Y11 2025-26 Exams have started - chat, support & drink of choice if needed here.

[UncomfortableSilence]

New thread for all of us with lovely Y11s to support them and us through the coming weeks.

Ah, so they have a free period if that subject has been completed with exams sat. That makes sense.

I guess it’s good for those who wouldn’t revise at home or in the library.

DD has been on study leave since 1 week after Easter. She can go in if she wants to though. They have rooms set up for private study. And they can have lunch there. I wish she would take them up on that offer sometimes as she’s eating me out of house and home. And if I hear her ask for a Deliveroo once more I might just drive her to school for lunch myself!

Totally get what you are saying, it may be a bit location dependent. We have a plan A B and C - it’s plan D we are missing as there are realistically no other colleges he could reasonably commute to and we are only allowed 1 offer per college. So if it comes to it we will have to go back to the nearest 2 to see what they will offer him while letting him retake English (the sticking point).
We did ask at the open days but they were all - “discuss that if it comes to it, concentrate on getting the grades for the course you want….” Plus he has his head in the sand about it.
Really I just want potential things to say to people that will ask on the day/soon after while we sort it out in peace!

I did Physics A Level and I think she would struggle without maths.

Maths is compulsory with physics A Level at DD’s school.

There is an awful lot of crossover with the content. Doing maths and physics a level is not like studying for 2 a levels, closer to 1.5.

@BeasKnee i think all sciences and maths are a big jump up . Definitely make sure they do the transition work they’ll get given over the summer . I’m not saying that other subjects aren’t a jump too - I’m sure they are . I’ve discovered perhaps a little late to the game that a lot of tutoring goes on for A levels too

That's great - I wish ours did that!

Usual lessons but with revision for the upcoming papers. It does give them access to their teachers and for any questions etc.
Not sure will happen with English lit lessons late on in the week. Presume it will be an option of English language or other revision
Pe last week was before biology so they could either play football or revise
Obviously some children are missing from lessons if there is an exam on that Not everyone takes eg geog/history/french

Those of you that don’t have study leave and still have normal lessons, can I ask what they are doing? Let say they’ve finished English lit and language, what do they do in their timetabled English classes?? They’ve obviously completed the year 11 syllabus and even sat the exams

So as an example – I had a French GCSE group one year and the French exams were always really early then, like about 12 May (only R & L as rest was CW); so my group had to keep coming in for another two weeks.

Tbf only the diligent ones did come in which made it easier. One said to me, Miss do we still have to do French? er no! They could bring their own revision, do some pair work as long as it was calm, or I would set them a Kahoot on an upcoming exam (like, AQA biology paper 1).

They had study leave after half term so realistically it was only a couple of weeks max, and even then only for early subjects, so even for French (as I say, basically the first exam) it was only maybe 4 lessons and only then if they didn't clash with other GCSE exams.

No booster sessions here which on the whole I’m glad about as DS1 is having trouble getting to sleep and he has to get up pretty early for school as it is. Sleep deprivation on top of stress he does not need. Can see the point for some kids though. They had after school sessions but only up to the start of exams. It
seems a bit random which teachers are revising with them and which are letting them do whatever subject they want - even if they haven’t finished the exams for that subject. Sending him in with a revision folder and strict instructions!

@bluebluevalentinethat made me laugh out loud! DS would be mortified!

100% agree with this. Plus, they are all at different levels and got different needs. It puzzles me when schools lump all pupils together for a general revision, force them
to stay at school and waste their time which is what’s happening in my DCs secondary school.

Dd has no study leave. When she doesnt have an exam, she either has normal timetable (where they either revise for the exam to come or left to revise for anything they want if the exam for that subject has happened) or, if the next session is an exam, she has a 3 period long revision session (so pm session for a next day morning exam or am session if exam in the afternoon). It's working fine for dd.

Thanks @Beachforever I do wonder whether biology would be a better choice than physics. The problem is that she's not great at essay based subjects and there is such a limited number of ones that aren't to choose from. Her physics teacher was also VERY enthusiastic about her going on to do physics. I really don't want to encourage her to do maths if she will struggle with it though and not get a great mark. I'm sure I saw someone say most grade 7 students who do maths get a D or below at A level. She might get an 8 I suppose but she didn't come out of last week's exam very happy so I'd guess not.

News just in from Chemistry - it went ‘surprisingly well’ (predicted a 6 but he’d be happy with a 5) and the right stuff came up. He had a v last minute tutor session last night and said all the stuff they covered came up - he had only had a few sessions for English and science but they are not cheap so I’m glad last night’s paid off (the one before biology did not)

@BeasKnee this is a useful doc showing A level grades compared with GCSEs for various subjects

https://www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/Images/735630-144.-progression-from-gcse-to-a-level-2021-2023.pdf

I would also think about what she may want to do at Uni. Have a friend whose daughter dropped FM but wants to do physics and most unis want not only maths but also further so she's quite annoyed the school didn't point this out earlier.

That's quick! Chemistry here finishes at 11:00. 2 hr exam

Not read all the posts as pushed for time - but I’m an English teacher so can shed light on the question of what they are doing in lessons. Revision and exam practice! Which imo is extremely useful, as it is targeted, guided by an expert (teacher), they can get feedback, and it means they don’t neglect a subject just because they don’t have the exam the next day/that week. I think it’s great schools do this, personally. Much more productive and supported.

@EducaatingRita they started at 8.30 and it’s only 1h15 (well he gets extra time which he doesn’t always use ) .. AQA combined science.

Ah I see! Glad it went well for him - and that the tutor seems to have paid off!

DD thinks it was a relatively good paper - AQA triple.
I'm glad as she was stressed about it.

On to English tomorrow.

Happy with AQA Chemistry (triple) here too! 🤞🏻

DS2 came out of combined edexcel chemistry saying he thought he did enough to pass which is good news . He was telling me he didn’t understand any of it last night .

News just in from Chemisty - OCR, was good - Electrolysis was the 6 marker and she was happy as she revised it at the weekend.

DD very upset with Chem iGCSE. Apparently there was a 5 mark question that was completely random for paper 1 and was more like paper 2 content that she was putting off revising until half term.

She is hyper-focusing on that 1 question that she struggled to answer and completely ignoring everything she did well. Very annoying. I’m trying to be supportive but everything I say is wrong apparently.

It’s only half 11 but I could do with a glass of wine!

My dd thought it was okkkk which is actually positive as her weakest Science. Yay!

DD just phoned and said "I survived it!". We had a lot of tears yesterday, so I'm super proud of her.

She is SEN and used all of her extra time (which is great, she had walked out before the end of normal time on her mocks), and will be pleased with a grade 4. It was the paper she was dreading the most. Onwards and upwards to English Lit tomorrow which she is looking forward to.