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

[QueenMabby]

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

Well done on the award DC @icanbewhatiwant

I sympsthise with all those with DS who want to do well but less keen on the graft bit. DS said today he knows what he needs to do and there is no need to discuss it ever again. Ok…..

We had a fairly useful meeting in school about revision etc. I do feel they have been well supported. Good to hear the messages together about staying in a good sleep routine over the hols etc.

Good news today. DS got a ‘priority offer’ for a v popular local sixth form. I didn’t know such a thing existed. Because he wants to do MFL they prioritise the app and guarantee his place and subject choices before offer day. Still needs the grades but am happy as avoids results day scramble/ subjects filling up which does happen at that school…although obvs not happy MFL in decline

Onwards and upwards! 40 days to go apparently

@DataColour its really hard to know how much to push and nag around gaming etc isn’t it. They need down time too, especially as they are exhausted and need the holiday - which, let’s face it, they won’t really be getting will they.

well done @icanbewhatiwant ds. That’s great and I’d imagine a lovely little boost before the hard graft starts

We had a meeting at school about revision. Ds asked me not to go. He said no way was he going, it was meant for parent and child. So I did as asked and didn't go.

What are your schools saying about revision over the holidays? My DD2 has guidance to do 4 hours a day. I think they’ll be lucky to get that out of her, but we’ll see 😂

I just asked DS1 … he said ‘people’ are going 5 hours a day so he guesses he had better do that ! … sometimes being a bit laid back and dreamy and following the crowd can be useful 😂

Ours uses the 100 hours initiative. So 100 hours over the Easter hols. It equates to 5 hours a day, six days a week I think.

@icanbewhatiwant- glad your ds got his awards. Hopefully this will be a good confidence booster for him going into the exam season.

@Hollyhedge- good news on the offer!

Thanks. Yes he was a bit deflated thinking he'd not got an award. Even though he says he wasn't. Hopefully it'll spur him on.

We’ve not heard anything about how much they should be doing over Easter. Last we were told was an hour and a half a day so I assumed thats what should carry on? We’ve no chance of 5 hours a day 😬

Well done to DS @Hollyhedge on the 6th form & DS @icanbewhatiwant on all the awards!
100hrs sounds a lot doesn’t it? I’m guessing your DD has 3 weeks off then @QueenMabby?

@NotDonna- yes. Break up today although dd is going into school for one morning next week for a German speaking revision session and she has her actual Spanish speaking exam on the last Friday of the holidays.
dd has set on her revision timetable 14 hours of revision per exam paper. That’s more than for her mocks so should be plenty.
She has the whole of the Easter weekend off as we’re travelling for a friend’s wedding. Should be a nice break for her.
We got school grades yesterday and she got a 9 in everything except PE where she got a 6. PE is not a gcse subject for her though so we’re not sure why she gets a grade. We just ignore it! 🤣

The 100 hours target sounds great @QueenMabby. Having a nice round number and a high, but achievable target to aim for will be motivating.

DS’s school uses the 7x6 rule, so they have to do 7 hours of revision on six days a week. They have to keep a record of what they’ve done each day and can be asked to produce evidence when they go back.

It’s going to be an intense Easter for him, but hopefully there will be plenty of productive revision.

Well done to your DS @icanbewhatiwant

Feels like DD has been limping along this week, she will be very glad to finally finish today. The head of science has set them all 1 hour (minimum) of science per day to do in the holidays and she has her art to finish off which takes a lot of time as well as all her other subjects. Her art exam is the first week back and then French oral the week after. Not long until the written papers start either - five weeks on Monday. EEEEK!

But on the plus side only 75 days until her last exam and then she will be FREE! She is so looking forward to sixth form, just studying what she is interested in and no more school uniform! She has offers from 2 large local sixth forms and taster days in early July.

Ds broke up yesterday. He's gone off with mates to the cinema. First time on his own by train. No, I'm not a protective mum...we just don't live near the train station and so far he's never wanted to head off with mates. Ds2 used to go quite often from age 14. I'm glad he's gone. It'll be good for him. It'll be good to have a break from school and revision.

These sound like terrifyingly high targets to me - DD2's school suggests splitting the day up into three (morning, afternoon and evening) and working two of them - which I suppose is actually six hours, but she has to fit piano, singing, bassoon and flute into that as well. We are trying to focus on her working efficiently, but honestly I'm a little daunted by how little time she has. Thank heavens it's only 8 GCSEs for her.

DD2 won her first ever awards this term @icanbewhatiwant. Particularly baffled to receive 'colours' for drama, but delighted by that and a 'head's commendation' for her contribution to the cultural life of the school.

She's usually just very busy doing everything but doesn't particularly stand out or ever receive merit marks, so she was very pleased,

7hrs a day seems like an awful lot of revision! DS might be able to manage 4-5hrs with breaks in between.

@minisnowballs congrats on the award for your DD! That's really lovely.

Good to find the new thread! Ours hasn't mentioned a specific amount of revision over Easter – 100 hours sounds like a lot! My DD is going in for two days to finish up her art and then it's a case of trying to persuade her that she still needs to revise despite knowing she only needs minimum grades for her college BTech. She did so well at the interview that the course tutors lowered the entry requirements from what was stated on the application. Which is brilliant for DD but doesn't help her motivation for passing everything!

I’ve just suggested the 100 hours to my two as it seems achievable without being too overwhelming.
works out at 10 hours per GCSE subject and 33 hours per A level which feels about right.

wow, do you have more than 3 weeks off?
I am kind of glad we only have two weeks as DC def does more in school than he would at home. He will hopefully go in for a few revision sessions the first week, and we are away over actual Easter.
I can't wait for this all to be over to be quite honest.

@minisnowballs that's great dd had awards too. I think the awards probably go to the higher achievers and those who are not high achievers but try really hard. Those in between more likely don't get noticed. Ds2 never won anything he just got on with school. Did what he needed to do but no more. Whereas Ds3 has an obsession with getting the top marks in everything.

Hi all joining in on the revision chat, my dd is going into revision lessons 4 days a week during the holidays for 4 hours a day she has then made a revision timetable in order of her exams and will do 20 mins then a 20 min break where she talks to me about what she’s revised (so technically revising her revising) do another 20 mins ect for 2 hours a day and she has this plannned all through out till exams are done x

Good God, I had no idea that 6+ hours was recommended. I think I already know that that isn't going to happen here.

Saw this animation this morning and it made me laugh.

There is no way I could enforce 6 hours per day How are people managing to get their kids to do this?

Mine won’t either. I’m going to suggest 2 hours a day but I’m sure that won’t be appreciated either! Will see what happens!

I'm pretty relieved at some of these responses tbh! There's no way DS would do 6 hours a day. I actually think it would be counterproductive (for him) anyway, he'd start glazing over, even with breaks. School haven't given any guidance about number of hours either.