Y11 2025-26 Results Day and Next Steps

[UncomfortableSilence]

We can use this thread to continue our discussions for now.

@cherrywhite we are similar. Always a 6/7. Got a 4. 3 marks off 5. Waiting to hear back re review

My dd went back to her school for 6th form.
She had an amazing chemistry teacher for her gcse's and really wanted her again for A level, however she has been given a different teacher, who a friend the year above doesn't rate.
She is considering asking if she can move to the other class - there wouldn't be a timetable issue.
She can't decide what to do - her current class only has 11 students in where the one with the teacher she wants has 16.
She knows it could be just her friend who struggles with this teachers teaching methods but it could also be others struggle as well.
So does she give this teacher a chance with less children in or go for a slightly larger class with a teacher she knows is good.
If she decides to ask for a change in teacher, what could ahe say as to why she wants to move, without offending the teacher she has been given.
We don't want to offend anyone but we also want what will work best for my dd x

@Bati I’d be a bit ruthless and ask to move. The connection between teacher and pupil can make or break success in my experience (i know teachers leave etc). My DD totally checked out of a gcse subject as she just didn’t gel with teacher and I wish I’d pushed harder to switch. Got a 4 not a 7+
flip side she loved chem tutor and excelled

Thats what I am thinking.
Since I posted, she has decided to ask for a move to the other chemistry class.

She isn't the most confident teenager when it comes to things like this as she is always worried she will offend someone or they will think badly of her.

The teacher she had for gcse was truly amazing, going into year 10 my dd neither liked chemistry or disliked it and was never thinking about chemistry A level but now she loves it - a good teacher who you gel with really makes a difference.

Hopefully she has the courage to ask - if not I will contact the school and ask 🤞

@Bati my DS s quite passive and is going into yr10 but literally the first thing he did this week was go though every subject and look at what teacher he had and if he liked them / liked their teaching..

My daughter also had an amazing Chemistry teacher for GCSEs and is taking it for A-levels. A good teacher makes an enormous difference. Be careful what you with for though as my daughter had been BEGGING to move English classes to a teacher she liked in Y9 and the school finally reluctantly agreed to move her, but it later turned out the other English teacher was actually better and she was regretting her decision 🤦‍♀️

I think sometimes perception is everything. DD loved her y10 Physics teacher and was really disappointed when he was replaced in y11. But by the second term, she'd decided get new teacher was actually better, and she ended up moving from a 6 in mocks to a 9 in her final exams. The grass isn't always greener.

DD has her first proper day at her new school today. Induction seemed ok but they did spend 2 hours with a couple of Y13s just aimlessly wandering round the area. DD would have preferred to stay in bed after getting home late the night before.

Remember teachers are human beings too and have their own ups and downs . DS1 had an amazing teacher for physics GCSE who obviously loved their subject . Not sure if it’s the demands of the A level syllabus or whether she has her own stuff going on ( she’s off sick quite often ) but she’s completely different at A level .. DS1 is a little confused by the change

@Bati it seems very soon to be making a decision about the teacher. They’ve only been back a few days and change can be difficult - maybe your dd could give it a bit longer to make a more informed judgement? Also remember that the other teacher she likes could leave, go off sick, go on mat leave etc. It sounds like you’ll be sensitive about it tho whatever you decide to do - ultimately you need to do what is best for your dd.

She did think about giving it a go for a month or so, but more storys last night and today of said teacher coming through are not good.

She spoke to the head of 6th form today and was told they will look into it but no promises as the school doesn't go of student preferences - I totally understand that and if the teacher she has been given had a good reputation, we wouldnt bother asking but they don't and thats a big worry.

Thankfully, they have 2 teachers for each A level - they teach different parts of the A level.
The one she doesn't and the one she really wants teach the same part of the A level

She has another teacher who teaches the rest of the A level - she has not had this teacher before but she is completely happy with this teacher as other children say they are good - she would still have this teacher if she moved to the other class - they teach exactly the same for both classes.

We are fully expecting a no as the other class has more children in - We will then have to rethink where we go from here.

I really think you should pause and give this person time and not let your dd be so influenced over other people’s opinions. The term has barely started and she may be pleasantly surprised if the opportunity is given.
There is a lot to be said for the smaller class.

When you say the teacher doesn’t have a good reputation, what are you basing it on, other than the word of the friend in the year above? And what is your DD’s experience of the teacher so far, aside from her wish to be the other teacher? Has she had enough lessons to form an opinion? Also, how many hours per week will your dd actually be with this teacher, if she has 2 teachers on the course? A Level is rooted in independent study (I teach 11-18), so it’s not like GCSE where so much hinges on the teacher. I would reflect on all of this before making a judgement and getting involved in a wrangle with the school.

I think the school is fair to say they can’t move kids because of preference - it would be chaos if kids could choose teachers based on who they like or what others have said (though as a teacher it’s be rather nice to pick classes based on preference 😉 which clearly is not an option!).

Honestly, imo, if the school push back, I would ask your dd to give it a go for a month or two.

