Thread 16 - Corona Cohort Year 12, 2021 Zooming through Summer Term

1984 Geography lesson - we'd come in, the teacher would do a bit of an introduction then spin the rotating board dramatically to reveal a detailed coloured labelled diagram of... something... for us to copy into our exercise books.

Teacher then retired onto the Geography room balcony for a crafty ciggie.

When I was teaching I still had chalks and a rotating blackboard in my portacabin.

Bought myself some different coloured chalks though (must always have been a bit colour obsessed)! Used to get a bit high on the brand of whiteboard markers in the swanky 6th form labs. And lack of colours was a problem!

I have had a heated debate on colours with Dd and she’s currently assessing her extensive pastel highlighter collection in preparation of preparing to think about revising in the next few days.

I am not allowed near her perfect stationery drawers. I am afraid she may have inherited this intolerance from me!

Beautiful day today. Hope all the Year12s are catching some rays at last.

There are quite often whole Twitter threads on brown boardmarkers being the work of the Devil.

I had one of those as a teacher! We had a memo go round that we couldn’t mark in red as it was upsetting some pupils. So I began marking in green and just went round as the colours ran out. I think I may had ended up in brown!?

Ah, ha!
@crazycrofter may solved the conundrum. Unless you keep a watchful eye on stationary supplies in order to ensure that there is always a fully functioning, much coveted Amazing Rainbow Rocket Biro?

If anyone interested in Lancaster they are doing in person campus tours next week - outside areas only. Just booked for Wednesday.

Ooh I used to love those pens! But I’ve found when buying them as an adult that They quickly run out of ink! You end up with just the brown left!

It's the brown biro from The Amazing Rainbow Rocket Biro.

Natasha in Lower 2 had one that I desperately coveted, so I have processed the trauma by always buying them for my DC.

She had those ribbons on hair clips as well.

The symbolism of colour is fascinating stuff!
@KingscoteStaff is the chocolate brown for English Lit in felt tip like the Orange for time at the stables?

Crazy I will fight you over Geography and English colour swaps. Geography is earth brown.

And whilst I am on my colour horse:
Maths red (has to be a primary colour as it’s a fundamental subject).
Drama black (v dramatic and doomy just like drama)
Politics purple (red blue mix plus the sovereignty issues)
Physics can be whatever it wants to be - it always does it’s own thing.

And welcome back @zebracat. That Cambridge scheme looks worth looking into.

No, brown is correct - isn’t the brown wedge in Monopoly for literature?! Blue is geography...

DD’s party last night was very eventful with gatecrashers, a boy being called out for racism, and some kids drinking way too much, including one boy who was unconscious and had to be collected by his dad 😬 I think Dd was slightly horrified and said she prefers smaller gatherings. Although she made some new friends... and got her first Uber.

Eng Lit should always be blue like the Oxford dictionary. Biology green (life) and Chemistry sulphur yellow. No debates in this household. Tis my law.

With DD, the greater the range of stationery available, the greater the chance of a revision timetable.

News just in: Chemistry is fluorescent green, Biology a rather lively turquoise and Eng Lit is chocolate brown. Any synesthesics around to decode that for me?

Justhere congratulations to your DS on EPQ A*!

Half-term of revision here. First exam on first Monday back.

Kingscote Oh to see a revision timetable of any hue!

Funnily enough, I just got something from Newcastle about a 'Bitesize' virtual summer school for disadvantaged students.

@Zebracat your DD would also be top of the list for the Sutton Trust summer programmes, but too late for this year summerschools.suttontrust.com/

Oxford do other WP stuff, particularly for candidates who are mixed race or BAME.

Great updates, good to see the return of some old faces too!

Thankfully all exams over now. A week of work and social side picking up will be most welcome for DD. I do not have a wallflower, she is very independent, possibly due to being thrown into the deep end from an early age being an only child, and will happily plan language weeks, music tours etc overseas by herself resulting in new friends. P/T work also helps, she has a customer facing job that deals heavily with the 'west london parent' profile and young children, I need say no more on some of the interactions and challenges she has to face!

Ican - you are not alone on the limited education front. I came away with 4 O levels but worked my way through my professional life; but wouldn't change it now. I admit there is no way I would have secured roles that I did with today's money. I am now S/E in the creative world. DD is totally different to us, but, hopefully has inherited other traits that have offset per parents' lack of academic success. I am both jealous and excited for her options and prospects ahead, even in the current climate. It just may not be that straightforward as pre 2020.

Here it is :

www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/foundation-year

Not a foundation degree , sorry, a foundation year.

Hi zebra, have you heard about the foundation degrees they are now doing at, I think, Cambridge? They are aimed at students who deserve a break into Oxbridge but, because if background may have faced barriers to high grades...Worth a look.

Is she officially LAC? Lots of programmes to support, these days.

Nice to have you back!

Another one excited about finally being able to access the Sixth Form Centre! I think U6 are in after half term for transition stuff, but they have been banished from the centre.

We have a half term full of revision, a week of exams followed by Higher Ed week when they start their personal statements and find out about the whole application process. Then 2 weeks and it's all over.

If we get there - yesterday's newsletter announced 3 positive cases in 2 days with 60(!) students sent home. Maybe half term will help.....

Hallo everybody. Don’t suppose anyone remembers me, but you were enormously helpful to me aback a while.Just caught up with this thread, having missed a few. Don’t know why I dropped off, you are all so fantastically well informed, and supportive.
Our inherited teen really struggled with the last lockdown. I did worry that she wouldn’t pick up again. She was very withdrawn and morose, no interest in anything at all. But since being back in school in March, she has re-emerged. She loves school, and wants to go to university. With very little understanding, she has decided she would like to go to Oxford. NowI am all for encouraging people, but I don’t want to set her up to fail, and predicted grades don’t really work for someone who barely went to school beforeEaster in year 9, but her predictions are BCC. So she knows she would need 3 As and a very good interview. We wouldn’t want her to get to Uni and then struggle, so Meanwhile we are arranging some testing to discover her potential and any barriers to learning, apart from having missed about 8 years of school.. I’m just hoping that if we keep it real, having a goal will raise her game , and she does know that we are already insanely proud of her for making a success of school, despite so much trauma in her life. On the plus side, there does seem to be an understanding that it is insanely difficult for children to go to Uni after difficult domestic circumstances and a period inCare.
So reading about other parents wondering how much support in terms of information gathering etc to give has been very helpful to me. I think I may suggest a day trip somewhere over half term, as I don’t think she’s ever seen a University, and also check out some open days.