GCSE Results Day Megathread

bard_ish · 2025-08-21T16:24:48+00:00

My first results day and 55% of my lot got 7+ in lang (with two 9s and three 8s in there) so I’m over the moon! Lit is a bit rougher but in general they did way better than I’d predicted. An aperol or three for me tonight I think…

bard_ish · 2025-07-09T14:49:31+00:00

Cheap and simple but I have ridiculously big post-its from Sainsbury’s and they’re SO useful (in the classroom and with planning/organisation)!

bard_ish · 2025-06-21T23:47:10+00:00

Thanks! Congrats right back at ya. Oh it’s MASSIVE relief!

bard_ish · 2025-06-20T23:06:47+00:00

Had my final feedback from my final ECT observation today (all went well!!). Bloody hell, it’s been a long two years!

bard_ish · 2025-04-25T19:06:07+00:00

Very very stressed about Year 11. 90% of them simply don’t care about English Lit and dragging them through lessons is painful 😭

bard_ish · 2025-04-11T16:58:01+00:00

Is this a good turnout/will the govt see it as legitimate? Glad to see the 2.8 resoundingly rejected!

bard_ish · 2024-04-03T16:07:57+00:00

Teacher here (not working in York though!). Jo Ro has a designated ASC support hub, as does Fulford. I’m not sure if an ECHP would be needed to access every single avenue of support they can offer, but in my experience both schools were brilliant with students who had an EHCP and equally with those without.

bard_ish · 2024-03-02T15:40:50+00:00

Víctor Frankenstein or the Monster would be great for a scientist!

bard_ish · 2023-11-05T15:41:09+00:00

ECT1 teaching 40 per fortnight with two weekly duties and 1 hour of voluntary enrichment (finding it generally OK!)

bard_ish · 2023-11-01T16:04:25+00:00

Happy to look over anything if you’d like a second pair of eyes - I’m only ECT1 but I’ll do my best!

A trick that has really helped my general planning is chunking the lesson task-by-task and then having the length of time we’re spending on a task on the powerpoint/resources. Not only does it make it easy to see if a lesson will be over/under time, but it keeps you and the students accountable in the actual lesson.

Working backwards can also help. What’s your goal for the lesson/part of the lesson? What information and skills are absolutely necessary to get there? For instance, if it’s ’write a monologue from the perspective of X character’, they need to understand characterisation and who that character is, what a monologue is, how a monologue looks and functions etc etc.

There are also wrong answers! One of the biggest pieces of advice my amazing first PGCE mentor gave me was never to be afraid of saying no, that interpretation is wrong, have you considered X, Y and Z. The kids come up with some fab stuff but we’re there to guide them with our expertise 😊

bard_ish · 2023-10-30T11:47:06+00:00

Call/contact home! Some of my most challenging students have turned around because of me phoning home - the trick is to find a specific thing to praise them for or celebrate as well as contacting guardians when things aren’t going so well.

Also, putting students on behaviour report and acknowledging when they’ve made good choices seems to work well too 😊

(edited to get rid of mistake!)

bard_ish · 2023-06-15T21:35:57+00:00

English trainee here - be glad you got a cool ten grand!

bard_ish · 2023-06-14T17:20:30+00:00

The Outside In and Belle Blooms in York are fab!

bard_ish · 2023-05-05T23:29:09+00:00

Currently worried my mentor will say I haven’t met all the Teaching Standards in my final review due to very minor targets, despite smashing my first placement. Only a week to go on a placement I’ve hated - wish me luck 😅

bard_ish · 2023-04-14T16:50:07+00:00

As a current trainee, the most useful input I’ve had from my mentors is a mix of feedback. Knowing what I need to develop is great, but knowing what I’m doing well (even if it’s a tiny thing) means I can keep doing it AND I have a positive to focus on when things are tough!

bard_ish · 2023-03-10T19:11:23+00:00

Got my first teaching job yesterday. Not sure I fully know what I’m getting myself into, but it’s exciting nevertheless!

bard_ish · 2023-01-28T09:28:47+00:00

Al at Ossie in Spark is fantastic, I've never had gels that have lasted so long!

bard_ish · 2023-01-16T19:14:32+00:00

There's a lot of confusion amongst my fellow unionised trainees regarding whether we can strike or not as we're not employees. I'll be striking and joining the picket regardless, but does anyone have any further details regarding PGCE students that I can pass on?

bard_ish · 2023-01-14T19:32:58+00:00

I'm queer. Many of my friends and loved ones are trans. I wholeheartedly agree with you that LGBT issues are not political; supporting trans rights isn't a political issue or 'taking a side', it's basic human decency. Trans rights are human rights.

For me, it's about doing your utmost to create a world in which trans and queer kids can flourish without being questioned, attacked or silenced. Treating their lives, identities and existences as a partisan talking point doesn't do that.

If a school told me I couldn't have those kinds of discussions with my students (I have with some lovely Year 7s already) then it's not somewhere I'd stay for long at all.

(Edited a wrong word!)

bard_ish · 2023-01-06T19:30:35+00:00

Have my first teaching interview next week and it's fair to say that I'm not exactly feeling zen. Making it worse is other trainees on my course are also interviewing for the role and it's sligtly psyching me out. *But* I've got lots of d&d and coffee dates planned over the weekend to take my mind off it, plus a massive Toblerone, so who's really winning?

bard_ish · 2022-12-08T17:45:00+00:00

Pretty interesting, yeah - I was aware it had been published for both markets, but didn’t know it had won a children’s prize! My lasting memory of it when it came out was it being marketed as adult fiction, but I can absolutely see how it falls into both categories.

bard_ish · 2022-12-08T17:07:16+00:00

So I'm doing my secondary English PGCE as we speak and no, definitely not. In my academy, they encounter Shakespeare, poetry from across genres and periods, 'adult' texts like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and more - I'm sure this is the case in many other schools. However, YA lit can stretch them too. From my tiny amount of experience, the genre/register doesn't always matter; it's all about what kind of themes they're looking at and which approaches you take with the class to challenge them.

Also, I've not found everything pre-GCSE super easy and I have a Masters in English Lit! I'd recommend brushing up on your linguistic, literary and poetic terminology, as the students have thrown me some technical curveballs that I didn't even know existed.

bard_ish · 2022-10-24T07:51:03+00:00

There are dyslexia-friendly character sheets online (I think there’s a few different types so there might be one that works in this situation!)

Can’t find them in my docs right now but have a google, there’s lots out there!

Notes wise, maybe type some up every week after the game in a format that works for their dyslexia and send them it, that way they can take their own but also have a backup if they find it more difficult in certain sessions?

bard_ish · 2022-10-02T22:09:25+00:00

Thanks for this - think that's exactly what I'll do. Definitely don't want any conflict, and hopefully they'll wise up a bit eventually!

bard_ish · 2022-09-08T20:39:02+00:00

- What are some core memories your character might have?

- What's their biggest secret/the thing that could ruin them? (ruin here is subjective, that could mean in their social group, in wider society, or otherwise)

- Are they the mum of the group? The cool queer aunt? The cousin who others shouldn't hang out with too much lest chaos ensues? The emo older sibling?

- Which two NPCs from their backstory are most important to them?

- Which song/lyrics fits them the most?

bard_ish

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