Y11 2025/26… come and join

[wonderstuff]

New thread

Thanks for sorting @wonderstuff

Joining in. Hoping for resilience and hard work being rewarded.

Dd has had loads of work this summer but has only really got going in the last few weeks. Results day yesterday gave her the shake I think.

Thanks @wonderstuff ! We are currently away for a few days but braced for a rocky year - so hopefully the thread with you guys will be a good support:). Not much work done this summer here either but school does not seem to have set a lot. Sure they will be expecting some revision to have happened though.

DS had loads of work and tells me he’s nearly finished it despite not appearing to have spent much time on it. I’m hoping he’s been stealthily working when I think he’s festering in bed… I’m a natural optimist.

Marking place. DS has not done much at all but he has started maths tuition so that’s something. Am struggling to find a science tutor - has anyone used online ones?!

Marking place, thank you. Here we go…

Marking my place here too. We carried on with DS'd Tuition during summer with a week of at the beginning and end of the hols.

He also knows he needs to control his phone usage. Very addictive at time, I will also try to be on my phone less too.

Marking my place too. DTs have done no schoolwork over the holidays. In fairness only 1 subject Geography has set any work and they’ll get that done before they go back.
I don’t think their school is on the ball as much as others but their GCSE results have been falling so I think the academy trust their in is getting them to buck their ideas up.

Im hoping at the start of year 11 the school give them the rally call and they start to realise you need to start working and revising before April 2026 🤞

Dd has mocks in November. She had July off from her maths tutor but restarted in August. I’m also getting her to see an English tutor. English is a strong subject for her but just want to give her that extra boost to hopefully push her from 7/8 to 8/9. She says.

Dd does a competitive sport with training 5 x a week (13hours). So with that, and tutors, need to really get organised.

We have options evening next month and final decisions need to be in by December.

Thanks for sorting the new thread

DS had lists for all subjects - he’s done an hour a day most days in August and has nearly finished the maths . Upside he got a 7 for his English Language taken a year early which I hope will give him confidence . Mocks were a bloodbath

Congratulations to your ds @waitingquietly 7 is fantastic. DS has decided on 6th form, but I’m hoping to persuade him to apply for 2, I think there’s a good chance he’ll need to do a pre-Alevel year, which both colleges offer and will do him good I think, he’ll only be 15 when taking the exams, he has dyslexia and adhd, he gets there but he’s always been a little behind his peers. I don’t know how many spaces are on the course and I think the nearer college, the one he’s less keen on, are more likely to offer a place as technically we are in their catchment. I don’t know, I need to ask both colleges. DS is convinced he’ll get the necessary grades, but his mocks were well below and he hasn’t worked terribly hard.

Who knows, it’s going to be a stressful year! I also have one going into year 13 and a new job!

@wonderstuff good luck with yr 13 , I also have one starting yr12… so four years of exams on the trot - though a yr11 and 13 at the same time sounds tough

Dd will just stay at school for sixth form. She wants to do biology, psychology, history then teetering between chemistry and English. They have to pick four.

I’ve done the uniform/ shoes and stationary haul. She knows this is it now!

Hi, DD is about to start yr 11. She had a fairly rough time socially at the end of Yr 10 so I'm keeping everything crossed things settle in Sept. She was planning to stay on at her school for A levels but all the upset has made her rethink and she wants to look around different sixth forms. She's even considering performing arts college. Its no bad think to have a good think about what she really wants but having no plans isn't helping with motivation - she's done no work all summer and is already complaining about all the revision she'll have to do next year 🙄. She's a lovely girl and generally works hard. I'm probably worrying too much, I just want her to be happy and don't want friendship issues impacted her GCSEs.

Thanks for the new thread @wonderstuff.

Dd1 seems to have done very little this summer but think she's only got Art to do. She needs to go back and fill in bits of her book as got a 7 in mocks but hadn't completed all the writing up. Art continues to be far more work than any of her other subjects.

Not sure about A levels yet - if she stays at her school, she has to do 4. So far she's thinking Maths and German, and maybe Art & FM. I'm quite keen for her to visit a 6th form too that has a broader range of subjects just to keep her options open. She's at grammar school though so not sure it's worth moving.

