BTEC/T level/other vocational 25/26

Best wishes ylto DS1! Edinburgh is a beautiful city 💙

@GianinaC
What does she want to teach?
If PA, then the PA btec would be a good choice (but I do understand the concern re: small groups/small provision)
If CM/media, then CM would be a good choice.
Does she like her current school?
Which subject is the best at?
Then, there is always the spectre of AI wrt CM future 😟

Hi,

I am looking for some advice.

My dd is going to do a BTEC extended but is torn.

One is for performing arts at a place she is very unsure of, rather small group and not a school setting.

The other is a BTEC at her school but doing Creative Digital Media.

She is unsure about Creave digital media and wondered if anyone knew about this course. Her ultimate aim is Uni and then becoming a teacher..

My partner feels she will get more varied skills in Creaive digital Media but I am thinking she really enjoys being on a stage and is very confident performing.

My DD is struggling to decide and we have today.

I have tried to find out more about Digital Creative media production but wondered if anyone had thoughts on this.

Hope today goes well with DS19 - imagine it's going to be very emotional! x

Thank you. Mine's got to do a work placement around her college days so the most she's looking at is getting a Saturday job!

Good Luck to starters today!! 🤞💕🤞..

( sorry, I know / think, a few, but mad busy as DS19 leaving for Uni today so ….🙀😹!).

A word from a teacher.

Those self study times are exactly that. In the first week or two you can think of them as a day off or a day to go shopping.

But when you start to get assignments you need that time to get the work done.

So DO NOT get your self a part time job on those days.

Lovely email from college saying how well DD has,started on her Supported Internship (only 2 days in).
I had emailed concerns in advance due to home disruption (my DM now out of hospital and things have been fraught but extra care being organised and I can finally get home later today.)

She also took return bus yesterday which is planning for this year. Had only done it twice before at end of last term after 3 years due to stamina/anxiety.

@OhCrumbsWhereNow
😫😃

Haha - this is us. Happily college took the ID photos at enrolment... but now we have the train photocard nightmare tomorrow.

Thoughts and prayers...

Omg.
The drama!
Dd is insisting dh take hundreds loads of photos for her annual transport pass! 🙄
She hasn't been happy with any of them so far...😃

I'd have much preferred an FE college at 16. My school was really rough and pretty rubbish (1980s!) but my parents could not have afforded transport out of area (I got a free bus to the school 6th form).
Living semi rurally really limited choices back then.

I've almost found myself caught up in the sixth form/college divide, wanting to say "DC got the grades for sixth form but chose college" so people wouldn't feel sorry for us.
It's so silly! He's already met some decent people at college and is way more relaxed and chilled than he was for the last two years at school.
Horses for courses.

@BTECnewbie
I agree. It's odd.
Dd initially went for A levels as thats what her school encouraged her to do, and it's what her sister did, and most of her friends have done.
It's quite amusing, really, the snobbery...
Dd got better gcse grades than many of her peers who are doing A levels 😃
I think dd convinced herself that the more local 6th form (still a bus ride away...) with a few people from school would be less scary/different.
But that was the problem...she wanted different.
She's 17 this month and was so done with her (very small) school.
She is very much enjoying not wearing uniform 😃

Very similar here re: nasty comments

First induction day here and all seems OKish except for they are in a class which is mostly level 2 moving to level 3 students who have already done a year at college. She’s plucking up courage to ask if she can move to a different class. When we went to enrolment the tutor seemed a little confused as to why she was in that group. Sure we will sort it out but definitely happy to be at college rather than school

First day tomorrow. No timetable yet, but she knows she's in 3 days a week, 2 days a week placement (that she needs to find).
She's excited but also really nervous, people have said some horrible things about the college she chose and it's really taken the shine off of things. There's nothing wrong with it, just a silly sixth form/college divide.

Digital Audio Workstation - it's basically a computer system that you connect to a mini piano and allows you to write music digitally using the piano keys, various pads and anything you have recorded into the system like vocals. There are various different ones - Garageband is a DAW for example, but the industry level ones are Logic Pro, Ableton and ProTools.

You would expect each student to have a desk with the mini piano, a normal keyboard and a computer monitor each - and that the college uses an industry level system.

Quite a few colleges didn't have enough for 1 each, or they were borrowing time slots from other colleges, or they were using Garageband instead of Logic.

Love the tarantula pic story! DH used to have a pet one...

My DD just texted me a picture of her tutor's pet tarantula that's bigger than her hand. I think everyone in our street heard me swear because I was NOT expecting that!

Suffice to say, DD is giddy with excitement. Very early days but her reaction to today's induction fills me with hope.

Ah, I can see why you are concerned. I suspect you are right about the drop out rate. What's a DAW?

It's a L3 Extended Music diploma.

Hence my concern on numbers.

If you have performance classes, the kids will all be bored rigid if they only get to perform for 5 minutes and then spend the other 115 minutes listening to everyone else (yes it's good to listen to others get feedback but let's be honest about ADHD kids and focus... )

For production, they need access to a DAW each, not having to share. Most music colleges limit numbers to their DAW workspaces.

20ish in DS class - all boys/young men!

Crikey @OhCrumbsWhereNow, those are big classes. It must account for drop-out rate. What is the course again? DD just texted she's got 16 in her group.

I was wondering the same @OhCrumbsWhereNow