Heltor Chasca
Out-riding the Black Dog
My eldest daughter did her 1st GCSE on Tuesday. I’m pretty sanguine about it all. She would start to buckle if I added any extra pressure. No need to. I’m taking the Inuit slant on the whole experience.
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As a person-who-works-in-schools and as a parent, so do I. It's bonkers that teachers were in school for several days over Easter and have been doing an extra hour at the end of the day as well as lunchtime sessions for months now.
I have strongly encouraged him to attend the revision sessions for some subjects that will benefit from revision, because they are on offer and I know he won't do a great deal of it without some structure; he is enormously frustrated by the test-and-results-focussed approach that has taken over so much in secondaries, and his perception is that they spend more time learning how to pass exams than they do learning stuff which has got him fairly disenchanted with the whole thing. This is the kid who carried a Chemistry A level text book, along with usually a novel and a graphic novel, around for the whole of Y7 and Y8 so that he always had someting interesting to read in form. He genuinely read text books for fun until GCSEs started and was mostly a pretty enthusiastic learner (so long as you don't count RE) until then.
The French sessions, which have been mostly about speaking and listening practice, have been absolutely brilliant. Being in a smaller group in which he is, unlike in class, among the higher attainers means that he has grown in confidence and for a young person with anxiety issues and ASC, which affects communication, that has been really helpful. Also his French teacher is and has been a blooming marvel for all the years that she's taught him, and I have said that quite apart from anything else I think he owes it to her to do his absolute best in her subject even though we all know it isn't his strong suit and he thought that was a pretty fair comment. She's more than earned the right to ask him to put the work in, because she's really put the work in to helping him to achieve. Plus going to extra French meant he had a rock solid excuse for never attending the (clashing) RE afterschool sessions, and he would probably have rather scooped out his own eyeballs with a rusty spork than go to those.
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slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
Each year, in early May, I have a series of finals exam nightmares. I took mine 42 years ago. I wake up sweating, and then realise that it doesn't matter at all. It feels wonderful.
Hugh Manatee
Veteran
I think the main tranche starts today. Good luck everybody.
Beebo
Firm and Fruity
- Location
- Hexleybeef
My 11 year old daughter had to be in school at 8am today for an early breakfast as it is SATs week.
Im not sure 11 year olds need this level of testing.
Im not sure 11 year olds need this level of testing.
Heltor Chasca
Out-riding the Black Dog
I agree. SATs for 11 year olds!? Silly. The point was lost on me. And in 3 years time my youngest sits them.
My oldest is sitting her GCSEs. I don’t think parents need this level of testing.
Hugh Manatee
Veteran
I had wondered where my son's crazy grade predictions (mostly 9s with one or two 8s) came from. His work at secondary school hasn't warranted such perfection and has merely served to heap expectation onto him.
I was told it came from his SATs results. We know he is exceptionally good at maths but do well at them and expectation follows you through school it would seem.
First written GCSE paper and first Y6 SAT paper this morning in our household. The Cubs' breakfast conversation? Whether infinity infinitieths is equal to one. They've concluded that yes, since pi/pi = 1 and that's an irrational munber so infinty/infinty should be too... The EldestCub then reassuringly told the SmallestCub not to worry, because Y6 SATS _really_ don't matter and the SmallestCub said that yes, he knows that - they are just testing how well their teachers have taught them. But he does want to do as well as he can so that his teachers can go to space, which is what he apparently has decided should be the reward for hardworking Y6 teachers. Just got a message from the teen to say the first three were 'good'. He is most pleased that almost all of this week is taken with exams so he might get away with a solitary RE lesson, and then the RE exams (he had two today, I think) will be over and he'll never have to darken the door of the department again.
