Y10- 2025/2026

[CouldNotStayAway]

Hi all! Thought I’d start a new thread for the upcoming new academic year!

@Fluffycloudsfloatinginthesky
Thanks, the school actually got in touch on the first day of the holidays to say they wanted to support her more, regardless of outcome so I'm hoping that's a positive! She only needs little adjustments, e.g moving groups in PE so she knows she has someone to partner, seat placements and how teacher's give her feedback so it isn't that hard but will make a big difference to her.

I think year 10 just feels like the start of the important years so we all just want our DC to have a smoothish ride!

There's lots of good videos online and YouTube of people who got 8s and 9s both more generally for revision and also for subject speidifc info. I recommend Mr Salles for bothe English Lit and Lang not Mr Bruff unless aiming for a 4/5 - the same with CGP books. I'd be looking online at people like Jack Edwards old videos and newer ones. I've attached a link to a playlist on this - your DC's should watch a few and mix and Maths anything that works for them. It's important to do trial and error but use in-class tests and a few mocks for this before Y11 so you know by then what works the best. I'd also day definitely 100% prepare revision resources (flashcards, quizlet/Anki are good, I wouldn't do paper ones as it's too time consuming), mind maps, practice questions and exam papers in timed conditions as much as possible.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzumpIyxU-hV-XQtwF_JrAH7ZpHqPeRXN&si=dl7sebGTIGiEZ3jD

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRHYrMBKgHSswmAQ-8qUnYik01fjwq8s1&si=Yydqo9ipGcL22cz6

It's slightly unfair to equate classwork to exams. This is because they have friends/peers next to them to help, a teacher guiding them on instructions and the task. They also will likely be doing things from that week's lesson and also will have just seen and be discussing the content in that lesson and earlier ones. They also won't have time to do 'whole papers' or questions - so they will often cut the questions short and instead of a 30 marker, do a fake 10 marker which they teacher has made. This will obviously require less writing and focus, and will only be on 1 topic - exams will have many and they don't know what will come up. They'll also like have writing scaffolds as well to look at and their books to look back in.

In an exam they're tested on everything, even from months ago (which they haven't been currently discussing) and will have to revise it all, and do spaced repetion (please make sure they do this in their revision, it's so important) to retain it all. They will also need to be sure the revision strategies they use contain active recall which is where they try and test themselves and to produce the information with no hints - e.g not reading or highlighting notes (which is pretty much useless) but past papers, exam questions even just 1, flashcards etc. So all in all I wouldn't see them as similar and would focus more on the results in a proper exam as that's a controlled environment and the same one in which she'll do her GCSEs. She clearly is capable with guidance so she needs to slowly use less of that guidance she'll have in lessons and test herself more as well as developing the skills she needs. I'd recommend to all your DC's to read the examiner reports - they talk about a paper that people sat - it talks about what people did well, what they want you to do, what they don't want you to do etc. Also look at the mark schemes and AOs (assesment objectives) to see what they need to do for each question. Also look at the scales for each AO:
So AO1 for English Literature Paper 1 AQA - the 30 marker question is broken up into - 1. AO1 - 12 marks, AO2 - 12 marks, AO3 - 6 marks.

Thats sort of the point... exams aren't real life and her dyslexia means she can't perform i the way examiners want her too, whereas in real life she can read things through until she understands them, check her spelling and grammar, reference back to a quote etc...

But its a hoop she has to jump through so we will do everything we can so she can manage to jump through that hoop.

Hoping I can also join! Dd also dropped most of the classes she won't do for GCSE in Y9. No timetable or tutor group allocated yet so unsure which sets etc, which can make a huge difference in how school goes (she finds the lower sets have more bullying, but that may be a school specific thing).

Anyone else worried their DC haven't done anything vaguely academic at all over the holidays? We seem to have been mostly sleeping, eating and growing (she's currently 5ft 9!).

My youngest is starting year 10, she got the options she wanted (only 3 choices at her school as more compulsory subjects). We don’t have any timetables or teachers yet.

DD2 has a processing disorder making reading difficult, especially from the board, so a new set of teachers to learn he needs.

Hi to all the new posters. I haven’t had a chance to read the whole thread, but I can imagine everyone is feeling a little anxious about the next 2 years. It feels like it has quickly crept up on us!
DS will be taking one gcse in year 10; and that makes me a little nervous, he seems so relaxed about it. In a way, doing one gcse next year might help understand the whole exam process (hopefully).

we need to sort out uniform yet :/
this week was supposed to be spent on sorting through everything but unfortunately have come down with something awful…

You could ask for him to get the material or any powerpoints in advance (so a couple of days before or the day before). He may not look at them all but it can help, he could also get permission to use a laptop in class and then he can access the slides teachers send in advance on it - that way he can be looking through other slides or have longer to read them in lessons and not be relying on the board. When I was in 6th form, my friend got those accommodations (she also had them in Y11 but I was at a different school), it really helped her as she also had a processing disorder. She gets similar ones at university along with being able to record lectures etc. Obviously people with the same needs can need different strategies to each other but still I thought these are things you could consider with the SENCO or his Head of Year.

