Year 11 - 2024/2025: And relax! Support Thread for the summer holidays.

[QueenMabby]

New thread to carry us all through the summer as we transition from dealing with stressed teens to dealing with bored teens!

@Sisublondie
It's felt like the double for me this year with dds gcses and older dds postgrad 😬😣
Not a few months I'd like to repeat! 😬
It does feel strange knowing the universities have got the a level results already...

Ahhhh, that is a super cute memory to have! I love hearing things like that. No, scanning is not the same … ( speaking as someone who gets an old school newspaper delivered)…

When you mention a subject like History, well, then it makes perfect sense. Of course, I guess with a Cold War/ Russia specialism, your Dad is much better versed to mark these questions than other non- specialists…

That really does make sense now. I bet there are still markers like your Dad, for whom the evocative sense of opening physical papers, knowing the enormity of what you are doing, is sadly lost online…..

Thanks! 🙏

One of the girl's in dd's class was devastated to get one 8 amongst all her 9s in the mocks and wouldnt even tell them which subject it was in. (They would have known in my school, they used to read out the results in reverse order from 30th to 1st in the lesson). She will feel she's failed if she doesn't get all 9s. It seems such a shame to be devastated by that and set yourself such high standards. It's not as if it would prevent her moving to the next stage in any way.

I was picking up on that in your posts earlier!, but wasn’t sure how long the postgrad was… Eek indeed!!! That is some serious stress and nerve wrenching few months!! Is older DD’s postgrad completed?

They still send examiners whole papers for students who do modified papers with bigger font often, as they don't fit the scanners. So a little bit of nostalgia is left for now.

@Sisublondie
Yes, THANK GOD 🙌
Back in May/June I really wasn't sure she should continue (lots of issues...) but it's done and she graduates later this year.
It's been so lovely seeing her enjoy herself again and smile.
She was working 80 hour weeks and having to do university assignments (and she always got a merit or distinction)
I'm very proud she stuck it out, but I'm gently trying to suggest a meeting with the university careers people as I'm not sure the career she planned is a good idea for her 😔
Time will tell.

@Michele09
That is really sad 😔
8 x 9s is a spectacular result.
Less than 5% of pupils get 9 x 9s.

Yes some young people put lots of pressure on themselves and different cultures etc have different attitudes. But it's understandable yes she doesn't need the 9, but if it was in a subject she's been getting a 9 in for a while and wanted to make the teacher, parents and herself proud sometimes it can be really sad and a shock. Though they should celebrate how amazing they've done, sometimes it's human nature to instinctively focus on the 'bad' first. With seeing so many grades it takes a while to process and over time they often realise how well they've done. It stressful for all those getting results even if they get more than enough for the next stage, different expectations and experiences during exam years have an impact, whether it's really wanting to get a 4 or a 5 or wanting to make sure you get a 9. Plus after waiting for so long I think it just makes it worse and you spiral in you're head.

Yes totally agree, and it would be 10 x 9s if she does get them all as they did FM as an extra. I think all 9s in all subjects was about 1200 out of half a million if I remember correctly. Much harder to get all 9s than when it was just straight As with no A stars.

The results fairy is a bit like the tooth fairy.... totally magic and completely real but sometimes needs some human intervention.

My dd is also aiming for all 9s. 11 GCSEs. She got all 9s in her mocks and tbf has never not had a 9 in anything since she started her gcse prep but exams just feel so random sometimes and she’s convinced she won’t get them all even though she probably will.

We had a mini-meltdown yesterday over university choices. She’s really interested in medical stuff but has this massive mental block over taking medicine and going to medical school. She’s built it up into this horror story and doesn’t think she would cope. Not sure she wants to be a doctor but very interested in pathology which would probably require med school. She’s worried she’s not going to know what to apply for and stressing over making the wrong choice. Most of her friends have a pretty solid idea as to what they want to study. I keep telling her she has plenty of time but at the same time I remember from ds just how quickly 6th form and A-levels rush by.

@QueenMabby
Wow...10 x 9s? That's incredible!
Wrt your dds post 18 choices...do the school have a careers advisor? I know there is a private one here locally...would that help?
Or perhaps shes already seen one?
Dd has had lots of crippling anxiety about the future - she had 3 x possible post 16 paths and (imo) has chosen the right one 🤞but it's been a loooong few months and she's needed anti anxiety meds 😔

@Whoooo- yes but she’s not shown herself to be overly useful so far. When we went to her for some GCSE options advice (dd was undecided between music and history) she just told dd to pick the one she liked the best! Did she not think that if it was that easy we would have done that? It was because dd liked them both the same and couldn’t choose that we wanted the advice! Dd picked history in the end as the head of music told her that music would be an easy 9 for her and that put her off - she’s all about the challenge!

