Year 12 - 2024/25 - Support, Discussion and Looking After Each Other

Apologies @Tebheag it didn't register that it was core maths! Is your son enjoying the course? I would have quite liked DS to take it but they didn't offer it at his school.

Good luck to him for his theory test! Getting driving tests is a huge issue. I know the Government are supposed to be trying to hire thousands of examiners but that all takes time. We're in Berkshire and to get a test reasonably locally is almost impossible. Most people I've spoken to locally seem to be getting offered Leeds as the test centre with dates which is 200+ miles away.

@Waspie core Maths is only an AS level so will finish next year. Hope parents evening goes well ours is on line so will be quick !!
DS has got his theory next month took a while to find a Saturday and till he has a code from passing it was told he can't book the driving test which is meant to have a long wait in our area.

No strikes affecting any of DS' friends as far as I'm aware, although DS has been ill (this horrid virus that half the country have had, or currently have) and hasn't been at school since Monday. Hardly ideal timing as economics are starting new sub modules this week. He was well enough to do some work from home yesterday and will again today to try and catch up. The teachers post all of the lessons on their Teams channel and DS has got some notes from class mates. Hopefully he will be able to catch up.

We have parents evening next week too @Tebheag. Is your DS going to carry on with four, or does he plan to drop one at the end of the year?

Fingers crossed your DD gets the job @wonderstuff!

Hi @GenerationXer, those courses sound interesting, hope your son is enjoying them. DS had the same experience applying online for his provisional licence. They seem very quick at the DVLA at the moment.

I hope the weather improves for you @bluefineliner. Partial opening sounds like the worst of both worlds for your DD.

DS did his provisional online and had it back with in a week.
Good luck to anyone getting resit results today.
Got first parents evening next week so far he is on track with first report A core maths B geography and business studies and C for accountancy teacher not concerned as just missed a B by couple of marks
No strokes our way thankfully
Hooe all your kids affected gets the support they need to catch up.

Hi everyone, I haven't contributed before but I've watched with interest as I have a quiet DS studying in his state school's 6th form for Maths/Sociology A levels and Level 3 Applied Criminology. No decision yet on what he wants to do next, unsure about Uni. Not sure it's for him. Anyway, I just wanted to say @bluefineliner that my DS applied for his Provisional Driving Licence on 18th Dec and it arrived on 24th. So fingers crossed your DD's one will arrive quickly.

@wonderstuff fingers crossed for your DD. My DD loves her job so much I am quietly a bit concerned her focus will drift away from school! She has had some test results back from before Christmas and has done v well again so fingers crossed she can balance everything and still keep on top of the A levels. I don't want to nag her as she has always been v self motivated and capable, it is just strange seeing her widen her social life with this job (but also good too 😊).

DD's school is still not open full days because of the weather here, closed Mon and late starts every day since (11am). We don't live near so it is a huge effort to go in late just for one or two lessons, then home again. She would get more done by working at home with no commute rather than part days.

Just out of interest, how long did it take for your kids provisional driving licenses to come through? DD needs hers for early April.

@underrcover yes DD missing quite a bit due to the strikes. I think it's scandalous that 6th form teachers aren't getting the same pay rise (as a state secondary teacher myself) presumably the per pupil funding at 6th form colleges is lower, which seems unfair. I'm not too worried at this point about it, so much is self-directed anyway and I feel confident that the teachers will put in whatever is needed to support the students across the course, that said I do hope the dispute is sorted out soon.

DD had her first job interview (finally) yesterday at HMV, so we are waiting to find out, she says it 'wasn't terrible' who knows. Not really finding out too much from her, she seemed to have spent more time chatting than working today and is a bit behind on her work, but should be able to pull it back over the weekend. We're all very tired this week.

Is anyone else being affected by the teachers' strikes? As I understand it, it only affects teachers at standalone sixth form colleges (but not academies), who didn't get a pay rise in line with their colleagues in school sixth forms and FE colleges. I have every sympathy for the teachers but getting a bit worried about all the missed lessons

Thanks @JessyCarr and @Teadrinker81 I feel DD needs to do her own research in to this, at least she has time. Neuropsychologist sounds interesting. DD doesn't have a musical bone in her body but it is definitely as niche area combined with rehab.

morning all.
College restarted today, but dd doesn't have any lessons. She was going to go in to do the homework due tomorrow and not done all holidays, but was feeling really rough last night so decided to sleep in.
Only one piece of homework to do though, which is AMAZING for her.
She has rested an chilled a lot over the holidays which has been great and I think she is ready to go back.

We were talking about ND kids being burntout by school yesterday (one of our friends has a son like this) and dd said that she was really heading for burnout last year in the run up to GCSE, the stress was overwhelming. At the time we stepped in and told school she would not be doing 2 of her GCSEs so that she stood some chance of passing the remaining 7. It is interesting to hear her say that that is how she felt though, and certainly she is coping so much better now.

