GCSE and A Levels cancelled

[Optymum]

The other downside to delaying the exams is this. I have the feeling that the Self isolate for 7 days or until you are well if you have symptoms, snd the rest of the household isolate for 14 days rule will continue way beyond the release of the full lockdown. This means that whenever the exams were sat, potentially a large number of children would either have been poorly just before exams, be poorly during exams, or have to be isolating at home as a member of the family was ill. So a large number might miss some or all of the exams. Then they would have to be graded on coursework/ mocks. It is probably just as fair to grade everyone the same way this year and move forward. It is hard on the kids, my DS was due to sit GCSE's this year. But it is an unprecedented situation, and has called for an unprecedented course of action. My DS worked hard for mocks, but would have certainly worked harder for the GCSE's; he started solid revision after February half term and was motivated. We will never know how the grades he is given will compare to those he may have achieved, but I feel the decision is the best one given the situation we find ourselves in. There is no definite date schools will open and there is every possibility we will see second/ third peaks at undetermined times.

[mad?]

+1 Optymum, there is no ideal solution to this problem

[wildwest]

There are as many different 'individual' circumstances to this situation, as there are people. Following one system for everyone will offer some fairness, with some negative and some positive consequences. We have to encourage the DCs to reflect, understand and face the adversity. One big event in their life time.

She is revising all of them.Ihttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0892xt2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Is this the case with other DCs too?

My DD did quite well in mocks (except in English) and has a reasonably consistent work through the year.
She kept saying that she will continue to work on English in case she has to resit it. She knows she will get a good enough grade to join the sixth form and that is all she needs as she is not taking English thereafter. 3 weeks in, she hasn't and I haven't mentioned revising GCSE subjects either. It does seem very challenging to keep the momentum going in that way, without a definitive focus.

After the binge of watching screens the first week, she moved to a more balanced day with crafts, exercise, cleaning one part of the house every day, cooking, TV and some sporadic studying of A level subjects.

I think that her school is providing work for about 2hrs each day, after the Easter holidays.
I was thinking that that would be sufficient to help the children stay productive and also gives plenty of downtime.

I am not feeling optimistic that she can study all GCSE subjects, knowing she will not sit all of them or any for that matter.
Should we be thinking that 'as long as they get reasonably good grades in all the subjects and there is enough evidence from mocks and school work that they will achieve that, we should now move on' or 'keep ticking over in all the subjects as you never know what will happen and you may need to resit ANY of the subjects'

[Reading Mum]

They have backtracked on the 'hope to get results out before the end of July' and are now going to give them on the original results days in August:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-52309763" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

this doesn't leave as much time for anyone who needs to appeal.

[Moon unit]

Shame the results won’t be out early but there will be good reasons for that I feel sure.
Maybe this unworked system needs more time to be moderated than previously thought.
My DD has decided to plan for two autumn exams.
I don’t think anything could have been done other than cancellation or the knock on effect would be never ending.
A delay couldn’t work for those who are moving for sixth form.
Whatever the government decided some people would be complaining about it.
I think if it’s possible a good idea is to try and put a positive spin on it for the children involved and focus on what can usefully be done with the time ahead.

[stroudydad]

Personally I think the biggest issue is for those that have concerns they may not meet their target/required grades based upon the teacher assessment or are needing a quite specific result. An example being my daughter who must have an A in maths for all her preferred options. That because of the course not the universities.
She was very confident she would have got the grade in an exam but due to the situation isn’t now so sure.
In any normal situation she could sit her exam, have a feeling how it went and then know a specific date that any retake would be. She could relax.
The trouble is with the system this year is that she will have no idea what she may be given until the results day(which when initially announced that exams were cancelled was going to be nice and early to aid in this problem, but when ofqual announced the actual process they went back on that and said they will have results by the usual time.)
They also don’t know when any potential retake would be because again it’s been said it will be as early as possible. Therefore students can’t relax and ‘go again’ they need to keep studying/revising the whole time because they could actually need to sit an exam in September.
It could all have been organised so much better with a little thought

[Moon unit]

I don’t agree it could have been organised better with a little thought.
I’m pretty sure those that made the decisions have done their absolute very best under enormous pressure from lots of different sides.
We now have much needed clarity and should look forward in a positive way if possible.
Being negative won’t help our children.

[Nella]

Consultation for 2020 GCSE and A level grading here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ofqu ... s-for-2020" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[tiffinboys]

One has to be realistic. Putting a positive spin whatever happens may not be good every time.

[KS10]

Well, we’ve decided to try and make the best of things. DD followed our advice and her teachers’ advice to work steadily but not to overdo it for the mocks. She has been predicted high grades but in one of her subjects she didn’t do as well as she normally does and it’s the one she wants to study at university. Ordinarily a B in one paper wouldn’t be a big deal but she is a little worried now. Given that there aren’t many A* in that subject at her school she now knows that the way the grades will be dealt with almost certainly means that she won’t be awarded an A*. So she’s doing a 10-week online course and will decide whether or not to sit the exams next year once she is in a position to make an informed choice. Oh, and her cooking skills are improving. We now have a cooking rota, which is so nice.