Nervous about first A-level results as a new head of department

[Kepler22B]

I’m a first time HOD and it is also the first cohort in this subject to go through their A-level.

Really nervous, more than when I have set from my main subject around Alevel results day. Doesn’t help that it is a small national subject so harder to get resources and compare results.

I know some students will have done well, some are in the middle and could go a grade up or not depending on the day but there are 2 I am very worried about. The grade boundaries are close together at the low end so there is a possibility they will drop off the bottom.

I know I, and the other teacher, did all we could support wise but still I am nervous about how they have gotten on.

Good luck! You did everything you can, hopefully the students have done too. Do lots of nice things to take your mind off it!

One of the students very much did not do all they could, they still were saying they were going to “lock in” a week before the exam but no evidence of it happening.

I've got one of those....all you can hope is that they similarly did not lock in for their other subjects and so it's fairly obvious that they were the issue.

I can tell you which of mine are likely to fall off the bottom. It's consistently the ones who assure me they're "going to lock in" at some undetermined future time.

Results are not good. A few are good, some are what we expected and a few were unexpectedly low.

Not the worst results, according to ALPS value added but down there.

If they're unexpected, ask for priority scripts and have a look to see why.

The most unexpected has done ‘badly’ in all subject. I’ve use speech mark as they got a decent grade just lower.

I do hope to see some of the papers and see what has gone on.

Well then it's a them issue not a you issue.

I wouldn't "hope" to see the papers - proactively ask them students to request them after tomorrow.

Sorry they’re not what you hoped but remember that some students have done well and be pleased about that, it’s so easy to focus only on the other end.

How did ‘lock in’ boy do?

Don’t get stressed over it. You’ve got some good results and you’ve got results that were expected. You are always going to have a couple of students that will underperform and that’s not necessarily down to you as the HoD or the teacher. It’s clear to see that the provision has been provided.

Analyse the data, provide feedback to your teaching team so you know where the ‘focus’ is going forward as such.

The ‘lock in’ boy did ok, not as well as he could but ok.

They all got into uni/courses. Most into their 1st choice, despite missing offers, with a few getting their insurance choice but very happy about it.