Y11 2025-26 Results Day and Next Steps

Not sure if people have realised but the vast majority of Universities do have tours on YouTube , some of them are left over from the pandemic , some have been updated . There are also quite a few YouTubers who tour Universities . We found it a useful first step . DS1 whittled his list from 13 to 7 , we’ve visited 1 when it was closed , done 2 open days and have two more booked . Only one he’s pretty keen on that we probably won’t visit is Manchester … but we will go on an offer holder day if he does put it down and be lucky enough to secure an offer . I think I’m a little relaxed as I went to Uni sight unseen and the two unis I visited didn’t actually offer .

DS2 is just starting to talk about what he might be interested in so will start doing some research soon - he wants to commute so that’s actually easier to visit places and school already took him to one of the main options

Wow not looked at unis yet. Just moved daughter into her new college accommodation yesterday. Extreme stress with her having packed enough stuff for three houses and having to help her unpack it all, build some additional IKEA crap she allegedly needed etc etc. The campus and her room are lovely though - certainly much nicer than my uni accommodation years ago. It's an en-suite single room with a lovely view and the whole campus seems quite wholesome to me (I'm probably very naive 😂) with groups of teens wondering around lovely green fields. They are basically free to roam as long as they're back in their accommodation by 22:30. I take it as a good sign that my daughter hasn't been responding to my calls/messages all day as she was too busy with her new friends and wanted to get me off the phone asap (although not before asking me to send her additional stuff via amazon 🥶).

Her studies will only begin next week and she doesn't know her timetable yet. This week are just activities for the new college boarders.

The horse seems to also have settled in well 🤞🏻

I'm quite shocked at how much I miss her though, as I was so looking forward to my new found freedom without having to taxi her round and be covered in muck and hay at the yard. I seem to miss her and horse much more than they miss me 🤪 Will be going up there next weekend though.

@Monr0ei have family that went to Salford and had a blast and job prospects for their graduates are great. DD also thinking home as loves Manchester or commutable so could be hybrid. The word ‘campus’ doesn’t really mean much to them I don’t think hence why I’m thinking a drive round somewhere like Keele would give her an insight

@ifonlytheydlisten yes, Manchester, so I feel quite lucky that we have 3 on our doorstep if she chooses to stay at home, which she has always wanted do. But she definitely might change her mind on this so certainly worth looking wider.

Her brother us currently at Salford.

We thought about it but not started open days yet. Cambridge and Oxford both places we know well. Just the others to think about and we’ll need to deal with accessibility then course. Location very much third consideration!

I think even a visit to the city / campus of any near enough is worth it. We have Leeds Sheffield Salford Liverpool Keele Manchester Preston etc all within an hour and lots have two unis in the city. Within 2-3 hours adds on Birmingham Nottingham Loughborough etc etc
A drive round a campus uni like Lancaster would bring home the differences in location types

@Monr0e you are Manchester? We went to one within an hour away as we were free and it’s a specific study area. I’d like to take her to look at Salford as loads more vocational course and maybe somewhere like keele to see what a campus is like. Not necessarily an open day. Maybe just online and a drive round

I hadn't even thought about open days yet. DD still hasn't started college, her first day is Friday!

But it probably isn't a bad idea to start thinking about it. DD seems pretty certain at the moment what she wants to do at Uni and we do have a few local if she chooses to stay at home. But it would be good for her to start getting a feel for them, both local and further away, to help make up her mind when the time comes.

We were planning on doing some
open days this term because DD has no idea what she’ll study at Uni or whether she’ll apply for apprenticeships as well
or instead of. However, she plays sport on a Saturday which really limits which open days she can actually go to

Haha! DS is reluctant to go for the opposite reason: he already knows which college he wants to apply to and doesn't see the point of actually visiting it. He'll thank me later (maybe).

Wow impressed with how many have started looking at open days.
School messed up DDs study sessions she only has a free hr a week due to doing 4 alevels, rest are supervised so trying to get it changed.

