Have your Year 11 left yet?? Ours go on Thursday (they think it’s Friday).
It’s that time of year again – have we really done all we can do or is a small part of us wishing we had another fortnight?
Before then they’ve got a Maths immersion Day, exams briefing, a Religious Studies Exam (preceded by an RS immersion morning), a Leavers service and for some of them a rude awakening in the form of a letter telling their parents that we’d like them to stay on for another two weeks. Those lucky few are our borderline pupils who are still in serious danger of not getting 5 A* – C grades. I’ve never before encountered immersion days in the form we have them. Groups of pupils or a whole year group off-timetable to work with subject specific staff. Having a Maths one this late has annoyed quite a few other subjects, the RS one is more understandable – they come in in the morning, have some last minute guidance and then, with the memories of the morning still fresh in their mind, sit the exam. The Maths one is more panic mode really as the thought of our 5 A*-C with English and Maths levels falling from 63% in 2006 to 55 last year and now to possibly as low as 37% is not one that we can live with. I am feeling quite sick at the thought of my input into Key Stage 4 intervention coming to nothing, not to mention the fact that these last minute additions is stopping me from getting on with all the other jobs that I have to do (finalising options and the whole school timetable to name but two).
Well, I’ll spend all day Monday teaching Maths and then dealing with indignant pupils asking why they’re so special that they have to say on at school?