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Further education

You'll find discussions about A Levels and universities on our Further Education forum.

Original poster

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

999 replies

OhYouBadBadKitten · 31/08/2016 19:19

here we are.

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NoHaudinMaWheest · 20/09/2016 20:16

Dd seems to have settled well. She is enjoying the work and seems to be keeping up ok. She also seems to be chatting at lunch and break times which is also really good.
The lift is fixed and some teething problems at the FE college dealt with. She is waiting to see if she has a place on the heavily oversubscribed BSL course.

needastrongone · 20/09/2016 20:25

That's great advice step. If it helps fantasy, that's exactly how it worked at A Level even years ago when I did them! Especially with English Lit. My first pieces were waffle, and not structured well, with no coherent argument. But, with guidance, this improved over the course. I agree, having your reasoning in place, and having the confidence to back up that argument does help. But, this is a skill you learn.

Happy Birthday for you both for tomorrow. Flowers

DS is trundling along fine. He copes well with the academics. Any hints and tips about how to boost a shy 17 y/o with his self confidence would be gratefully received. The idea of trying to find a Saturday job, walking into shops and cafes and asking if there's work is so fearful for him. How do I help him? I'm a gobshite (!!) and so is DD, DS is exactly like DH. It's hard to find the words.

Shineyshoes10 · 20/09/2016 20:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

StepAwayFromTheThesaurus · 20/09/2016 20:58

I wish I knew how to get a shy 16/17 year old to be more sociable and confident. Mine is a nightmare.

He's been a young leader with beavers for the last year and is continuing with that. He's still very quiet and unsure of himself though. He's going for extra young leader training in November so hopefully that'll help.

In terms of jobs McDonald's have an online application process, so you don't have to ask anyone. And they're pretty much always hiring. I've been trying to get DS1 to consider applying. There is one within walking distance of our house and the shifts are flexible. I worked on mcD's as a student and it was alright. They pay much better now (I got less than £3 an hour back in the day).

needastrongone · 20/09/2016 21:02

Shiney. That's WAY more helpful than you think. DS has so many traits to do with the spectrum. Your 4th sentence sums up DS. He retreats to his phone as default 'safe area'. I think he could send emails, but wasn't sure how that would be received? I've tried to gently explain that the fear is worse than the reality, but at 17, I'm not sure he believes me!

raspberryrippleicecream · 20/09/2016 21:10

My Y9 DS2 has just announced he has been given his GCSE target today! I wasn't even aware he was in GCSE mode in English (Maths/Science yes). Was hoping for a term not even thinking about GCSEs at least until options in January. Plus I have to get my head round numbers!

DD will have A2 targets in a couple of weeks, based on GCSE point scores she says. We have a pretty good idea what they will be therefore.

StepAwayFromTheThesaurus · 20/09/2016 21:21

As an aside, the national minimum wage for 16-18 year olds (indeed for under 21s) is a complete joke.

FantasyAndHope · 20/09/2016 21:33

Thanks step he said similar to what you've said.
Is there not any youth clubs he could join?

StepAwayFromTheThesaurus · 20/09/2016 21:40

Well he's technically part of the young leaders group. They're all going for dinner with the troupe leader at some point soon apparently. He's part of the maths club at school too.

DS gets on fine with his friends at school and has also done so on the tiny number of occasions he's seen them outside school. He just seems paralysed with social anxiety and won't contact them by phone or arrange to meet up or anything. It's frustrating.

Same with anything where he has to put himself forward for anything. He'll just stand there (not quite close enough to be noticed) rather than saying something.

He's fine with adults. He's able to chat away and be quite funny. He just seems anxious around actual young people.

Shineyshoes10 · 20/09/2016 21:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MsMermaid · 20/09/2016 22:30

need your ds sounds a lot like my dd. She's fine with her friends, teachers, people she knows, but gets really anxious about new people. She won't phone anybody, or go in to places to ask for a job. Yet other times she's fine, she did the NCS things this summer where she only knew 1 friend before they went and she wasn't anxious in the slightest Confused

Raspberry I think the lack of levels for ks3 now means that a lot of subjects are thinking about GCSE a lot sooner. I know that as a school we're giving GCSE targets in year 7 now, then adjusting them as they move up the school. I don't know how that will work as this is the first year of working like this.

raspberryrippleicecream · 21/09/2016 01:25

Ah, that makes sense of some of the data in the reports MsMermaid. Some levels and some random numbers! Probably better start paying more attention, older two took most focus this year.

catslife · 21/09/2016 09:57

Happy Birthday to Fantasy dd. hope she has a good day despite the "test".
It looks as if we could have a problem, we have given dd some advice to try and sort it out and hopefully she will go and seek help today.

derektheladyhamster · 21/09/2016 11:16

Finally we have an appointment with a neurologist about DS and his migraines. He had 2 last week, although I'm not quite sure what can be done about them.

