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

@crazycrofter one downside to UEA is the fact it is out of the city. I think a lot of second year accommodation is within walking distance though, but then it's a bus ride into Norwich. DS joined with a group of 6 to house hunt. They didn't agree on a rent price though, 4 of the group chose quite a big house, the rent is £100 a week, more than my son wanted to pay, this is the higher end of rental market, one lad dropped out as he didn't want to pay that, Ds decided to just stick with the group he knew rather than join another group. They are 1.7 miles from UEA though. They have 3 cars between them, so they drive to a nearby park, with free parking and walk across the park to campus (well..they would if f2f anyway, he's only needed to go twice!) another lad has a bicycle. We see a lot of students cycling around Norwich.

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn channeling my positive vibes!

My DS is still in the early stages of EPQ, his school do it in Y13, but our wonderful Head of Sixth Form suggested that he gets most of it out of the way this year as he is taking up Chemistry as a 4th subject in case he does not get a medicine offer for 2022 and wants to do A level Chem as a Y14.

@Shimy you might like to encourage him to get Driving Theory out of the way so that you can keep an eye out for driving test slots becoming available - can't get a practical test in most places at all, so we are hoping to be able to book November if DS passes theory test 12th June. If you have one of the theory apps, can get through the content by doing 10-15 minutes a few times a week in car, at school break or in the toilet, DS doing his in the recovery breaks at the gym.

DS here has also applied for school monitor, we won't hear till June. Good luck to those applying for head boy/girl.
DS might postpone any driving lessons until after he's submitted his UCAS form and his schedule is so tight there's unlikely to be room for driving lessons.

Positive vibes winging their way to Popcorn's DS for his 2pm EPQ presentation. Let us know how he got on.

That is very interesting to know Monkey and I will pass that on to DD as her school don't do their EPQs til year 13 so we have t heard much about the process.

DD had her head girl interview yesterday so it's nail biting until they hear as all this week the students are being interviewed.

Dd had a friend (who’s passed) drive her to the gym yesterday - that’s a first for her! As we live in a city there are lots of interesting driving experiences on our doorstep- but I do need to find her an instructor as she’s 17 in three weeks. I’m expecting she’ll have to wait - and maybe start with me.

I’m sure there was a discussion about this recently but do you have any recommendations for cheap insurance?

Also @icanbewhatiwant we need to visit UEA soon. Where in Norwich do second and third years tend to live? And what’s the rent like?

Good luck to Ds @JustHereWithMyPopcorn

@MidLifeCrisis007 unfortunately ds does complain its boring. The instructor is taking him to Norwich each lesson at the moment. That is 40 mins drive there on a straight road. With 5 roundabouts. The school journey is mostly a double track country lane for 4 miles, roundabout then school. So it is a fairly easy route. It was more interesting for me on the way home navigating the school buses/coaches going to school! I will start varying the route home from school though, but there aren't many variations.

He wants me to collect him so he can drive home, so I'm glad he finally wants to drive. Ds1 lives in Norwich as he goes to university there, so I have booked one driving lesson in Norwich for Ds2 picking up from ds1's house, with a Norwich driving school. I don't know why I didn't think of that before. It saves ds2 driving all the way there on a straight road at £27 hour. That way he can spend 2 hours driving in Norwich. But they only had one available gap which is in half term. I lived in Kingston when I was a learner driver...there is so much more driving available on your doorstep.

Thanks Ealing.

I am also hooked on refined carbs sugars, I'd love to drop them but am too weak willed!!

Forgot to add unless it was elite level of exercise. But I am factually clueless, and the research is so varied, hence why it’s a brave topic to cover!

Best of luck to your DS JustHere! He will nail it, and great that he went with what he's interested in.

And your DS's EPQ sounds fascinating too Monkey. I was told that 95% of weight loss it down to diet (not just dieting per se, but what you ate/when etc), but that exercise plays a big part in overall strength/health...but then again I am totally against calorie counting and low fat substitutes. Fat foods are my friend, refined carbs and sugar are not, but I struggle to let them go!

There is some audio but just some snippets illustrating rhyming patterns. It's more about development. Glad to hear your interpretation of the point of the EPQ, that was my understanding but it seems most people think they need to do it based on what they are studying.

He has done a literary review which talks about critics and quotes them, he's done a lot of research from loads of sources all referenced. To be fair, there's a lot of useful you tube info and tv documentaries which are more informative than some of the books he's used.

Has your DS finished his now?

I do not mean you have to quote academic papers, just appropriate texts for what you are discussing in the EPQ - that may be by respected music journalists in EPQs or books about music genres too. Just can't be your favourite youtuber's perspective, although that can also be part of it if they are appropriated experienced in the field.

My understanding is that EPQ assessment is not about content, but process. I think it is about learning to plan, research, document and present effectively. The nice thing about a music one is that if it includes some good audio it instantly makes it more engaging.

My DS is doing "Does exercise affect weight loss" after hearing a soundbite on Radio 4 in which an academic claimed it does not. He is obsessed with exercise and nutrition, but the EPQ is channeling him into reading academic papers as he can't quote the multitude of youtube videos he watches!

Thanks Monkey, I will be relieved when it's done! He will say it went well regardless of how it actually went - he has form for it!

Can't say his title but it is non academic topic about music. It worries me a bit as everyone else has written very 'highbrow' EPQs and his isn't, he has written it about something he's passionate about though so I hope that comes through.

Good luck Just, will be great to have that out of the way, let us know how it went. What was his title?

DS has his presentation for his EPQ today (finally!), pleeeeease send all the positive vibes you can to him at 2.00pm.

Clutch control is the most important thing to learn for new drivers. Once they've got that sussed, everything else is a doddle. Well, that's what I tell DS anyway!

DD has blackmailed DH into driving with her to school 3 days a week.
She normally has a 50 min journey on public transport, which is one of the reasons she wants to pass as soon as poss.

@MidLifeCrisis007 I took my test in SW London thirty-cough years ago and only got out of 2nd gear once! Lots of clutch control inching forwards in solid traffic...

I think I'd be a bit annoyed if I'd coughed up for 16 hours of driving lessons and my DC said it was boring! That said, there's nothing boring about driving in South West London where we are! Every journey is hugely eventful! But I'm reluctant to pay for more lessons than we need to - DD's friend passed her test recently having had just 1 lesson with an instructor - the rest was done with her parents. We plan to do the same to keep costs down.

Ds has actually asked if he can drive to school this morn. I've been trying to get him to drive with me with for ages. He's now had 8 driving lessons, 2 hours each. So perhaps he's finally feeling more confident. Apart from one roundabout it's actually an easy drive to school, mostly a country lane. He still moans driving lessons are so boring though.

When I am driving I keep saying "don't do this..." Maybe we are all getting more careful as we have to be an example to our DC.

Me too. I was so very very careful to only teach him the good bits, not the rest of my driving!

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn - nope, not just you! I helped teach DS1 3 years ago with the same instructor so hopefully I shouldn't have done too much damage. I just find it so hard to work out whether he's looking in the mirror etc as I'm too busy concentrating on whether it's safe to pull out!