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.

I never get, it was good. She said she doesnt want to say she thinks it went well and not reflected on her grades. There have only been two with different responses. Biology she said was sooo bad! And Eng lang pretty good which is a positive result!!

What I meant to put is everything is always 'OK'

Examiners can give credit for any reasonable response. It'll be fine.

I got 'fine'. Which in my opinion is not 'good' and therefore erm not good. But also not bad. The only one that has been bad so far has been the Computer Science one but that was bad for everyone.

Oh well. I think she did less revision for this one as so tired. When I asked she said 'why are you so invested in my life?'.

I'm your bloody mother! I went through over 24 hours of labour! I've given you endless love and my blood, sweat and tears over 16 long years, I can bloody well ask how your exam went! AAAARGH! Obviously I am not saying this to her but it is nice to get it out!

Mr Big Predictor has gone for an 8 for English

(he has never got an 8 in his life)

I think I’ve worked out the scale of how well DS thinks he has done: good > decent > pretty decent > alright > hard > bad. All said with a shrug and the same amount of emotion!

My DD has two responses - "Don't know" and "Bad". I hope for "Don't know" now which is what we got today after the English language, at least.

Oh I’m sorry but my husband and I are laughing so much at this, it’s so reassuring that other people have the same experiences with their teenagers! Sending you much solidarity!

Big feelings of relief here as DS has come home pretty happy with his English Lang - definitely his worst subject and he failed last November mock and scraped a 4 in Feb. I think he realised that some effort was worth not doing resits so he even did a past paper recently. His board is Eduqas, so no photo just 4 suggested titles. He used a story that he came up with on our (deliberate) revision walks, just chose the title that best fitted it. He managed to finish it too, so got his cyclical structure in - that's never happened before!

So relieved they have a decent break now.

English language went well here. He managed his time well. They do a wierd exam board called eduqas which is maybe a bit kinder than AQA as you get 4 story options.
PE tomorrow then some respite from the treadmill of exams

Love his confidence

Anyones DC been allowed to come home after their exam for the day? My DD said that alot of yr 11 have been going home after their exams with parents permission and asked if she could too and i said well yes if the school is allowing it.
so monday attendance office called and ask my permission for her to come home, i said yep fine and they sent her home no problem.
they rang again yesterday and asked and i said yea she can come home thats fine to which she replied well it will have to go down as unauthorised absence, i was like oh ok well no one told me that last time! And i have already told her she could come home now, she then told me it could affect her going to prom.
then today they rang again and i was like well ive been told its classed as unauthorised absence, why are you ringing me if you know they aren’t supposed to be coming home? it feels like you are passing the buck a bit here she is in school under your care and you should be saying no im not ringing your parents-go to your class!
am i wrong? I just don’t understand why they are even ringing home to ask if they aren’t allowed?

I really appreciate the solidarity! It's good to know I'm not alone...

It's very much down to the school. Some kids are on study leave and have been for a while. Some are still meant to be in full time, some are in full time but they won't object if for some reason they would be better off at home. I believe it does go down as unauthorized absence if it's just add hoc time off when they are officially still mean to be in full time.

Also eduqas here.

DS had prepared one story that he was hoping to be able to adapt (though he actually showed limited ability to do this when we looked through past papers titles) and I thought it was a risky strategy. One of the options today couldn’t have been more relevant to what his story was - can’t believe what a lucky sod he was!

I suspect it may hinder him long term though, because he’s definitely banking on luck rather than hard work, and that isn’t an approach that will help now or later on in life. He’s 16 though, so obviously knows better than me.

@Garble it won’t hinder him unless he plans to be the next Philip Pullman.
my son’s prepared story also worked.

Well my DS said he thinks English lang went well today but he wouldn't tell me anything about his creative piece. Then an hour later decided to give me a basic outline of the story he wrote but I wasn't allowed to ask any questions.

Pens down for half term! 🎉

Dd really pleased with English language today so officially done until 2nd June. She’s done absolutely nothing since 10.45 today and has said she’s sleeping in til midday tomorrow before getting back to it.

We had a letter from school saying that school was concerned that pupils were telling their parents that "no one was going to school" and it was simply not true. It made me smile. The letter also threatened with no prom for repeat offenders...

When my DD got home I told her no revision tonight she looked aghast at me and said she’s doing some. She needs a rest! Planning dinner in the garden so hoping the nice weather will lure her away for a short time!

Random prom question / dilemma!!

Dd has some gorgeous open toe kitten heels with a strap around the ankle but even the tightest hole is too baggy around her skinny ankles…. Where would you take them to be made smaller?!

Can you not just a leather hole punch and make another hole?

Just make another hole with a hammer and small nail

Dd has to go in tomorrow. She has double Art and Art is finished so has to do other revision. There arent any revision sessions but school are giving out papers for the holidays. They are threatening so prom if they dont go in..

Never knew such a thing existed!