Glad your dd has chosen well for her next steps. Anxiety is so crippling.

Mine is another wanting all 9’s. He didn’t get all 9’s in the mocks. He has taken 13 GCSEs I think. He’s not bothered about citizenship or religious studies, but the other subjects he says an 8 is a fail for him. I really wish he didn’t have such high expectations of himself.

He has a group with 3 other friends, they are always competing for the highest grades. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I’d hate to be the one with the lowest grade, but they are all good lads who work hard, so hopefully they’ll still be pleased. They are all meeting at school to open grades together.

Roll on results day, I’ll be glad when it’s over!

Some of these children are so hard on themselves. I hope they all get what they want...

On the basis of DD1's results I have prepared DD2 for surprises on both the upside and the downside. DD1 had both- she has a fab set of results - all As in old money, but they don't represent in their span the subjects she is best at really.

English went badly and in retrospect we should have had it looked at again - Physics unexpectedly well. Mostly the difference between a 7,8 or 9 it just represented where there had been holes in teaching.

So we've told DD2 to expect the same and we wouldn't for a moment expect the snapshot on one day to reflect who she is. While many of her teachers are expecting very high grades from her and she has high standards, I know there's many a slip.

I suspect what will results day will show us though is whether she bothers to aim for the very high achieving unis which are the only ones she will set her sights on for music/english/history, or whether she sticks with conservatoire as her main choice and takes a performance-based route.

So it feels like it will be a signpost, whatever happens.

But 2x A-Levels to get out of the way first.

DD2 is at 'Army music camp' this week - she seems to be having an amazing time. It is free, not insanely challenging but they are playing fun music including Sabrina Carpenter, and she seems to be excelling at musical charades.

Hoping it is taking her mind off things. Does at least get her out of the picture while I concentrate on the other two. And gives the kitchen a rest from her complex recipe creations.

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest - army music camp sounds amazing! And I agree that the distraction is good (as is the break from teen “cooking”!).

Dd will be away next week although I’m bringing her home for results day. She knows that exams are just a snapshot and I think would be disappointed but not devastated if one or more of her grades slip. Doing music teaches many things but (imo) the best transferable skill it teaches is learning that no matter how well prepared you are, sometimes things just don’t go to plan!

For dd it’s more about feeling like she’s let her teachers down if she doesn’t perform and that she thinks people will talk about it if she doesn’t pull her usual string of top grades out of her hat. Many of school peers seem to have (at least in her eyes) set her up as “the one to beat” and dd feels that pressure.

This time in 10 days we’ll be out the other side!

DD2 the other end - she could probaly do better with a bit more effort but I didn't want to push as Y10 was a bad year staying in class for some subjects.

We did work at home on two subjects with poor teachers and she massively improved - so I think if she'd worked like DS did after Easter - he had many worse teachers and more school disruption - she be looking at similar grades to him.

It's the good enough attitude of area and school TBH - she seem most infected with it of our kids - but honestly not entirley sure she wrong she sitting 13 GCSE -2 done but it's too much and as long as she get to next stage she golden.

I think she'll likely be fine with just one I'm less sure about and she needs - mainly as teacher seemed widly unsure. If she not well come up with a plan B and the kick up the backside may well help her long term.

@CapybaraCafeOrNot where’s the free food please? DD3 will be VERY interested in that!

Results day restaurants

@NotDonna@Pinkflower100see link above, sorry had problems linking and tagging on Android app when I posted it yesterday.

@QueenMabby
That's incredibly annoying 😑

It is, but at the same time she probably IS at least one of the ones to beat! She didn’t have any subjects at mocks where she got under 90% and for 6 or 7 of them she got over 95%. If she doesn’t get all 9s it probably will be a bit of a shocker! Doesn’t stop her stressing about it though!

hi does anyone know how the points system works for the criteria for some sixth forms?

my DS needs 54 points to stay at his school sixth form and in this year's spring report he got 53!!!! says "Best 8 Points Score including English and maths".

Plus DS needs grades 7s in the subjects he wants to do at A level.

The grades are the points. Just add up the top 8 grades including English and Maths so equivalent of 6 grade 7s and 2 grade 6s.
Ours is much lower, a 4 or 5 in English and Maths either way round and 6 in most subject choices.

Check if English and Maths are double weighted as they are for Attainment 8 and our local sixth form college.