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

Sorry to hear about passandra dd being Mucked about. What twats. So unnecessary.

And piccolo dd being still unwell.

Ds1 is on fire! Up at 7am, showered and in his suit, looking dapper. He makes himself a sandwich and a pot of grapes the night before. And makes the same for Ds2!

Clearly one of you has stolen my normal 'Kevin and Perry' grunter, and replaced him with this wierd alien, because I recognise him not!

Going back to books for a minute, we've picked up some on eBay in excellent condition at about half the new price.

@pasanda Good luck to your DD with her A’levels, ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way.’

Well DS is back from day1 (same school) and has managed to not have a single academic lesson. Assembly, form time and PE so the rude awakening is put off another day. He's pleased to have a good mate in his form, they do muddled up yr12 & 13 groups.

I was very worried about DS and getting up. Obviously i’m Only a part of that on a Monday , but so far so good.

Slightly off topic but how bloody hard is it to find an Alevel tutor thats local, under £40 an hour and doesnt set off various warning bells (nothing dodgy just disorganised, random requests etc).

Ugh.

@Monkey2001 ds has slept through till at least 3pm for almost 6 months. It must be a big shock to his system. Some days he didn't come downstairs until I called up that evening meal was ready around 6pm. Then about 10pm he'd be back for cheese and biscuits or similar. Then somewhere round midnight/1am he'd eat a bowl of shreddies 🤷‍♀️.

He's now back to a normal routine.

DS has his first day of lessons today. It was really hard to wake him up, he needs to move from his nocturnal rhythm! I expect it is not an uncommon problem, this year more than ever.

ALis are part of the Durham CEM series of tests , INCAS for primary, MIDYIS for years 7-9, YELLIS for GCSE age and ALIS for A level age. They are similar to CATS, they are more commonly used in private schools and 6th form colleges.

Fingers crossed Pasanda . Some people do come into their own at A level. Sensible to monitor her then if does struggle can look st other things before has missed too much.

Just read back a bit and see people mention Alis, what are these exactly? Do all schools do them? I have never heard of them, although to be fair, I didn't know that DS had sat CATs in yr 7 until the end of year 10!

Good luck to her Pasanda, I think they just need to know what is happening so they can settle properly. Months of confusion and worry have not helped any of this years cohort.

But I'm relieved for her. She's now just got to prove herself.

I will also say I totally appreciate she doesn't have the grades and am secretly worrying she will not be able to manage the A levels at all . But for someone who hated secondary school and isn't particularly academic, to see her excited about any form of academia/course is a breath of fresh air and I'm not going to quash that in any way. I've just got to hope she proves them all wrong.

So she's received an email back from the art teacher saying thanks for letting me know (that we've spoken to head of A levels etc) - we will assess how you're going after a couple of weeks and if you're struggling at that point, look at different options.

Fair enough. I just don't think they realise the stress they have put her under tho.

@pasanda I’m not surprised you’re furious, I would be too! It’s not fair for them to mess your DD around like this! Hindsight is a wonderful thing but you weren’t to know this would happen. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for your DD to be able to do the A level courses.

@Alsoplayspiccolo so sorry your DD is still unwell. Bad timing at the start of term and if it is caused by stress then I just hope it doesn’t cause more stress for her missing out on lessons.

It’s not surprising Pasanda. Injustice after injustice is very difficult to keep stomaching. I hope she gets to remain in her A level class and someone sees sense and makes good of her being messed around.

Piccolo. Your poor dd. I think my stomach is going the same way! The anxiety some of these poor kids have had/are having is horrendous. I hope she feels better soon 🤞

I'm waiting for dd to wake up and check her emails to see if the art teacher has responded.
Honestly the organisation from this college has been absolutely shocking. I wish I had kept a timeline and names and dates of people we've spoken to and demanded written confirmation every step of the way. But hindsight is a wonderful thing and tbh you never expect they can cock things up the way they have
Can you tell I'm furious!

So sorry to hear that Piccolo, last thing she needs right now.

Passanda hopefully there has been a break down in communication somewhere in the school. That must have been horrible getting that email.

crazy, were pretty sure it’s gastritis, which is basically inflammation or erosion of the stomach lining.
DD is a stress head by nature, but she’s also spent lockdown drinking coke and coffee, and eating chocolate and ice cream, which are apparently the worst culprits.
I think it’s the perfect storm of physiological and psychological factors that’s triggered it.

@pasanda I'm so sorry to hear the issues you're having with the college - that's awful. I hope you can get something resolved soon.

@Alsoplayspiccolo are you sure it's not her appendix? What a nightmare for you. It sounds too severe to be simply caused by anxiety? Dd has been having tummy aches and not feeling able to eat, but she knows it anxiety about school. I keep telling her she will get through it - but your dd sounds really poorly.

A class at ds' school was sent home to isolate due to a covid case yesterday, so I'm wondering how long we will get at school this term anyway!

Not great news here - DD is still unwell.
She made it through a whole day at school yesterday, but has got up this morning feeling dreadful and has been sick.
We are pretty sure it’s gastritis, causes by 5 months of anxiety and daily coke/coffee/chocolate, but it’s not going to get better overnight and without treatment.

Pulling my hair out at the thought of her missing any more education.

passanda, that’s awful! How does the art teacher have the jurisdiction to overrule what your DD has been told by the head of A levels?
I’m not surprised your SD is distraught - it beggars belief that this has come up after orientation!

No. It's either 3 A levels or a level 3 course of say media makeup, accountancy or visual arts for example which is worth the same as 3 A levels. The trouble is, dd doesn't fancy any of the 'courses' as most are quite vocational.

@pasanda what a horrible situation!

First, the other courses will not all be full, there is usually a fair bit of movement in the first few weeks of the year.

Second, the school should not say yes then no. Definitely a good idea to go back the the Head of A Levels, or forward something to the art teacher showing that the school confirmed she could go ahead with her grades.

Good luck!

Do they offer a Btec instead?