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Whether you're a permanent teacher, supply teacher or student teacher, you'll find others in the same situation on our Staffroom forum.

Original poster

The Forty Ninth Republic - Announcement Week - Roadmap and Exams - Be more Bob

999 replies

StaffRepFeistyClub · 22/02/2021 08:36

You are most welcome to this school staff support thread to get us through stressful times. It is meant for school staff only – a sort of room of requirement. Baiters, haters, goaders, and bashers can jog on somewhere else.

If you are NOT staff and just have a general education query please start your own thread.

Do not give the staffroom password just in case it attracts the wrong sort

Other requirements for staff room entry include the ability to find the staff room, the ability to find a clean mug in the staff room, knowledge of the photocopier codes, and the ability to sniff out where the booze is stashed - Thirsty Tuesdays, Fizz Fridays now in operation.

OP posts:
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18
ChloeDecker · 25/02/2021 07:10

So is Bob started working really hard from now, used his study leave effectively, got a tutor and a lobotomy it would be possible for him to achieve a 9 wouldn’t it? Let’s put it down’.

Our school is so terrified of more legal action from parents in September that since last Nov (when our Yr11s did their mocks), we have had to moderate each test and then upload grades to Sims which the parents see on the Sims app.
SLT don’t want there to be any surprises!

MrsHamlet · 25/02/2021 07:11

more legal action???

ChloeDecker · 25/02/2021 07:15

@MrsHamlet

more legal action???
We had 9 parents launch legal action last September because their children didn’t get A*s (they got As-shocking eh!?) who refused to resist the papers in the Autumn and instead of spending all our time settling in the pupils back to school, loads of departments had to spend hours gathering data and explaining it over a two year period (tricky when teachers have left etc). Piggy directed me to an U4T type Facebook group set up to give advice and coerce parents into launching legal action at schools, rather that the govt. it was vitriolic stuff. And yes, the DforE washed their hands of it and left our school to it Angry
WarriorN · 25/02/2021 07:23

I don't envy any of you with this. V glad I'm in special right now.

Guardian article on vaccinating teachers etc (not) had some vaccine bod claiming we all wear masks and have great ventilation Confused

TheMoth · 25/02/2021 07:26

Can't wait to teach my 11s and 13s now. They just don't take teacher assessments as seriously as exams. Bet attendance will.nosedive too.

And I'm worried about cw, cos my 13s did it in ld one and it's all over the place. They're better at the exam.

RandomGrammarPun · 25/02/2021 07:39

Our school moderated the hell out of our CAGs. Not a single child had a grade they didn't deserve (except the ones inflated by the algorithm!) and, in some cases, they got lower than they deserved because of our own harsh moderation. It irks so much that other schools inflated their grades either in innocence (believing the algorithm would sort it) or deliberately and cynically and got away with it. And it's awful if some kids are on courses not suited to them (16+ or 18+).

MsAwesomeDragon · 25/02/2021 07:40

Yes, half of my year 11 nurture group are never going to be in school now. They have very poor attendance anyway, so now they know there isn't an actual exam they just won't bother. Some of them will though, and it'll do them a lot of good to have a smaller class without the non-attenders.

And the cleverer class (top of Foundation tier, and we'd have said higher tier if we knew it was teacher assessment) will be trying to suck up to me to get grade 5. Well haha to them, we're doing another "mock" and will use those results. We just haven't decided on dates for that yet. We do normally do a second mock for maths and English in March, so it's not special for this year, although I think there are more subjects doing it this year.

HarrietDVane · 25/02/2021 07:47

Interesting point re: schools without sixth forms. Anecdotal I know, but both students who joined DD's MFL A-level class with grade 7+ from another local school with no sixth form have dropped out of the subject on the grounds that it was 'too hard,' whereas the students who transferred to sixth form at the same school seemed better prepared for the jump.

SansaSnark · 25/02/2021 07:58

We have a sixth form and tried to be really rigorous with grades last year. We only have a small number of pupils join us from elsewhere (there's a big college in the nearest city which a lot of them go for) but anecdotally a lot of them are apparently not achieving what they should according to gcse grades. That said, I think Y12 are struggling across the board after so long off last year and not sitting any exams.

We've spent a long time telling kids there will be some sort of exam in the summer, so I think if it's just Cags, they might give up.

HercwasanEnemyofEducation · 25/02/2021 07:58

We moderated too and it was rigorous and I'd be confident 95% were what they would have got. The 5% margin for the borderlines that could have been the grade below on a bad day.

I know this wasn't the case everywhere unfortunately. I think we just have to accept these grades don't have parity between schools and deal with it.

I'm cautiously pleased there is no cross centre moderation in a way, logistical nightmare and probably doesn't help really. It would limit the insane predictions.

Saucery · 25/02/2021 08:07

As a parent I agree, Herc. There is very little I can do about anyone else’s exam age child’s results but I feel happier for mine now this has been laid out. There is a strong culture of assessment and recording right through school and entry into the 6th form is minimum a 7 for every subject. They’ll be able to prove those results if the students have turned up and turned in work over the last 18 months.

WhenSheWasBad · 25/02/2021 08:17

I really don’t want to grade my pupils.

Really glad I’m science and the grade will be a mix of all three sciences. Takes the pressure off a bit.

