Tell me about good GCSEs without use of tutors

[AtomHeartMotherOfGod]

Both children are at a private school but neither me nor DH know much about them. I was grammar, he just worked bloody hard and had clever DPs.

Year 10 parents have been asking for tutor recommendations for GCSEs and I'm wondering how naive I'm being about their use for these exams. DCs do pretty well, but if the reality of private school results is that actually they are heavily backed by tutors then I don't want them to be disadvantaged.

Please tell me what your reality has been, and anything that you did for your children (yourself, or via tutors) that really helped them. Many thanks!

This makes interesting reading. Of the 667,340 students who sat GCSEs in England last year, only 1,270 achieved all 9s.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/infographic-gcse-results-2024/infographics-for-gcse-results-2024-accessible

And their parents are all on mumsnet 😁

@RampantIvy You are right there! I feel sorry for dc where an 8 is a failure!

That would be my nephew. He got 8 9s and 2 8s. You'd think he'd failed all his GCSEs based on the response he got. This narrative that "all 9s" is very easy to achieve, and not actually very rare is really harmful.

@RedSkyDelights Response from his parents? That’s very sad. Anyone would be proud of those results surely?! He’s obviously going to be fine. I don’t actually understand all this angst about grades. What difference does 2 x 8 grades make to anything?

I don't understand either, hence why we allowed our kids to attend a local school and never gave tutors a second thought - apart from (while living in London) trying to banish the noise made by other parents. Tutor-guarding and denial were phenomena.

And yes, quite frankly once you're up in the realms of 8s and 9s the difference may just be performance on the day; so no difference! I think top universities acknowledge this tbh. It's a shame some parents can't.

And you know this for every student who got an A* in maths I suppose ?

I do know three who didn't

Dd was at a non academically selective private school and achieved all Grade 8 with a couple of 9 in GCSE with no tutoring.

I had an English tutor for ds. He has SEN and struggled with English specifically. The aim was to get him through a Grade 4 so he could go onto a vocational college course.

I know 3-4 who weren't tutored

Depends on the child .
Dd1 and Dd2 got high grades in their GCSE’s and A levels
Dd1 had tutors for GCSE maths/ science and A level Science subjects
DD2 did not have any tutoring for any subject

Of course the vast majority can't afford a tutor. In the same way as they don't automatically have their grade 4 GCSE put in for a check to get it pushed up to a grade 5.

@Dearover this was the situation at my children's school. It wasn't on the radar because people couldn't afford it. The MN myth that those who go state pay in other ways is just that = a myth.

Tutoring is probably used more where parents have spare money and think dc could do better. They don’t sit back and of course it’s not something poor people do. However it’s not a given poor kids need the tutoring anyway. I knew people who tutored for 11 plus but often dc didn’t pass anyway. Just a slog for nothing. Some dc were pushed and pushed snd pushed and it wasn’t kind.

Again the majority don't need tutoring for an 11+ as we don't have any form of selective education across most of the country

DD was at a comp for GCSEs. Never tutored. Got a total of 11 Grade 9 and 2 grade 7 GCSES including 2 taken in yr 10.

Surely if you need both private school AND a private tutor in order to get grades that some children in failing state schools are getting with no tutor, there are bigger issues.

As far as I was concerned my DD did get all 9s in the GCSE options she took, but she got a 7 for further maths which was an “extra” school made her do by virtue of being in top set. So she wouldnt have been counted in the stats above on that basis. It’s a bit of a misleading stat due to those anomalies.

If she had done one less exam she would have been in those numbers.

I honestly can't get my head around private school and needing tutoring!? So many wasted hours when they could be focused on more worthwhile activities and growing into more rounded people.

I find the narrative so odd. My 15 year old daughter has never been to school, has got a brilliant group of friends, spends time doing her variety of hobbies and developing skills she enjoys. Has never had tutors, followed any curriculum or done any formal education at all. We've just always had great books, music, plenty of time outdoors, play, sport, lots of time in our local community etc. She's just got 4 grade 9s by self-studying for 11 months, and due to do the rest in April/May. It's been the opposite of hot-housing. Yet she is more switched on, and enjoys learning far more than any of her schooled cousins or friends. She is not a child genius or anything like it. I'm not being boastful, I'm just sharing this as I believe the constant narrative that kids need all this pushing and tutoring to 'succeed' is harmful. It creates fear in parents and everyone is scrambling to make sure their kid is at the top of the ladder. I hardly think it makes for better or happier kids.

@Suspendedanimations ,

Maybe I am wrong but that sounds like ‘plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose….’.

I honestly struggle to believe that she has got those grades by ‘self study’ without a huge amount of facilitation by either different forms of tutoring (including by family) and massive organisational facilitation.

If you just left a 15 year old to their own devices entirely, I struggle to believe they would even sit GCSEs.

Only on this very weird site has a discussion on tuition become a discussion on a full set of grade 9s! If you were to draw a Venn diagram between tutored children and full sets of 9s, the intersect would be vanishingly small. The vast majorities of tutored kids are tutored as they need the extra help, not just for the hell of it. If you are paying a tutor to help a succeeding child, you might as well light your stove with £50 notes!

And, speaking of 9s, there is a big distinction between 9s at GCSE and 9s at IGCSE (which private schools mainly do). IGCSEs were chosen for all the right reasons but, over the years, they have become far easier, and give high grades far more frequently than GCSEs. So private school pupils have many advantages: smaller sets, better behaviour (generally), lots of marking and clinics….and easier exams at the end.

A huge part is the pressure from schools and the constant testing and targets. Plus the huge competition for places now that you are competing not just with other UK kids but internationally as well.

While I applaud what you are doing in terms of education for your child, and think it sounds a very healthy and happy option, there is quite a big difference between sitting 4 GCSEs in a session and sitting 11.

Hugely less content to have to shovel in and retain, far fewer papers to sit in that session etc. It's why universities want A levels all sat in one go rather than one a year.

Agree that IGCSE’s are easier. There is definitely a difference in the standard for English language

When DD sat GCSE maths in 2016 the iGCSE was considered more rigorous than the GCSE. Her school used to enter the top sets in for it in the January if they scored more than 75% in the November mocks.

While that sounds rather remarkable @Suspendedanimations, your daughter seems to be sitting her GCSEs in bite size chunks. Four, then another four? Or have I misunderstood? I'm not saying her achievement isn't great. But there's a difference bwteeen doing it that way and nine or ten at a single sitting at 16

I think it is more important to get top grades in the subjects you wish to then study at A level. So better to get 4 x 9 and 6 x 8, but really high 9s in the 3 Sciences and Maths, if that is what you are going to do later on. The A stars at A level simply matter more. So getting 93% in your Physics GCSE and 98% in Maths (plus a Further Maths GCSE) if you do those at A level, is going to be better than getting 10 subjects at just scraped 9 and 80% in each (or whatever the 9 grade boundary is).
I always told my DC that. Do well in all your GCSEs, but try and do exceptionally well in those you are taking at A level, when the step up matters and you need to understand the content well, across the board.

So I would tutor a child who loves Physics but has been dealt a hand with a string of supply teachers only. But I would not tutor to up a 6 to a 7 or a 7 to an 8 for a subject they are going to drop anyway.

We are/were at grammar school and did not have to tutor. However, we are quite used to others tutoring for the sake of it, it seems, and just ignored it. We were lucky though and had good teachers overall. Few stronger than others, but mostly of at least a good standard and some exceptional. I would have tutored if we had poor quality teaching or teacher shortages, for sure.