Year 11 - 2024/2025 - In the thick of it!

[QueenMabby]

New thread. Sorry. Forgot to start it - I hope everyone finds this!

Your second paragraph here is very good to read.
My bright DS has taken his foot off the pedal last year and to a lesser extent this year and I had been thinking that nothing he has learnt since he was 4 was going to benefit him in any way!
But I can see that he is articulate and capable and probably will be ok, although he doesn't know his human geography and can't discuss ethics in PE.
His GCSE results won't be the best his is capable of, because of the memory test part, but I am hopeful the whole secondary school experience hasn't been a total waste. He himself says the exams are going well (even without much revision!)

Late to the thread, but we’re half way or thereabouts now. ‘Just’ chemistry and PE tomorrow and Physics on Thursday this week, thank goodness. Last week was pretty tough for her, as had overnight supervision/chaperoned etc at school due to clashes and extra time taking her over the permitted daily hours. Particularly tough as the two moved exams were geography moved to Thursday and maths pushed back to Thursday afternoon. So no overnight Dr Frost for her which was really stressy for her. Hey ho, she’s got through it relatively ok.

Both English all done, she’s not hugely keen on sciences apart from biology, but teacher seems to think she could get 6/6/7 on a good day.. Daughter frankly happy to get 5s or scraped 6. Maths 2 is her most feared, she reckons she’s in a 5 after paper one, but not confident of holding that. Half term will be past paper central she says.

Tough week ahead for lots of others I see from posts - best of luck to them all. This is my 4th rodeo, they’re all different, they all get there one way or another, and all I’ve ever asked my lot is to do their best - that is what matters most to me.

My DS has 6 this week, with 9am starts each day.

Eng lit, lang, Chem, French, physics and computing. The most intense week of the season for him. Good luck everyone

This week is looking brutal. Everyone doing GCSEs in England will have chem and physics, Eng lit and lang as they are all scheduled same day regardless of board. Tough week for most. DS also has PE1. He is feeling a bit wobbly so trying to boost his confidence. He is sneezing a lot but feels physically better which is a relief. Hope everyone ok.

A big part of the problem though is that a lot of children spent most of KS3 at home.

I don't feel that DD had a normal school week until Y9. Even if they were up, dressed and Teams turned on, home-schooling was exceptionally hard for a lot of children. And quality home-schooling was by no means equal across schools or even subjects.

Yet there seems to be no acknowledgement that this cohort has a massively disrupted transition to secondary and lost out on those essential building blocks for a lot of subjects as well as learning skills in general.

@OhCrumbsWhereNow
That's definitely been my experience with dd.
She's had friendship issues too, due to not really having a tribe (she found it elsewhere thankfully)
That's where her lack of confidence with science and maths comes from..
Such huge gaps in subject knowledge.
Her primary school sent 1 twinkl maths worksheet home per week for y6 🤷‍♀️
Not deferentiated, same for all of the class.
I'm sure some schools did the best they could but many just stopped altogether.

Good luck to all of the DC sitting exams. tomorrow and this week!

Did anyone’s DC sit IGCSE English literature on 12th May (last Monday) with Pearson EdExcel?

Yes this is us with computer application thrown in as well!

We’ve just found out that because of Covid/lockdowns everyone being jittery he has only done about half of his chemistry practicals so we are basically teaching him the theory of practical experiments, for the whole course, now.

We knew it was a weak area so glad I got him up and got to the bottom of it. So more cramming than expected.

Not so with English Lit and Lang. All Lit and Lang papers finished here.

Yes - English Lang 1 was 08/05, English Lit 1 12/05. Last Wednesday she did last 2 Lit and 2nd Lang.

Are you in England doing GCSEs?? I thought subjects were always scheduled same day….

Some schools do iGCSE for some subjects and those aren't on the same day.

Oh sorry I read above. You are IGCSE - I mean GCSE

Yes. We did. Edexcel IGCSE Eng Lang this coming Friday too. Did you have a question about it?

I say “we” did. Royal “we” obviously! 🤣🤣 DD is doing all the hard work. I’m just the sounding board and taxi!

DS did the IGCSE English lit last Monday too (Of Mice and Men?). Though zero feedback from him other than ‘fine’. Pleased he has a buffer of coursework going in to the English language this week. Then English is done!

Sorry - I was just generalizing and I meant gcses not iGCSEs. Numbers taking iGCSE are minuscule compared to GCSE 🤪🤪

Brutal week ahead here too. Chemistry, English lit, computer science, French listening, French reading, RE, physics and English language.

DS is taking it in his stride, unlike DD who is doing A-levels and is a mess. Thank god I haven't got two freaking out.

Blimey!!! Spanish is all right at the end. I guess at least they are getting them done sooner. Good luck!!!

Yes it’s odd that Spanish is all after half term. Dd does German and Spanish. German is completely finished and Spanish not even started (speaking aside).

It is strange how differently spaced the various gcse languages papers are. Spanish is DDs last and only the speaking part was in May.

I have laid down the law with ds today after he kicked off last night ( aggressive and rude ) after wasting the day being obnoxious despite everyone in the household tip toeing around him and id gone out to get requested snacks . Last week he got taken to the cinema in sat night for a break which costs a fortune He's been give oodles of support , a whole room was given over to him to work in - new office chair, huge desk - every revision guide and bit of stationery. I regularly go in and help sort the paper and file . The room s often left like a pigsty . His dad has sat with him and patiently gone through past papers on the stem I’ve helped/ gone over with the English and the history ( ex teacher ) since he flunked yr 10 . No particular special needs just lazy boy itis and because we’ve kept on at him since last year and he works well at school he’s made some fabulous progress from 34s to 6s and some teacher spoke about that 7s could be possible at the very last parents evening if he went for it because he wants to do stem alevels at a top sixth form . I read the riot act spelled out how awful he was being and I’ve taken away his laptop and phone . Told he can borrow my Chromebook in the kitchen if he needs to look up anything and the expectation is he studies his not so little socks off today and does not sabotage himself He’s sat very subdued reading the CGP guide . We’ve never confiscated any of the tech since perhaps yr 9… Hoping this doesn’t back fire on us . the cheerleader / supportive act is hard …

Yes my DC. Not much chance of me getting any info out of them though...

DD’s timetable is backloaded, because she’s doing Spanish and Further Maths: her busiest week is w/c 9th June. I hope she’s not too knackered by then. At least English Lit will be over soon.
I was always the last person to finish exams at school/uni because of doing Latin/Classics 😐