This week my Word of the Week is:
Ellie is coming to the end of her time at secondary school and I just can't seem to get my head around it. As it is now Ellie has about 20 something school days before her GCSE exams start, when you take out all of the weekends, school holidays and banks holidays. Eek! Ellie is taking everything in her stride, it's me doing all of the worrying.
On Wednesday evening we were at Ellie's last ever parents evening and I couldn't have predicted how well it would have went. Ellie hasn't always been the best student at school, there was a time years ago where she was bullied relentlessly that she started suffering with social anxiety. We moved house and she had a fresh start in a new school and we finally had a bit of hope for her.
I get texts and messages from the school all of the time praising Ellie and telling me about how she is doing but I only seem to get a full grasp of how well she is doing when we go to parents evening. She has had lots of predicted grades over the years but they have gone up and down and they were only predicted depending on how much work she put in.
We saw Ellie's science teacher first who said she is easily getting 4's which is a C in Biology and Physics so just needs to work on Chemistry so that doesn't bring the combined score down. Chemistry is Ellie's weakest subject when it comes to Science but she's working on it.
English was up next and Ellie's teacher and I got through the chat without crying, just!! When Ellie started with the most amazing English teacher she was struggling to get a 3 which is a D a couple of years ago but thanks to the teacher, a small class and Ellie really enjoying the lessons she is now doing practice papers and is easily getting a 6 which is a B! With the paper Ellie is taking it's unlikely that she will get an A but we will happily take the B. The 6 is predicted but even if she gets the 5 it is better than anyone ever imagined. Miss R has said she will be using Ellie as an example in years to come to show students how far a student can come when they put the work in.
Maths has always been a bit hit and miss. Ellie has been predicted a 4 (C) but she had never reached it in the mock exams or practice papers so we were not holding out much hope but it turns out on the last mock Ellie got the 4 and then has carried on getting 4's on the practice papers. The maths teacher said when he saw the 4 he went running down the corridor to the English teacher to show her and celebrate. The maths teacher has said if Ellie gets the 6 for English and 4 for maths they will dance on tables for her. hehehe
For photography Ellie is set to get a 5 (B). Lots of the GCSE course has been coursework so that is easily predicted and for engineering she has already passed thanks to her coursework and the exam could easily boost it to a merit.
The subject we were least looking forward to hearing about was Geography. She didn't want to do geography when she picked her options and has had 3 different teachers in a year and a half so circumstances haven't been on her side but it turns out that her predicted grade and what she got in her mocks was a 4 which is a C! Ellie just needs to revise and learn about the case studies and it will be a certain 4. This time last year she was predicted to get a 2 so she has really improved.
20 odd days left at school does not seem like long but there are extra revision classes during the Easter holidays and after school which Ellie will be taking advantage of. Yesterday Ellie's prom dress was delivered and I can't wait to share photos of her in it but that will be after she's left school, finished her exams and it's prom day. All of those things seemed such a long time away just a few months ago, now they are a matter of weeks away! Eek!
How has your week been? I hope you've had a good one!