Year 11 - 2024/2025 - Support Thread - the final stretch

[QueenMabby]

A new thread to take is to exams and beyond! All welcome.

21 here for 10 GCSEs. 2 out of the way this week.

Only Eng Lit will be completely finished before half-term.

Is that two speaking?

1 MFL speaking and Art.

I'm wondering if anyone else's DC are at a school where they haven't yet told parents what the exam arrangements will be. We have heard nothing about whether year 11 have to be in school the whole time or only for exams. I really need to know so that me and DH can be sure that we can cover taking and collecting from school between us. According to DD the teachers themselves don't know yet!

What kind of school? Comp seems to equal no or limited study leave. I’m hoping though where there is a day between exams, ie before physics 1, they can just do that though. You can do quite a bit in one day on one paper…I reserve the right to keep DS off if needed, although he wants to go as it stands and they do seem to be doing good prep

Yes, it's a comp. DD has quite a few gaps between exams where a lot of revision could be done and I think she will get more effective revision done at home rather than at school where time will be wasted walking along corridors/transitioning between lessons, talking to friends, listening to teachers talk about things that perhaps you're already confident on when you could be revising something else, queueing for lunch etc.

Dd is at a comp.
Gcse timetable was sent out beginning of April.
No study leave mentioned and they've never done it before.
No holiday revision sessions to speak of. They seem to be offering lunchtime and after school sessions in some subjects.
I'll be glad when the art practical is over.
Still not a huge amount of revision happening 🙄 so I'm glad dd is at school revising tbh.
From w/c 12th it's all revision and exams.

It’s really hard to know. DS struggles to work out what to do so so on balance prob better where he’ll be, at school. That said if he has a free day before the exam I don’t think they’ll be doing thar subject all day, they can’t as subject teacher won’t be available. I am imagining there will be early releases/ half days…

Testsd DS on poetry tonight. He has done half the poems and says it’s fine he will do the rest last minute 😬 It’s going to be a stressful few weeks

@Tachicrew my DC2's school (comp) sent out the exam timetable before Easter but yesterday we received a timetable that shows how the school day will be used around the exams. I'm not sure I can entirely see how it'll work and DC2 was in something of a flap about missing lessons for subjects where they've only just/not yet finished the content. The students themselves hadn't been provided with the timetable so I suspect that may have been the main cause of the flapping.

Well...that's dd off for her art practical
Hope the room isn't too hot 😬

DD is also now complaining that she would much rather be revising and not in school. Apparently she knows all the material now and so do half the class, but the other half do not. Yet her idea of revising is probably having a friend over and sunbathing in the garden, whilst “revising”. She has her new bestie GCSE friend who is doing pretty much all the same subjects and is in some of her classes. Clearly these two girls know way more than all the teachers! The new phrase is “we just want to lock in” and the other one I have heard is, “change of scene”.

Oh I hear a lot about 'locking in' @Araminta1003 - mainly from the two doing A-Levels at home, I have to say. They do not have study leave - half their friends are not going in and not getting sanctioned but my view is that this means that those who do are getting twice as much access to the teachers as the class sizes dwindle. I also think that (from what I know about the two of them) their mental health suffers less if they go out and see people in a school setting. DD1's boyfriend is - bizarrely - only going into school for lunchtime to hang out. He does basically live next door but even so!

Meanwhile down at 'music hogwarts' where DD2 goes to school they've been issued with a poster about what they can and can't do on study leave, which starts from this weekend. Samples include the fact that early morning practice is 'optional', but other practice periods are not, and you must wear 'smart casual' in the house and uniform for music lessons and Cathedral. Not sure DD2 owns 'smart casual'. It really is another world!

Good luck to artists today!

Dd has her German oral exam tomorrow. She’s very nervous. More so than for Spanish. I’m hoping that her practice run through scheduled for this afternoon will calm her down a bit.
Big school summer concert this evening so she’s missing quite a few lessons for rehearsals.
We finish next week for study leave. Dd is desperate to just get going on it now - the waiting is excruciating she says!

Hi All, was lurking but not posted for a while.

Hope things go well for all your DC.

French oral kicks things off today. In our household, things just got real after seeing the exam timetable.

School have offered a choice of lessons or study leave. My DC has opted for lessons which I think is the right decision for DS.

Mine’s opted to stay in lessons too @CakeFace1234. There are far too many distractions at home!

Turning over our kitchen calendar to May this morning was a big “gulp” moment. DD filled it in with all exam times a couple of weeks ago and now it feels very real! She’s just done her two-day art practical so at least she’s one down now.

Hope it goes well! Mine had hers yesterday and the day before. Glad it’s over after so many trial runs on my kitchen table!

Yes! The huge box of art materials/prep is no longer cluttering our living space 🙌
I hope dd is OK.
She's had a very rough year so far so I hope it goes well today 🙏

The French oral went ok for Ds. The teacher gave him a choice of questions and he chose family. Ds says that’s the most stressful exam out of the way. I think he might feel differently once they start.

Dd said it went OK. She doesn't feel she did enough today so is a bit anxious about tomorrow but tbh it sounds like she's done loads so 🤷‍♀️

@minisnowballs - for smart casual my DD would probably wear those ubiquitous white linen trousers and a polo style shirt/jumper - of which she seems to have purchased a multitude on Vinted. She has too much money from teaching younger kids music and Maths! And it is all spoofed on her Vinted habit - she seems to be dishing the clothes out to some friends who are according to her, struggling with finding their style. I have suggested she should be saving for uni, but again, she thinks she is getting a fully paid up degree apprenticeship in London.

Final day of dds art practical..😬
Then drama paper next week and that'll be 2 down 🙂
I've bought myself a nice bottle of wine tonight! 🍷

Wahey @destiel00 - we also have the drama next week (I mean, we have the drama every week, but you know what I mean)...But we also have IGCSE English Lit, History and Lang. None of those get out of the way as there are later papers but it really starts in earnest.

@Araminta1003 DD2 would LIKE to have too much money - one of the worst things she says about being a boarder is she can't teach - I don't think anyone would thank her for her maths input but she could certainly teach a couple of instruments and music theory if she was here, she likes little ones. Her sister has some lucrative nannying jobs.

As for the smart casual - she's sent me a picture of her outfit this 'non-uniform' day, and it wouldn't even pass the very cursory sixth form rules that DD1 and my ward have to adhere to. I assume she's not playing contra today as it would be borderline obscene.

Wonder if she'll get sent back to change.

It does feel as if the exams have begun "properly" now 😬
The 6th form dd wants to attend is non uniform, which she is thrilled about...me, less so - It takes her long enough to get ready in the mornings now, let alone if she has to choose an outfit and accessorise! 🤣
Dd didn't sleep well last night - busy brain, I think after her art practical.
She appears worryingly unbothered by her other exams 😬

Dd has had her German speaking this morning. It went pretty well from the brief text I got.
German listening and reading and Latin language next week.

That’s great @QueenMabby
Your DD and my DS have the same exams next week - it’s all going to feel much more real once the written papers get underway isn’t it?! On the plus side, it will be good to start crossing them off the list.