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Failing GCSE English and Maths It was reported in newspapers, just before the GCSE results were released last month, that one third – about 170,000 of young people in England and Wales, are still falling short of securing good pass grades in both English and Maths at GCSE. While it is good to celebrate the 837  youngsters who achieved straight Grade 9 (equivalent to the very top of A* marks under the old letter grading system) in eight or more […]

A-level Grades for Medicine and Engineering This is a follow-up on my last blogpost titled “Almost 40% of degree courses are offered unconditionally – what a scandal” The fact that Manchester University and one or two other universities, as reported in the Sunday Times of 4th August, 2019, will, from 2020, remove Chemistry as a compulsory subject for gaining admission to medical school is one that I view with suspicion. However, despite my slight pessimism about this decision, there are […]

Productive Summer Activities for Teenagers As the summer holiday begins in earnest, for most parents, the conversation that started in their head a little while ago may still be going on, despite the fact that they may have one or two short holidays planned. Those young people who finished their GCSEs and A-level back in June have already had about four or so weeks of lying-in and some parents are a little fed up with having to replenish the fridge […]

Social Mobility in UK Education I was listening to “Any Questions” yesterday on BBC Radio 4 and the issue of “elitist Britain” came up again. Irrespective of which side of the border you are or to which social class you think you belong, if you are a parent, you can’t help but to immediately think about your child/children – thinking, what they are likely to end up as later in life. Radio 4 was quoting from a new report by […]

Preparing for GCSEs in KS3 For KS3 students, many of them are looking forward to subject selection, whereby they will be doing only certain subjects from Y10 and be able to drop some subjects they do not particularly enjoy studying. A lot is being said about the importance of GCSEs, and many people interpret that to mean that the GCSE is a lot more demanding than KS3. GCSE is certainly the most important examination that the vast majority of 15 […]

Preparing for Year 11 GCSEs For those students who are just completing Y10 – the first year of GCSE, by the end of the Summer term, they will have completed between 60 to 65% of the GCSE content. There are internal exams going on in schools in the final weeks of the Summer term and, in many cases, these exams will be used to decide if students will be entered for the higher or the foundation tier exams. The result […]

Transitioning from Year 12 to Year 13 Having completed the first year of the rather demanding A-level, hopefully, the young person has managed the transition from GCSE to AS-level quite well and it is now time to look forward to the final year with optimism. The way things are organised in schools is such that, in many cases, students who are just completing the first year of A-level are neglected a little bit; particularly from April to July, when the […]

Transitioning from GCSE to A-level For those just finishing Y11 and starting A-level in September Time for a little Relaxation, Reflection and Thoughts, now that the exams are over Now that the GCSEs have come to an end, there is a sense of relief for both the young person who has been at the centre of it and also the parent(s). Whilst relaxing and reflecting, before starting to think about what lies ahead, one of the questions to ask at […]

Preparing for University After A-levels As  the teenager looks forward to University, time for a little Relaxation, Reflection and Thoughts… Now that the A-levels have come to an end, there is a sense of relief for both the young person who has been at the centre of it and also the parent. Whilst relaxing and reflecting, before starting to think about what lies ahead, one of the questions to ask at this stage is “what does this all mean?” For […]