Year 11 - 2024/2025: Half way, half baked, half term!

[QueenMabby]

Continuation of the year 11 support thread. Go!

I think they should all have laptops. It's crippling having to write for almost 3 hours (DS has extra time and thankfully has a laptop). So the students aren't making excuses, it's how the world is now thankfully. Maybe the answer is to bring educational assessment into the 21st century (but I have a whole other argument about this! )

Same - DD at home all day to revise physics. Her teacher said at parents’ evening that the key to passing the exam is knowing and practicing the calculations over and over. If they nail those they will be fine. So that’s DD’s focus for today.

Dd supposed to be in this morning (no study leave yet) before RE this afternoon but is having a lie in. She had a hospital stay for pneumonia in March and just looks wrung out.

Ds1 has appalling handwriting- he even struggles to sign his name. When he was assessed at the dyspraxia clinic they found he was in the bottom 0.5 centile for motor skills. He got a laptop but wrote his own maths. It was essential for him as even I can't read his writing. We're in the process of getting ds2 permission for one but it seems to have got much harder. Ds2's writing isnt quite as bad but still very poor plus he has significant hypermobility which creates a pen grip that just isnt sustainable for extended periods. And he's autistic and cant bear the feeling of his hand on paper. Me and DH also have handwriting issues- DD is the only one in the family with handwriting skills- she's got lovely writing!

My DD is exhausted this morning but they have to be in school full time as the headteacher says that children do worse in their exams when they have revised at home.

I can see where he is coming from. I know mine would be lacking in energy and motivation at this point without the support of her teachers and friends being around.

Laptops is money the sheer cost and then the logistics of setting it up and charging them etc.

I think some children need school and some thrive on study leave. DD is definitely a study leave and definitely does better alone.
DS school (different) defaults to going in but you can apply for and get study leave - which I think is a good compromise. He is only year 7

DD’s grammar has optional revision sessions every day and study leave started just before the exams begun. So it is up to the girls what suits them best. There is the library and safe spaces in classrooms for those who want to study at school and teachers are responsive to queries.

Exposure and London here! (very outing, may have to name change!)
Examiners will be delighted as he seems to be only person in country to do that.
He did know some other poems so it wasn't a case of London or bust!

Despite "no one else" doing it, I am confident he will have made his points well, hopefully well enough for his optimistic 7 or his safer 6 (or his emergency 5 ....).

Lots of luck to the French exam takers today.

Empathising with those with wiped out children. No study leave yet at our school, told DS he can come home after the exams today if it's all too much. They look like a walking zombie.

What are you using for practice questions? DS has a past paper to do and CGP book…

Our school will only give study leave from the May half term. Utterly pointless.

We requested study leave for ASD DD months in advance after the first mocks, on her teacher's advice. We only got an answer the week before the GCSE, denying leave.

In the meantime, DD has stayed at home as and when she needed to revise regardless.

I did speak to school and explained that would be the case, since DD would fail everything from sheer exhaustion. I fail to see what the school gets out of it.

Could anyone that works in a school be able to explain the logic?

Bonjour! French today. Followed by an Eng Lit lesson so not sure what they will do in that one, go over the paper (too cruel?) or cover a bit of Language with them?

Hope it goes well with those taking French. Will be interesting as he has done zero revision for this one.

Hollyhedge do they have an equation sheet given to them? Mine has done a couple of past papers but skipped through the calculations as he thought they had a sheet provided but no idea what that means. Physics is my least able-to-help with subject.

Same here but I feel so bad for her. They have an extra physics lesson after school as no science timetabled. She needs a lot of rest this weekend I think ...she won't ever admit to being physically exhausted but I can tell even from her texts that she's mentally done.

@BobBobBobbing Out of interest, why are you finding it harder to get permission for your DS2 to be allowed to use a laptop? Are school supportive? My son (Year 11) also has hypermobility and was granted permission for laptop use for his GCSEs with no problem at all, as school just had to show that it's his usual way of working. I hope you are able to get it sorted 🤞

Yes there is a sheet. I got it off AQA website ages ok. Thanks for reminder as I need to remind DS to use it today

My DS also has hypermobility, specifically above his hips and worse in his hands, (assessed in Yr3) he has used a Chromebook since Yr 7 and the school have been very supportive even lent him a Chromebook until his own came in.

