 😂

Day one done for DS1. He had English and maths summer work - he assured me that he completed it all but I’m not convinced he did. Unfortunately he didn’t seem to get much done in any of his other subjects.

Annoyingly the school calendar is not updated yet, but I’m pretty sure there is a set of mocks at the beginning of November and a second set of mocks in February/March. I’m hoping he does better in November, than he did in June. His results were very spiky and definitely not the best he could do.

@ThisPerkySloth ok so my eldest two DDs had mocks at Xmas using old papers (can’t have been complete papers as not all topics will have been covered). They found them similar to the real thing. Some grades were higher some lower but overall they did slightly better. DD3 has November mocks, like yours& agree it’s so very soon! They only do one set (none later in the year unfortunately) but I’m guessing they’ll have ‘end of topic’ tests. From what mine have said they just ensured all their notes or revision cards (if they use them) were done for yr10 over the summer (so now). Then on the completion of topics would write up notes (or do revision cards) mostly bc they had regular ‘end of topic’ tests. So in a way these ongoing tests forced revision!

Our school has never offered holiday sessions or lunchtime or after-school. Didn’t realise this was a thing! But maybe all the topic tests keep them focussed.

My dd is also an all-rounder @justasoul although she struggles to choose because she enjoys everything not because she dislikes it! She doesn't know what she wants to do as a career at all, just that her A-levels are like to be sciences based. She'll get an A-levels carousel around March time when we'll go to loads of subject and try and narrow it down.
My ds is going to Uni next month and he doesn't know for sure what career he wants. Many don't.

@QueenMabby & @justasoul do any if the colleges or 6th forms near you offer the IB? The International Baccalaureate has a broader range of subjects but I don’t think it’s offered at a lot of places.

@NotDonna Atlantic College I think but my pockets are not deep enough I look it up though, thanks for the suggestion

Dd wants to do performing arts/media/film/photography she thinks
Bit limited locally, so she'll need to go to the next county (which isn't an issue transport wise)
Open evenings start next month, so that'll be fun!
She did look at a 6th form college, but it's miles and miles away, just not doable
A local college is a specialist performing arts school, so that looks like a contender

@SuperSue77 DD is at a private all-girls secondary (a GDST one), though she only got her diagnosis at the end of Year 9. I’m sorry you couldn’t get your DS into the school(s) you wanted. DD didn’t get a place at either of our local comprehensives, as we moved here at the end of Year 5 and there were no places in the feeder primaries. I do think she’s better off at a smaller school, as it must make it a bit less noisy and overwhelming, but she still finds a day of masking/coping very stressful.

we used topic questions in Physic and math tutor website , and flashcards. for science used cognito website . it just going through weak topics again and again .

Dd said English lit is just revision now...

Not sure if that's accurate

Hi, I'd like to join too. Dd is starting back in year 11 today. She is dyslexic, so finds English language in particular challenging, though did well in her other subjects in year 10 mocks - we have a really good tutor for English so hoping she can up her grade this year, but she just seems to go to pieces in the exam unfortunately. Her main issue is processing, and she is now allowed a computer reader as well as extra time, though unfortunately the reader didn't work in the mocks (it's new to the school) so hopefully they can sort that issue out!

Anyway, I am hoping joining this thread will provide some solidarity and inspiration in what is likely to be a stressful few months!

Yes, sounds about right. DS's school completed Eng Lit by April/May of Year 10 and started on English Language.

DS's mocks are also about 10 weeks away. He's started doing Seneca for Physics revision and a bit of Biology as well. It is quite time consuming however to go through each topic thoroughly. There's also a cram mode on it, which he hasn't looked at but might be better and then do past paper questions.

DS starts year 11 today. DD starts year 10 at the same school. They start late as it's the year 7s and 12s first in, DS didn't know this and was about to head out at the usual time. Just typical of him.
Also he had braces put in yesterday and he was in a bit of pain this morning with his teeth and head, as the braces get settled in. Gave him some painkillers this morning and hope he manages at school.

Good luck to the new year 11's starting this week!

Ah...interesting.
I'm assuming that we will get mocks info soon but nothing yet

We have year 11 information evening tomorrow. Usually these info evenings are towards the mid/end of Sept but maybe for y11 they want to get it in early to announce mock exam dates etc. But the dates are already up on the school calendar anyway.
I've pencilled in some open days for 6th forms, most seem to be early October.

It might be if English Lit is tackled first and then Language.

My daughter's school did An Inspector Calls first, then they did Language Paper 1, then poetry anthology and now they are about halfway through the Shakespeare play. I think the plan is to finish the Shakespeare stuff within the first month of Year 11 and then do Language Paper 2. Then I think Frankenstein in early 2025?? Those are her school's chosen novels anyway

@DataColour DS has used Seneca - doesn’t do notes / flash cards. It is time consuming, DS has complete some parts but we’ve decided to given up on that now.

now going to just use the cram mode, mini mocks, and they have a lot of past papers included too. All good to identify weak points.

10 weeks to mocks. Dates are on school calendar and I looked through for others but none so maybe only one set!

first day back today - noticed he should have revised for a history test over summer and test is tomorrow - DS will be busy this evening!!!!!!

Only 8 weeks till mocks here!!

Dd will probably end up at 6th form in another county, and none of them are back yet, so no info re open evenings, etc

They usually start in early October

The rest of September is super busy for dd - 4 rehearsals a week, then show week 😩

I'll be glad when it's done!

We had year 11 information evening last night - mocks are early December. That was the only bit of useful info though - they spent 40min talking about updates to the conduct system and behaviour points…. It could have been covered in 5 min and everyone was starving by the end as we hadn’t eaten beforehand! They didn’t say anything about how much study is expected outside of school other than “complete your prep” so I’m a bit nervous the kids will just coast along.

Also, daft question- for 6th form the requirements are for a 5 in each of Maths and English - but is that Eng lit, lang or either/both? Or does it vary?

To get into 6th form, you need 5s in maths and English lang plus 3 other passes (5s and above)
Then, there are specific requirements for each subject
So, for example, English lit A level entry requirements could be 5 gcse passes (inc maths and eng lang) plus English lit at 6/7

IIRC dd she needed 7s in her A level choice subjects (she got 8s)

It's a big jump from gcse to A level, and pupils should be aiming for top grades in the subjects they want to study imho

Most 6th forms will allow English lang and maths resits alongside A levels/Btecs