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

We have just received GCSE certificates!

I'll pop a place holder for a new thread in further Ed @Oblomov21@Monkey2001 and all!

You're doing a great job @zebracat!

Dd has some things arranged already - a week volunteering at a Christian festival in Cornwall, half a week's teen camp and a day at the Reading festival, plus we're going away the last week of the holidays. She will fill the rest of the time with social stuff - I tend to have to book her in in advance if we want to do something social as a family, or visit other family members!

She's having a chat with an OT we know on Sunday (instigated by me, but she agreed to it!) and I'm hoping she might get some work shadowing off the back of it. Or if not, at least she'll have a better idea what it involves. I'm not even mentioning school work! She'll do whatever she has to do.

In terms of how much to do for them, I think it's totally child-specific, depending on their needs. I've never done anything to do with academic work for dd, no nagging re homework, no help, nothing. But she does tend to need emotional support.

Ds on the other hand is incredibly independent in many ways, never asks for lifts - would much rather take 3 or 4 buses on his own! But totally disorganised/clueless/unmotivated when it comes to school work. I've decided to save all the GCSE revision material which is coming through now in advance of his Sept exams and organise a revision schedule for him. I know he needs to learn to organise himself, but I'm hoping sixth form, when he's only doing 3 subjects that he likes, might be the time for that!

Zebra, it's difficult isn't it!

Our holidays began last week.Trying to put some structure into them now. Ours had talked about applying for a volunteer role at a local historical site, but actually hadn’t...so I’ve encouraged that and some reading around her subjects. She needs to apply for a provisional licence too so we can get some lessons booked. I’m still struggling to find the balance between doing everything for them and letting them face natural consequences. We haven’t got an actual holiday booked, just a second long weekend. She needs to arrange when she is going to see her Df,so we cant book anything Until we know. It is quite frustrating. Think I may just book a cottage and she can come with us or not. We have suggested a couple of visits to sites connected to her history syllabus. She wants to bring a friend , which is fine, but then nothing happens. It’s not that she doesn’t want to, either, she loves those sorts of trips, but she just doesn’t get that we need to plan around them. And then when they don’t happen, she blames me!
Oh well, I’ll miss her when she’s gone.

Hello FedNLanders he can go up a grade or two in English Lit by really honing in on what all those AOs are and what % are needed in each question. It can be quite formulaic.

They still wear masks at ds's school. They can take them off when in their seats and outside. My friend works at the other local secondary, their dc's are wearing masks all day. As far as I know we haven't had any year groups sent home. Ds3 probably wouldn't notice if some of his year weren't there though!

Ds2 should be getting some mock results today. He also now has a summer job. He will be working Monday, Tuesday and weds. So I've had to cancel and move all driving lessons. I don't think I was popular as we are using 2 instructors. The only annoying thing is it's 17 mile drive to the job. Another downside of living in the countryside. I hope he won't have lots of school work to do over the summer.

New thread?

FedNlanders, my friend’s daughter has just got Es in her end of years too.
She’s also autistic and has ADHD, and her teachers have said it isn’t a lack of knowledge, more a lack of essay writing skills. They seem confident this will improve with help, so don’t lose hope.

With regards to Monkey’s suggestion of harsh marking, most of DD’s class got Ds for geography (including her, despite being given Bs all year), but when I looked at previous grade boundaries, she would have got a low B/high C, so not sure what the teacher was using for grades.

Oh, that does sound hard, mine has autism too, unfortunately the way maths questions are written seems to make it hard for anyone with such conditions to understand the question, even if they could actually do the calculations. Is he at school or college? Have you had any discussions with them?

[quote EverythingDelegated]@Orangecinnamon21 how exciting!. My friend adopted a retired greyhound about 10 years ago, sadly passed away now but she was gorgeous and fitted into their family perfectly. We are hoping to venture into dog ownership in the next 6 months too.

@FedNlanders welcome, were the grades lower than he was expecting? It's hard having maths or English still hanging over too.[/quote]
I think he got C in politics and English. But failed his GCSE maths retake and got an E in History. He has autism and he really works his socks off but im just at a loss where to go next. Its such a shame as he works hard and is just totally disheartened by it all.

We’re in York - think other schools here are still open

I can't get to grips with things reading next week looking at how many schools are closing. Where in the country is everybody? Dd finished a week ago so had avoided a lot of this.

Thanks @everythingdelegated lots of people say the same ! They are very relaxed, couch potatoes apparently.

@Orangecinnamon21 how exciting!. My friend adopted a retired greyhound about 10 years ago, sadly passed away now but she was gorgeous and fitted into their family perfectly. We are hoping to venture into dog ownership in the next 6 months too.

@FedNlanders welcome, were the grades lower than he was expecting? It's hard having maths or English still hanging over too.

Good job Monkey’s boy!

You’re very welcome @FedNlanders. What is your DS hoping to do next?

Hi all, can u join. Ds is year 12 but seems to have got d grades in mocks and still has to pass maths. Feel so bad for him. He works so hard.

Great work mini @Monkey2001 but I can't believe you can pass and speed 😮

We are off to Wales next Fri. I may have turned contract tracing off too. In other news going to see Retired Greyhounds next week ! Hopefully we can bring one home before end of summer.
Well done to your son @Monkey2001!

Well done Monkey ds.

@Monkey2001 Great to see another pass.

Secondary near work has three whole years out. Primary has completely closed.