Y11 2025-26 Final exams are here. Now we wait….

[UncomfortableSilence]

New thread for all things Y11, did they cook or are they cooked. We will find out in 10 weeks😉

I wish DS had been set some bridging work, he could do with mixing things up a bit really.

which subjects is he planning to do? Some of DC bridging work is just stuff from the exam board website eg for maths and chem so he could see if there’s anything for his subjects/boards

Yikes - I teach GCSE and A Level, and never have I ever set bridging work. Didn’t realise it was a thing tbh 😳 For Eng Lit I would just say read a load of books - lovely! Certainly not telling dd to do any, and her college hasn’t suggested it either. Maybe it’s a private/grammar school thing, or a STEM subject thing. I won’t be worrying about it for my dd or my students.

State sixth form, not private or grammar here.

History bridging work is mostly getting some high level understanding of key events and people in the periods being studied. So he watched a crash course history YouTube on US presidents today and made a few notes.

French is some grammar revision and watching the film he will be studying 'as many times as possible' and some prep there on identifying what key themes are. We have already seen it but watching it again is no hardship.

He will definitely benefit from having done this prep rather than nothing all summer.

Yes, sorry for confusion, that’s the rule - under 16s have to be accompanied by an over 18

DS is being sent bridging work from the nine or so sixth forms he has offers from! I think he will start doing some of it once he works out which college he wants to go to and which subjects he wants to do… They all seem to advise doing it after results day but we are foolishly heading straight off on holiday then as I can’t get away from work before then. Must get a different job before DS2 does GCSEs as it’s actually a massive pain being away then as that’s when all the enrolment days are!

I think Eng lit bridging work might be to read the texts. Or yes just read anything. Hopefully Eng lit A level students would do that anyway (there was one in my house and she did!).

I think it's subject dependent tbh. The French (or any MFL) thing was that DD found she had forgotten a lot of vocab and grammar through not doing any for months. A student taking MFL A level needs to start year 12 with verbs – tenses and irregulars – basic grammar and a certain level of vocab secure. That's the kind of thing you easily forget if you are not doing it for months.

Maths again needs regular practice. So some work over the summer can only be helpful.

DS2s work turned up on email yesterday . In reality it’s the kind of stuff that ,if genuinely interested in the chosen subjects , a DC would find it interesting to do .

I’ve suggested he do it before results day so that if he doesn’t quite meet the maths requirements he can show genuine interest in his subjects ! 🤞…

It's definitely not just a private/grammar school thing. DD has also applied for several state sixth forms and all have set bridging work. Here's one example
https://www.woodhouse.ac.uk/study-with-us/year-11-a-level-preparatory-summer-work

Pip interview sounds really tough @whereonthestair. Hope your ds gets the support he needs.

I do get it - I wasn’t slagging off people doing bridging work! I just don’t think it’s super important, personally. Re English Lit, even for students who did well at GCSE, it can be really challenging to take on the poetry of Keats or Coleridge, or read Othello, without support and guidance from a teacher. So for me, better preparation for my subject is just to read widely and for the love of it, and maybe watch the plays.

DD has been set some art work to do before her art course in September. She wasn’t at the taster day so only received it yesterday but it will take quite a while. I’m not sure her interpretation of the task is correct but letting her go with it, especially since this way she can use art she’s doing for pleasure anyway. It’s a pretty open ended practical task - ie fill a sketchbook, so hopefully won’t feel too much like work.

The other college may send stuff prior to Alevels. If so, she probably won’t do it as I think it’s unlikely she will go there, but it depends what it is.

I don’t think she should be spending long working, she really needs a break and for her I think that’s going to do her more good. It may depend on subject and child to some extent though.

Good question about exam boards - DS seems to have no clue. I will see if I can work it out somehow

I’ve just looked through DD’s summer work for Chemistry, maths and FM. Nothing too taxing. Just recapping the more challenging topics of the GCSE syllabus. They all specifically request that the work is done towards the end of the holidays and not the start so they are fresh when entering 6th form, which is music to DD’s ears.

Economics want a specific book read and to listen to some podcasts so that also seems very manageable.

Sold the science revision workbooks quickly on Vinted - only £2 for the lot but I didn't want them to go to waste.

One more week then DD starts her busy holiday period. Had to force her out of bed on Sunday to go to her martial arts but pointed out she's busy for almost all Sundays until September after this one.

