No exams this summer

[noblegiraffe]

Blimey.

Waiting for more details about this.

@CarrieBlue yes, wouldn’t it!

My daughter is distraught. Best case scenario for her is predicted grades but then kids have no direction for next 6 months. But equally postpone til august, we don’t know if things are going to better then and momentum is lost, kids forgotten some of what’s been learned and have an even more rubbish summer. It’s a nightmare

Predicted grades also not fair because schools so mocks etc at different points in the year.
I'm not surprised they hadn't said what they are going to do because it is hugely complex and important.

At a primary level, I'm assuming that means no SATs, Phonics Screen or Y4 TTS?

Wonder if they will delay exams, get kids revising over next couple of months to give them something to do, though not likely to result in great grades. Teachers after all are qualified to do a job that others can’t. Hopefully colleges, 6th forms and unis might be a bit more lenient.

@eggofmantumbi of course it’s complex so it shouldn’t be announced until there’s a plan and those who have to deliver it i.e. us should be told first

It's all about getting them to the next stage of education but some might not go for further education after gcses.
Thinking long term, students from this year's cohort might be disadvantaged in the Labour Market if they don't sit exams. Employers might prefer candidates with real, achieved grades.

@carrieblue i disagree. I think they had to say schools were shutting and therefore had to say they were cancelling may/June exams, but (and this coming from someone who cannot stand this government) I don't think we could have expected them to make a full announcement of the finer details today.

I feel so sad for my exam classes. Even year 10 have spent all year doing controlled tasks and have already sat one exam for what may be nothing and that is before I think about the work Year 11 have put in. Will have to be positive!

I feel so sad for my exam classes. Even year 10 have spent all year doing controlled tasks and have already sat one exam for what may be nothing and that is before I think about the work Year 11 have put in. Will have to be positive!

My DD is distraught. She is due to sit A levels. I would prefer late exams than none at all. Predicted grades and/or mocks seems really unfair.

I'm not a teacher, but I am worried for my nearly 18 year old DD3. She was horrified by this earlier as it was announced, though is maybe calmed a little.

The options I had already thought of have already been mentioned on this thread, and I understand that there are no ideal solutions.

I've been trying hard to reassure her that she won't be left with nothing, and no university place. She has anxiety and mental health issues though, so it is difficult, and she has gone up high at the moment.

Fortunately her school have been in touch a couple of times this evening too with supportive messages and will be addressing their students personally over the next couple of days before closing down.

It is clear everyone is feeling their way here. We all feel for everyone concerned, and thank all teachers for the sterling job you do for these young people.

I have been trying to reassure her, but don't really know how so I was interested in how discussion might be going over here. Uncharted waters I guess.

I genuinely am devastated for my year 11 class. They're amazing and deserve every grade they get. Or would get.

Qualifications that they need: so core only I presume.

I feel
So sad.
We've slogged hard this year. Our NEA is almost finished. We've had such a good year but it's been hard work.
I hope the kids get what they deserve and have worked for.

I'm a parent of a Yr11 student. I just wanted to say that I really feel for the teachers who have worked so hard to get pupils so far. It's cold comfort at this point, but they know so much that they wouldn't without you, whether they're tested on it or not.

An other parent with devastated DC ... DC working really hard for GCSE and now this! Had lots of tears earlier. I told DC to just knuckle down and do revision. Hopefully they are allowed to sit exams later in the year.

To all teachers, good luck tomorrow, I think it's difficult work to try and re -assure our kids when there is nothing more you can say.

I hope that is the case for my dd @FrippEnos - but such a massive pressure on teachers / schools when it is subjective.

I’ve always predicted grades in the 24 years I’ve been teaching, when someone is absent.

We don’t always base it on the mock mark. I base it in the entire 2 years of work/how far they’ve progressed and what l think they will get. I don’t tend to use mocks, as they are like a rehearsal for the real thing, so it’s learning about how the exam will be.

And I’ll consider test results. I wish l could explain it better. It’s a bit like a gut feeling, and then you consider what they’ve done or not done to support it

They need to consider a system like in the US where all work during the last 4 years are all recorded and calculated into a GPA. It's ridiculous that it call comes down to the day of exams and illness or other event like this virus screws everyone up.

I have had to reassure my year 13 DD that the learning she has done over the last couple of years in sixth form have not been wasted. The things she has learned, the books she has read and enjoyed, the projects (social and academic) that she has taken part in etc. are never wasted and can never be taken away from her.

I have also told her that this is a curve ball for schools and universities too, and they are also digesting it tonight.

I think I might have connected. She is calmer now and playing a game with her older sister.

All my DC were due to sit exams DS, GCSEs and DT, A Levels.

I can't think of any method of 'giving them the qualifications they need' that would be fair to all 3 of them. Once I get over the shock I may be able to see things a bit clearer but right now ...

Why wouldn’t it be fair? We use it all the time. We don’t predict a high grade for someone who hasn’t done very much, just as we predict a high grade for someone who has worked hard.

It’s really quite fair and widely used. And it’s the best solution. I don’t see how exams could be delayed. When would they take them? The whole system is like a huge machine, where everything slots together at the right time.

How will predicted grades work with uni offers though - because not everyone would have achieved their predicted grade to meet their offer and unis make more offers than places - so how do you decide whose predicted grades are more worthy?
It is utterly bizarre.

DD is devastated-she really wanted the opportunity to show what she could do and how hard she has worked.

As l said we don’t just make them up. I’m pretty accurate in predicting what they will get.

It comes with experience. I remember one year l got 2 classes of 20 kids with 100% correct predictions. It’s not done in a vacuum!