Y10- 2025/2026

[CouldNotStayAway]

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

@Fluffycloudsfloatinginthesky it must be so frustrating that it took so long for the school to get on board, but a massive well done for making it happen – and hopefully your DD's experience will all be more positive from now on.

@TheTurn0fTheScrew DD’s English class has just started J&H and her teacher hasn’t bothered to hide the fact that it’s his least favourite part of the GCSE course. They are just gritting their teeth and getting through it.

No predicted grades yet. They call them forecast grades at DD’s school, and we will apparently get them termly from the end of next term. Meanwhile, we just have to trust the process…

Does anyone’s DC have any ‘weak’ teachers? DD reports that one of her science teachers delivers boring lessons and doesn’t really explain things very well. The revision list this teacher supplied for a recent test was scanty, missed off a key topic and included an A-level topic they hadn’t studied… DD took screenshots of her revision list and a friend’s (who has a different teacher) and emailed the head of subject with the evidence, asking whether they could all have access to the same information. She got a quick response, and a survey was sent out to all students, and the revision list for the next test is much better, but it’s frustrating that she had to do that.

@TheTurn0fTheScrew I know. I’m so upset thinking of how she was perceived for the last 18 months, banned from school trips and such because she couldn’t be trusted - no she was just struggling in school environment. Detentions 4 days a week usually.

she’s not been late once to school since September, she’s more engaged in lessons. More compliant on uniform. She’s a changed child.

they need to understand not every parent pushing for an adhd diagnosis is doing it to excuse bad behaviour.

That is a good way to show the head of dept. We have a well meaning Maths teacher who apparently just keeps talking non-stop. Dd is also being assessed for ND and really struggles not to simply listen meaning she can't do the work set in class because "she just keeps wittering on" as she said. There have been a few incidence of teaching different methods to other sets but the HoD seems happy to keep her there. I will see what her end of term results are like, I think we get exam results and grades next week with the reports.

DD seems to be doing well academically but very anxious with self harming starting this year - which is why ND has been suggested. I feel we held it together until the teen years but there has always been something a bit off, so we will see what they say.

She's in set 2 for everything so hopeful 7's or higher across the board.

Well my poor DD had a panic attack in science today, she was in floods and didn't do her test… she did manage to calm down and do the rest of her day as well as her english assessment

Oh no @Lisamummy22girlsim glad she did English. My dd is doing childcare and had a practical last week which counts towards the gcse coursework. She was in tears before that she said.

@Lisamummy22girls so sorry to hear it. Hope she’s ok and able to relax a bit during the weekend. We are battling with (not) revising for more tests next week -biology, chemistry and geography..looking fw to Xmas break so I can stop worrying about him not revising sufficiently !

Your poor dd @Lisamummy22girls I'm glad she managed to do her English and hope the school were supportive. My dd has managed to keep it together at school but we've had lots of tears at home this term, most recently over an English assessment where she didn't do as well as she hoped- she perceives herself to be "good" at English and humanities and puts so much pressure on herself. In reality I think she's doing well academically across the board, got high predictions in her latest academic review and tries really hard- she's fragile emotionally though, has ASD and finds school draining so my only aim is to keep her in one piece and for her to get what she needs for college, which I think will suit her much better! We're in concert season now which is nice, listened to both DDs sing at a local Abbey with the 6th form college last week and the music was amazing which inspired both DDs. I am very much enjoying higher standard concerts too!

she is ok thats.. school are excellent actually - wellbeing took her for a cup of hot chocolate when she was so upset over the science test

Following

@brackengirl our girls sound very similar - mine is academic but stresses out too much over tests and revision so she under performs at times

it really is all about getting through the next 18 months as emotional intact as possible - for both of us!!!!

Nice to see this thread pick up again.

not a lot to update on, ds has had a few end of topic exams, and will have mocks in April for all subjects and then the first gcse in June (one this year and the rest next year).
I’ve been a bit sidetracked with younger dc and 11+
prep. Feels like we’ve got 2 busy academic years ahead of us…

It’s been a term of tests and endless art homework. Certainly no one was exaggerating when they said art is the heaviest workload of all the subjects - it’s a good job dd enjoys it.