MrsHerculePoirot · 25/02/2021 08:17

@RandomGrammarPun

Our school moderated the hell out of our CAGs. Not a single child had a grade they didn't deserve (except the ones inflated by the algorithm!) and, in some cases, they got lower than they deserved because of our own harsh moderation. It irks so much that other schools inflated their grades either in innocence (believing the algorithm would sort it) or deliberately and cynically and got away with it. And it's awful if some kids are on courses not suited to them (16+ or 18+).
We did exactly this. We ran our results through every system known to man, compared to KS2 etc etc and knew that if challenged we absolutely could justify every single grade offered. Was such a kick in the teeth when knew some other schools had been told/encouraged to go high etc... I don’t understand why we can submit them and then they check/challenge/talk to any schools who have results that clearly buck their usual trend? If you’ve got the evidence for them going up it shouldn’t matter?
RandomGrammarPun · 25/02/2021 08:20

Oh and BTW, we are 11-16 but every other school in our MAT is 11-18 and many of ours move to another MAT school, so the moderation policy was MAT wide.

MrsHerculePoirot · 25/02/2021 08:20

also remember kids struggling at A-level this year it was the double whammy of some possibly inflated grades AND not having that hardcore revision push at the end where many of ours finally click with some of the work and massively improved. They missed out on some learning and nearly all that hardcore revision push at the end so even if they would have got the 7 and that was a fair grade it wouldn’t have been as strong a 7 as previous years I think?

motherrunner · 25/02/2021 08:21

@MrsHamlet

You do OCR mother ... do we work together????
Ha ha! Unless ‘Bob’ is a girl than no (teach at a girl’s school).
RigaBalsam · 25/02/2021 08:21

We have one big Vi form in our town. So schools have one attached apartment from the catholic school.
Our grades certainly were not inflated they were actually put down by SLT so it was in line with the P8 score. Annoying as it was actually a much stronger year.

We are doing assessments when y11 are back based on unseen questions. We are not marking our own class so at least it won't be all on me.

Phineyj · 25/02/2021 08:21

I am irritated about the lack of cross centre moderation. My school is very small and I have explained to SLT until I am blue in the face that you get more volatility in groups of 5-10, making forecasting very hard (when I had 50 in a year group I was quite confident in my predictions), but they just think I'm being difficult. I'm not. One year one student had a bad day in one paper and my average went down a grade as she was 20% of the sample!

CarrieBlue · 25/02/2021 08:47

I’m quite happy about CAGs but then I only teach a very small number of students who I know inside out and who are not suited to the pressure of exams. They can be awarded the grades they truly deserve and without the trauma of exams.

HobnobbingAboutHobnobs · 25/02/2021 08:51

I am so glad that I made the call and switched 6 of my cleverer Year 11s to higher before half term. I imagine that switching them now would be viewed as a bit Hmm

SmileEachDay · 25/02/2021 08:56

We also moderated intensively. I think our grades were pretty accurate.

Not looking forward to doing it again. I have a boy who hasn’t engaged at all during lockdown- I know this is because he’s in temp accommodation and has a very unstable family situation.
He’s very able in English and is the type of kid who could pull it out of the bag in an exam, given a decent night’s sleep and breakfast.

I’m going to have very little evidence from him because I suspect his attendance will be crap.

It’s difficult thinking that the “fair” way to grade him will need to be low, because I just don’t have it on paper.

motherrunner · 25/02/2021 09:02

Just had our meeting. No face to face or live teaching WB 8th. Instead we will be needed as staff to test the pupils.

DrMadelineMaxwell · 25/02/2021 09:05

My y11 's school have told us that the deadline for submitting their grades is June 22nd so they will be in school until then. (Wales)

TheHoneyBadger · 25/02/2021 09:32

@SmileEachDay

We also moderated intensively. I think our grades were pretty accurate.

Not looking forward to doing it again. I have a boy who hasn’t engaged at all during lockdown- I know this is because he’s in temp accommodation and has a very unstable family situation.
He’s very able in English and is the type of kid who could pull it out of the bag in an exam, given a decent night’s sleep and breakfast.

I’m going to have very little evidence from him because I suspect his attendance will be crap.

It’s difficult thinking that the “fair” way to grade him will need to be low, because I just don’t have it on paper.

Can you call him (possibly will need a witness for safeguarding - must be ways to allow it) and explain all of that to him really frankly? You can say I really want to help you but I have to have evidence to be able to and I know life is really tough but currently but can you push through for the next few months for the sake of your future?

I had one a'level tutor at college who gambled on me and let me send in coursework to him and keep in touch but didn't stick to the college's rules on what level of attendance you had to have in order to be entered into the exam. My life was hectic having moved out young and a whole saga of trauma stuff. Not the same I know but it made a real difference for someone to have faith in me and find ways for me to still get my grade.

I know school is different but is there any way for example to give him a list of things he needs to get done and given into you and a minimum attendance he has to have?

SmileEachDay · 25/02/2021 09:52

Honey firstly, I’m really glad you had a person. It’s very important. I’m also sorry that things were chaotic, that must have been tough 😘

As a school we’re trying hard to hold him - remotely it’s really hard. He will say the right things when we get hold of him - he so much wants to succeed and please (which is a separate worry). There is no back up for him though and zero organisation. It’s too much for him to deal with. I’m hoping when we get back I’ll be able to make some headway.