Corona Cohort Y12 into Y13, braving the storm of the third wave

Phew @AnneOfCleavage that’s a relief!

@Zebracat did you submit the access to Southampton form? It’s due at 5 today and DD’s head of sixth form has only just sent her the reference so I’ve had to complete it for her! (She did the personal statement but with me yesterday)

Wow Fools and Orange you've broken up early. 23rd for us which seems aaaaages away.

We've seemingly dodged a bullet as DD volunteers on a Monday at a school but this week she emailed to say she had to go into her school as she has mocks coming up and her teachers were setting practice questions and she didn't want to miss out. Well that school have now closed early for summer as there's been a COVID positive case and if DD had gone in she'd be isolating and missing visiting Winchester tomorrow as well as mocks all next week. Phew!!

Dd reckons her contact was minimal too, 10 mins within 2m but not facing, not talking and both wearing masks.

We've decided not to PCR unless symptoms develop, it would be a colossal PITA if we all had to self isolate next week as we all work/school outside the home and got various other things on (have already had to cancel lots this week) and the stories of people testing positive weeks after they were actually infected have rattled us. She will keep doing LFTs though.

Interesting. Track and trace told DS1 to test if he had symptoms only. It would be helpful if the advice was consistent. He is currently phoning me from his bedroom for room service far too often so I’m very glad it’s only until Sunday!

Sorry for everyone having to isolate

DD breaks up next Wednesday - she is really our main risk of infection as DH and I work from home, and don't go out much apart from the supermarket. We have a week in Norfolk booked at the end of the next week so hoping any isolation will be over by then and that no-one actually catches anything. I collected DS from uni yesterday so that is another possible source.....

@20newnames when you go to book the PCR it does say that you can get it if you’ve been in contact with someone who’s tested positive.
You can select that you have none of the symptoms and then you select that you’re a close contact of a positive case.
Test & trace advised us to get tested after DS2 came back positive because if it turned out we were also positive then we could reset our 10 days isolation whereas if we waited for symptoms then we would reset later on meaning we were isolating for a lot longer.
We were all negative so, of course, that could still happen, we are on day 6 of isolation now

Track and Trace told DS1 to take a PCR even though he has no symptoms. He got one delivered and we dropped it in a 'priority' postbox.

Last day of term for Dd! I'm glad ...feel like we are living in two worlds at mo. The world where everything is fine covid wise and looking forward to 'freedom' on 19th July and the one where whole bubbles are sent home from school!

The letter we had from school about DD SI says you can get a PCR test but doesn't instruct you to. I'm going to talk to DD about it when she wakes up. She says it has been weird doing online learning when most of the students are still in school, in some of her classes she's been the only one SI so she can hear all the rest of them talking but can't easily join in unless someone asks her something specifically. She's supposed to go back Monday. Probably should have booked her in yesterday to make sure she's done on time.

Having said there have been no walk-in jab clinics here, they have now been announced for all over 18s.

Thanks piggy and heffer, that’s interesting to know. I wasn’t being awkward but just didn’t understand as I thought PCR tests were just for symptoms. Clearly they are being more widely used.

DS1 (20) doesn’t actually know where he was track and traced from, just that he has been given the date he has to SI until. He is working and it may well be a pub he has signed into. He does not have the app but manually signs in to pubs etc so difficult to tell.

Last day of term here for DS. Exam results and UCAS predictions in. He did really well in Further Maths, much better than a couple of the Maths papers weirdly. Physics has nosedived by around 10%.

Predictions are fine. I feel he could do with dropping an A level personally but don’t want to push him if he doesn’t want to. Tutor asked if he wanted to have a shot at Oxbridge as if so they could do with seeing if they can revise up one prediction so could maybe get him to sit an extra paper, He doesn’t know and looked really apathetic about it so hopefully he won’t try as loads of extra work on entrance exams. He agreed she could put him on the list as a possible but I think that was to keep her quiet!

