Parents' Evening

Yesterday was Bernie’s parents’ evening at school. She was interested in what grades her teachers are predicting for her forthcoming GCSEs (not least because Ant got 10 A*s and 1 A - a good result, but one which, in theory at least, Bernie could beat).

What I found interesting was the different way Bernie, Anna and I interpreted what we heard. Bernie thought that they were all predicting her A*s except French (And I’ll get an A* in that too!) I thought we could reasonably expect a mix of As and A*s. Anna thought they were predicting mainly Bs.

How do we account for this? It seems to me, on reflection, that nearly every teacher said that if she carries on at the current level, she should get an A. If she lets things slide a bit, it will be a B; and if she works really hard, she could manage an A*.

And yet how differently we all heard it.

Anna and I talked about this, and are keen to support Bernie in her attempt to beat Ant - as long as she’s not too down-hearted if she doesn’t.