It’s been really mind concentrating for us as DS1 just got his GCSEs - he matched his mocks but was well under his predictions . He’s a good kid and worked hard ( though I’m not sure effectively ) . DS2 will now either stay where he is or try and join his brother at the local grammar if he makes the grades ( it would be a pleasant surprise ) . I knew in my gut what was going to happen with DS1 . Doing 11 subjects was frankly exhausting - he had about 23 exams - way more pressure than our day . Mocks also were targeted at specific topics not the whole curriculum- so not truly representative . My advice would be lots of fingers in a few different pies for onward study .

Well done to everyone's DC who sat a subject or two a year early. The DC's school used to do GCSE PE in year 10 but stopped that last year, so DS has the full set of exams next year. He got English and Maths homework to do over the summer - he claims to have done it already when I wasn't looking...

I've tried to pack in as much accidental revision as possible with our choice of holidays and days out. Hopefully some of it has gone in and stuck. Stationery shopping is done, uniform audit complete and I just need to get both DC school bags. They claim to need new shoes as the ones they both needed at May half term aren't sufficiently fashionable 🙄I've told them they can buy themselves new shoes with their pocket money if the ones they chose in May aren't up to scratch.

Everyone sounds so organised! We haven’t really done any back to school prep yet - next week’s plan. Slightly afraid they have all grown over the summer….
I am somewhat scared of next summer - it will be 20 papers if he retakes the papers from this summer/ the autumn. That does sound very very full on. English Lit I think we are giving up as a bad job otherwise it would be 22. I can see why the school gets them to do some papers early but he’s maturing in terms of exam technique and just generally so much I think he could potentially do much better in a year’s time. Tough call though. If he does no retakes at all it could go down to 13 (I think), which sounds so much more manageable!

Place marking here too. DS2 heading into Y11 in September. One GCSE done this year (Latin) and he was happy with the result so
that’s good. But I know Y11 will be a whole
different ballgame and although he has an older sibling, DS1 was the 2020 Covid year so got CAGs for GCSEs and we didn’t have any revision stress, or coaxing through the whole 25+ exams trauma. I feel very much a novice in terms of GCSE support and parenting!

DS2 is academically very able but tends to coast on natural ability and I often feel
like I’m banging my head against the wall trying to encourage him to develop good study skills (which he is going to need at some point regardless of GCSEs). He plans to stay at school (v academic indie which he loves) for sixth form and hasn’t even considered anywhere else so he’s going to need decent grades. Bracing myself and looking forward to sharing the journey with you all!

(I have done nothing to prepare for Y11 other than nagging. Which has achieved very little!!)

Joining 😆.

DS is not a high flyer so I’m going to be the parent here pulling my hair out as we navigate this year….year 10 mocks were a mixed bag of 3’s and 4’s so we’re just holding out for 4’s and 5’s in the real thing.

He is my 3rd dc (of 4). DD didn’t sit GCSE’s (Covid kid), DS1 is a high flyer and just about to go into upper 6th with four predicted A’s at A level. So this is my first foray into the actual stress of GCSE year despite him being kid number 3. I’m going to need all the hand holding you guys can offer 🤣

@KellySeveride dont worry my DS2 had a right old mix … even a 1 in one combined science paper , we also had 3,4,5,7 … but just got 2 marks under 8 in GCSE English Language so anything is possible - anyway not everyone on these threads are high flyers

Thanks for the new thread wonderstuff.

DD is yet again upstairs ploughing through the Art coursework!

Yesterday she was doing some Biology & Physics, tomorrow she’s out all day so a well deserved break. She is also doing a couple of days work experience this week and before we know it back to school.

Kelly - DD1 was also the Covid year so this is our first run at ‘proper GCSEs!’

@UncomfortableSilence DS1 sat proper exams but there was never any stress with it because of the high flyer and very self motivated…I didn’t have to get involved at all.

DS2 is not self motivated….in the slightest, he’s going to need a lot of support.