Year 11 - 2024/2025: It’s all downhill from here!

[QueenMabby]

New thread to help us get through the next week or so!

DD didn’t love AQA English paper but she prioritized the question what the most maths and got the rest of it done. She said of the two she would normally prefer the first paper but really struggled with it and ran out of time. We had tears about it over half term and a bit of catastrophising about it potentially giving her a lower grade than she’s had in all the mocks.
Anyway that’s another one completely over. Next week is actually her hardest in that she has a morning exam every day for the first time but she enjoys Spanish higher, isn’t that bothered about the Sciences as long as passes so mainly the maths to get through! She has been resting all afternoon.

Welcome!

I’m so sorry your DC ( and you) are so distressed, it’s so difficult. I’m really sorry I can’t advise. I’m in a very similar- ish situation- we have the lovely @MrsHamleton here-, hopefully she can advise you …. All I can say, is I’m going for the “beyond control at this point, and what will be, will be” so I’m bring bright and breezy for my DS, who’s ND and fragile at the moment.

i really hope things improve and the other paper makes the difference. 🤞

DC home. AQA English q4 much disliked re the similarities-apparently source materials were completely different, one was re city and one was countryside so they said they could hardly find anything similar to write about!!! Others in her class felt the same and all thought question v weird!

Geography is their best subject but DC not happy with paper at all, it was human geography, topics they knew well like a Freiburg case study, regeneration, transport didn’t come up. They put something down for each question but not happy at all how it went. They want to do it for A level so need at least a 6.

Thanks @Sisublondie DC was actually hoping this paper would pull them up as they didn’t feel they’d done as well as their usual in P1

ah well, what will be will be as you say. It’s just so hard to keep DC’s chin up - given there are still 9 exams left they do need to move on

the similarities-apparently source materials were completely different, one was re city and one was countryside so they said they could hardly find anything similar to write about!!!

Ditto from DS. It reminded me of those comprehensions they used to send home e.g.
Sandra went to her friend's party on Friday afternoon. She wore a new dress and took a present for her friend.

Q. What time did Sandra's friend eat her breakfast.
Q. Was it sunny or rainy on the afternoon of the party?Give your evidence from the text.

RattyReport:
Eng Lang (Eduqas)
changed format happy with the comprehension (arctic exploration), changed format x2 20 mark questions written one on a media source review (he did Slow Horses tv series) one letter about changing local area to councillor “sandwich shops”

but but but
AQA geography
x2 geography detective photographs (I quote “actually a couple more but these are the ones I can remember”)
TutorMum Geography Detective wins :-)
“yeah it totally helped thanks mum”

Will take that for the start of a Friday night!

“Spanish this weekend”
“I know I know”

DD home and feeling ok about today I think. She seemed pretty chilled so I haven't pushed it.

We came close to me having a meltdown this afternoon as my new full fibre router wasn't connecting to the Internet. I had a very painful conversation with someone at Vodafone which ended with it being "you need a new router, it will be here in 1-3 days, you'll have no Internet this weekend". I nearly had a meltdown.

Long story short, I've managed to get Internet until the router is replaced, but I did think we'd have to go and stay with my mum and dad all weekend so DD could revise!

I can’t read the calendar she has Thurs off as doesn’t do further maths or Geography! That’s a relief, wasn’t fancying 5 days solid mornings!

Hey, so, seems it went ok for your DS! English hopefully ticked off 🤞🙏🤞Funny, we are identical to all in your post 😸.. ND parent of ND DS, and, oh, I call it “ heart bouncing” when he is with a friend! He has three, none of which he sees outside school regularly, maybe every other month or so in town, two are autistic, too, and acrophobiac. The other has his own set of friends, they grew apart after Yr 7 as so different academically. When he called me after Geography to be picked up ( and rob me of Greggs money! Bloody steak bake!), he was laughing with one of them in the background, and it was so joyous to hear! So, when I asked how the exams went and he replied … “yeh, they were nice”… followed by “ well, English was not”… I thought, well, whatever DID happen, he does mask, but in that phone call, he wasn’t, so that was cute to hear!

DS18 sounds identical to your DS2, he’s had parties here since he was 14, I think. It is so hard..

Greggs is probably making a fortune out of exam parents!! But, high five on the 2 hours Biology! And, I wish we had a large supermarket to do that in! I hope you find a treasure trove there! 🤩

Argh. Mine says that q3 (I think! The language one?) they were given a paragraph to work with and he could only find similes. Said there wasn’t anything else. I asked about a few other things and he said there wasn’t??? I’m guessing there was. How many marks is Q3 worth? Stressing now 😬

edited to add: this is for aqa

Hey! Just replied to @VivaDixie.. oh, I absolutely get you!! My DS is ASD/ADHD and has never been out with friends here apart from maybe a couple afternoons a year in town for a couple of hours, and to the cinema on his birthday, He has a couple of friends in school, but who are also ASD and don’t go out. The thought of my DS saying he was going to the park with a friend would absolutely suoercede ANY exam chat for me! So, I just wanted to say I know totally what you mean and I’m glad the chat in the park was good 🤩🤩🤩….

