Vocal Voices

So so SO relieved that part of schooling is over for Tom, though already dreading it for Joe, as it's seemed to be one problem after another with teachers not being available to teach the subjects and others leaving midway through the course, their school has such a high staff turnover since the new head took charge

Anyway, he's got his results today and he's done so well and got the grades he needs to take his chosen A Levels - Law, History, Psychology and English Lang. He got a mix of Bs and Cs with a couple of Ds for German and Design Technology. German he's not been interested in but had to do a language and as for DT, they didn't have an actual DT teacher for their first year and were taught by a total of six different teachers and ended up having to do the entire 2 year course between September '12 and March '13. He did a BTec for PE (again not a subject he'd have chosen but forced on him as part of the English Baccalaureate) and got a Distinction Star for that.

He's now enrolled with the Sixth Form at the school, he wasn't interested in looking to see what the local college had to offer in the way of A Level courses so I just hope that the teaching will be more consistent over the next two years.

Well done Tom.

Jo, Tom has done really well considering the staff turnover, and with that I mind I would be tempted to look at other offers in order to know what is going on out there. He does not have to change his mind, yet, and probably never will need to, but it is good to have a plan.

My Michael opted for the school sixth form and it was only weeks into the term when he realised that the local, and dedicated, A-level college was offering better tuition, so he jumped ship.

Well done Tom

well done to tom

Well done Tom (and you) for getting through it all. My Step-Daughter didn't want to stay in the school sixth form and opted for going to college for her A Level courses. She just wanted to get away from the actual school environment and leave that past behind her. To be treated like a young adult instead of a child.

My sixteen year old Grandson has been round here with me for four hours arriving full of disappointment and shock at his GCSE results so it's been a massive pep talk with plenty of full fat coke and crisps. His last eighteen months at school have been horrid and it shows in his results - especially as his school tutors told him what grades he'd get (which were good) but he fell short of them but he did well enough to keep his place at catering college. I told him that once the college have seen his GCSE result papers he can put them away in a drawer and nobody will ever want to see them again! That these results are not a burden he has to carry with him for the rest of his life! That what happens next is all down to him and the exciting challenges ahead and all with a clean slate. I gave him a tenner (there will be lager on the beach ) and he left here with a happy face and lots of cuddles for me so my job was done.

He felt better when his mates were texting him with their results and they all got more or less the same.

Am I right in saying that the marking was stricter this year?

Well done Tom

Granddaughter on holiday somewhere in England and am still waiting to hear

aw well done to Tom

xx

Well done Tom and well done Jo
Studying is hard enough, but if the teachers are leaving all the time it must be very disruptive for the pupils.

WELL DONE TO TOM AND YOU.

As you say Joe may not be quite so committed