He has Chromebook/laptop (school's one) for his written exams and a scribe in Maths and Science who he uses as he needs.

This ‘children do better’ in school is a vast generalization. I looked up the studies around iand children (especially boys) do better if they are borderline pass. This is because many were apparently treating study leave as a holiday This makes sense. However for everyone else there is no known impact. I understand it’s easier for schools to have a blanket rule

Edited to say I think for my DS it is prob best to be in, subjects all ticking over, more support. He insisted on staying at home today..

@agoodfriendofthethree DS2 is year 9 and we've been told the rules have changed recently and much more evidence is required about the specific needs and I'll need medical evidence. He was reception when his issues were first identified, I can't find the paperwork and it wasn't passed over to seniors when he started. His joints actually bend backwards when he holds a pen so there's no way he'll be able to write for hours. I suspect he'll need extra time due to his processing speed too. His ASD does get him in the small room though, rather than the big hall. Next Senco meeting will be clarifying exactly what hoops we need to jump through...

The school have generally been good- he was given sensory adjustments on request from day 1, even though he only got an asd diagnosis last year.

And after saying DD could lie in, she woke up and asked to go in. Roll on Friday!

We have RE this afternoon and physics tomorrow. DD15 hasn't been in school since December for classes (moved online due to health issues ) so the fact she has made every exam so far is amazing. She also has a laptop for hypermobility (finger knuckles click out, pain ) and extra time. She fell asleep at the desk at the end of English lit yesterday but said the exam went pretty well. She went to bed at 6pm yesterday and is still asleep!Absolutely exhausting for her but she is pretty laid back as since she stopped going into lessons she has been more able to get work done and revise .DD17 is doing A levels too and needs really good grades so we will be VERY glad to get to the end of these exams. DD15 dropped French thank goodness. Just want her to pass, be happy and be healthy.

@BobBobBobbing adding to my last post we got a physio to review her who wrote a report for school regarding the adjustments she would need for exams for hypermobility (she has EDS). Everything else we got her consultants to write a report.

@BobBobBobbing That's good that school have been supportive. In terms of medical evidence, it is only required for extra time or a scribe etc - laptop use does not require any such evidence, so you should at least be able to secure that part without any hassle. Perhaps school haven't realised they are treated quite differently. I found this link on the JCQ website for you - if you click on the top document and go to section 5.8 it has all the official info which is very clear about laptop use which should hopefully help you clarify with school 🤞The second document outlines evidence required for other access arrangements, which may also be relevant to you.

https://www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/access-arrangements-and-special-consideration/regulations-and-guidance/

My son is exactly the same with his fingers bending backwards, though he manages to get through maths with a small plastic splint on his finger as he hates the idea of a scribe! He doesn't have any extra time as he doesn't need it, so we thankfully never had to jump through any medical evidence hoops.

Roll on half term indeed!

She's using her AQA revision book, BBC Bitesize (yes it's quite simplified in its presentation but that's what she needs) and also a revision app called Medly that I think has past papers on it from all the exam boards.

@Hollyhedge - I agree with you. It depends on the child whether it is in their best interests to be in school or not. There is no way my DD would have coped with a full timetable of lessons as well as revision. Even before study leave started she found actual lessons pointless and was itching to revise. It is aimed at those who need to be in, either because no safe space at home, no focus at home, or get too freaked/stressed out at home etc etc but for those who study better at home and are calmer as a result, it is pretty cruel to insist they have to go in.

We have our first full day of at home study leave here!
To be fair to him he is at the kitchen table already
I have printed out two (so far) AQA past papers and most importantly the mark scheme (that's for me even though I did, there is paper evidence, A level physics back before they had discovered the atom :-) )

He is going to do the paper
I am going to mark it and read out the mark scheme answers

We will go off on tangents

And that is how we revise.

Glad you've mentioned that nature could be a theme for conflict in the comparison of these poems @Mafaldaweasley as DC said this and I thought they may have made a tenuous link.