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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

OK - GCSES. Parents and teachers, tell me the truth.

38 replies

seeker · 03/04/2010 08:47

Exactly how hard are they?

My dd is in Year 9 of a grammar school. She is consistently in the top 10% of her year for effort, and does very well in attainment. Not as well, because there are some spectacularly bright girls in her year, but she is working at high level 7 - level 8 in all subjects, except maths, where she is just a level 7. She has just chosen her options, and will get down to proper GCSE work next year (they don't do the early start that soem other schools do).

My question is this. She currently dances til 7 on Mondays, has a paid job most Wednesday evening finishing at 7, rides on Thursdays, finishing at 7.30 and goes to Scouts on Fridays, finishing at 9.30. She then rides again on Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons. She tends to go to town with her friends on Saturday afternoons. She's also in the senior choir and the handball team at school. She is working towards her grade 4 in singing and grade 6 in clarinet.

She has never handed in a piece of homework late or badly done - she is very focussed and hardworking.

This isn't going to work in year 10, is it? Something's going to have to give? Writing it down I have no idea how she manages the results she does - she loves to be busy and doesn't want to give anything up. But that really is an insane schedule isn't it?????

OP posts:

gherkinwithapurplemerkin · 03/04/2010 08:52

Is she Y9 at the mo?
She is clearly very bright so will prob find the academic side of GCSEs straightforward - they are not that hard. I think it is way easier to get an A at GCSE than it was at O level - A* is a bit different and requires talent/flair rather than just intelligence and hard work. However there is a lot of coursework and it kicks in straight away (some schools even begin it at end of Y9).Her time management would have to be exceptional to stay on top of of work if she continues as she currently is.
I'd warn her during the summer and let her see how it goes but with the proviso that she may have to drop a riding session or something.

cornsilk · 03/04/2010 08:55

What levels equate to years in secondaries then? So when should they be level 5,6,7 etc - sorry seeker just interested!

skihorse · 03/04/2010 09:09

I'm sorry but I'm confused as to why her attainment is low in relation to the other girls doing well. Is this one of those very american systems where e.g., there can only be 2 As, 3 Bs and everyone else gets a D no matter what their actual "mark"?

It's a tough schedule, but there's some truth in that saying, something about "if you want something done, ask a busy person". GCSEs are not difficult at all - especially not for someone at grammar and she'll need those extra-curricular activities to set her aside from every other Tom, Dick & Harry with 12 A*s.

roisin · 03/04/2010 09:19

I think it is something just to monitor and check she is keeping on top of things: particularly not-so-easily-measurable-stuff like vocab learning in MFL and reading round the subjects a bit.

But - IMO - busy people tend to be far more efficient with their time. We have boys at school who spend hours and hours and hours on the XBox every day (which I don't class as busy), but don't manage to get homework done.

Many subjects are moving now to modular courses, where you have to keep up and have exams as you go along. Also coursework is mostly being phased out in favour of 'controlled assessments', which take place in school time.

What courses is she doing?

MmeBlueberry · 03/04/2010 09:41

GCSEs aren't hard for a bright, motivated student.

Your DD does not have a lot of free time, though, and this could be a problem as homework is a significant part of the overall workload at GCSE.

The number A they get is important, and you can't get an A just by being bright. You need to put the work in too.

sarah293 · 03/04/2010 09:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster

seeker · 03/04/2010 11:17

Thqnk you all. She's doing 2 English ,3 science ,maths Spanish, history, fine art and performing arts. Skihorse,sorry I didn't mean her attainment was low, it's just not in the top 10% like her effort scores because there are a lot of super bright girls in her year!

OP posts:

brimfull · 03/04/2010 11:30

Dd got a*'s and a's with very little revision.last minute mostly.
She is bright but also gets stuff done when it's needed which is the important bit I think.
I did make sure dd wasn't on msn and facebook ( by removing pc from her room)when she should be revising which I think helped matters
A levels different kettle of fish though.

webwiz · 03/04/2010 11:30

Seeker your DD sounds a bit like my DD2 - she was a whirlwind of activity as well.

Throughout her GCSE years there were times when all her deadlines conspired and she ended up with too much to do and too little time but she got through it. I think she did a bit of a gradual reduction of activities through year 11 because she started to need some more time to relax but that happened quite naturally. She did do very well in her GCSEs with nearly all A* and so being busy didn't make any difference to her results. She is now in year 12 now and since joining the sixth form her workload has shot up so now is the time that she is starting to give things up.

roisin · 03/04/2010 11:31

fine art does tend to require quite a lot of extra hours 'creating'. With the new 2010 syllabus I think English will be far less pressured wrt coursework/homework. Three science is pretty full-on. Is this an option - ie does she get extra timetable time to do it? You might think of getting a subscription to Focus Magazine, or similar, to help her read around the subject and so on. I also tend to record Horizon and similar programmes to inspire passion.

History, again, used to be very full-on with coursework demands. But I think most courses are now moving to in-house controlled assessments and similar. Some courses are modular too, which helps spread the load.

MmeBlueberry · 03/04/2010 11:40

I think everything is moving to controlled assessment next year.