Ok.. deep breaths…please don’t worry….., I’m looking at the marking scheme I have and I think it says 12 marks for Q3…. 🤷‍♀️.. I’m sorry I can’t help as I’ve been given zero detail as to the exam … I’m sure someone else is more in the know, tho!🤞

Thanks. I can’t imagine they’ve given them a paragraph with only similes to talk about. He’s usually quite good at spotting onomatopoeia, alliteration etc but said it wasn’t there. Was hoping it was the 8 marker but never mind. It’s done now and can’t be changed!

Oh. Bloody hell!! Well, you deserve a prize for getting that sorted out!! Oh, the sheer horror you must have felt! ( and, as much as I love my Mum……🙀🙀🙀!)..
…..good DD was pretty chilled! Funny how we can sense when not to push and leave it as is! …… 😹

For once DS has said English AQA was better than expected … another one where it’s his nemesis ( that and the Spanish) … I’m now nervous though to ask about the similarities question .. hoping he read the question properly - he reads very fast 😳

My DS has 3 friends who he socialises out of school maybe 3/4 times a year it always bring me so much joy when he tells me he’s going out with them. On the other hand my DD is a social butterfly and always has friends staying over or she sleeps at their house I feel like I’m rubbing salt into the wound when my DS looks on. I’m looking forward to the long summer spending time with my DS but it does bring me sadness that he won’t have a typical schools out summer that his peers will enjoy.

It will be fine.

AQA Eng lang. DD said "It was really good." Then proceeded to tell me that she answered differences not similarities as it's "always differences" and that's "all we practised in school". She was quite proud she used a dash though!

Slightly worried now about all her exams as she's said they've all gone well, except history P2. I saw her final art piece yesterday and it wasn't that great. Her mock was a lot, LOT better but she seemed really happy with it. Obviously I didn't say anything but DH and I were both a bit disappointed and I'm now worried things may not have gone as well as she's been saying....

Oh well, she only needs 5s for sixth form and 6s in her A levels. Keep trying to tell myself that, but for a decent Uni (she wants to go), I would hope for higher grades.

Ds said he ran out of time on English and geography.

12 marks. But it's not one mark per point. It will be fine.

Seem to be a few of us and @VivaDixie@Pancakeflipper….
It is sadnessness, isn’t it? That’s certainly a good description of how I felt seeing the “Leavers Shirt Signing and Barbecue”, in calendar for next week, fully anticipating a text asking to be collected after the Assembly….. but, then also remembering the fun of DS18’s same event… and the bloody photos of his prom popped up on my phone in that annoying way iPhone does, the other day. My DS isn’t going, primarily because of his ongoing, longstanding bullying, but the only friend who was a teeny possible, ( also ND) said he couldn’t tolerate it, so that’s a milestone he won’t do either.

I did talk to a paed psychiatrist about this same subject, just before first Covid lockdown…. I was describing to her about how deeply sad I felt at times, his older brothers mates always here, or them always out having fun, and “ salt in the wound” giving DS a heads up for another party…. She dud say, tho, that maybe my DS is actually truly happy with things the way they are……. I can’t see that being the case, tho, as I see how he can light up at mention of his few friends. But, then his “ social battery” does run out very quickly…. I don’t know! But, I know what you mean, is what I’m trying to say 🤗

Thanks. Have you seen the paper? Were there lots of things he should have written about?

I call these repeated sadnesses 'micro griefs'. When you have a DC with SEN then you travel along going about your life and when faced with examples of things they can;t do or they don't do compared to others you have the micro-griefs. I find that when Dcs are young and you are going through the stress of worrying about if they are different or struggling, then that is one thing. Yet even when this becomes your normal you still are face periodically with things that happen that hit you in the stomach again. Every other child in the class is invited to a party. You go to sports day and your kid can't even pick up a discus properly never mind throw it. You go to parent / teachers and the teacher tells you they are struggling but they are ever so sweet to have around. Your child grabs your hand to cross the road even though they are 15. Your child cannot tie his own shoelaces at the age of 15 so has to surreptitiously got to the school receptionist who is lovely and who helps him. Every other child can cope with a school day and you spend your entire day clutching your phone because you have already been called twice this week in order to persuade your child to come out from underneath the gym building because he can't cope.

A few weeks ago DS was asked by another child to wander around town for a bit and to go to Costa for lunch. he could not sleep for days due to the excitement of it all. Then he asked me to please also come into town but 'hide' in another cafe in case he needed me. That cafe ended up being the pub as we went in by bus, but every now and then i would get a text 'I'm having fun... we are at McDonalds' and I would sigh with relief again.

I would swap my child's 25% extra time for a life that was just easier for him.

I've not seen it yet. And I can't comment on specifics anyway.

I asked my DD and she said it was mostly similes. She said there was something called 'semantic field' (? never heard of it) which basically sounded like imagery (in this case, of war). She couldn't think of anything else.