He seems to be enjoying A levels, he bought a history magazine to try and narrow down the time period he wants to study in history pre U

Original poster
OhYouBadBadKitten · 21/09/2016 12:45

Happy Birthday Fantasy and your dd!

catslife, I hope it's nothing too worrying and that your dd can sort it out ok.

Derek, thank goodness that has come through. I hope that it is a productive and helpful appointment.

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Icouldbeknitting · 21/09/2016 12:51

Derek here's hoping that the experts can come up with something that manages the migraines. I've moved on to pain free ones with trippy visual effects, they still mean I have to lie down and vomit though.

catslife fingers crossed for a good resolution.

We're in week two, it seems to be going well. He's packing his bag the night before and doing his homework as it is set. I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

TheDrsDocMartens · 21/09/2016 12:54

Happy birthday Fantasy & your dd!

All seems quite calm here, dd1 all settled back fine, info evening tomorrow but dh going ( with a list!) as I'm back at uni

needastrongone · 21/09/2016 16:28

Snap re DS Mermaid, he can be really confident at times, suffer from terrible shyness at others. Ho hum. DH was the same he says, and really feels for DS.

We've been given the date for the Parents Information Evening, and a separate Meet the Tutor evening, and some details about ID cards and driving into school etc, plus notable contact.

DS has also had one of his re-marks back, Electronics, and has gone up 3 full marks to an A, so chuffed with that. Just waiting for English Language, where's he's one UMS from an A*. We won't worry too much, but felt it worth a punt. Least that's £35 back. Smile

EllenJanethickerknickers · 21/09/2016 18:07

Very little info from college for me. It sure is a different world from school.

Happy Birthday to Fantasy and to your DD! How lovely to share a birthday. Smile

MsMermaid · 21/09/2016 18:26

Happy birthday Fantasy and your dd.

We're supposed to be at a meet the tutor/info evening tomorrow, but I'm not going. I know what 6 th form is about even if I don't know the exact minutiae of dds school, and I know that dd has settled well because I see her doing homework. I feel guilty for not going, but dd wants to go to her extra curricular activity and I'd really prefer to do some marking and planning so the weekend is free for something more fun.

littledrummergirl · 21/09/2016 18:43

Happy Birthday fantasy (and dd), I hope its been a good day.

HesMyLobster · 21/09/2016 21:37

Congratulations to your ds on the remark Strongone, great stuff!
DD was also 1 UMS off an AStar in Eng Lang so will be interested to see what happens there for your ds.

She decided not to get it sent off because of the changes in the re marking system - her school have had less than a fifth of their usual total remarked - but it does niggle being just 1 UMS!
Her graphics was the same.
I might talk to her again about giving it a go - there's nothing to lose I suppose (except the payment)

A very Happy Birthday to you and your DD Fantasy, I hope you've had a wonderful day FlowersCake

DD got to the bottom of her homework pile tonight for the first time in 3 weeks, so she's started reading around her EPQ subject. She seems very enthusiastic about it, I do worry about her workload though.

Back to the university open days conversation, do you all plan to go with your dc, or will you send them alone?
If I'm going to have a chance of going to any In the spring (apart from weekend ones) I probably need to
Book days off now.
I can only do a maximum of 2 or 3 though.

NoHaudinMaWheest · 21/09/2016 21:59

Dd has a settling in parents' thing on Friday. It seems quite informal and I am mainly going so that I can meet her tutor and other parents. I am happy that she is settling well. She got onto the BSL course which is really good as they had 200 interested in 40 places.

starfleet · 21/09/2016 22:34

Great news on the re-mark strongone. Hope his English Lang one has a positive outcome.

DS has had feedback from school another re-mark. One of his 4 Latin papers went up but he needed another 3 or so raw marks to bring his overall to an A. He said not to bother putting any of the other papers in after the English Lang/Lit came back with no change and they were both 1 UMS off an A*. He said he wasn't chasing a couple of marks for the sake of it and was satisfied with his grade.

There's been a mixed bag at his school with re-mark results. Some good, quite a few no changes and a couple that have gone down. Makes you wonder about the original marking when someone can get a paper back that has an additional 9 marks!!

Original poster
OhYouBadBadKitten · 22/09/2016 08:12

Fantastic strongone :)

still waiting for dds remark.
We've had the parental induction evening. It was really good. The Head gave a talk, explained about expectations, with about 12 hours of homework a week expected. That seems ok. There was a good talk on student welfare and where they can seek help. Then an informal bit after where we could talk to some of her teachers and other parents. It was actually really nice.

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