Is music rehab still a thing?
I remember a friend who did a music degree did a post grad and then worked as in music rehab. She went on to open her own business in a totally different field so no idea of the job opportunities these days. If your dd has interests in both music and psychology it may be worth a look.

https://www.bps.org.uk/neuropsychologist-job-profile

@bluefineliner Another option might be a psychology degree with a view to clinical neuropsychology, perhaps? Like neuroscience it would mean years of postgrad study, obviously.

@JessyCarr thanks for the suggestion, her older sister is an NHS physio (done really well and done private work too), DD is not interested in the physical rehabilitation side of things. I had a chat with her just now (school has just informed us they are closed due to snow) and she thinks she would like research if it was about the brain and was interesting.

The good thing is she now feels the dentistry pressure is off which gives her much longer to research courses etc. I am treading a fine balance between trying to engage her positively and her getting snappy because 'she doesn't know' 😀.

I do remember going through similar with DD1 though, who changed her mind on doing an accountancy degree to sports science when we arrived at the first open day! Turned out she was right though, sports physio was her thing.

@bluefineliner Has she considered physiotherapy? My cousin (also very much a people person) has a great career in it with a mix of NHS and private work. Her daughter is now doing it at uni and loving it.

Morning,
DD had a mini meltdown last night about career choices, which I sort of knew was coming. She was looking at dentistry as she has the academic ability and loves chem/bio. I knew her heart wasn't in it enough but went along with it and she has done an online conference on how to get into dental school etc. This has now made her realise the application process and pressure on extra curricular is just too much for her and I agree. So we had tears as she is desperate she needs to 'know' what she wants to do at uni.

We have talked a lot and reassured her she can take a gap year if necessary as she seems to not want to 'do' anything, she says she doesn't want to work in an office, in a lab, in finance, law... you name it. When I asked what she did enjoy it always comes back to human biology and psychology.... cue her looking at neuroscience degrees 🙄. I don't mind what she does but the lab thing is making it really hard as she loves the subjects but doesn't want to work in research! I don't know anything about the profession (even though I am an HCP) so can't advise. We will obvs go to lots of open days but has anyone got any advice?

I really don't want her wasting 3/4 years at uni doing something she can't get work in afterwards. She is very academic but also a real people person so thinks working in a lab will be boring. Urgh....

Happy New Year to you all!

DS surprised me this evening by announcing that he would be glad to get back to school tomorrow. It was lucky that we were all sitting at the dining table or I might have keeled over from shock!

We bought a car yesterday for DS to practice in once he has arranged some lessons. He has some savings and his grandparents gave him some money at Christmas towards lessons. Looking for a driving instructor is now on my ever growing To Do list.

No exams for DS until the summer. His end of term report was good and this has bolstered his confidence ahead of this new term.

Happy new year! DD has belatedly got down to some work in the last few days and term starts on Tuesday. Exams are coming up in late January and then summer exams are late April into early May. A bit of an eye-opener when she realised that her predicted grades for UCAS will be pretty much based on what she does between now and the first week of May. (I’m sure they keep assessing them into the autumn, but still).

So… we’ve put her driving test back to June. It feels like 6th form just started and yet suddenly we are lurching towards UCAS and all that!

Happy New Year
DS finally did some work today we where away for Christmas till new years day then he needed rest no idea why. He is back Monday and still got more to do. Still no part time job though don't think he is really looking.
Hope all the kids have a great first day back will be hard for some who commute with the cold and dark nights.

There is no raring to go back to school here (or work to be fair)
We have completely destressed, which we all needed.
DS has a business exam on Thursday, so he has done some revision

Happy new year all!

DS is back in on Monday. He’s got mocks in a couple of weeks so is working really hard for those.

Happy new year! Dd has been doing school work she was a little bit behind in maths which stressed her out, all caught up now. Teachers on strike next week, so she’s not really sure when she’s back, she thinks Wednesday. She has a job interview on Tuesday with HMV, first interview after lots of applications I do hope it goes well. A friend has also asked her if she’ll tutor her child in year 10, which she’s nervously agreed to but seems to have left all the arrangements to me.. we’ll see how it goes.

Happy New Year all.
DD is not in school Monday or Tuesday this week so a slow start for her. She's done an awful lot of art this week and rather less reading of the novel that is a set text. The art was necessary but so is the novel! The next few days are to be reading days... She's also seen friends and slept late too often 😆. She had her art portfolio at home over the holiday and has shown it to visiting family so I think their admiration (some of it informed as they paint/ draw too and some of it from utterly uniformed love) was a bit of a spur to produce more. She's experimenting with oil paints rather than acrylic so we've had windows open despite the cold as nobody loves the smell of turps!

Happy New Year 😊

Hope you all enjoyed Christmas. DD has been mainly working in her part time job (pub/restaurant) making the most of extra shifts. I was hoping she'd do more school related things (she needs to sort her CV to apply for more work experience and do some online work experience too) but she seemed to want a total break and has enjoyed being busy with her new team of friends at work.

I've left her to it and yesterday she finally spent the day doing school work so is gearing up for school now. I think it will be very full on when they return so hope she's prepared.

Are your teens raring to go back?

The Bristol one was in October some time, on a Friday afternoon..I know because my son's school instructed them all to go and he did not 😅