New Year 12 starters parent support thread (snappy title eh?)

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

here we are.

My first car was a ford ka. The original design ones are great to drive (the new ones are abysmal). I didn't get kind til I was 25 though.

I keep reminding DS1 that my job as a student was working in McDonald's. I actually quite liked it. Good flexibility around hours, the work was easy and the place was full of students (even the shift managers at night tended to be students). I'm not going to make DS get a job though. I think he needs to concentrate on passing English first.

I got DSD insured on my car a year or two ago. I had had an Astra, but found it would have been horrendous to insure her on because it had a 1.7 engine, so swapped it for a smaller, newer car, which was much cheaper (as in £600 a year, not £1500 - but I'd been paying £180 for just me ) Couldn't put her on DH's car as it's a company car, and a 7 seater, and DH is far too protective over it and only just copes with me driving it.

Plan to put all the kids on it, once they're learning - but I wouldn't rush to get a new car just yet needastrong - DSD found she needed to have quite a few lessons first with the instructor before she was really ready to go out in my car for practice. If you do buy a new one you can get instant quotes for different makes and models via direct line. Generally you want new and small to get cheaper insurance for teens. A black box (telematics thing) helps too. It does reduce the chauffeuring a bit once they can drive. DS is keen to learn (17 in January). DSS is 17 already, but being a bit slow about fixing up lessons or a theory test. Need to help him sort that out, as would be good to get out of the way before DS is also learning. I've not idea what putting 2 learners on my insurance will be like!

DS1 never goes anywhere anyway. And he can walk to the metro station if he wants to go somewhere. And he's not 17 til June. So we don't have to worry about driving just yet.

I worked at Warehouse (clothes, rather than a warehouse), so was considered cool. It wasn't, it was hard work, but they were brilliant at giving me extra hours in holidays etc, so I earned a good wage at 16/17. And managed 4 A Levels, and never got a lift from my parents anywhere, times do change don't they? That was normal really.

Thanks for the information about cars. I can't swap mine and DH wouldn't swap his either, which is fair enough, he does a lot of miles, 30k plus a year. But I hear what you are saying Cloudy about not needing to rush while they have lessons, which is interesting.

Friends of ours bought the lowest model of new VW available at the time for their DD's (small age gap) to share, as the relative lack of outgoings in maintenance costs in the first 3 years seemed more attractive than buying a banger.

All food for thought.

DS has told me about EPQ's, which are offered in Y13 at school. Had this thread not been here I wouldn't have known to ask. And information is very much 'need to know' with DS....

finances at looking a bit tight here for driving lessons. Of course if dd could get a Saturday job then she could pay for them

A slightly odd thing going on with her where she feels the need to write each homework up in neat after completing it. Which is good practise but not sure how sustainable that is.

Driving....the next hurdle.

I've booked DS lessons starting from his 17th birthday (Easter time next year). One of his old primary teachers changed careers and is now an advanced instructor so that's his birthday present sorted out!

My DM said he can have her old Aygo once he passes and she can then justify a new car!

DS spoke to school re EPQ - they will be speaking to them about this after Christmas term.

Dd will be 17 in October, so we're paying for as many lessons as she needs to pass, and will be doing at least 2 lessons a week, although we're hoping to get quite a lot of lessons in during October half term.

School have been asking them to sign up for enrichment activities today. So dd is going to do an epq purely because all the other enrichment activities on offer are awful but she doesn't know what she can do it on. Everything she can think of will be covered in her actual A levels. I've suggested things like the history of certain aspects of science, or something feminism related, but I think I'm projecting what I would find interesting rather than what she's interested in.

She's pretty much ruled out getting her job because she's got such bad social anxiety that she can barely speak to strangers. She would get a job if there were any around that didn't involve speaking to anybody. Does anyone have any ideas? There aren't even any paper rounds near here.

needastrongone What we found best (as dd wasn't going to be using either of our cars to practise on) was to book 2 hour lessons each week. Yes, it costs more on a week by week basis, but costs a whole lot less overall as they move on so much faster so have fewer lessons overall. dd passed in 5 months.
Another way is to have 2 x 1hr lessons a week, but that then breaks into 2 different days and we found by having the one 2hr lesson, they could go further, and get practice on lots of different things. So, for example, my dd had driven lots around the test centre before taking her test, despite not living that close. She's also done lots and lots of driving on fast duel carriageways and slip roads on and off - helped enormously when she first went on a motorway after passing her test.

Great tips there, thankyou Back.
Keep them coming!
Any advice on 6th form/college or 16/17 year olds in general now you're a year on?!

kitten I'd bet money that won't be happening after half term!