[QUOTE 5243777, member: 10119"]First written GCSE paper and first Y6 SAT paper this morning in our household. The Cubs' breakfast conversation? Whether infinity infinitieths is equal to one. They've concluded that yes, since pi/pi = 1 and that's an irrational munber so infinty/infinty should be too... The EldestCub then reassuringly told the SmallestCub not to worry, because Y6 SATS _really_ don't matter and the SmallestCub said that yes, he knows that - they are just testing how well their teachers have taught them. But he does want to do as well as he can so that his teachers can go to space, which is what he apparently has decided should be the reward for hardworking Y6 teachers. Just got a message from the teen to say the first three were 'good'. He is most pleased that almost all of this week is taken with exams so he might get away with a solitary RE lesson, and then the RE exams (he had two today, I think) will be over and he'll never have to darken the door of the department again.[/QUOTE]
That's the wrong approach to the infinity question. Infinity is not rational or irrational. The way to approach it is this. If you divided any number by infinity you would get zero, but if you divided infinity by any number you would get infinity, hence, the result of dividing infinity by infinity is undetermined, and will depend on the type of each of the infinities. The result could be zero, infinity or a number. Sorry, professional deformation, I am a physicist.
Daughter one started SATS today, she doesn't seem particularly stressed despite the teachers best efforts. It is stuff they know, no need to make a fuss.
That's the wrong approach to the infinity question. Infinity is not rational or irrational. The way to approach it is this. If you divided any number by infinity you would get zero, but if you divided infinity by any number you would get infinity, hence, the result of dividing infinity by infinity is undetermined, and will depend on the type of each of the infinities. The result could be zero, infinity or a number. Sorry, professional deformation, I am a physicist.
Daughter one started SATS today, she doesn't seem particularly stressed despite the teachers best efforts. It is stuff they know, no need to make a fuss.
Funnily enough that was probably nearer to the 10yo's thinking that to the 16yo's. I just thought it was an interesting question to come up with over the chocolatines...
We're lucky, the Y6 teachers at the youngest's school really don't make it into a big stress. The did offer a meeting for parents who wanted to know more; I don't know any parents that went though!
[QUOTE 5243851, member: 10119"]Funnily enough that was probably nearer to the 10yo's thinking that to the 16yo's. I just thought it was an interesting question to come up with over the chocolatines...
We're lucky, the Y6 teachers at the youngest's school really don't make it into a big stress. The did offer a meeting for parents who wanted to know more; I don't know any parents that went though![/QUOTE]
You probably have a mathematician in the making there,
.
In here it hasn't been as much fuss as @Julia9054 mentions, but they take it far too seriously. If there wasn't the fuss the children would probably do a lot better overall.
We're lucky, the Y6 teachers at the youngest's school really don't make it into a big stress. The did offer a meeting for parents who wanted to know more; I don't know any parents that went though![/QUOTE]
You probably have a mathematician in the making there,
.In here it hasn't been as much fuss as @Julia9054 mentions, but they take it far too seriously. If there wasn't the fuss the children would probably do a lot better overall.
Tin Pot
Guru
11+ preparation driving Mum insane
Yep. 2 daughters approaching their year end exams. Eldest is fastidious to the point where we are concerned that this is becoming all-consuming, and youngest is waaaaayy too laid-back and trying to get her to do anything is a challenge.
Nobody tells you about how hard this stuff can be before you have kids. It's clearly a conspiracy!
Nobody tells you about how hard this stuff can be before you have kids. It's clearly a conspiracy!
Both of mine are pretty big maths fans and the kids in 'my' schools (I'm their IT technician, but get roped in to class-based stuff 'supporting teaching and learning' quite a lot) always think I'm fibbing when I say I'd happily do maths lessons all day long.
Apparently the SPAG was quite good fun, and then they did a spelling test. There was a question he wasn't sure about so he guessed at a noun phrase. It's all nonsense, isn't it?
nickyboy
Norven Mankey
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- You want hills? We got hills
Son #2, despite having an unconditional offer to read the subject he wants to do a degree in at a university he likes is knuckling down
I don't know where he gets it from. We're I in that position I'd be freewheeling a bit
Anyway, he's a tiny bit stressed but I'm not. Adding to his burden would be unhelpful. My job in this process is to keep life as normal as possible
I don't know where he gets it from. We're I in that position I'd be freewheeling a bit
Anyway, he's a tiny bit stressed but I'm not. Adding to his burden would be unhelpful. My job in this process is to keep life as normal as possible
