BTEC/T level/other vocational 25/26

They are clearly long lost cousins…

I’m in your Record Club, then! Aka Vinyl Hell, indeed!!! Unfortunately, my DS sounds like your DD evil twin!!! Marketing monkey extraordinaries!!!

“ But! IT IS LIM-IT-TEDD!!!!! What part do you NOT GET??!” 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ .. The US has red, green, and blue colour copies and the crappy crap we can only get here is like sky blue pink colour !! Which clearly I’m NOT getting!!”…. That kinda thing!!!?!

I am logging back into my eBay account, then…. and patronising the 547 charity shops we have in our market town!! 😈😈😈😈

🙏🙏🙏for the tips!!!

@Sisublondie
She seemed ok and a couple of her new friends saved her a seat 😊
I hope we don't have similar traffic woes tomorrow (I even checked the traffic before we left...argh...)
Imagine dds horror when I informed her I was at Glastonbury in '94! 😅

Excellent idea!!!! I had not thought of that… so, thank you!!! 🙏 😸

Depeche Mode! Love it! I think they genuinely think we have always been this age! I remember last year, DS said “ sound” as in “. Great!” for the 3rd of 4th time that day, so I must have commented. He went “ Ha! I bet you don’t even know what I means!!”! I replied ( we were driving), “ Ummmm, yeh, I do AND I used to say it at your age ANd think it was my old crowd that INVENTED it”…(from Liverpool originally) .. I looked at him and the shock!!!!
He has never said it since!! 🤷‍♀️😈😹!

Im glad your DD was able to call to explain her delay… I hope she didn’t get too stressed. How did her day go?
Has she met any potential new friends? I hope her week is going well…… and yours!!!! 😻

Well!! I had a good parents evening!! And! A timetable!! Score! Will be back shortly with the ALS/ Parents Eve update!, just got to pop and drop something off!

If it’s dank and dreary and rainy with you, too… don’t forget… it’s nearly the Weekend!! 🥳🥳🥳🥳😹

Dd phoned college from the car and informed them.

I’m really sorry to read that. It’s horrible to see them have a wobble. It’s still so early on, and hopefully she’ll find “her people”, bad “ her feet” before long. DS’s class only has 13, too.

i hope she comes home with a spring in her step!

No...a lorry (I assume) on the motorway
Ugh
Nightmare
2.5 hours to travel 14 miles :(

Oh NO!!!!! Ummmm, was that YOUR breakdown?! That’s horrific!! Did you guys get there ok in the end?! Assignment all done?! ( playing catch up again! Nasty ass busy week!)

…. luck dictates the rest of your days should go swimmingly!!! 🍀 💕🤞 🍀! I hope it is! x

DD had a bit of a wobble this morning, she says she feels she is already behind because she didn't realise that the computers at college are cleared every night so she didn't save some of the work she had done and now needs to redo it.

She also says college is lonely, she's finding it very big and hard to make friends. They had a freshers fair yesterday (though DD is not in on Wednesdays) so I am hoping that some societies will start up soon which might make it easier to make some new friends. Her class is actually quite small but it takes time to get to know people.

2.5 hours in traffic this morning due to a breakdown.
Delightful.

@Sisublondie

Fabulous update. You now need to explore record fairs.

@Sisublondie
Welcome to vinyl hell! eBay and charity shops are your friends (slightly dependent on their music taste)

DD is obsessed with her record player and collection. Sadly she is also a marketing department's dream... limited editions... ooo, surprise songs... oooooooo.

On the upside, lots of accessories for xmas/birthdays - cleaning kits, vinyl racks, vinyl cases. Hours of happy fun.

@Sisublondie
Oh, your post has made me chuckle! 😄
So glad ds had a good day and hope ds1s issues are sorted?
Dd was very put out when she told me about this "great band"...
Depeche mode!
I had to break it to her that they started out as synth pop and I've seen them live!
😄😄😄😄

Ha! Not quite...she left something at college to dry so she'll have to pick that up on Wednesday.