Bit of a shame that his extra time wasn’t sorted before the last exams, be interesting to see if makes a difference in next set of exams. He also needs to decide if he wants to use a laptop.

If it is via a school it is often requested. It's a recent change in guidance as they are trying to stop/spot asymptomatic transmission. Certainly one more boy in DS's economics class has tested positive.

DDs school is asking everyone sent home to SI to do a PCR test including the whole of Yr 10. No symptons needed.

I notice that some on here who are self-isolating are having PCR tests. Is that because if symptoms?

DS1 is isolating after being track and traced but the guidance says to test only if you have symptoms. (Or obviously if you have a positive LFT).

Gah! @KingscoteStaff, here have a drink of choice !

Oh poo @KingscoteStaff . DS1 is back home but is SI after one of his housemates got a positive PCR. He's on day 5 and still getting negative LFTs, sent his PCR off today..,

I'm so glad I'm not a close contact or poor DH would have to pick up DS from uni on Saturday all on his own - and it's a long drive!

@KingscoteStaff so sorry to hear that.
It’s really everywhere right now isn’t it

And my bubble has burst…. Bizarrely it is our PPA teacher who has tested positive, so 3 classes are now out but not their normal class teachers!

Now busy setting up a day of learning on Google Classroom for tomorrow.

@Piggywaspushed if it’s any consolation, my DDs department at her school, do not give A star ‘attainment’ grades in Yr12 let alone an A star UCAS predictions for performance at the end of Yr12 exams- even if they have ‘blasted the A grade percentage grade out of the water’
And this is for a subject that is often described as being ‘less competitive’ for Oxbridge as it attracts fewer applicants
@AndwhenyougetthereFoffsomemore Well done to your DS!
The Oxbridge Aspirants 2022 has settled into a really friendly place.
I’m on there as are others on this thread.
If I wasn’t so shite at copying links on my phone I’d post the link.
Do join us !

Fantastic results Andwhen, good for bim.

Honestly, there may be some that have been Team Oxbridge for years, and good for them. My advice is to treat it like one of his 5 options (or 4 if medicine!) and go from there. Yes it they have a collegiate system, as do some other unis. Look at the course content first before institutions (Kingscote’s trick of anonymising is brilliant) and go from there, plus geography/size/city or campus if those are a major consideration too...distance isn’t so high on DD’s pecking order, so long as it’s not London!

DS1 (20) has been track and traced today so has come home to isolate. He was at work when he got the text so grabbed some stuff and came over (he lives on his own so it would be harsh to make him stay on his own without food). According to the later track and trace phone call he only has to isolate until Sunday so his contact must have been a while ago. Thankfully we have space so he can stay pretty separate to us.

DS2’s report with predicted grades will be issued tomorrow. He got one mark off an A, then A and A in the exams so hoping for As and As in the prédictions as his school does them ‘on a good day’. We will soon find out!

Oh that 's great news!

What does he want to study?

Cambridge virtual Open Days coming up soon. (I assume Oxford too).

@Heifer @Piggywaspushed: so frustrating to be in a situation where schools won’t predict with a little bit of generosity - especially this year when they’ve managed their studies in the most difficult of situations: I’m amazed there isn’t a bit of leniency in this context…

Hoping this is ok to say whilst so many are having a frustrating time, Ds got his report today with his exam grades and predictions and has been predicted straight A for UCAS. We’re all a bit in shock tbh: whilst we’ve known he’s been doing well I don’t think we’d really seen that coming. He hit A in all the exams except maths which was a high A, so I guess our school is maybe being a bit kinder than others… He’s certainly not had an easy school journey (dyslexia, ASD) it feels like he’s really come into his own this year.

Whilst it’s great he’s suddenly been hit with a wave of enthusiasm for ‘giving oxbridge a punt’: knowing how many kids and parents have been on project oxbridge for years I’m not sure he’s going to pull that out of the bag in a couple of months!! Im FAR too scared to even go on the MN oxbridge chat but I know there are a few other hopefuls on here: any suggestions for where on earth to start ?!?