GCSE Summer 2020 - Thread 11 Carry on Corona Cohort - Starting New Terms and Settings

Just coming in here to moan a bit as you all know the score.

DS (who was given a 6 in maths by his old school so couldnt do maths there) just has his first set of maths tests back after which the teacher showed them the scatter graph of GCSE results v test results and it all tracked nicely so 9s had all got 80% etc down to the 7s and one other 6.

Apart from DS of course whose test results were up with the 9s. 'Isnt that weird' he said. 'No, not really' I thought fuming.

I thought I was over it but actually, still annoyed

Ok thanks @Nard75 you are a week
ahead of us then.

@icanbewhatiwant She didn’t give a time frame just said they were doing them as quickly as possible. Our payment was taken 24 August. Let me know when you receive yours and I will do the same.

@Nard75 did they give you a time frame? The payment was taken 1st sept. So we must be similar to you.

@Monkey2001 yes, made me laugh.

I have found the original email we got when we applied. It does have a link. The link says waiting for documents. Almost a month since I posted them. I wonder how behind they are.

@icanbewhatiwant love the 7 year old photo on licence!

I've tried to track the licence. It says please provide the number in the email sent after application. We haven't had an email 🤷‍♀️ so not sure what to do next. I guess I'll have to try phoning.

DS used the passport photo option (renewed 2 yrs ago) and it was accepted - he didn't need to fill in a paper form. He got his license within 2 wks - this was last month.

Maths - Good. DS did complete all his Pre A level Maths work so on top of it. A few of his friends are already struggling.
Physics - OK. Doing some Isaac Physics over the summer helped.
DT - Really enjoying.
CS - Hard. Starting from scratch.

Getting more detail than that is like getting blood from a stone. Apparently, signed up to do DoE Gold with no idea of what he wants to do for the various sections - I'm leaving him to it.

Checking in from ‘6 inside and hospitality but not outside’ land
No ‘seshes’ for the past few weeks - indoor or out - as some of us actually engaged with ‘local restrictions’ guidance which now, as of midnight, means DD can’t even meet for a coffee, in entertainment venues, with friends from her old or even new school.
In regard to her A levels, she’s loving Latin, Classical Greek and Ancient History and very much of a mind that she has made the right choice.

Thanks @ealingwestmum No option to upload photo when I applied. It just asked if I wanted to use passport photo. I uploaded passport photos recently. That was easier.

@Nard75 no we weren't sent a link.

@icanbewhatiwant You should’ve got email after you applied online with your reference number on. I thought applying online would all you needed to do but we also had to fill the form in and send back with photograph.

That’s sad to hear Piggy but not surprising. He’s been messed about already so much when nearly half a term has already passed.

I don’t remember sending a paper form though, and uploaded a photo myself that wasn’t passport due to its age. Maybe they’ve changed the system in a year...

It was pre CV Icant, around last Oct when they were dispatching within 48 hours. You should get it before Nov hopefully even with their reduced hours/wfh, but it is needed for the first lesson. She also needed adding to the instructor’s insurance in advance of lessons, but this may have been because he’s 100% independent, not part of a franchise driving school.

Thanks @Nard75 we applied online and got a letter in the post 2 days later for us to add photo. But not had an email. We posted beginning of Sept. ☹️

@ icanbewhatiwant we applied for licence at end of August online then we had to send a form off which we got in about 2 days. We had an email which had a link on so you could get an update on application. When I checked today it said they were awaiting form even though we sent back beginning of September. I phoned DVLA today she said not to worry and that they were taking a lot longer and they would only update online status once licence had been posted.

Today, DS says he wants to drop Spanish. The lessons sound really piecemeal and a bit chaotic tbh.

Told him to wait til half term.

If he drops it, so be it. But he will need to rethink his life plans!

@ealingwestmum have you ordered a licence? If so how long did it take please? Well...I don't think they take long using passport photo. It's adding a photo I'm thinking about.

It was one of the most organised moments of mine. Knew they’d need proof of age for Reading and was not going to trust DD with her passport. The rest is history....

Yes we put passport number in too. But didn't click on use passport photo. The form I needed to stick photo on came in 2 days. But think the next part may take a while. I hope it comes by mid November.

A friend of a friend said their ds clicked on the use passport photo option knowing he was 13 in the photo but thought it would be ok. But the driving licence place put the previous photo on his provisional...he was about 7 years old. Luckily the driving instructor still accepted it 🤣

Ah I've just realised - it's ok to get it earlier than 3 months and although it says it's for a provisional for moped etc - it will be ok for when she is 17 and use it for driving a car! doh. I thought I had to wait until 3 months before she is 17.

I was in the process of sorting a provisional licence for DD as a surprise. Thankfully as I tried more than 3 months before her birthday (Dec) it didn't work - option was for moped licence... I had clicked on the "use passport" photo - but so pleased it was too early as apparently DD HATES her passport photo I'm sure would have ruined the surprise..
Now it won't be a surprise but at least will be with approved photo :-)

Yes, we sent ours off two weeks ago - haven't heard anything though. I thought you had to send a photo in - the passport number thing is just for verification? Anyway as you say there is no way ds would countenance using his (ridiculous) last passport photo.

This is completely off topic....but has anyone sent off for a provisional licence where you've had to send a photo in? We posted off beginning of sept. but I've just read the licenses are taking ages. We couldn't use the passport photo as ds was 12 in it. Ds's birthday isn't until November. Lessons been booked, but I didn't think about licence taking ages.

That's great news about your ds @FoolsAssassin; I guess it takes quite a bit longer to settle when you're boarding.

@pasanda glad to hear she's committed to it and wanting to get it under her belt.

@ChristopherTracy that's good news too! I'm sure a taste of the real world is very grounding and they have to grow up a bit when they're given real responsibility. Dd is keen to get a job and has applied for Starbucks/McDonald's etc but nothing yet. I'm a bit worried how she'd cope though, as she's a very slow worker when it comes to her studies. She spent all weekend working on Psychology revision notes which needed to be handed in - 29 pages! But maybe having to fit study round a job would help her to prioritise!