Year 11 - 2024/2025: Heading down the home straight towards that finish line!

[QueenMabby]

Next thread. 10 days of exams to go. Looks like we’re all heading into a busy week this week - good luck!

Edexcel P3 tomorrow. Apparently it is going to be really hard because the papers so far have been too easy...and haven't covered circle theorems (DD's nemesis) or quadratic equations (I think, or maybe she said simultaneous). Suffice to say, it's going to be all the hardest topics.

Sorry to read this @Libre2,he did so well to sort it though.

I was at hospital today for a back radiofrequency nerve end burning and met a mum of a T1 ds aged 12 only diagnosed last week. poor her!

Ds won't tell me anything about Spanish, I don't think it went that well.

@somethinggoodisgonnahappen Oh yes you will - you'll be there again helping them because that's what we do, we feel like giving up but we keep trying no matter how ungrateful they are. you'll be there again waking them up, sorting them out.

but its good to vent.

Yesterday before Biology exam my DS woke up and asked what day it is??????

You are right.

I just can't believe how laid back some of them are. I used to be lazy but on the day of an exam I would have woken up early and been cramming.

You do sometimes wonder how they are going to hold down responsible jobs in the future when they seem to live with their heads in the clouds!

Good luck kids, that sounds horrendous.

dd also mentioned vectors? But it’s 9pm. Love Island time. Work done for the day…

I think there have been quite a few over the years, mainly maths based, I think……yes, there was the year a question was deemed “ impossible and ridiculous” / “ too difficult” ( I think that happened more than once) and ended up ridiculed on the news; one year I seem to remember some papers were being sent to overseas school in Amsterdam ( sister lives there), think they went missing, so replacements issued- but some students were still given the lost ones in Uk; I think one year a maths paper had a question in it that was already in a textbook by different exam board ; bells ringing about some music 🎵 disaster but the one I really think of is when I think the police got involved in investigation when the papers were opened in a centre the night before, and I think someone was selling defaced copy online for not a huge amount of cash…….. yep, I just googled, quite a lot of further info online, interesting Daily Mail articles too…. ( funny old thing!)! ….. Oh well!

Back to 👮 maths revision

We have the same one - Edexcel and it's hideous.

The A level looked even more miserable and really doesn't cater for those who are interested in contemporary rather than classical - especially on the composition front.

Music is DD's sole interest and obsession, but the written paper is just difficult and dull. Happily it's far more interesting once you get past school.

@Libre2 your poor DS, hope he feels better for tomorrow!

@Wafflesandcrepes friend of mine's DS is home ed and has being doing 4 GCSEs a year since he was 12 - two in June and two in Oct/Nov. Universities they have spoken to don't seem bothered in the slightest - far more interested in A level grades and want them to be sat in one go.

@newmum1976 100% agree on the tutors - it's the only time I am sure that DD is doing something worthwhile. I would be far more stressed without them, but admit I am rather celebrating having (hopefully) paid the last Maths session tonight and last Geography one tomorrow.

Did the hooks come?! I do hope so! I think anything that would work to make her more comfortable, elastics wise- is key. ( DS18 just did 4 months in South America with them… so hasn’t moved forward, braces wise, but finds elastics comfortable when in, and hurts a bit when not in), so I hope she got to her afternoon maths class and feeling better, now 🤞.

Good that DS was chippier, too! Got to love a good-ish kip!

@CatHairEveryWhereNowps- the bloody elastics literally get everywhere!

@frozendaisy.. I do hope you made Tapas!!!! 😈😹 🇪🇸! So glad DS came out smiling! And Little DS came back to 👮‍♀️ maths! “ stuff to space”! 😹😹😹…

Yes, holding it together is a dream! You, too!! 🤞🙏

You're right. She was just doing those. We all had a great time laughing and being around today. It's like when you get silly overtired. SO over it all now that we can't be serious anymore.

TV is occupied by England v Senegal, which means DD can put in an extra 30 mins (she only started at 7pm so no need to feel too sorry for her).

My DDs best friend was diagnosed in Feb, during mocks (she missed them). Trying to adjust to it all and do GCSEs. Poor thing is sitting exams alone in a room, just in case her monitor goes off so she doesn't disturb anyone. I feel so sorry for her, she's a very sociable child and I think it must feel like more of an ordeal alone.

Oh, I would be FURIOUS! 😡 I’m so so sorry to hear that, there is nothing I can say, sadly, to change things, so I’m sending a 🤗 and the only thing that I can say…. is that, if I were in your position, I’d be very pissed off, but, the flip side is, I would be SO relieved that I HAD left the materials and pointers out….because your DC not doing it is beyond your control, sadly…… but I’m guilty of self-beating
myself-up and I would blame myself if I hadn’t left them out! If that makes sense! I hope it does. It still sucks ass, unfortunately. But, hopefully, in the grand scheme of things, it won’t matter. I wish you better luck 🍀 tomorrow 🤞!

Oh, of course! Totally! Enjoy!! 🏖️ 💖

@VivaDixie… glad all was ok after Spanish! 🇪🇸 How was the masterclass?

Thanks @Sisublondie GCSE exams are definitely a tough gig, both for the children and parents!