We’re booked in for this but I think I might cancel as it’s just the colleges and not subject area. DD is now saying it’s not worth going at this stage just to figure out which college she might fit best in as she will probably be a whole different person closer to the time!!

I mean, she’s been the exact same person since she was born so not sure what changes she’s expecting in the next 12 months!!

I'm taking DS to the Cambridge colleges open day on Friday. It's quite local and he only has one lesson on Friday morning so we're going around lunchtime. Not looking forward to finding parking, otherwise very interested.

We’ve done an open day. Quite local but good to just open their eyes to options

We're going to do a couple of open days this term. DS wants to apply for Oxbridge so next Oct istoo late and doing them all in the summer was manic for my other child! Also it will give him things to think about before we get to the June/July stress next year.

We’re booked on to three universities this term and will do another bunch in the summer.

Yes, we’re busy doing open days at the moment. Not necessarily unis that DD wants to go to but more for the subject talks.

DD currently has no idea what she wants to do at uni. It ranges from engineering, to economics, to maths, to PPE, to International Relations etc etc.

She has until October half term to change her A Level choices if she wants to so trying to get her to start giving proper thought as to what she wants to study and what A Levels would be needed.

We have one booked in September and another in November. It is early days but I'm treating it more as a just a go and see rather than any in-depth fact finding mission. As DS is autistic it's good to go to places ahead of needing to go there if you see what I mean.

We can't afford for DS to move away so he only has two options of Uni. Also I believe as his degree would be in Paramedic Science and there is an interview process etc he has to apply by January 2028 which actually isn't that far away. If he still wants to go to uni he can do some more open days nearer the time to get the nitty gritty info he needs.

I think it’s too early for open days - I’m only just doing them now with my yr13 .im much better informed as to his choices and ability now than I was 12 months ago

I'm still waiting for a reply to my email about the remark.

DS also hasn't had a conversation with anyone about swapping psychology for philosophy (neither of which I can spell). I have strongly encouraged him to do that today.

Is anyone looking at uni open days already?

Exactly what I'm worried about. She's science focussed but didn't do as well as predicted in them. Her (currently favourite) other subjects are biology and geography. She doesn't want to do engineering degree or anything related to healthcare, but she doesn't know what she wants either. I have checked and there are good unis that would accept her for biological science with the geography as the second "science", also she'd be fine for geography. I don't want to push her into anything she doesn't want to do but she knows she'd be more limited doing Latin.

What other subjects is she doing @applecrumblespider? Does she have any idea what she may want to do later?

I gave a couple of friends whose kids are in Y13 and have now regretted dropping one or another science/maths as it limits what they can pursue at uni. It doesn't matter at all of she's likely to continue with humanities or something vocational, but if there's a chance she may want to do something like engineering/medicine/natural sciences, just have a look before she makes a decision.

ETA DD has her first German lesson today which I'm a bit worried about. She loved it at her old school and is thinking of doing it at uni but her school has a tiny class for A level that they do alongside the Y13s so just not sure how she'll find it.

Still stressing about A level choices here! Only 2 days of lessons in but neither chemistry nor physics (3rd and 4th choices) have yet inspired DD and she's talking about ditching both of them for Latin. Also one of her two chem teachers is the "shit" teacher she had at GCSE which has really put a downer on that - although she hasn't had a lesson with him yet. She's planning to see how she feels at the end of this week.

Yes we were really lucky that school spoke to the children directly on results day if they thought they should remark and teachers looked at papers within the first two days post results to identify which paper is best for review. They were all AQA.

It’s such a shame that schools do this so differently. I agree with pp, it means potentially such different outcomes for some children if they’re not supported or encouraged to review.

We are getting two reviewed. One just because it’s one mark away & school want to (won’t make a material difference to options) and Eng Lang as dropped 2-3 grades to 4 and huge impact.
however it also makes me angry how many kids might not get the chance as either school don’t push, parents aren’t aware or they can’t pay for it