Hello and welcome to the home of Word of the Week. A nice and simple weekly linky, with everyone welcome to pop by and share. The idea of the linky is to reflect back on your past week and share it with us. It’s great if you can sum it up in a word or phrase, hence giving us your Word of the Week. My word this week is ‘GCSEs’ and you can read more about that below.
I’m not totally strict on using just a word or phrase. But please try to stick to the theme of summing up your week. There are not too many rules with this linky, just remember to read at least another couple of posts in the link up after adding your link. I will read and comment on all posts and tweet them out for you. I also have a Pinterest board devoted to Word of the Week and I will add posts to Mix Please add the badge below to your post so that others may find us and join in. If you comment or tweet then please use the hashtag #WotW
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MY WORD OF THE WEEK – GCSEs
If last week was muddled then this week has been even more so, and it’s all thanks to those darn GCSEs and maybe Bank Holiday Monday.
Star is in year 11, her final year at school. (silent cheer, I finally got a child to finish to school!) The year has been particularly hard and we didn’t know what was happening with her GCSEs. We didn’t even know they were going ahead. It’s been a tough week, with a full timetable for Star. She was promised a quiet room to do the exams in but on the first day she was put in a room with the SEND kids and the disruptive kids. It really threw the SEND kids and us parents had to complain to the school. We had lots of tears on Tuesday evening, but it was all sorted out and now they have been separated. Star’s school has been so good with her, but this was a stupid error of judgement that they should not have even tried. Now we know that Star has failed one of her exams and missed another.
After school on Wednesday she was feeling better about the examination room arrangements but feeling totally stressed out about the exam schedule. I sat down with her and we worked out which exams were most important and cut the timetable in half. But, by bedtime she’d decided by herself that she was going to sit all of the exams. I could have burst with pride. I know that maybe I should be more of a pushy Mother, but I truly stand by my approach. If she’d gone ahead with the plan and missed half the exams I’d have found a way for her to do them later, without the pressure. But, if I’d put my foot down and demanded that she did them she probably wouldn’t be doing them happily as she is now.
It’s strange to think my little girl is going to be leaving school pretty soon. And my baby, The Little Man, will be leaving Primary school this summer.
Not much else has been going on this week. I’ve finished reading a book and started a new one and I’m currently working on two crochet pieces. I’m quite happy staying snug at home but I think if the weather warms up again soon I might venture out…now that will be something to write about 🙂
Before I go can I share some exciting news….I have my first visit to the ballet booked…it might be for next year but my lovely friend bought tickets as soon as they went on sale. We are off to see Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker in February next year and I can’t wait!!
Now it’s over to you, what word or phrase sums up your week this week?
Poor Star, sometimes you do have to wonder what the schools are thinking. I think your approach was the best, pushing doesn’t get you far, letting them make their own minds up is better. How lovely to have a theatre trip planned!
I was disappointed with the school after all their promises, but at least they put it right in the end. Fingers crossed we make it through the next two weeks.
Go Star. Good on her for giving the exams a go even after a few hiccups. It sounds like you did the right thing by not pushing her. You know her best. Good luck to her with the rest of the exams.
How can your Little Man be leaving primary school in the summer? Time really does fly.
Hooray for booking the ballet! How exciting! x
Kim Carberry recently posted…This week my Word of the Week is: Muddled. #WotW
I know, I can’t believe there will be no more primary school. It’s a bit daunting to think my eldest left primary in 1999, that’s 22 years ago…eeek!
I’m so proud of Star for sitting all of her exams! I remember mine clearly and they were quite stressful. So sad she was put in the same rooom with disruptive kids. Glad it got sorted eventually though. #WotW
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Exams are stressful and I was so disappointed with the school when the went back on their plans. It was too much for her, but at least we have it sorted now.
Well done to Star for giving the full timetable a go and wishing her all the best of luck with her exams. Sorry that Tuesday didn’t go well and glad that the school changed that for the rest of the exams. How lovely to have a trip to the ballet booked – something to look forward to. #WotW
I’m already excited for the ballet! Thanks for the good wishes for Star, the next two weeks are not going to be easy but it’ll soon be over.
How lovely to have the ballet to look forward to. I can’t wait to book theatre tickets again. My heart goes out to Star and all the GCSE candidates. It is so tough. Definitely harder if the exam room was set up to be distracting. Glad you got it sorted and your approach was perfect. Good luck to Star. It sounds like her school is running mocks, which I’d prefer. Ours is running end of topic style tests in the classrooms, which stretch out over many weeks. All the way to half term.
I am so hoping that school will be finished for her in a couple of weeks. She has done so well to get so far, but I do think it’s time to move on now. I’m really excited about the ballet, even if it is next year.
I couldn’t help but think that it must be really stressful to deal with exams and everything else going on right now.
Good on Star for giving it a go. And all the best to her too. Well, everyone is growing up, not just us! Our youngest turned 18 recently so it’s an all adult house round here! Thanks for allowing us a sneak peek into your interesting week. And also for allowing us to share.
Lovely to have you along. Good luck with the all adult house (we already have 4 adults here and a soon to be 16 year old)
Nowthen Anne, I don’t know if you’ve seen my blog posts, but during Lockdown 1 I started studying maths with the aim of taking maths GCSE as an adult because I failed it at school. I’ve just sat GCSE foundations papers (yes, in my 40s). A lot of people don;t appreciate that exams are still going ahead, they’re just being marked by teachers and not exam boards. Your blog post shows they are going ahead and the stresses youngsters are under. I really feel for them and Star after such a disrupted two academic years (something else peopel overlook, COVID has been around for just over a year but it has disrupted two academic years). Good luck Star!
You are so right, the poor kids (And teachers) have had it so tough, and now the younger year nines are facing disruption. My other daughter hasn’t even chosen her options to study for her GCSEs. I don’t think their school is coping very well. I did my exams before leaving school, but then I took a bit of a break before returning to study later in life. It’s never too late to learn. Good luck to you too.
How lovely that you have the ballet booked. I hope you have the best time.
Also a big well done to Star for having a go, it’s so very stressful for them.
Thanks so much for hosting. x
Can’t wait for the ballet, I’m thinking of booking a musical for the girls in September.
What were the school playing at mixing the kids together like that. I’m glad they listened and sorted it out. Exams are stressful at the best of times. I was always better at the coursework. I think you did the right thing cutting the exams down for Star. Also bursting with pride that she now wants to take them all #WotW
We have just one week of exams to go now, she’s done every single one, but she’s trying real hard. The school have really got their act together too.