I have noticed dd getting more jittery about tests - she had four end-of-term tests one day last week. Eleven GCSEs is a lot and her friend doing twelve is feeling stressed out.

I have a feeling dd is regretting Business Studies as it is “so dull” and “basically just common sense but dragged out and made into something that is way too complicated.” She said even the group activities that should be fun - like designing a new product and its marketing - turn into very tedious exercises because they are put in groups and she gets “stuck with stupid people who don’t try and don’t care”. In a horrible elitist way, I told her this is what it’s like when you join “the world of work” - being able to manage stupid people who don’t care is a useful skill. She was unimpressed. 😂

DD is finding 9 subjects hard enough, and that's including her extra Science. I think she would be in meltdown with 11 including something like art!

2.5 more days. Although I don't think they have lessons on Thursday morning.

11 is definitely a lot, although whilst Art is very time consuming now at least there won’t be exams in the main period for it - my eldest taking 9 in the summer found the sheer volume of exams in a short space of time hard going - I think it was 22 he had. Is there any option to drop business studies if she isn’t enjoying it?

My DS seems to be doing ok, his end of term report likely grade predictions are ok but I would hope he can get a little bit higher - he tells me he is locking in and they will definitely go up! He’s not as academic as my eldest is, but he is more capable than he thinks he is. No proper exams or assessments at this stage as far as I know for him.

My DD is doing 10 GCSEs and is going along ok but finds the extra workload for Triple Science lot
we steered clear of the coursework heavy topics as getting her to do homework/revise is a struggle

@AnnieAveragereading about how much work is involved in art makes me breath a sigh of relief ds didn’t take art. His choices included art and DT, and only after reading a thread on here about the sheer amount of work involved I told him to change one, he dropped art for computer science and kept DT.
11 GCSEs is a lot, ds has 11 in total but one will be this year so 10 to focus on.

DS has his first set of mocks after Easter holidays, hoping he pulls his socks up!

DD has just been made deputy head of fhe school council for next year, she is so happy!

@Lisamummy22girls that’s lovely news!

My dd has her first mock next week - she sits one GCSE a year early so next year she “only” has to sit ten. She is quite nervous and studying hard. I’m trying to play it cool, she is on track for an 8 so I hope it pans out ok.

Did anyone get predicted grades yet? We got a subject-specific prediction in the end of term report, and have parents evening next week (5 mins with each teacher online).

Im struggling to decide if I should book an appointment with every subject teacher or just the ones we are considering for A level. It is the only Parent Teacher meeting we will have until mocks and not much can be said in 5 mins. Any advice?

We saw every teacher. (Although one Science teacher did all three, and she has the same English teacher for both Lang and Lit. )

Thanks @TickingAlongNicely I’ve been kind to the teachers in earlier years and skipped all the subjects we don’t really care about.

Dd is really adamant she doesn’t want us to see two of her teachers - but refuses to give a reason. Her predicted grades were fine. Perhaps just embarrassment if the teachers gush?

I've just booked DD's parents evening slots and am seeing all her teachers but it's online and only 5 minutes each so not really much extra effort. I think she's doing well as was predicted in the 7-9 range for everything in the last academic review but I'm keen to speak to English as she wants to do it for A level and was devastated (with a 6- which in my opinion is fine) with her last assessment and French as she is so bored in lessons compared to Spanish so need to tactfully raise this.

We don’t have parents evening for a few weeks yet.

@AnnieAverageds is also sitting one gcse this year with 10 next year. He was very blasé about it all until recently- and is now a little stressed about the coursework component!

Our parents eve isn't until Feb! Getting slots is like getting concert tickets!!!

We have parents' evening over two evenings a fortnight apart, in late Jan and early Feb. I assume it's to ensure everyone can get an appointment for subjects where a teacher teaches more than one class.

I will certainly try to get appointments for as many subjects as possible - teachers tend to be much more honest at parents' evening than in reports, and it's the only 5 minutes we get with the teacher every year!

Up to now, we haven't had DD with us at parent consultations - the school haven't expressed a preference, and we find we get more directness from teachers if they aren't trying to massage the ego of the student! If the school say the student should be present, we will of course have her there, but it isn't our preference.

The first set of forecast grades will come in the next end-of-term report, but I wonder whether some teachers will mention them in the meeting.