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

DD was fine when she went to bed, but she’s white as a sheet this morning and says she has abdominal pain and feels terrible.
No school for her and a phone call to the GP. 😞
I’m worried about her, and stressed about her potentially missing a whole heap of school, just when she really needs to be in and getting to grips with everything.

Morning.

Dd is all sniffly and has a sore throat this morning. It started last night but we thought it might just be allergies as she’d spent time at a friend’s house who have a cat and sometimes she does react a bit. Definitely seems like a cold though. I’m oddly irritated by it, just because she’ll be tired and it’s not the best start to her first full week. I’m going to give her a lift today so (so she can conserve her energy ) but she’ll have to walk after that as I’m working the rest of the week. No Covid symptoms btw, just nose and throat, no cough/temp.

How is your dd @Alsoplayspiccolo?

Good luck everyone.
Hoping dd is ok piccolo.
Ds1 has a recent job at Sainsbury's, I'm liking the fact I will get 10% off, once he finishes his training.

I haven't asked how many free periods he has. I will. I too fear he won't use his free periods for solid study, instead mucking about. I'll mention that.

I did talk to him, based on pp advice, re putting date, and teachers initials on every handout etc, and filing weekly, monthly, with quarterly filing checks.

Doubt he'll take a blind bit of notice and we'll have utter chaos by Xmas!

Minkey I would hold off just for a moment but if it is an issue when he starts then I would .

Good luck to everyone today.

Double checked DS's timetable - it's 13 lessons not hours per subject per fortnight which equates to approx 10 hrs per fortnight.

DS has not had any lessons yet, they start on Wednesday. He is really hoping that he manages to make some friends on Wednesday as only 1 of the people he tried to talk to at the induction session responded. I can't decide whether to contact the Head of Sixth Form to ask whether the teachers are going to encourage people to be nice to starters from other schools. I think he would want to know, but it seems a bit of a parachute parent thing to do! Normally they would have had an induction day in the summer which would make it easier.

DS has 30 or so in his classes apart from one. I was surprised but there we are.

DD's only had one lesson so far - maths. I think he said they were about 20 in the group, and there are 2 maths groups. Be interesting to see how large his other classes are.

Glad that DD seems to be picking up piccolo

Thanks for sharing that article, Sarahbeans, and thanks for the good wishes, crazy, ealing, flying and Orange.
Thankfully, DD hasn’t got a temperature, vomiting or diarrhoea - if she had, I’d definitely be insisting on a test.
She seems happier tonight and has eaten roast dinner, so I’ll see how she is in the morning.

Just had my first email from a year 11 asking for work as she is quarantining!

I am not looking forward tot he marking for my huge A Level groups! Google Classroom does make it easier though as you can mark stuff as it comes in.

I am jealous of a class of 12 : it's pretty much the ideal size.

Dd is feeling really anxious about the week ahead. She says she finds the big groups of boys really intimidating. It’s strange as although she’s been at a girls school for five years, she’s always had plenty of male friends outside school.

She’s also already worrying about coping with the work load! She’s such a worrier.... and we’re still waiting for her therapy sessions (originally referred her in Jan and se had a telephone interview to assess her in maybe June!).

@FlyingPandas I had a (short) day without either of mine on Friday. It was really odd!

Thanks everyone for the A level lesson structure feedback. Sounds as if DS's is within usual range then! Trying to impress on him the importance of using free periods to get work done rather than faffing about...time will tell whether that gets taken on board.

Good luck to all Y12 DC and parents for tomorrow. It'll be my first full school day with no DC in the house since 20 March!

@Piggywaspushed - Those class sizes are huge for A-Level! DD1 has 12 in her history class apparently - that’s one of the more popular classes. I can only feel grateful not to have to fill 3hr lessons with my lot. They are wilting after 10 minutes (really hope they build up some stamina soon!).

@Alsoplayspiccolo Hope DD is feeling better soon.

DS has 5 timetabled lessons (lessons roughly each an hour, they vary in length due to the school enforcing staggered starts) in each subject but varies between subjects whether they are all taught lessons or a mixture of taught and study.

So I’ve just checked DD’s timetable- 3 x 1 hour lessons a day (3 subjects), 1 x supervised study period a day and one ‘free’ period (except for one day a week which has a period of ‘enrichment’ instead.) One period of voluntary games on a Wed afternoon instead of the free if that option is taken.

She has a 10 minute registration period every day in the morning but no longer tutor time.

We have 9 hrs per fortnight at my place DS has 10 at his with these crazy not quite 3 hour lessons! That's a hell of a lot of planning ahead from a teacher perspective!

My dd has 4.5hrs teaching per subject per week.

To begin with 2x45 min sessions with tutor a week for first 4 weeks then it drops to 1x45min tutor session a week.

Lots of free ‘study’ periods or time for enrichment activities which they are supposed to pick one of per term either sports, arts or another short course. Or a combination of them if they want.

Dd has to be in for earlier start 3 days a week and has a later finish 2 days a week.

She’s going to hold off on the finding a job front until after half term- give her a good start with making a good effort in the course work and see how it’s working out after that. Just didn’t want to overload her too soon especially as I think she will need time to adjust back into the study routine plus the extra travelling time that she didn’t have before as she’s chosen not to stay at local 6th form at her old school.

@FlyingPandas mine has has morn reg. at 8.50am and 2pm reg. they are meant to attend both. they have always finished at 3.40pm. But my oldest used to leave after 2pm registration if he didn't have lessons once he could drive. Ds2 will do the same.

@Alsoplayspiccolo sorry to hear DD is poorly. Isn’t it just typical! DS1 is fine but my youngest (always the one to crash with an illness) has been snotty all weekend🙄 Hope DD better soon.

Just been reading back over the thread to try and glean what is ‘typical’ in terms of teaching time for A levels...DS has 4.5 hours per subject per week, with 4 lessons for each subject per week. Plus a club. Appreciate it will vary across schools but does that sound about the norm?

What has confused me slightly is that he has just one hour’s tutor session per week in one slot. For some reason I was expecting daily morning registration/short tutor time followed by classes and free periods. But I guess different schools and colleges do it differently. DS is of course delighted because he only has to be in for the earliest slot 2 days a week and on a Wednesday he doesn’t start till 1.30! But 3 days a week he doesn’t finish till 4pm which isn’t quite so good.

I would second getting a test ordered Piccolo, the school would also err on side of caution. DD’s C19 symptoms were 3 days of headaches and fatigue (April) vs her dad’s full spectrum of adult symptoms. Both had confirmed positive, I remained negative.

I hope she feels better soon.

@Alsoplayspiccolo sorry to hear dd is ill. My nephew had to take a covid test yesterday as he’s come down with what is probably a cold, but also has a cough. My sister doesn’t think she could send him back to school without a negative test result.

So far I think it’s just the three main symptoms of cough, fever or loss of taste/smell which demand a test but in reality the possible symptoms are so varied aren’t they.

@Alsoplayspiccolo

Don't want to worry you, but do be on the look out for COVID 19.

Was listening to R4 the other day and the guys behind the Zoe App were saying that it affects children differently, coughs and temperatures (the main signs in adults) seem to be less prevalent in children, where they said to look out for going off their food, nausea and sometimes vommiting.

This isn't the article, but there's something about it here: www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/science/2020/sep/03/diarrhoea-and-vomiting-may-be-key-sign-of-covid-in-children-study