DD's first day tomorrow - eek! She's actually quite excited about it, so fingers crossed

Good luck to your DD choc first day is often tiring

good luck to her Choc :)

DS's first day today too choc . He's just left, looking rather nervous.

good luck to him cloudy :)

I'm really glad you posted Back, as the advice re 2 hours lessons is really useful, thank you. It makes sense, particularly when they are just starting out. I agree, any tips from a Y13 parent?

Good luck to Cloudy and Choc's DC for their first day. Nerves are entirely understandable.

DS only has double Physics today, he had only one lesson yesterday too. All his heavy days fall at the end of the week. Bit of a pain to manage homework if he chooses to do most of it over the weekend. But good if he has a busy weekend once in a while.

Explorers started again last night, they have pencilled in D of E dates for silver expeditions, so that's useful for planning. He's done all the rest of it and had it signed off.

dates of first internal exams has appeared on the school website. Early October! I think it's probably not a bad idea to help consolidate the learning of the first month or so and make sure they are understanding what's going on. Was a bit of a surprise though.

Hi
Dd started at her new school last week and seems to be enjoying it. She's gone from a small single sex independent to a large comprehensive. She's made some friends with and enjoys mixing with both girls and boys. She doesn't seem to have done much work yet. Her school are encouraging most students to do 3 A'Levels and EPQ is compulsory. They are not doing any AS levels apart from in the few subjects such as maths that are not linear.

Her science teacher at her old school asked her to come in because he wants to appeal her result. We will not be charged because it is a school decision. She got CB which was too low to take any sciences at A'Level. She had originally considered doing biology as one of her options, but is really happy with the choices she has now made. I wanted her to do a BTEC but she wouldn't listen to me.

Frustratingly her computer access is not working but she is not taking it to IT support. She says she's doesn't have time, but I think she just lacks confidence. The school also have a cashless system but we haven't been given a password yet to pay into it. So a few niggles.

From a personal perspective I think a 2 hour driving lesson is far too long, particularly when they are first starting out. Happy to be proved wrong, but 2 hours behind a wheel seems an awfully long time.

Wow, quite a catch up to do, feel like I'm on a merry go round at the moment co-ordinating work around three boys and their extra curricular activities, nice to get a moment to procrastinate sit down and see what everyone else is doing.

They sprung an Alis test on DS1 yesterday, apparently he really enjoyed the vocabulary part but the maths was impossible. So that's helpful when he's doing all science based curriculum . We've got quite an early parents evening so hopefully we'll be allowed to find out the results. Apart from that they seem to have faffed about and done very little! Needless to say he is happy but I want homework so I can see he's done more than take up gym membership which seems to be his main topic of conversation right now!

They all do the Welsh Baccalaureate at his school, seems to take up so much time and I'm not even sure many university courses accept it as a true A level equivalent which is a bit frustrating, they have 5 hours teaching on it over the two week curriculum when his full A levels are 7/8 hours in the same time.

Not thinking about driving in the new year. No.

my
Excellent that he thinks she should have achieved higher though?

DDs first internal exams are in November.

choc and cloud hope the first day goes well.
OYBBK that is early for exams. Haven't heard about any here yet but we do have a settling in parents' evening at the end of next week.
MrSlant sounds very busy for you. I think all the Welsh universities we looked at accepted Welsh bacc not sure about others though.

Dd started lessons yesterday. A few niggles - the lift in the maths school keeps breaking down. The school are on to getting it sorted and meanwhile moving classes around. So far she hasn't got stuck on an upper floor.
The FE college is supposed to be organising support for her there while she settles in. It either doesn't happen or is arranged at the last minute and every time I call about it nobody knows anything, promises to ring me back and then doesn't. grr.

Thank you so much to everyone for the best wishes. DD reports that the first day was a success, and is also very happy with her timetable

Cloudy - I hope that your DS had a good first day too

Exit Each to their own, but the driving instructor my dd learned with encourages everyone to have 2 hr lessons, and has a really good pass rate. A few friends have swapped to him from other instructors and said how much better it is, not having to spend the first 20mins or so of the lesson getting back to where you were at the end of the previous lesson.
I'd have thought by 17, you should be able to concentrate for 2 hours. Don't forget, they are really motivated to learn to drive - it's not quite the same as a 2 hour lecture on astro physics, where they won't be actually doing anything but listening.

Exit Each to their own, but the driving instructor my dd learned with encourages everyone to have 2 hr lessons, and has a really good pass rate. A few friends have swapped to him from other instructors and said how much better it is, not having to spend the first 20mins or so of the lesson getting back to where you were at the end of the previous lesson.
I'd have thought by 17, you should be able to concentrate for 2 hours. Don't forget, they are really motivated to learn to drive - it's not quite the same as a 2 hour lecture on astro physics, where they won't be actually doing anything but listening.

Oops - sorry for double post