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

[quote Piggywaspushed]I assume this is the link you used?

www.sheffield.ac.uk/undergraduate/visit/open-days[/quote]
Ha obviously not as your link has worked! thank you.

@Alsoplayspiccolo, so sorry to read what has happened. So brave of your DD to deal with all that, well done to her. Like others have said there is no rush for her.

Im listening to Lancaster at the moment but will now log into Sheffield too - all whilst DD sleeps unaware :-)

Sorry to hear that Also. I know I'm stating the obvious but she should focus on her health for now. A levels will still be there to be taken later and universities to study at.
That said, if she is able to recover from this awful experience over the summer she can still do well next year and then take stock about if / when / where she'd like to move on to uni.

I assume this is the link you used?

www.sheffield.ac.uk/undergraduate/visit/open-days

heifer that's weird!

Oh piccolo that's tough . Hope she can now move forward. Good for her and those boys standing up and speaking out. I am glad the school dealt with it too.

Don't give up on uni. DS1 is at an actual uni with grades in that ballpark and (by his standards) is doing pretty well. And your DD has potential to improve, more than he ever did.

@Alsoplayspiccolo what an horrific situation for your DD - but absolutely the right thing to do.

Would it be a good idea to ‘forrmally’ decide that she’ll apply next year with grades in hand - to take the pressure right off?

All strength to you for this horrible time.

@Alsoplayspiccolo I’m sorry to hear about the hard time your Dd has been having.

Re uni - would going to a local one be an option? That has worked well for some young people I know who were not ready to move away from home for various reasons. And it’s the norm in many countries.

So sorry to hear of your DD’s experiences Picolo. But how brave you and she have also been to deal with it all, supported by SENCO. You absolutely did the right thing. Try to take the summer hols as a breather and take stock in the new term.

Sorry not to have been around much in the last couple of weeks. I’ve tried to keep up with everyone’s news but haven’t had the energy to post.

DD has been dealing with quite a major incident at school.
You may remember she was “involved” with a boy at the start of the year. After that finished, she heard that the boy had sexually harassed/assaulted another boy in an ongoing situation.
To cut a long story short, DD’s MH and self esteem became so bad that we were forced to tell the SENCO what DD knew (she and the SENCO have a fantastic, close relationship) and it became a safeguarding issue, with a full enquiry by the school, during which at least half a dozen boys stepped forward to say that they too had experienced similar from this boy.
Needless to say, the boy is now no longer at the school.

You can imagine the toll this has taken on DD, and us, since half term.

DD saw her report yesterday and her “working at” grades have gone from BBB to BCD (although she got an A in one exam, and 2% off a B in another).

We were always doubtful that she’d go to uni next year, but now it feels impossible.

Lancasters Virtual is today - tbh I forgot I signed DD up for it but seems I did so had better go and sign in to see what times the relevant talks are)

Wishing your DS good luck for his interview, sounds a great quirky job.

Unless it's me... :-)

I’ve no idea if ds2 has looked at any of the online open days yet. He does have a few days set aside at school next week to do that sort of thing so hopefully he will make some progress then.

Some the unis on his list he has seen before when trekking around with ds1 3 years ago. Will try to do a couple of trips in the holidays also.

Still time to sign up to Sheffield virtual open day today if anyone is interested.

DS is going for an interview for a volunteer role at a museum tomorrow : it is a little museum of a strange religious cult! Don't worry : the cult is long past!

Wow! I’m not particularly expecting Dd to have any homework over the summer, but maybe she will - she doesn’t break up til Friday. Even then she’s got 7 weeks off!

..or the required answers rather.

What?!! @Orangecinnamon21 is this self-set homework?

Dd has 57 homework tasks to tick off over the summer hols. 7 down tonight apparently.
Consists of lots of reading and past paper questions apparently.

She gave herself a week off .

Great to hear another one has the freedom of the road Esther.

End of term grade sheet for DS. He's done quite well. No teacher comments though so no clue of predictions/realistic aspirations etc and he says they've not been discussed.

DS plans to draft PS this weekend. I am bit of a dba hand having checked many over the years. They are often awful at first draft stage!

PS @mummabear74
DS will also be referring to his Y13 project - kind of like an EPQ but we're in Wales so actually part of the Welsh Bacc. If your DD is doing something similar and chooses a subject related to geography, that's more good evidence of her interest that she can write about in her personal statement.

@mummabear74
I'm sure she's done it by now, but I would say remember it's only a draft. So if she writes a bit at the top about what first got her interested in geography, and what about it she finds particularly fascinating, she could then put "Para 3: include experience / courses tbc" or something. It's not due in until September at the earliest, so don't worry, she's got time to find things to fill it with.

DS is in exactly the same boat re work experience. He is reading a lot about his subject (popular science books in his case) and doing a couple of free MOOCs. He'll then link those into what he finds interesting, so "my interest in blah subject led me to reading blah book by professor blah. I found her chapter on blah particularly interesting, especially how she connected blah to blah. The latest theories of blah that she describes have the potential to change the course of blah. I signed up and completed a course with the university of blah in order to further my knowledge of blah and blah and enjoyed learning about blah" etc etc, excuse the cliches.

The courses DS is doing are with coursera, some geography ones at the link below. I don't know much about geography but if your DD is looking for something to read and likes human geography, I would recommend Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond.

www.coursera.org/courses?query=geography

@estherfrewen well done to Ds.

I just read the part about jobs on ucas applications. Ds didn't mention jobs. I wonder what he put. DH is retired. My job has no description really.