GCSE 2020

[hermanmunster]

My DD, currently in Y10, should have sat a foreign Language GCSE as a individual candidate in a recognised Centre/School in North London that offers this language.

In the latest update they have said that grades will only be issued to year 11 and year 13 students as these are the ones most impacted by the situation.

Many thanks for your replies, I need to contact the Centre tomorrow but from what is mentioned here seems also that Individual Candidate could be evaluated in Autumn? In this case is better do not ask for a refund for what we have already paid for this GCSE, am I wrong?

"10. What about private candidates or home educated students?
Where schools and colleges have accepted entries from external candidates (students who they have not taught themselves, because they have been home-schooled, following distance-learning programmes or studying independently), those students should be taken account of in the process of producing centre assessment grades, where the head teacher or principal is confident that they and their staff have seen sufficient evidence of the student’s achievement to make an objective judgement.

Ofqual is also exploring urgently whether there are options for those students who do not have an existing relationship with an exams centre and who need results this summer for progression purposes, and will provide an update as soon as possible. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to be possible for all external candidates, some of whom may instead need to take exams in the autumn to get their grades.

Ofqual has asked organisations that represent higher and further education providers to consider the steps that providers could take when making admissions decisions this summer for any private candidates who do not receive a grade. They have said that they believe that institutions will consider a range of other evidence and information for these students to allow them to progress wherever possible."

Thanks

if she is year 10 then why not get a refund and sit the GCSE next year?

[Surferfish]

Question for those of you working in education and teaching.

By and large in your experience, do most pupils predicted grades and mock results tend to closely agree with the final results they achieve in GCSE's and A levels, or is it quite common to get surprises?

I ask because in the case of our DS who took his GCSE's last year they were (thankfully) completely different. He was predicted fairly low/average grades but ended up exceeding these in almost every subject, in some cases by up to 3 grades. I know of a couple of his friends who were similar. Is this unusual, or fairly common? And if it is common surely its going to be very unfair on this type of pupil this year?

[KS10]

Question for those of you working in education and teaching.

By and large in your experience, do most pupils predicted grades and mock results tend to closely agree with the final results they achieve in GCSE's and A levels, or is it quite common to get surprises?

I ask because in the case of our DS who took his GCSE's last year they were (thankfully) completely different. He was predicted fairly low/average grades but ended up exceeding these in almost every subject, in some cases by up to 3 grades. I know of a couple of his friends who were similar. Is this unusual, or fairly common? And if it is common surely its going to be very unfair on this type of pupil this year?

Ditto with DD. Exceeded in almost every subject, with History and Drama both going from 6 to 9. I think some ‘get it’ just before the end and others are steered in the right direction where the weaknesses are pretty clear. Hopefully there will be the opportunity to sit exams early on in the Autumn Term should the need arise.

[tiffinboys]

Similar experience here. DS did far better than his CWA grades and even his own expectations after the exams. For this reason, I feel exams would have been better for him, than teachers' assessments.

[MrsChubbs]

Question for those of you working in education and teaching.

By and large in your experience, do most pupils predicted grades and mock results tend to closely agree with the final results they achieve in GCSE's and A levels, or is it quite common to get surprises?

I ask because in the case of our DS who took his GCSE's last year they were (thankfully) completely different. He was predicted fairly low/average grades but ended up exceeding these in almost every subject, in some cases by up to 3 grades. I know of a couple of his friends who were similar. Is this unusual, or fairly common? And if it is common surely its going to be very unfair on this type of pupil this year?

The answer is that for every pupil whose grades mirror their predicted grades/mock grades, there are those who exceed them and those that miss them. There are always pupils who pull it out of the bag through finally taking revision seriously and those whose prior attainment (throughout the years running up to the exams) suggest that they should not achieve what they finally do in the exam.
The scenario we have now, shows how important it is for pupils to take every exam they are set seriously (particularly from when the GCSE curriculum starts). We say it all the time to our students, but there are always those who ignore the advice, saying that the mocks don’t matter.
Rest assured though that your children’s teachers have masses of data (quantitative and qualitative) on your children. They know them very well and will be taking the predicting of their grades very seriously. An “underperformance or not yet reaching their potential set of mocks” will not be the only thing they are taking into consideration.

And has been said here, if they feel that the grades awarded are not what they deserve, then they have the opportunity to take the exams themselves.

[tiffinboys]

Does this mean students should continue with studies and serious revision until the results arrive?

[KS10]

I think so. I’ve told DD to revise. She said she will start (reluctantly) in a month’s time. She had hoped that her recent performance would justify her predicted grades but now that they are being ranked she’s not as confident.

[tiffinboys]

Hope there is more remote teaching after Easter break and assessments updated.

[KS10]

If you mean live or prerecorded online lessons, that might not be possible. DD's school will not be doing that because staff 'may not have the equipment or experience to provide such resources' and 'equally, students may not have the means to participate in these lessons'. I know I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that. Then there are those who require additional support. They would be at such a disadvantage.

[Moon unit]

We have had clear guidance from DDs school.
Unless a student thinks they are likely to want to do the autumn exam we have been advised not to do anything more for gcse and a bridging programme for A level will be starting after Easter.
They school have suggested 2 hours of that work per day and sent a reading list for private study.
The email says it’s a great opportunity to get ahead with A level prep.
My DD has a couple of subjects she might do in the autumn so will keep those ticking along.
We have also been told not to do anything more for course work as the grade will be done on work up to 20/3.
There will not be any online teaching.