@Libre2… oh, what a shocker for your poor DS! I’m so relieved school seem to have dealt with it properly, and he was as ok as he could be afterwards. It must be super scary dealing with Diabetes. 🤗

@Wafflesandcrepes.. and, your poor DS, too. I can’t believe this is continuing… I hope school finally do something. I know a friend who called her DC Exam
board in similar situation directly …. tried to get things moving that way. I’m really sorry you’re going though this.

Oh, no!! You’ve had a HORRIBLE day today!! I hope it went ok 🤞🙏🤞. The very last thing you need during all this crap! 💩. My work called earlier, they know I’ve been trying to WFH cause of exams, know DS last exam is soon ( Monday ), asked if I could go in Tuesday….. the relief I felt at saying I can’t, he has an Epilepsy checkup… I don’t want day after all this to be still getting up at stupid o clock!

Sorry to hear of the little one you met- 12 years old. Wow..

Well, hope you get a good rest after a full on hospital x GCSE Collab! 🤗

Hey…. I read your post first, and it made me cry happy tears. I didn’t know how to respond, so I’ve been thinking what I could, can, write to express my relief and comfort at what you kindly took the time to write.

My DS16 is perfect. He is autistic, has ADHD and has suffered multiple different types of epileptic seizures including tonic-clonic since birth. He has had a horrific experience of education since he left a lovely kindergarten and started mainstream school- a heady mix of disinterested teachers, bullying, a want to learn, but inability to focus, understand and retain information. His older brother, DS18 is also perfect, he has just had a totally different life experience… naturally smart, popular, great at football, tons of friends… but tainted with a childhood of waking to paramedics in his shared bedroom tending to his baby bro, after I’d administered life-saving meds, and of seeing the pain of his brother bring broken, bullied and hating when he wasn’t there to prevent it. DS18 got great A Levels, has just returned from a long stint in South America perfecting his Spanish and is off to Russell Group Uni in September. It hurts my soul to see the huge divide between them, brothers, but divided by societies expectations placed on them, dictated by GCSE results.

I have absolutely no idea what to do if DS16 fails to get the 4 x Grade 4 grades to get into a college to do a Btec ( he wants to get into policing, criminology, like me). And, this is why your post has calmed me, cheered me, like nothing I have ever read before. Because, education truly IS stacked against him, and the system IS wrong for beautiful brains like his that don’t “fit the system”…

Your personal journey is awe inspiring and I applaud and thank you for taking the time, and love, to share with us., and especially those of us like me on here…. We share the happiness and excitement for the higher-achieving DC, and we have wonderful support on here from their parents, too. They also share our victories and support in our concerns, albeit sometimes on completely different pages.

I just wish there was a way that meant society didn’t so obviously still discriminate. Thank you, so very much, Dr @phyllidafossetfor making me see a way through all of this, you have given me, and by extension, DS16 fervent light of the end of this never ending tunnel. I cannot express my thanks enough. 💖

I don't know much about the re-sits other than it not always being easy to find somewhere to do anything that isn't English or maths. Would your DD consider doing a history-based EPQ so her knowledge and interest could be demonstrated through that instead of something that relies on a final exam?

My DC has a wrist/hand injury that means they often lose sensation in their writing hand. As a result, they type for everything that doesn't need calculations. Ordinarily, this is fine but by the first biology paper, DC was in complete agony and couldn't even type with their right hand. Instead of mentioning this, they decided it would work better to write the entire paper by hand, using their left hand. They didn't finish the paper and were fit for nothing by the end of the exam.

I emailed the exams officer that evening and requested the school put in for special consideration under the relevant bit of the JCQ access arrangements provision. The exams officer did this but also arranged for DC to do the rest of that week's exams in a separate room, with an emergency scribe at the ready. DC had never worked with a scribe before so it's not ideal but is preferable to not being able to record their own answers. The school dealt with the paperwork during the day which is how it's meant to be done. Because DC already has a number of splints and other medical contraptions, school was also able to add a wearable tens device to the list (having first inspected it for connectivity etc.). All of this has helped DC manage the pain and loss of hand use reasonably well. Fatigue has been an issue as it's hard getting someone to write down your answers when it's not what you're used to but the provisions put in place at the last minute by the school have made it easier. I'm sorry your DD isn't being so well-supported by her school @Wafflesandcrepes .

@Wafflesandcrepes im so annoyed on your DDs behalf. It’s beyond ridiculous that she should be in pain trying to achieve her best. It really is unfair. I’m blown away at the lack of consideration the school have provided. I’ve everything crossed that she’s done much better In her history than she thinks.

@Wafflesandcrepes I am sorry your DD isn’t getting better support. Is history an A level choice? If not then it doesn’t matter in the least what GCSE she gets tbh. Even Oxford only looks at the top xx (7? 8?) grades. What grade is she hoping for? I wouldn’t suggest retaking at all tbh, unless as I say it's an A level option. As a rule GCSE retakes are for Eng and maths.

I wanted to say on the Spanish, if some DC thought it was tough, I recall DD going on and on about a word no one knew on her French GCSE reading (épais (thick) to describe the bread) and another word that even the French girl in her year didn't know the English for in the listening (nids-de-poule in the road fgs what a word to put in a GCSE exam, it means potholes; DD put chickens!).

Anyway kids tend to focus on one question or in MFL one word they did not know. DD did really really well in both R and L exams, despite the thick bread :)

Meanwhile DD, God love her, is concerned about the homeless girl from the Spanish Reading. I confirmed that it was fiction.