Well done on getting it done ahead of time!! … I’m hoping it went on to be finished?! 🤞🙏🤞

Hey All! Playing catch up! Posted last night but was having localised WiFi problems and see it’s not here.. hey ho..😤🤔!

Had unexpected DS19 problems so been sorting that out..but! On Saturday had the best ever day with DS in months! DH was away, so I took him and his friend ( also ASD) to the cinema. Huge deal for both, in and of itself, but it’s in a shopping centre, so “ double drama”…. Well, I walked with them through the city from car park, into the mall and to the escalators to cinema…… nervously waited… and! About 2.5 hours later (new anime?), he texted, wanting to take me to this special shop he’s been dying to go to….! HMV!!!! Yep!! ( on escalator going up, I was looking round and said “ I’ve not been in one of these for ages!”…. The look in his face!! “ Like, Mother, you gave clearly never even HEARD of this place until ten minutes ago!! You’re delulu!!”
…. It’s his birthday next week, and, for once, he has been planning and deciding what he wants…. “ a vinyl turntable”!!! Yup! A record player!! Oh, I cannot express my joy at having the super cute Saturday girl Genz- splaining to me how one works!!! Pure priceless brilliance!!! Anyway!! So, that is his birthday present ticked off! And! He gave me a massive hug!! ( not in the store!?.. But, had anyone SEEN the price of “ Albums” now?!!! 🙀🙀🙀!!! A Five Guys ( HOW expensive?!) to finish the Birthday Treat off, and home to set the “ vinyl turntable” up!! It’s now Monday, and I’ve had not one cross word or arse-y tone from him! Score! I think the late night help from me, demonstrating where to place the needle, after the fact you HAVE TO TAKE THE PROTECTIVE CAP OFF!!, and the B Side is NOT in another “vin-yl”, it’s on the flip side… showed a hint of respect in his eyes! 👀..of the like I haven’t seen in about ten years!!!

So! Reality! He’s back in college today…. First assignment due tomorrow…. Something to do with circuit training. My offer to help was rebuffed so…🤷‍♀️?! Hopefully he’s done it with his team mate at lunchtime! ( tho, a new McD has opened……🙄!)..

How are you all?! 😸

I noticed that as well - register and attendance mark for every class.

One teacher last week hasn't marked DD present (not sure if just her or the whole class) so have told her to go and flag it tomorrow and get it fixed asap.

A quirk of attendance reporting:

This is for DD's supported internship, but it was similar though less extreme on her BTEC.

College does attendance per lesson not per day. Fine. But a 3hr lesson counts as 1 as does a 1 hr lesson.

This year DD has 2 days with 2x3hr lessons, and 1 day with 5x1hr. So if she misses this final day she has only attended for under 50% of the week, despite being present for over 66% of lesson time!

I think it depends on the course @Littletreefrog and what you need to progress.

DD has a mix of grades from 8 to 3, but is also very SEN so exams were challenging. She was top sets for lots of subjects that she didn't get a high exam grade for.

She got a distinction for her L2 BTEC and 100% and 98% in the components. She knows that anything less than a Distinction on any module for the next 2 years will be treated as unacceptable (she is more than capable of achieving those and the issues she had that made it hard for her to do well with GCSE not longer exist), and she's aiming for the D* overall.

If she was a child where a 4/5 would have been a good reflection of her level/potential in general then she would have a lower grade as her goal.

Dd got a 9 in her btec subject...not necessary wrt entry requirements, but I imagine she will find parts of the course easier than those who got 4s and 5s?
And if they are doing English and maths resits then that will cut into their time, too?
I'm a big fan of L2/foundation years...I did a F year prior to undergrad.

Thank you that is very helpful. I think I should look at level 2 courses as well as level 3. The ultimate aim is Uni for Paramedic Science but if it takes a little longer to get there so be it.

Hi I'm following this thread even though DS is only in year 11 as we are trying to think of post GCSE pathways. I'm interested in what you said about going straight in at level 3 with 4s and 5s at GCSE. Is that not the norm? DS is predicted 4s and 5s and we have been looking at level 3 qualifications as most say entry requirements 5 GCSEs at 4 or above. Should we be looking at level 2 qualifications instead?