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 has gone to bed without any dinner, again! She’s going to waste away.

She’s so exhausted by it all now that she crashes as soon as she walks through the door.

I’m going to try and force her to eat a nice big breakfast before she goes in for DT tomorrow.

I’m trying not to feel anxious about Maths. Dd was borderline 3/4 right up until the last mocks, when she managed a 5, but a pass is not in the bag. She feels confident about tomorrow but there’s always the fear I’ll get a tearful phone call afterwards, gah 😩

Hi! Wanted to join!

DD is feeling similar to everyone else. History went ok she says. Maths tomorrow, she does higher maths but it’s been a lot harder than she thought!

English language paper one was the only one so far we have had tears about, she froze with the creative writing and said her story was ‘utter rubbish’ 😬

She has worked so hard for 2 years, end is in sight, I think she will sleep for a week after.

Planning a big meal out next week to celebrate the end and to feed her up as she is also napping after exams, snacking then straight back to the books.

I am so so proud of her though, she has committed herself incredibly and I hope so much her hard work pays off!!

DD attends a grammar school so the pressure is immense!

24 down 3 to go!!!

4 left to go here.,today was ‘ok’ ‘should have passed’ I think she’s beyond caring

That’s about the response I got too! She said “some good bits, some bad bits, it’s fine”. She’s mostly said they’ve been ok, but she has a low opinion of her own ability so I think for her if there were a few she could answer she thinks that’s good.

Shes actually a lot more able than she thinks but her grades in tests can be a bit all over the place ranging from 3 to 7 in the same subject so theres no way of telling how they’ve gone really.

Only 3 more for her anyway!

My dD does too, is it in Bucks?

My two found history hard yesterday which surprised me as they are both good at it and pretty well prepared. Answers sounded sensible enough to me so who knows.

dd1 has 5 left and dd2 6. Today is their last double and tbh we dont care about DT. Dd1 didn’t even pick textiles as her option but had it anyway, it was her 3rd choice, their DT teacher was on leave with just subs for over a year so hopes aren’t high.

focus is really waning but they both need a decent showing for chem on Friday and physics on Monday. I feel like I’m pushing water up a hill at this point and they are husks. The only good thing is there is some kind of blitz spirit/punch drunk thing going on and we’ve swapped tears for hysterical giggles

Good Luck to everyone for Maths. Praying to the Maths gods for good papers for everyone!! 🙏

Good luck to our nation of 16 year old mathematicians!!!

DS seems OK so far. We’ve kept everything pretty low key - he’s done some studying throughout, but he’s also gone on bike rides and walks etc. Only 5 to go, it really feels like we’re on the home straight.

I’m not sure how I feel about Further Maths at the moment. 11 GCSEs seems like a crazy number really.

DD is just happy to be so near the end. Only Maths, Chemistry & Physics left before she gets a lovely 10 week summer, and the weather is picking up just in time for the end of exam.

I had to leave for work early this morning so left DS fast asleep. I cracked his bedroom door just wide enough for the kittens to get in though so they'll have woken him up if DH didn't get there first. He's finally made friends with them but strongly objects to them licking his face while he's sleeping.

My DC woke up ill this morning 🙁. They’re not one to complain unless they feel really bad so I feel so sorry for them. They’ve got a headache and a sore throat. I’ve dosed them up on paracetamol and honey and lemon drinks and sent them on their way. Luckily maths is one of their strongest subjects and one I know they have genuinely done lots of revision for. So hopefully they’ll be ok for the next couple of hours and then will come home and sleep. They did say that they wanted to write their teacher thank you letters later, too, which I think is something they’re looking forward to which is very sweet, really.

Poor DC2 got forgotten about this morning though as I was fussing over DC1 who left much later than he has been doing. I realised at 8;10 that they were still asleep in bed! Luckily it only takes them 10mins to get up and ready so they were out the door in time not to be late for school.

Chilled day off yesterday. Fingers crossed for the last maths exam....
Got 4 left after this, 2 tomorrow. Apparently she's done 1 hour of revision for food tech so far but that's fine as it's 50% practical and it doesn't really matter. I'd feel a bit bad if she doesn't get her predicted grade though as her food tech teacher loves her (mostly what she talked about at parents evening was DDs "lovely manners" )

Hope maths goes as well as possible for everyone this morning and DT likewise for anyone taking it. Sending get well vibes to any poorly or super exhausted students. I think most of them have had enough now. They’ve all done so well ❤️

Sad (though not altogether surprised) to read about grammar schools putting such insane levels of pressure on students. I have a niece who went to a London super selective and whilst she did brilliantly she didn’t have a happy time there and went elsewhere for sixth form. DS’s indie (which is probably on the level of a super selective grammar in terms of intake) doesn’t seem nearly as pressurised compared to what I read and hear about the grammars.

Anyway. By end of today that’ll be one or two more exams ticked off the list and they’ll be a step closer to the end 🎉

Good luck to all doing maths today. I think DD was too exhausted to even be scared this morning, we have reached that point. She has chemistry, dance, physics and spanish left after today. This time next week, they will all be asleep til lunchtime ;-) @jinglejuicing I hope your DS picked up and that the exam goes well. @NotDarkGothicMama the cats never fail to wake DD up if I don't feed them first!

They are all so shattered aren't they?

Do the exam markers give a little leeway when marking these last few papers?

They must know that the children are on their last legs surely?

Good luck to today’s mathematicians.. IGCSE here so maths done .

DS2 looks so pale .. I keep assuming he’s ill as normally by this stage in the year he’d already have a rich tan .. DHs genes

@Littletreefrog how is DS getting on ?

I think the grade boundaries are a mix of how difficult the papers were and how well the children performed, so I guess their tiredness is taken into account in that respect? It must be the same every year...

@waitingquietly I thought DD looked incredibly pale yesterday. No sun, little exercice, tired and not sleeping all that well is probably the cause...

Poor kids. DS looks done in. After today only two more exams.

DD spent all day yesterday revising for maths P3 and went off today with the attitude that she couldn’t have done any more to prepare, so was happy to see her relatively perky after a real slump last week.

Poor DD2 had a meltdown this morning about her mocks starting next week, arghhhh, I need a break!!

Reddit saying it was a very tough paper. Not heard from my specific child yet

Dd just messaged to say she didn’t cry so that’s an improvement on paper 2

Which exam board is that? DC is OCR - said it was ok, not their best but OK

Edexcel