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

The kitty cat likes her virtual open days. Taking it all in!

I have to say, the ones that got in still got the grades (possibly not as high as you need now), despite the poor teaching at my public school, as the criteria for staff was that you gone to Oxbridge rather than could teach. I had some shockers for teachers - no one had learnt how to teach.
Obviously Oxbridge have recognised the problem but Dd2 was a bit putout to be told she was in an ‘outreach’ school. It’s definitely not economically or socially disadvantaged as a whole round here. The only way of getting a more diverse set of students with different ideas and values is if they apply though. I certainly wouldn’t put mine off if they wanted to apply, but my Dd2 prefers other places too. I think the structured supervisions etc sound like you get more contact time with individual academics and can have good intellectual discussions with them. Dd1 has lots of small seminar groups instead at Newcastle so she’s not got so much individual time other than going to see them off her own choice after lectures. They have always been accessible for a chat though.

There was something in the news a while back about Trinity College Cambridge letting in 22 boys from Westmister. For all they profess (boom boom!) to be trying to change things, I am not sure this is always true at college interview/admission stage : I can almost imagine the matey matey chats and handshakes at the start of the interviews!. There are longstanding links between Trinity and Westminster it seems. Not sure how many Trinity lets in every year, or how many students there are in year 13 at Westminster, but it's not a good look really. Until they get more state school educated interviewers, things won't change much, sadly.

@Fferny1 - sorry to hear about positive test. Just had school notification for DS to isolate tomorrow and more information as to how long for tomorrow. Rates quite high hear at the moment

Fferny1 I went to a posh public school for sixth form late eighties. The teachers Oxbridge colleges were listed in our school diaries. The staff chose the Oxbridge pupil set right at the start and they had weekly lessons on how to get in. It was very much a prestigious group to get into. I overheard one of the teachers chatting to his professor friend on the phone about the group and which college for a particular student. It was all very tactical. Great fanfare for those who got in and utter devastation for the very few that didn’t. Pupils knew whose parents and siblings had gone to which colleges. On the odd parent event, parents would be wearing college colours and the school staff would wear their college gowns. It was a big network thing.

Contrast this with my DD’s state school. One of her teachers said she was exceptional and to consider Cambridge for her subject in Year 7 so she had it in the back of her mind. In Year 12 the school picked several out to have a talk and all parents could go to another talk to. But she didn’t like the course when she looked round. School didn’t push it. I doubt any parents round here tell each other which universities they went to.

There is a state school in a diverse area of London that is famous for pushing for Oxbridge and gets loads in.

So the reason they all got in was that was what was the goal from a v early age from family, school and themselves. I am not saying it’s good/bad it’s just how it worked.

@Fferny1 sorry to hear about the positive test. Fingers crossed the PCR may still be negative - although all the cases of positive LFT/ negative PCR in my son's year (10) proved to be faked! Ds missed nearly 3 weeks of school because of them!

To be honest, I've driven the uni talk in our house too. Once we'd decided on Occupational Therapy (and dd had spoken to one to be sure) her list was narrowed down anyway. She really wants to go to an RG, or at least a uni that friends might be going to. I think she's decided on Southampton and doesn't really want to think about any others - which is obviously a risk as she might not get through the interview!

DS (17) is double jabbed due to existing conditions but DD is only 15 so can't be. We think about a quarter of her year plus similar from other years plus several staff members are SI at her school. They have said there will be remote learning on Teams from tomorrow but we'll have to wait and see what it consists of. Confusion on dates so far, symptoms and + LFT on Friday, DD last had contact on Weds, awaiting further info tomorrow I suppose.

Oh dear @Fiddlers I'm sorry your ds has had a positive test. I hope the rest of your household manage to avoid catching it.

I'm sorry others are having to isolate as well. I can't wait for the 16-18 year olds to be vaccinated. Some areas are already letting some 17 year old teens into the pop up clinics.

Just a question which isn't very relevant to this thread. How did this current government and its hangers on all get into Oxford?
Because they don't appear to be mightily intellectual ( apart from Boris using big words!) Did coming from money and a
private school automatically help you obtain a place?

We haven't got much scope for isolating within the house either, DD's room is cramped and we only have one bathroom. As she is only SI (so far) the rest of us are still going to be at work/school. At least at this time of year its easier to have windows and doors open for ventilation.

Thanks @EversoDelighted, @Piggywaspushedvand @20newnames thankfully so far it’s just like he has a cold, blocked nose and croaky throat today.
Unfortunately our house is quite small and he has a box room so very difficult to isolate him from us. Debated whether he could swap rooms with DS1 but decided it was too complicated with both still needing to access their own room for things. Plus he will need to do his online schooling from our room as no space for desk in his room. We’ll just have to be extra vigilant with the cleaning and hand washing I think 🤞🏼

DS and DH went to university of Nottingham campus tour yesterday. DS liked it but does not want to go there after speaking to people about the course.

@Oblomov21 you are not alone! It is mainly me driving the uni thing. DS definitely wants to go but doesn’t see the need to do all the research now. He wants to do early entry application so October is our deadline which means he really needs to be looking into it all now.

Hope your DS is not feeling too bad @Fiddlersgreen. Some of DS1’s (20) friends currently have it. When I asked how they were he said they were fine, it’s overhyped. I said I was glad they weren’t ‘properly ill’, he said nobody actually gets ‘properly ill’ with it anymore. 😬🙄. Thankfully he is having his first vaccine today but it drives me mad how blasé he is about it.

Which Southampton open days are you waiting for @Oblomov21 ? They are doing campus tours at the moment that you just book online for , I didn't realise they were also taking bookings for actual open days?

Bangor's definitely out .

Although it sounds like Bangor is out...!

Ha! It's liek when the Delta variant started and everywhere was a B!

We were thinking 2 hours drive rather than a strict 100 miles but we set the filter on the UCAS website to 100 miles. Luckily we are well connected with motorways and A roads here, that radius covers Bournemouth, Brighton, Bath, Birmingham, London and everywhere in between. Perhaps we should set the filter to unis beginning with B looking at that list.

If we limited to 100 miles we wouldn't have many decent unis since the only ones (other than local definite no nos!) in that radius are either London (ruled out) or don't offer DS's subject, except Birighma which is easy to get to in theory (although traffic hell if driving). I think we might go for journey time/ease.

Oh fiddlers what a nightmare. Anecdotally, I have heard of quite a few people who have tested positive right at the end of an SI period. The PCR could still come back negative, fingers crossed.

Oh no Fiddlers, how frustrating. Hope he isn't too bad with it and that the rest of you stay negative. Is he able to isolate within the house fairly well? My DD has been self-isolating since Friday but we haven't had confirmation about the contact's PCR test yet. We had to cancel cinema and meal out yesterday too.

I sometimes think how much kids do and want to do is down to peer group enthusiasm for the task , and also how good/proactive the school is. DS's careers woman is very communicative and thorough and they do quite a lot of stuff to focus students' minds. My school is very passive. Even some of the brightest and most diligent students I teach haven't really started thinking about university.

Glad I'm on this thread. You all keep me informed and up-to-date.

I can't get ds1 to do anything, about anything. It's me that seems to be driving everything / pushing him to discuss unis etc. He doesn't seem that bothered about visiting anywhere!

I registered for the Southampton open days and have heard nothing.