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

I can think of few things I'd enjoy less than three hours of A level Maths (any flour) on any day!

I hope those who are shy and more anxious about the transition to sixth form are doing well this week. You got this! As parent's we're so protective and hate to think that they are sad or struggling. They are lovely young people and will make friends. Sending strength and positivity.

We had the online "Expectations" evening last night with the Head of 6th form. Whilst many others on here have said that their DC report that schools have stressed how much work is involved DS's school was a bit different - stressing how important it is to have a balanced life and work progressively: that A levels are different from GCSE's and simply cramming at last minute won't get top grades. A levels are about application of knowledge rather than retention and regurgitation of information (as GCSE's were).

He once again stressed that the only C and D grades from the previous year 13 group were achieved by boys who took four A Levels, and that getting top grades in three is much better than good grades in four. Again, asking students to reconsider if they have asked for four. It sounds as though they are going to be ruthless in culling boys from FM over this half term.

DS is very excited - lots of extra curricular and mentoring opportunities. DS really likes the sound of CCF (combined cadet force), which I was quite surprised about. Interesting times.

@bluefineliner i think we share the same daughter!
I have a drama Lamar as well, I think of her as eeyore!
She had her induction yesterday and to say she suffers from social anxiety she did amazingly well. Went in confidently, spoke to new people and managed the day without incident. But refused to talk about it initially in the car and then vented about the unfairness of her meeting new people to find they weren’t in her classes, the lack of creative extra curricular classes (these haven’t even been finalised yet!) and 101 other little issues. She couldn’t see how amazingly well she’d done when a few years ago she wouldn’t have been able to leave the car in the first place never mind walk in alone and do the whole day. Although like your dad mine hadn’t slept well so was really tired all day so that would t help.
nothing today and then it starts for real next Tuesday! Send strength 🙈

Morning,

I see a theme here with schools not having organised things quite yet. DD had a wobble yesterday that she won't make any friends. Prone to being a drama llama this is no surprise to me but follows her first two days of saying she met this lovely person in chem, or chatted to this lovely person in form.....

I think she is impatient and wants to magic new best friends in a matter of hours rather than sit back and see how things develop. Most likely though because she is a new external student in an existing school 6th form, so as expected there are groups of girls clinging together away from the new people.

I have reassured her things will change as she settles in and starts regular lessons where she gets to know her peers that way. My worry about this kind of thing never seems to end, even now she's 16! It didn't help that she messaged me at lunch time telling me she was sad (I was at work) 😟. She was very tired though so has had a good night last night and I am hoping today will be more positive

Work wise she is very keen still and can't wait to get started properly.

@Techno56 that is mean! Here Monday is triple maths which seems much better than a Friday.

DS has a two week rolling timetable.

3 lessons on a Monday, full day Tuesday, 3 lessons Wednesday, full day Thursday and no lessons on a Friday them week 2 is the same but Friday and Mondays swap.

He's dreading tomorrow as nothing to do.

They can't go home for free periods and have to stay in school. They utilise them as TAs around the school and have set periods where they are assisting teachers in classrooms.

DD has enjoyed her first two days, but says they have spent a lot of time telling them how hard A levels are and how much they will have to work. This has not helped her anxiety levels. They are also meant to have study periods and free periods, but apparently these have not been organised yet...

My son has maths / FM with the same teacher in the same room for three consecutive hours tomorrow afternoon and one of them is a twilight so he doesn't finish til half four. This is mean for a Friday isn't it 😅

Friday is half day at DS's school and the way his timetable has worked out is that he has no actual lessons on a Friday (has to be in though). He also had a free period this afternoon - so the small bit of homework he was set today has already been done. He's not sure what he is supposed to be doing for 4 hrs tomorrow!

Once he gets in the swing of things I'm hoping that those free lessons will be become v handy.

Doing maths and further maths there is a heck of a lot of maths - 10 50min lessons for Maths/further Maths over 4 days. Not my idea of fun!!

DD's school contacted today, her science paper was graded 88 but apparently one mark off 89, do I want to remark. I think it's fairly pointless but DD is keen, she didn't get any 9s. There's 6 papers though, they are saying it will cost me £42 for a remark, I'm happy to pay this for one, but not 6. Also she got special consideration, we don't know what that added to her score, but I wonder if that needs to be taken into account? I'm confused by it all. Will ask school to clarify I think.

DD is also missing uniform, although she regularly told me how she hated it at school. Having to plan an outfit for college is stressful, although I wonder if she'll just slip into a regular set of clothes, I think I wore jeans almost exclusively for college.

Work expectation for her is 15 hours in class and 15 hours independent study, that's for 3 A-levels, although I'm sure the independent study bit will vary a little between students and subjects. They are also expected to take an enrichement option, which could be team sports, but there's no compulsory PE.

They have cut the bus service to 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon, so she will have to study in college on days when she has less on her timetable unless she can get lifts. I'm sure some time will be spent in town as well! I'm told their private study areas get very busy, so I'm hoping that there will be enough space, the bus she gets has been reduced significantly and it covers a large area, so I imagine the number of kids stuck on campus all day will increase.

Still no timetable, we thought she would get that today, but actually she's just got a timetable for tomorrow, she has two extended tutor times and then starts properly on Monday.

We, parents of the cohort, have an "expectations" teams meeting this evening with the head of sixth form. Hopefully that will be helpful in clarifying what they expect in terms of additional study and voluntary contributions.

His form teacher is also one of his English Lit teachers and he is the only one in the form who is new to the school. The form group is a mixture of 10 year 12 and 13 students. They have 15 minutes each day in their form group. They also have "reading week" for the week before half term in October. .