Its a few children now who have all said the same - she was willing to give it a month until other children then said the same thing.
I wouldn't mind so much if it was gcse, but having 2 older children who have done A level chemistry, we know its a lot harder to catch up on.
We will of course continue with the teacher if we have no other choice, with the hope she can attend the other class as an additional if things go pear shaped.
If not then I will have to spend a lot of money on a tutor, hopefully it won't come to that 🤞

Has anyone else had any remarks back or received their papers and thinking of going for a review? Frustratingly, we are yet to receive our papers despite asking for them the day the results came out. Just want to see where it all went wrong and if it’s worth submitting. Read the English review thread from last year and there were so many ‘remarks’ that resulted in a higher grade (and in some cases an increase of 2 grades!) but there doesn’t seem to be as much commentary this year. Reading that thread also made me realise that it may be worth also submitting the papers that were not so close to the next grade boundary, but were unexpectedly low results. We have a couple of those but I’d love to see the paper before risking it. Has anyone not near the upper boundary risked a remark?

Yes we had three reviewed and all went up a grade, including English lit. We are now awaiting a fourth review. We weren’t going to bother as Dd doesn’t need it going forward but it’s one mark off an 8 and we’ve had a positive run with the other three results so have fingers crossed. They all came back within a week.

Edited to add - all those sent off and had an upgrade were 1-2 marks off next boundary but all increased far beyond that. 4-13 marks.

Oh wow that’s amazing! Congratulations - so pleased for you. Stories like this give us hope 🤞🏻. Can I ask what subjects and boards they were with? And did you review the papers and spot an issue with the marking or just give it a shot because you were so close to the upper boundary? We have 5 that are 1-2 marks away and another 2 that were surprisingly low but they’re not near the boundary - desperate to see the papers so we can decide how to proceed. It’s so frustrating that so many have their remarks back and our school still hasn’t even downloaded our papers!

We are getting two reviewed. One just because it’s one mark away & school want to (won’t make a material difference to options) and Eng Lang as dropped 2-3 grades to 4 and huge impact.
however it also makes me angry how many kids might not get the chance as either school don’t push, parents aren’t aware or they can’t pay for it

Yes we were really lucky that school spoke to the children directly on results day if they thought they should remark and teachers looked at papers within the first two days post results to identify which paper is best for review. They were all AQA.

It’s such a shame that schools do this so differently. I agree with pp, it means potentially such different outcomes for some children if they’re not supported or encouraged to review.

Still stressing about A level choices here! Only 2 days of lessons in but neither chemistry nor physics (3rd and 4th choices) have yet inspired DD and she's talking about ditching both of them for Latin. Also one of her two chem teachers is the "shit" teacher she had at GCSE which has really put a downer on that - although she hasn't had a lesson with him yet. She's planning to see how she feels at the end of this week.

What other subjects is she doing @applecrumblespider? Does she have any idea what she may want to do later?

I gave a couple of friends whose kids are in Y13 and have now regretted dropping one or another science/maths as it limits what they can pursue at uni. It doesn't matter at all of she's likely to continue with humanities or something vocational, but if there's a chance she may want to do something like engineering/medicine/natural sciences, just have a look before she makes a decision.

ETA DD has her first German lesson today which I'm a bit worried about. She loved it at her old school and is thinking of doing it at uni but her school has a tiny class for A level that they do alongside the Y13s so just not sure how she'll find it.

Exactly what I'm worried about. She's science focussed but didn't do as well as predicted in them. Her (currently favourite) other subjects are biology and geography. She doesn't want to do engineering degree or anything related to healthcare, but she doesn't know what she wants either. I have checked and there are good unis that would accept her for biological science with the geography as the second "science", also she'd be fine for geography. I don't want to push her into anything she doesn't want to do but she knows she'd be more limited doing Latin.

I'm still waiting for a reply to my email about the remark.

DS also hasn't had a conversation with anyone about swapping psychology for philosophy (neither of which I can spell). I have strongly encouraged him to do that today.

Is anyone looking at uni open days already?

I think it’s too early for open days - I’m only just doing them now with my yr13 .im much better informed as to his choices and ability now than I was 12 months ago

We have one booked in September and another in November. It is early days but I'm treating it more as a just a go and see rather than any in-depth fact finding mission. As DS is autistic it's good to go to places ahead of needing to go there if you see what I mean.

We can't afford for DS to move away so he only has two options of Uni. Also I believe as his degree would be in Paramedic Science and there is an interview process etc he has to apply by January 2028 which actually isn't that far away. If he still wants to go to uni he can do some more open days nearer the time to get the nitty gritty info he needs.

Yes, we’re busy doing open days at the moment. Not necessarily unis that DD wants to go to but more for the subject talks.

DD currently has no idea what she wants to do at uni. It ranges from engineering, to economics, to maths, to PPE, to International Relations etc etc.

She has until October half term to change her A Level choices if she wants to so trying to get her to start giving proper thought as to what she wants to study and what A Levels would be needed.