DD is currently wild camping in family friends field with friends had a few days out and a shopping trip for new clothes. No holidays this Summer so feels like it's lasting a long time.
DD had her bridging work from both college 6th form and school 6th form. She did drop of several cvs after walking aound Town but not heard anything back. To be honest almost relieved with all the sport and 4 ALevels no idea where it would fit in. Offered to pay her to do some gardening etc

My DS just spent the summer chilling after gcse exams however after ALevels he has been on 3 holidays now considering a 4th!

DD had a big wobble about her A level choices last night. They're now up in the air again. She'd put down biology (favourite), maths, physics and geography with the plan to drop.one at half term.

She's not a natural mathematician but pushed her prediction from a 7 to a solid 8 with work. She doesn't think she did that well in the exams though.

She's done very well in physics and enjoys it (9 in mocks) but I think A level is a lot heavier on the maths than GCSE? She can't do physics without also doing maths at her school.

Because she wants to go STEM route we thought maths would.be useful and I told her we'd pay for a tutor for it. Anyway she's now had 2 maths tutoring sessions. The first was bridging building on what she has already done at GCSE like surds. She wanted to get more out of it so for the second session she asked.to start learning a new topic that isn't covered at GCSE. Of course that was hard and she's now twigged how much harder A level.maths is going to be.

She knows that I was always a bit dubious about her choices given she doesn't love maths. I've told her that I think she can do the A levels if she wants but it will be hard work and she might get better grades with something else. I think she's about the same as I was I got an A at GCSE Maths, not in the top set at grammar, and got a B at A level and found it very hard. She's a harder worker than me and with a tutor she would hopefully do better but I said it might be easier to get an A if she did chemistry or something else.

So (despite the bad chemistry teacher.putting her off) she's now recondsidering chemistry - the teachers who do A level are good.

She also started stressing about geography because she's always been a bit all.over the place with grades and it's not one of her highest predictions. She says the bit she finds hard is the way they have to write things in a particular eay to get marks. She's stressing she might have got a 6 (which I think is unlikely). She did get the Y11 prize for geography!

I also threw in psychology as something that's interesting, she wasn't interested in it for GCSE but did say it seems to have been a popular choice for A level.

Ruled out are English, French, drama. Latin is a possibility but I think that's more out of desperation as something she found easy enough.

@applecrumblespider your DD still has time to decide , I know quite a few DC who changed on results day last year in DS1s year group

There are quite a few foundation years out there now for kids that want to do STEM subjects but didn’t do the right A level mix . So there is some wiggle room

Mine is waiting till results day to decide @applecrumblespider

The only one she's sure of is German. I think she'll do Maths if she gets an 8, and seems keen on History but hasn't put that down at any of the schools she's applied for. Also in the mix are biology, English and philosophy.

20th August will be interesting with schools and choices to decide..Suffice to say no bridging work has been attempted.

Mine won’t decide fully until results day either.

That's the life. DS was talking about going to Tenerife with his friends after A-levels. I asked which friends were planning this and he said he didn't know anyone at his new school yet so he'd find out! I love his optimism. Hopefully he'll make some good pals and have just as much fun as your DS.

My daughter is currently in Germany visiting grandparents. I thought she'd be bored but she doesn't appear to want to come back 😬 and is enjoying constant shopping sprees with my mum and eating out with my mum and dad and sunbathing in their garden with the dog 🐶 She was scheduled for a shift on Monday at her place of work, but she has swapped with someone so she can stay an extra few days. She wants me to pick her up by car as she bought loads of new clothes she wants to bring back to the UK that apparently plane luggage won't suffice 🤦‍♀️

Yep I think we'll.see.what results day brings and talk to the teachers then. I fear though that the results won't make things much clearer - she should get 7s and above for everything. She has no idea what she wants to do for a degree yet.

@NotDarkGothicMama hope your DS goes abroad after ALevels. My DS did 2 holidays with his GF 1 UK camping and one abroad then 1 camping trip with mates. Was after GCSEs that he made his friends, some had moved on to different places so think they made an effort to stay in touch !!

A month tomorrow and they will know the results.

Really wishing I had more annual leave to spend with DD, as she seem to be growing up so fast! !

Dd is set on her four (they have to start with four) of English literature, psychology, biology and history but unsure of the latter two which will be the one to drop.