Y11 - 2026/27 thread

[Echobelly]

I don't see a thread yet so I guess I might as well start it. I'm gonna need a lot of handholding for this one 😭

Thank you for starting this thread, I think it will be really useful this year. 1st day of Yr 11 for us today.

Already got an email asking DS to attend early morning extra group for English Lit, which is good. They're starting with An Inspector Calls which I am hoping might be helpful for DS as he studies drama and it has very clear themes which might help him understand the whole 'analysing text' thing more.

The school does do a lot of this stuff in GCSE year including some holiday and weekend sessions and I think he's going to need all of them.

Good luck to everyone embarking on Y11 in the next week!

Day 3 for us.
Her year group are enjoying having the Yr11 common room. Shes not liked a couple of seating plans. Most teachers the same, only one change (and thats only an hour a week out of 3hrs for that subject). Sjes relieved not fo have moved down a set in English.

We need to start the Sixth Form/College search now.

I have booked one 6th form open day, no details up of other place I want to look up but know its usually November

1st day back and OK and, hallelujah! He has got a different English teacher this year. Mr P last year was a very cold, sardonic sort who is very unpopular with the kids, which didn't help I think. He will have Mrs B who is the SENCO - no idea how good she is as an English teacher, but at least she knows him and should understand him better.

First day for us today

seems to have gone well! Most of the same teachers from Yr 10

Got a info eve on Mondsy

Thank you for this thread - DC starts on Tuesday.
I am excited, nervous and feeling helpless about the year ahead!
As I understand it, the school tries to keep the same teachers for y11 as they had for y10.

DS was back on Friday. He’s moved up a set in science which is good, and hopefully means he should be ok to do higher barring disaster.

He’s pretty sure he wants to stay at his school for sixth form, but currently only has one subject he wants to do at A level which could be an issue!

Thanks for starting the new thread! DS was back on Tuesday. Already non stop comms from the school about what an important year it is and good study habits and they’re piling on the homework. DS left it all to the weekend of course and was then miserable yesterday (and only completed 2 subjects so a lot for today!). The school are revising predicted grades before half term which seems unnecessary and another way of increasing pressure (which I feel much more than DS!).

I'm not sure I'll go to any parent meetings this year - they only make DH frantic and go 'Aaagh, DS just isn't capable of doing that' (on account of DS' ADHD)

They have a choice of 'enrichment activities' each year two afternoons a week, and this year they're all subject-boosting ones (rather than fun stuff like crafts or sports), so DH sensibly chose English creative writing and maths confidence for this term.

6th forms. Make sure you have Plan A, Plan B and Plan C. You can apply to as many as you like, but don't put all your effort in one basket. If borderline for A levels look at BTECs too. Every year on mn there are worried parents whose DCs didn't get grades with no Plan B.

We don't have parents eve till January, after 6th form applications have to be in. Feels unhelpful but as the school has no 6th form I assume they are invested in GCSE grades but not so much selling their subjects for A levels etc.
No homework set for the week, they've been in 1.5 days so I expect this week it will ramp up. The calendar shows mocks dates in Nov and March, and prom in June!

Mocks for DC are in early Jan - not sure whether that is good or bad! Just what it is.
They had a taster day at the sixth form last term and they loved it - hopefully it has a motivating effect.

DS’ mocks are also straight after Xmas holidays

Hello everyone Jumping on for the stress-fest that Y11 promises to be!

Dd had a lazy summer which I hope is a good strategic choice - she’s been very happy so I’m braced for the year ahead knowing the storms and grumps will be induced by ten tedious GCSEs!

We’re stuck with a fairly wafty ineffective English teacher this year, so I’ve been persuading dd to accept some tutoring since she has plummeted 2.5 grades last year. Capable of an 8 but we’re aiming to get her back in 7 territory.

My kids' school does mocks before Christmas - I think part of the idea might be to at least give them Christmas period with less revision pressure. They also have March mocks, but we do know now from oldest's experience that they're all a bit exhausted and unmotivated at that point so marks will probably be lower than December's and not to worry too much about that.

Yes, that makes sense.
Lots of distractions so focusing may be difficult. DC has been doing some revision over the Summer so hopefully that will make things easier.

Thanks for the new thread, @Echobelly !

DD was only back one day last week and was set three pieces of homework, which seemed a bit mean!

She's not been looking forward to Y11 as she just knows it will be a slog, but she already opted to do a bit of extra science study on Sunday as there was a topic that they'd started in July which she hadn't quite grasped, and the recap lesson on Friday afternoon didn't clarify things sufficiently. She's feeling better about it after her home study session, and I piled on the praise for her good attitude. Let's hope it is a sign of things to come!

DD is already regretting not having been disciplined with writing clear study notes for all topics covered in Y10. It just seems to be a mass of exercise books and bits of paper, which is making her worried. I think it'll be fine, and exam questions will be the best help, but I could be wrong!

Most importantly, DD is happy with school itself - friendships etc - so hopefully they will support each other and it will all be ok...

Thanks for this, I wasn't sure if we should apply to several colleges or not but think we will to keep all options open