Y11 2025-26 Results Day and Next Steps

[UncomfortableSilence]

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

@ShesRunningOutTheDoorHis English Language result was a 5 and it was lower than had been predicted. But it's enough for his probable engineering future and it's enough for his stem A levels.

We still haven't had teacher comments on whether to send bio and chem papers for review, have poked DD to chase again today. Will report back when we finally know though.

@applecrumblespider I think the deadline for reviews is next week. Dd's old school have said 23rd Sep is the last day to request a review but not sure if the official deadline is a couple of days later. Just so you don't miss it if you decide to go ahead.

Sorry to hear that @TheGodWorm. Hope he’s not disappointed it didn’t go up.

Dd is going round in circles trying to decide out of two subjects which to drop. We’ve literally written pros and cons on big paper. We’ve researched uni admissions to see if that would shed any light. But nope - genuine loggerheads! She’s enjoying both equally.

Does she have to drop one or can she keep both?

I had a similar situation with my ds a couple of years ago @makemineadecaf - we ended up tossing a coin!

Yikes! I genuinely think this may have to happen!

She can’t and won’t do four alevels. She’ll be doing three and an epq. Just have a week left to decide what to drop!

We've had a swap here. Apparently econ was too boring to bear so it's been swapped for chemistry, leaving us with biology, chemistry, geography and EPQ.

First chemistry lessons will be today so I hope he doesn't drown. I've told him to beg a text book so we can do a bit of a catch up at the weekend.

DD is of with friends to look at Oxford all a bit last minute on her part so hoping she gets something useful out of it.

DS has gone to Oxford with friends today too. Hopefully they all come back excited and he won't be so focused on the lack of formal attire.

Mine decided to drop Maths yesterday leaving her with German, English and History. It was a toss up between History and Maths but she said she's finding the Maths lessons quite boring and enjoys writing essays so hopefully the right decision.

We had a welcome evening at their new 6th form today where they told us they expect them to do 20 hours independent study a week going up to 30 before exams. They also said they'll be identifying the "early UCAS applicants" for Oxbridge, Medicine, Dentistry and Vet by October half term. It all feels very quick. DD doesn't really have a clear idea of what she wants to do at uni but possibly interested in Oxbridge.

Did he think all universities were formal rather than hoodies and casual?!

Quick question- have got DD's Engineering paper back, she is one mark away from the next grade. I asked her teacher if it was worth a review/remark, including the two questions which could possibly yield the extra mark. He said it was worth doing it. But DH says NO. He says it doesn't matter, she doesn't want to pursue it.

That sounds remarkably like DD's sixth form welcome evening (although ours was Wednesday and it's a girl's school). But they said the same things.

We're considering Chemistry too - but we are three marks away.

A girl in her class had her Chemistry reviewed as she was 2marks away, but hers went DOWN 10 marks!

My daughter's AQA Biology was marked down by 2 marks (1 in each paper) 😥 Thankfully it didn't affect the grade as she was very far away from the lower grade boundary, but I shouldn't have bothered (she was previously 1 mark off the higher grade boundary).

Our one said 4-5 hours per subject. But DC only doing actual set homework at the moment which is nowhere near this much. How about your DC are they doing hw or extra study too?

My DS is very difficult to tell. He has decided to use all free periods for study and treat A levels as a 9-5 job, which suits him. That covers what’s set. He then has a list of emails he sends himself if stuff to look up, which he does and reads. But then there is the independent learning which are his hobbies anyway - listening to podcasts etc. so I imagine he’s doing closer to 20 hours etc independent learning and a 45 hour week but it’s because he wants to.

That sounds amazing - what subjects is he doing? DC is STEM and eg maths doesn’t seem to lend itself as well to extra reading and podcasts etc

He’s doing history, politics and economics. Or Marx,Marx and Marx… he’s been a politics nerd since he was 6 he just had to wait 10 years before he could study it!

No, just the good ones 😆 He was very disappointed when we went to the Cambridge open day last week.

Mine has mostly (1 research this play exception) only been set “finish it off if you haven’t yet” type homework so far. Have been trying to encourage him to quiz himself on facts etc but he’s found it very difficult as textbooks seem to be unavailable/ out of date and/or the teacher is doing it all in a totally different order. And the teachers seem to want their work handed in quite often. Hopefully this will improve as they finish topics so easier to revise past stuff 🤞. Not sure how relevant to the actual classwork independent study needs to be either tbh.

I would ask yourself, to what end would you be getting a remark? What purpose would potentially getting the next grade up serve? If nothing much, then honestly I wouldn’t bother.

@NotDarkGothicMama hope your ds enjoyed the open day.
DD enjpyed it got her considering what she would like to do. Discovered she needs to A stars and an A to study engineering at Oxford.
We also had parents information evening this week where told for every hr in class they had to match outside so 4.5hrs per A level.