Y11 2025-26 - Trying not to melt and pushing through the final weeks

[Stowickthevast]

I finished the thread so started a new one. Welcome all Y11 parents, support and solidarity for the next big push here!

Dd was quite cheerful after both maths (edexcel iGCSE maths higher) & geography yesterday (she ran out of time, which she has form for in geography). I think quite a lot of that was general euphoria that both are finished now. IGCSE only has two papers for maths.

English language on Friday (it’s her poetry/prose anthology & creative writing paper), she hasn’t thought about English for weeks & after a half term of physics, maths & computer science getting back to it will be painful. I’m relishing a day of not driving to the exam centre.

She was really down after the second com sci paper on Monday, it’s her strong paper in her strong subject & she was so disappointed by how it went. After tomorrow the end is truly in sight though - biology & chemistry paper 2s next week & physics the week after.

With hindsight I wish she’d done fewer subjects (we’re doing it from home), she was fixed on what she wanted to do but most home ed students don’t do 8 in one go - it’s exhausting, stressful & expensive. And I’ll be doing it again (for the last time 🙏) with DC#4 next year.

AQA History here this morning - Elizabethan England, and Britain: migration empires and the people c790 to the present day. So just a small topic!

@getwiththeprogram @Ifonlyoneday

Yep I do similar - it's probably more for us than them but either way - it helps!

Bit off thread but why no law? Are you a solicitor by any chance? x

History today here too, again. Ws one last week and 3rd History next week. History and Art have been the most work - content for sure

Good luck historians!! My son nervous we’ve been up since 5.30am. Come on Edexcel nice questions please 🙏

Oh my gosh when it’s laid out like that you realise how much they’ve had to learn, poor kids!
This is the only morning that DS left the house looking resigned to his fate. He’s not hugely academic but so far has been confident he knew enough about what would come up in the exam papers. Not today! At least at 10:30 he can draw a line under history GCSE 😬

Yes I’m a solicitor. It suits me and I’ve had a good career, but DS thinks I spend my life talking and working all hours. I don’t, I have a lot of flexibility but I was working after helping DS last night so didn’t finish until after 10. That sounds rubbish until I also say well I stopped at 4 for that help.

DS was quite stressed this morning which is unlike him. I think the half term break wasn’t long enough to deal with the exhaustion. It’s easy to forget if students have extra time for exams in reality they need the same extra time to revise but the days don’t get any longer. DS decided sleep more important than going to a school revision session at 7.45 today. Very wise!

I loved history and continued with it through until university but I don't remember doing anywhere near as many topics in the mid 90s for GCSE. The only topic I remember was the world wars - I assume we did more than that but can't remember what. I certainly don't think we did four large topics. DD has had Germany, Cold war, Migration & Normans. Apart from Normans which felt a bit lighter (possibly because of overlap with migration) they have all seemed huge. They were still learning new content up until a couple of weeks ago! The tricky bits of revision are over for us after today as DD finds science a comparative breeze to revise compared to history etc. The finish line seems in sight now!

Hope exams go well today.
DD has the day off was nice no stress last night.
English tomorrow worst subject but will be fine for grade to move forward.
Good luck to all kids sitting on the fence between grades for tomorrow.

That's it isn't it, as we get older flexibility is one of the most valued things when we're working. I'm working today but apart from specific meeting times / deadlines, I can do the actual work / output at times that suit. As long as I do them..

Good luck to all our hardworking YP, past the half way point..

DD has AQA history this morning, Elizabethan England and History of Medicine. She is the most nervous I've seen her so far. She sobbed and sobbed at bed time. I am going to be refreshing Reddit for the next couple of hours to see what the topics were...

@whereonthestair so funny you have put your DS off law by having a career in it. My eldest is not interested, my youngest is. There are so many different types of law you can practise, so many ways to practise, being a lawyer can look very different. I probably wouldn't advise a large corporate private practice if your DS has a strong sense of justice though @getwiththeprogram 😅

@BeasKnee I thought I only did World wars for history GCSE too. But then I remembered that we also did the Scramble for Africa and Spanish Civil War. Still feels like less than they have.

DD also has Cold War and Elizabethan England today. I had to drive her to school this morning because of the tube strikes and she was trying to memorise the satellite states joining, the various Catholic plots under Elizabbeth and the Hungarian Uprising!

Fingers crossed they get good questions, she was worried about this one though does like history.

History Reddit thread: History Megathread : r/GCSE

Nothing on there yet but I will check and report in! I didn't realise the edexcel exam was 110 minutes long

This is what I don't like about history GCSEs, it's all so disjointed. The children learn to analyse and think like historians, but I do think history should be taught in a linear way, ending with the 20th century for GCSEs.

We have history too. Edexcel Elizabethan and Cold War. History (and Art) has been the biggest time stealer. The content is mammoth. My DD says she can study it forever and still not feel she knows it well unlike other subjects. It was her favourite but now she’s has second thoughts about taking it for A-levels. She’s good at essay subjects but the sheer content has put her off.

This is what i was xhatting to DD about this morning. With all other subjects, so many aspects are tested that you can get away with not mastering everthing. And whilst you are guaranteed each subject to come up as there are 4 papers, there are only a few questions so it's easy to go completely blank if it's a topic you dont master enough.

Just seen this... omg, dd is desperate to see Hadestown, thank you for the heads up!

That's so true - and a sub topic that you are a master of might not come up at all! I did say to DS that if he had time go back and add some more info around the question - at least they you're showing you know something!

DD is 15 down, 9 to go, including today’s history and French. She was in great form this morning as she loves history and her history teacher was really reassuring yesterday about paper 2. We are going to do a day trip to Ham House in the summer for posterity, but I think we will all be delighted to never think about charterists or trade unions again! She really wants to do well as she wants to do A-level.

She has totally written off French, as although she likes it, and the written paper is her strongest, she just hasn’t had the capacity to do enough revision. C’est la vie ( or something…)

A warning to parents - Hadestown is very loud! They have a brass band on stage so I find it quite hard to hear the narrator and words over the music. I am a bit old & deaf though. The young people I was with enjoyed it far more than I did!

Reports that Edexcel went pretty well. Elizabethan good and Cold War mid allegedly 😀

History went well here apart from he thought he had 10 min left to write his conclusion which he didn’t have. So no conclusion on Elizabethan 16 marker

Not sure what board for history but public health and Normans. Dd1 said v happy - plague and battle of Hastings, the 2 bits she knew best. Dd2 also good on these so hopefully she’s happy.

we had a bit of a maths debrief yesterday. Dd2 found it fine as did her math-y friends. The non math-y people found it tricky. So dd1 thinks she’s probably around a 5 on it (did better than her mock which was a mid 5) and felt she did well on paper 1 so hopefully a good paper 3 will still see her able to get a 6 which is what she needs.

She did cry 8 times yesterday - she counted. Once was about a dead bird she saw on the walk back from the gym and was once was because we’d run out of her favourite yoghurts. From a girl who very rarely cries…

Dd2 and I saw it last year. I quite liked some of it but didn’t love it. She preferred to me but a tiny bit disappointed as she’d really built it up - musicals and greek myths = dream combo. We didn’t like the Orpheus much. Loved Hermes.

Hate it when DD has two exams - when she has one she usually sneaks into the toilet to message me to let me know how she got on.

Have to wait to end of the day. Really hope History went ok it’s her most favourite subject.