GCSE summer 2020 thread 6 - Carry on Corona Cohort, Further adventures aboard the Corona Charabanc.

Hello I am new to Mumsnet. I was looking for support because I am worried about how GCSE results day is going to go. Just like to know that I am not alone. Thank you for the videos. I found them very reassuring.

My DD is miffed her school has slacked off on the uniform side of things for 6th form. She loves having a uniform apparently, especially as her one was comfy, and looked slimming! (her words not mine). She has decided that she will still wear a skirt (mini of course) with black tights and nice tops or as Orange has said naice, I thought that only referred to ham :-) She has bought a couple of blazers too and nicer teeshirts and bodysuits with cardigans for the more casual days. She considers herself fashionable but definitely not geek. I've been looking online for sale stuff (Debenhams Miss Selfridge especially) which originally she scoffed at (middle age stuff) but she did buy some stuff in the end that she liked - also did well on ebay - in fact a couple of checked mini skirts which was about 50p + postage and a jacket for £1.50! She won't even consider wearing jeans (which are now allowed) which is odd as she spends her life outside school in skinny jeans or Gymshark leggins.

This is why I'm actually quite pleased that DD has to wear a suit. Just get one and wear it. No style choices to consider.

Its cardigans I really struggle with. I Love them all except the80s shawl collar type. Some of mine are really cool, and some totally granny, apparently. I do not understand the criteria. My Dd has a pair of black slouchy suede ankle boots that Iloathe, never seen another teenager in anything like them, but she loves them and wears them with eg denim shorts when trainers would surely be better. Guess we will muddle thru, really just distracting myself from the potential disaster of results day.

@Zebracat i think the geeky look IS cool at the moment.

What do I know? Dd was telling me the other day how much she hates my 50s style dress with mexican sugar skulls design on it...it is my absolute fave

Thanks all. Very kind. I think the difference between cool and geek is just too subtle for me. She’s not keen on exposing acres of flesh, although her legs are so long that any skirt tends to look short!

@Zebracat Band t shirts/ Merch Jumpers from Primark or similar always seem to be a good taking point I've noticed . Dd often gets 'ooh I love your tee' type comments when she wears her Nirvarna shirt. In the past she has been known to wear Bambi and Ravenclaw to give you an idea of the range available.

just realised link didn't work

Hi Zebracat - my daughter favours A line minis - many of them checked too so sounds v similar ! Checks are big againin Autumn apparently. She favours Vans over Converse and is going through a phase of belly tops at the moment in the house ( roll eyes) but puts on big cardigans when she goes out. New look had some nice ribbed tops in last year that lasted well and went with black skinny jeans /a line skirts
like this

She also has a couple of jersey pinafores, blazers /naice blouses for smart and some vegan DM lookalikes from New Look. I suspect the overriding sense of fashion atm is 90s which quite frankly makes me shudder as it was only a decade or so ago - wasn't it ?

DD is going to a new college too she loves clothes but seems to get it completely wrong or right, in my eyes at least !

That sounds exactly what my DD likes to wear...however she's full on geek rather than cool so I may not be the best source of advice!

Hi. I was on an earlier thread with a different name. Wonder if I can lower the tone by asking what the cool girls will be wearing into year 12. My Dd is gorgeous, but clueless about clothes. We are thinking black jeans, checked skirts and big jumpers, she likes converse trainers.Does that sound ok?
Her closest friends are going elsewhere, so she will need to make new friends, and I worry. She has had a lot of trauma, but is generally well liked.

PaddingtonPaddington, DD has ADHD, diagnosed at 8, now 16, and has taken meds from the off.
Happy to chat to you via DM; it can manifest quite differently in girls than boys.

There’s no appeal process for year 11 or year 13 @ProggyMat. The fact is though that A Levels are more significant than GCSEs.

Sixth form will be different - but they’ll still be in school/college having lessons. Uni students may be almost fully online for the first term and I suppose the social side is much more significant than it is at sixth form level.

In all honesty, I think they’ll all be fine!

DS is pretty “what will be will be” at the moment. I’m glad he’s the one in this position rather than DD who would be more anxious about it.

Am also glad they were year 11 and year 9 rather than year 12 and year 10.

If the Yr11 results are not as expected there is no appeal process.
The Yr13s have had the experience of sitting public exams and have been able to have any unexpected GCSE grades remarked.
I think universities will be lenient with ‘slipped’ grades as they need ‘bums on seats’.
The fresher experience won’t be the same unfortunately but the same can be said for Sixth Form.

@Monkey2001 I think 1st year uni students had varying experiences. My Ds had online lectures & assignments to complete right up to the end of year assessments in May. Whereas a friend’s son was already on the spring break at the start of March & had very little contact with the uni after that, no end of year exams.

Even though I have tried really hard to keep them going (easier in one of my subjects than the other) I think year 10 are in the most troublesome place form a teacher's point of view. Especially since Ofqual really are offering very few concessions for next year. Year 12s were easier to teach remotely. My views are coloured by the fact that I felt embarrassed by the apparent fact that most of my year 12s have exhibited to me that left to work at home , they produced better work than they porbably would at school!! I think, in part, this is due to them having the time and not wasting time at school in free periods slopping about doing nothing and chatting. A couple of the girls did get badly affected by anxiety type issues, though.

I feel sorry for year 13s. I think their results will be OK (fingers crossed) but going to uni in Sept/Oct is not as it should be.

I think teacher and parent stress over year 11 is possibly worse than it is for the majority of the kids!

Grrr, lost weeks due to strikes, not struggles!

DS1 is starting university from a gap year and I think his friends who did not take a gap year had a tougher deal. Last year they got the Freshers experience but lost weeks due to struggles, them months for the virus. They are also going back to uncertainty and disruption.

The reason I feel for Y13s is that they lost all contol over their A level results and just have to passively wait to see whether the combination of teachers and the mysterious algorithm gives them fair results. If they get strange results they are forced to take a gap year due to the timing of results.

I think our Y11s are lucky. Having not done exams, they have had the opportunity to focus on A level transition work and if sufficiently self motivated should hit the grid running.

I agree, I think year 11s have come out of this ok, assuming their grades are in the ballpark they were expecting. Can you imagine not having to take your GCSEs?! I think I’d have been over the moon!

I do feel sorry for those starting uni this year as it won’t be normal. Year 12s - it depends on the teaching they’ve had during lockdown.

Dead heat for rubbishness - Year 12 and university 'graduates'.

Not really @ProggyMat - they don't know if university will even start and if it does it won't be what they were expecting. Taking a gap year isn't ideal as there's no casual work and even if you have money already it's not clear if you can travel.

DS1 was at his school for 7 years and it looks like there will be no formal end of school - the delayed celebration in September now looks likely to be cancelled so that's probably it.

DD on the other hand will start her 6th Form refreshed and raring to go. Things may be disrupted for the start of her studies but if they are they will be for everyone. It's highly likely by the time she starts university things will be back to normal.

DS1 is fortunate in that he's doing a 4 year course so if his first year is disrupted he has 3 more to go. But he'll never get to be a fresher in the way he was hoping for. He didn't get to play in the first XI this summer (which was a huge thing for him),

But TBH it's the Year 12s going into Year13 who have the worst deal.

Why do you think that @ProggyMat?

Probably controversial, as ever 😂 but I think that Yr13 are ‘better placed’ in moving forward to the next step of their academic journey than Yr11 given the current climate?