so is anyone's child not predicted to get an A* in gcses

[southeastastra]

cause i've seen lots so far

[TheFallenMadonna]

Yes. Many secondary school teachers start out thinking that children will be able to read when they arrive at secondary school. Very few can't read at all, although I do teach some. There are many more though who read at a level below that at which, well, exam papers are written. And textbooks. Literacy problems are the biggest thing holding some of my classes back in terms of assessment. And we live or die by assessment.

[claig]

TheFallenMadonna, I don't know how it works. If a child can't read or write and has no hope of passing GCSE English, do they still have to be entered for the exam? Is that some sort of legal or OFSTED requirement? Or can they instead just be removed from these lessons and receive intensive 8 hour a day tuition in reading and writing until they reach a good standard.

[ZooeyGlass]

GCSE predictions are worthless. They count for absolutely nothing, and yes most of them are pretty goddamn easy. Maths, Bio, Chem and Phys are all about past papers, whilst Eng, Hist and to some extent Geog are about essay technique.