Has anyone had a kit/equipment list for starting year 10? Like specific books they need? Our school
Have sent nothing. No timetable and only
Confirmed options the week before school holidays

Timetable is never given until the first day at our school. Bit frustrating as we would like to see it! Been doing GCSEs since Y9 and no book list. We had options to buy revision books before the end of Y9 exams but it was all quite light touch initially. As far as I know English texts are supplied by school, they didn't start the English curriculum in Y9 thankfully! Reading the same books for 3 years would have been a nightmare.

Just the normal equipment list. (And buying the Set Texts for English if we want to)

I'm sure more will be required for her BTEC Animal care but they haven't said what yet. They take it turn to bring the animals home which will be fun, I've just told her no to any insects! (I'm happy with the reptiles, amphibians and mammals...)

I would just say if you want to get stuff, I'd go for revision guides over textbooks. This is because they'll likely have textbooks in schools and at the very least can take photos of them to use, there's also lots of online textbooks and resources. Whereas a revision guide will help to test them, it will have exam questions and tips for each questions, it will have questions for the content as well to go through and different tasks. The textbook is only useful for the initial information - and if your DC know how to summarise well and how to pick and choose info, but they'll have that all in lessons, can use videos on YouTube (of which there are loads) if theh forget something and can go back to their books. Plus revision guides do have the sake information just more condensed which is useful.

Place
marking

Hi. My eldest is going into year 10. He is academic but prone to not do much!

With English Literature- the main thing is to know your texts. Buy your own copies of set texts if they’re not given their own to keep. If you can read them too then you can discuss them together. The students who do best know their books inside out, re-read them and have opinions about them. It’s all about the detail in the text. I would avoid videos and short cut ways to a grade 9 etc. At this stage, just know the texts really well.

TheLivelyViper thanks for the suggestions. She is supposed to be provided with print outs of what goes on the boards, but they don’t always remember. It will need her to potentially train a new batch of teachers to do this. It is included in her “Pupil passport” as an accommodation. If given the copies in class, she manages, just can’t read it from the board, she uses an overlay which helps read in a straight line.

Her sister has a similar processing disorder and used a laptop, but DD2 would prefer to continue using exercise books and is very neat. We may be asking for soft copies of all slides as her books get ridiculously fat last year.

The school have been very good, it is just getting a new batch of teachers to get used to it.

At our school we will get a list of books that are good to have
The CPG books and the English Lit books are mainly what they ask for I think

Checking in!

DS has chosen Spanish, RS, Business Studies & Geography as options.

He's reasonably academic but very much views school as a social club rather than a place to learn, he’s no trouble though so we’ll see how we get on.

Hi everyone, hope it is ok to join in. My middle son is starting year 10, my eldest has just done GCSEs so it feels like getting straight back into it and I’m dreading them both doing exams at the same time! My year 10 one is at a different school, and is not as naturally academic as my eldest so it could be harder going, but he has a much bigger range of subjects available to him, and is doing DT, engineering, German and Enterprise, which will hopefully suit him, but with 3 involving coursework he does need to get his head down! Hoping he gets on a bit better with science this year as his predictions from the end of year 9 were 3-5, and I think he is capable of a bit more, and I’d like him to at least have the possibility of doing the higher paper. His brother is very good at science and doing A levels in physics and chemistry, so is going to try and help him.

Oldest DS starting year 10, he has ASD and is hopefully having an ADHD assessment soon. The school is absolutely rubbish with communication and he has had minimal homework/revision for the last 3 years, going to be walking the tightrope between his anxiety and getting him to do some work.

DD's timetable has been up on the school's online platform for a couple of weeks. Not necessarily a good thing because now she's worrying about having so many new (to her) teachers. Maybe finding out on the first day back would have been better!

We haven't heard anything about needing specific books yet. Her school buy subscriptions to a few learning/revision apps, so a lot of the resources tend to be on there.

@jeansgenie DD hasn't really done anything academic over the holidays. They've been given a bit of maths homework to do but DD has only just started it. Her excuse reasoning is that this way it will still be fresh in her mind when she goes back.

Hello - hope it's alright if I join?

DC2 is at an urban, slightly below average performing comp. She's not the biggest fan of school, and broadly finds the work neither interesting nor easy. It's not helped that she hasn't got her first choices for her three options. She missed out on doing music, which is probably the only subject where she is confident. So it's Spanish and Food Tech, which I hope will be fine, and Graphics, which she plucked from the air to avoid being allocated to History or Geography, despite not being very arty or techy .

My main worry is currently English Lit. DC2 hasn't read a book since Y6 (although luckily literacy is not the issue). We are going to need films/audio books of everything, I think...

I do have an older DC but they are quite traditionally academic, and found school and college straightforward. DC2 is likely to follow a very different path, particularly post-16, so in lots of ways it will be like going through things for the first time.

This is exactly my concerns about DD. She's naturally bright so hasn't had to really apply herself. School
Have been terrible with homework and pushing them (hardly any at all for years 7-9) so studying will be new to her.

TheTurn0fTheScrew for DD1 I bought a comic version of an inspector calls as she has a visual processing disorder, she found that helped.

@AuditAngel thanks! She's not doing An Inspector Calls, but I'm sure that there'll be similar resources for her texts (Othello, Jekyll and Hyde, and a play whose name escapes me right now...).

Is she doing one the newer playe? Princess and the Hustler or Leave taking?