Whose children are taking their GCSE's at the moment? Godd Luck to all of us!!

[lilibet]

First proper paper tomorrow - English Literature. My dd is a the moment fast asleep on the couch after reading Blood Brothers and Mice and Men all day.

Who else is suffering at the moment?

Good luck to all of us - parents and children

[lilibet]

Depends if they are with their dad - I'll just go and check


it's a wednesday

will have to see if I can get it off work

[tabitha]

My dd1 is sitting her Highers. Has finished Maths but has written Art & Chemistry still to do. Both on the same day next week (Tuesday, I think). Is very stressed out and miserable about the whole thing

[Janh]

I have signed up as an invigilator and my first exam is tomorrow afternoon - wish me luck too, please

[lilibet]

oooh Janh - that sounds good!

You keep your eye on them - 'orrible little students!

[tabitha]

Good luck, Jan

[lilibet]

Does Highers mean that you are north of the border Tabitha?

[Janh]

My kids have given me a few hints on what to watch out for (cribs written on cuffs etc)

Luckily this first one is a big one, in the school gym, so there will be several invigilators there (1 per 30 students) and I can watch and learn. I have 3 more the week after half-term.

[tabitha]

Yes lilibet, we live near Falkirk

[Janh]

Thank you, tabitha! I am dreading having to do the introductory talk, always lose control of my voice in front of large groups, even when they are all 16

[Janh]

tabitha, don't you have half-term next week?

[tabitha]

No, we don't have any more holidays till school stops at the end of June.

[lilibet]

You have to talk??

What do you have to say?

[ScummyMummy]

Good luck
don't cheat
remember to read the question
you may turn your papers over and start writing now five minutes left
stop writing please.
I said that's it, put that pen down Jenkins minor...

Do you have to say stuff along those lines, janh?

[Janh]

yep, like that, scummy, but much much more! And you have to keep banging on about handing in their mobile phones even though they've been told 25 times before. (They get disqualified if they have one and it goes off )

[ScummyMummy]

Harsh!

[Janh]

Also with the AS and A2 levels you can have several different papers all in the same room and you have to keep track of start and finish times, make sure each person has the right paper, check erratum notices etc etc, it is dead complicated!

[happymerryberries]

Jan, have you played paper war yet, or chilcken?

there are more unkind 'games, but I don't play them.

[Janh]

Noooo, hmb, I haven't done it at all yet, what do you mean? Are these teachers' passing-the-time games or what? Will they let us into the secret? Do tell!

[lilibet]

sounds interestin hmb, tell us more?

[suedonim]

Up here, the children go back to school after exams and start their next year's studies. Of course, dd1 won't be returning as she's in her final year - she's got a p/t job to do instead!

[happymerryberries]

OK, Jan as you have now done some exam invigelation you now know how deadly dull it can get when you are there hour upon hour. Obviously you have to stay alert and observant.....all part of the job.

paper wars has to be played with a patner. you each get 10 shhets of extra paper. the winer is the person who gets all 10 disributed to children as they request it first!

Chichen is also played with a partner, as you walk around walk towrads each other in an aisle and see which one chickens out first!

In case any parents object these are played with great discression, and do not disturb the kids!

[lilibet]

How did it go Jan?

[Janh]

Hello, ladies!

Yes, it was pretty dull (as expected) but it was 3x1hr papers (AS Psychology) so we had a chance to whizz around between papers, taking them in and dealing them out again - we turned them around in about 8 minutes, is that good? (131 students, 4 invigilators + hovering teacher).

Thanks for the initiation, hmb - funny about the papers, it did get a bit like that at one point by accident, I'll suggest doing it on purpose at the next one!

I spent some time counting:

spec-wearers (but couldn't see all their faces all the time so that was hard)
left-handers, I walked around counting them, there were 12 or 13 if I counted right or 10%, is that representative?
boys
and girls

but there were too many altogether to keep track. It put the time in though.

Presumably all schools are doing this, is the time making a big difference to the staff?

Tell you what was really funny, they are DS1's age and some of them I haven't seen since playgroup but I recognised a couple of the girls! (Don't think I'll tell them though, they might be offended )

[happymerryberries]

The time is a life saver Janh, you are all much appreciated!

However the government is going to claw the time back from us by stopping study leave for year 11s and I have heared a rumour that work experience is going to go as well. Never mind what is best for the kids, just so long as the governemnt gets its pound of flesh!!!

I don't suppose that they ever think that we migh t be using the time to imporve teaching materials, update lesoons etc.

Other things to do in the lesson, count left hand/right hand! Count real/ bleached blondes!

[Janh]

As far as stopping study leave goes, I can see that losing that free time would be a nuisance for the staff (and Y7-10!) but the students would get more constructive revision done that way, wouldn't they? Not sure about work experience...

I don't understand why taking on outside invigilators should affect those things, though - no logic to it at all, or not from a financial pov, and for goodness sake teachers put enough extra hours in outside the school day already. Mad.

I had hair colour saved for next time, funnily enough! Very few natural blondes as far as I could see, and lots of bleached boys as well as girls these days. (And one boy with hair like Mick Hucknall, not a good look at 17 )