EPQ, super and extra curricular has not been mentioned except in general "yap" (DS' term, not mine!) Next week we have a one to one with DS' form tutor - I have started a questions sheet already!

Since reading these threads I have been amazed at the vast differences between areas. We visited schools and colleges in three counties and they were all much of a muchness in terms of offerings and grade expectations for A Levels so it has been a real eye opener to realise just how different other schools/colleges are.

DD has a very packed timetable with (currently) 4 A-Levels and Wednesday afternoon kept free for Games. She’s the oldest in the year (just turned 17) and is also starting driving lessons next week. So it’ll be busy!

DS is missing his uniform. It was much easier and the blazer had more pockets.

His 4th subject is neither maths nor language, so he is taken aback by the expectations. He already had homework last night.

It's amazed me how different sixth forms are across the country and the requirements to get in compared to others and to colleges.

You've said your Son has PE as compulsory, DS sixth form has AS level maths as compulsory and they need a C or above to continue into year 13

I'm trying not to get too invested but I find it all quite stressful.

DS has been desperate to go back, I just hope he can continue into year 13!

Thanks Waspie, my DD's 4th subject is indeed Further Maths. Also, she got an A in her OCR FSMQ Additional Maths exam in year 11, which overlaps to a degree with A-level Maths - this should help a bit.

She will also do Gold DofE, but the activities won't be new as she already does sports and volunteering. She will likely do an 1-hr/week online cookery class for the skills section, and that's a fun one and very useful.

16 marks missed on a maths paper is incredible! I hope your son's friend get the outcome he wants @YellowphantGrey

It does seem a lot @anoukis. The expectation for additional study, super and extra curricular is one of the reasons DS' school do not recommend doing four A Levels, unless one is FM or a language in which the student is already fluent.

Hopefully DS will get his timetable today. They have mandatory PE on Wednesday afternoons, but DS is sporty and quite happy with this. I'd imagine other less sporty students might not be so happy.

It was. His friend has been through the mill though.

Wanted to do Biology, computer science and physics A Level. Needed 8s in those subjects to do them at A Level plus 4 in English and an 8 in maths.

He got 9s and a 7 in Maths. 1 mark off an 8 and the declined his place. Requested paper back, teacher went over the paper and saw marks had been missed, sent it off for remarking. School still wouldn't accept him.

Got into a college to do the Alevels he wanted as he had over the grade requirement for their, got his paper back and has moved up a feade boundary as he was awarded an extra 16 marks that were missed. Has had to reapply for this sixth form and is now waiting for the outcome which he will know by the end of today.

So I've just looked at my DD's timetable more closely. Each fortnight she has 9 hours of teaching per subject (x 4 subjects) and 4 hours of timetabled study time (I'm guessing supervised?). That's 40 hours in total. And each morning form time from 8:30-9.

The rest are free periods, but she is supposed to be in school from 8:30am each day until 3pm on Mon, Tue and Fri, and until 4pm on Thu. The only day when she can leave school early is on Wednesday, when she has a free during period 5.

School says they should do independent study 4-5 hours per subject per week, so that would be 16-20 hours each week. Which means about 6-8 hours during study time and frees at school, and the rest at home. So it would be 2-3 hours daily at home, wow that seems like a lot considering extracurricular stuff (sports, volunteering etc.). DD hasn't said anything but I am now thinking... does she really need a 4th subject?

That must have been a huge relief @YellowphantGrey

DS' first day today - had to be in at 8am so we were all up at 6am which was a big shock for DS - although he didn't need to be woken up. I gave him a lift in as it was so early but from tomorrow school day starts at 9.10am so he will get the bus. He's only there for the morning and I'd imagine it's just getting their user ids, cafeteria, network and other IT stuff sorted plus some time with tutors.

He looked both very old and very young in his new dark grey suit and sixth form tie when I dropped him off.

I hope all of your DC have enjoyed their first days of year 12.

DD has texted me saying the bus driver is asking students for directions!

Checking in also ... DD first day at college in town so got the bus in nice and early. Has a lesson for each of 3 subjects today but with huge gaps in between ... I'm hoping if she can't resist the tempo to wander into town she a least keeps an eye on the time

Ahh week if not she's going to learn a life lesson

Just checking in. I've got ds2 starting 6th form college today doing music production, maths and computers.

@Teadrinker81 my DD is in similar situation. She doesn't know anyone at her new 6th form and she's quite shy and struggles with social anxiety. She found day 1 hard in terms of not being confident enough to make new friends but she's trying to stay positive about it. It should be easier once she's in her subject lessons, doing group work etc.

Dd off for her first day at college. She’s excited about the prospect of wearing her own clothes and the 4 day week has gone down very well! (They do condensed weeks as the college has lots of people travelling in from long distances due to the rural location).
She suffers from social anxiety and is really nervous, especially as her friends have chosen a different college. I have said that the majority of people will be uncertain, nervous and ready to mix and make new friends but not sure she is ‘hearing me!’
fingers crossed she has a decent day and can see the positives of a brand new beginning.

DD's first day turned into 2 hours, so not much other than meeting her form and having the talk (similar to PPs) of how hard it will all be etc. She was very positive about meeting lots of new people though, already got a friend to sit with in chemistry. Most of her chemistry class are boys (4 girls) which will be interesting for her as she came from an all girls school.

Day 2 yesterday went well too, she loves her biology teacher, who started off telling them how hard they will all have to work as her classes get the best results in the school 😂.

Still all positive feedback from DD though, think she wants to get stuck into the work now.