I think, in practice, this will mean that more conventional learning will have to take place at home. They are not reducing the specifications.

snorkie · 03/04/2010 11:57

About two years ago I posted a very similar thread. The advice given was that the workload would go up and something would have to give. I have to say, the workload did not go up - rather the opposite in fact and the last two years have been quite relaxed relative to year 9. Ds still does a stupid number of extra curriculars and has joined a couple more music ensembles since then - seems to thrive on it. His work doesn't seem to have suffered.

Tinuviel · 03/04/2010 16:10

I would say it's something to monitor once she is in year 10. If she's coping with everything, then there's no need to drop stuff. If she's struggling time-wise, then she will probably see that for herself and make her own decisions about what she is willing to give up for a while.

Original poster

seeker · 03/04/2010 16:34

Thank you all - so I will do what she wants me to do and let her wait and see.

I suppose the thing I worry about is that she doesn't seem to have any down time. I'm a great believer in down time - but she seems to regard it as a waste of time! She even sews or draws while she watches TV!

OP posts:

Jopeg · 03/04/2010 17:20

If she doesn't mind not having downtime that is fine, my DD expects to do all the activities, have downtime and it is the coursework that suffers, GCSEs this summer - oh dear!

snorkie · 03/04/2010 18:05

Some children need more downtime than others imo and some can catch up in the holidays if necessary too. Keep an eye on things and have a plan in place as to what stops if things get too much, but you may well find for a concientious child, the reduced number of subjects in years 10/11 leads to a smaller homework burden (which also seems less onerous as it's subjects you have chosen too). On the other hand if she's at a school that makes them do huge numbers of GCSEs or if she's chosen very homework intensive ones then maybe you will have more cause to worry.

AnzoneioBanderas · 03/04/2010 18:08

I tell you what is a shock in year 10 ( i have 30 of them at the moment as a tutor group)
a) lots of defferent deadlines
B) they distance themselves from you a LOT - loads of parents have commented on this
c) they might start NOT enjoying school if they did before.

There are rfantastic kids who juggle a lot so dont give it all up in anticiaption.

EvilTwins · 03/04/2010 18:25

OP, I think your DD will be fine. If she's getting those levels in Yr 9, she will not find the academic work of GCSEs that difficult. I agree with the poster who said that A*s are often more about flair or talent than hard work - that's certainly the case in English and Performing Arts (I teach those subjects)

When I did my GCSEs (admitedly in 1991, but if you believe the DM, they were MUCH harder then), I was doing piano lessons and guides on Mondays, singing lessons on Tuesdays, two separate choirs on Wednesdays and Thursdays, plus taking part in musical performances and full-on musicals at the local boys' school, which often involved rehearsing til 9pm three evenings a week, with all day rehearsals on Sundays for the weeks we were involved. I also had a Saturday job during Yr 11. I went to a bog-standard comp. I came out with 5 As and 5 Bs (this was before A*s, remember) and didn't feel like I was over-stretched or missing out on "downtime" - I loved the activities I was involved with, and would have been loathe to drop any of them.

snorkie · 03/04/2010 19:10

just seen you have listed her subjects - they look a good well balanced set. 10 is not too many - the core ones & sciences are fairly straightforward for a bright child. Spanish & history will have more demands than some (but are good choices non the less) and fine art is known for onerous coursework (dd's teacher was unable to explain how this was going to work with the move to controlled assessment, but I distinctly got the impression that it wasn't going to be possible for it all to be done at school supervised and a 'flexible' approach would be taken). Performing arts will have some time demands too I should think.

So some heavier subjects there - but a sensible number, so it should be OK I would think.

Tinuviel · 03/04/2010 20:22

Spanish shouldn't be a heavy subject with the new syllabus. Speaking test is now divided into 2 so although 2 fairly intensive preparation periods, it's very short term. Writing is also only 2 pieces now and again short and intensive. So that should reduce the pressure on that. Learning for the current speaking test is a lot more challenging!!

princessparty · 04/04/2010 00:37

MY DS is in Y10 at a grammar school.He gets home at about 5 o'clock and has his tea,practices his instruments and then plays on the X box til about 7.30 before doing his homework.To be fair he has chosen things which aren't too heavy on coursework
At G/S there are SO many children who are mega bright (DS2 s Y7 class there 2 kids who did Maths GCSE while at primary school)

ZipadiSoozi · 04/04/2010 00:56

Gosh your dd sounds really bright, my ds is also in yr9 but is only average level 6

I wouldn't worry until she starts the coursework, thats what will take her time, but to start at 7pm is ok isn't it?

My ds has to have a break from shcool when he comes home, refuses to start hmwk till after 6.30 says if he does it any earlier his brain feels like its going to explode!

Pineberry · 04/04/2010 01:05

dd does nada
in year 10 predicted A/A* but i am thinking more like A now...she is very lazy
like others said GCSEs not what they used to be

Original poster

seeker · 04/04/2010 11:37

Right - she has just announced that she wants to do Duke of Edinburgh as well..............

OP posts:

EvilTwins · 04/04/2010 11:41

Let her. She'll be fine. She sounds very bright, and therefore I suspect will be able to identify if she is over-stretching herself.

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