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

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

here we are.

I did agree to pay for the ski trip, as I know that if my Dad was alive he would have paid half. But when I pointed out to DD that it was the price of a small car, she very quickly said she would rather have the car.

Once again, I am wondering if I have been had

DD's Geography friends are off to Iceland at half term. She could have bagged a spare place if she had not spent 4 days at the other place.

Exit, your dd is a canny lass

I don't think that expensive trips are ever going to help with an UCAS application Fantasy. I'm sure its something that you will need to save hard for, but for many people it would be out of reach. Unis are pretty good now at spotting and discounting things that would rule out many disadvantaged students.

So definitely do it because it will be an enriching and enjoyable thing for your dd to do, but don't do it because you think it will help her get on a uni course.

dd is doing grade 7 theory for fun. No idea why, but if it makes her happy, then I'm happy.

Oh no it'll help entichement and show she is generally interested in the subject. I didn't mean it'll make them consider her more over another subject.

I hope she enjoys it when it happens :)

For the first time since dd started 6th form I think she's felt overloaded. Stopped work I think a bit before 9pm. She's so keen to do well, but it's Friday night!

DS2 went in a trip to the Sky studios yesterday. Early start at 6.00am but home by 5.30pm. The price was included in his enrolment fee, so pretty pleased with that. They took a TA on the trip to help with the group of about 5 on the trip that are eligible for extra support.

He went to Iceland on a geography trip in Y10 that was £1000 for 5 days. Luckily his father agreed to pay for half of it.

My friend is a TA at the college and has told me there are 3 boys including DS2 on his course who require extra support so potentially some friends for DS2. Unfortunately he's just not interested in socialising with anyone outside lessons.

Hard day coming up tomorrow. DS1 is off to Warwick university. Fantastic for him, a bit emotional for me. He's been my rock over the past 5 years since my divorce. I'll miss him terribly, but you have to let them go. It's his birthday next week so I've bought him his Freshers' tickets, a bottle of JD and a survival box full of snack foods, headache and hangover cures, sewing kit, condoms and a tenner in a glass frame, with, 'in case of emergency, break glass' on it.

Raspberry thanks for mentioning the assisted instrument purchase scheme. I did know about that, someone mentioned it a couple of years ago when I though we'd need to buy a better flute back then, but then I completely forgot about it til now. We'll look into it, but I suspect we'll go for a second hand one if we can find a decent one.

I think you've all talked me into buying a better flute, even though it seems like a LOT of money, and she can't even have it for birthday or Christmas because those are already sorted (driving lessons), and she can't pay for it herself because every penny she gets will be going towards this World Challenge. Apparently she is the only person to have signed up so far, the deadline is sometime next week so she's hoping some others will take the plunge soon or it'll not run. She's been applying for jobs already, and has her first interview on Wednesday at McDonalds. Not an ideal job but we all have to start somewhere (my first job was in a butchers, it was AWFUL!!!)

Fantasy Russia and Transylvania sounds awesome. Do you think I could go too? I can be very helpful when I want to be

Ellen That trip to Sky studios sounds fab too. I hope your ds1 has a great time at uni, you'll be fine once you get used to him not being at home all the time . Your birthday presents sound perfect for a student, he's a lucky boy.

Hi, just found this group. I used to be on the equivalent thread last year but then DD had to drop out due to glandular fever.
DD only finally decided to return to her original sixth form college the day before term started (she had registered "just in case").
It's going quite well this time, and the one subject she wasn't sure about has changed syllabus and is far more interesting this year (and the teachers were very enthusiastic to have her back).

Last year DD changed subjects around a lot, and dropped from 4 to3 which was best for her.

I like the idea of the Freshers' kit.

Welcome to mummytime
There are a couple of us on here whose children have had their education affected by ill health (DS1 had to drop 3 of his GCSE subjects). Glad your DD is doing well.

Hello mummytime, I'm glad to hear that this year is an improvement on last year. I'm a big fan of "just in case" and keeping doors open. You can always say no to something later but not if you never said "yes" in the first place.

We have signs of coasting along doing the minimum that is needed and I don't know why I should be surprised by that. I am hoping that at some point DS is going to get the message that he needs to pull his socks up but three weeks is still very early. He's been doing some assessments and presumably they will come up with some target grades that he can then be held to. I can do without a repeat of Y11, where he sails merrily along and then panics at the end.

Hi mummytime. Glad things are going well for your DD this time. Glandular fever can take an age to fully recover from, can't it? I hope your DD is coping well.

DS2 enjoyed his visit to the Sky studios. He doesn't seem to be doing much in the way of work at home but that seems to be the way with BTEC. Assignments are done in controlled conditions, so at college rather than at home. He does have a habit of doing the bare minimum, though, so I can sympathise, Icouldbeknitting.

DS1 safely off at university. Very strange dropping him off and coming home. The 30 cough years since I started seemed to drop away and it felt like I should be the one staying! He sent me a message and sounds fine.

Welcome aboard mummy
DD has started a little business for herself she's orders makeup candles and beauty products from the USA ships to her dads and he ships here and she adds £1/2 onto everything to make some money. She's had a busy week she was at post office yesterday posting

Wow! I've only been away for a week and so much has happened with you all.
Congratulations and commiserations where due.

We've had a busy time here as well- ds1 graduated from cms so is pleased with that. He's also had a couple of appointments with a consultant about his injury and it seems it may not be an injury after all. He's now waiting for appointments with another two consultants; neurology and vascular, and having appropriate physiotherapy in the meantime. Having a diagnosis has helped a huge amount, it also sounds scarier than it sounds I think.

Studywise all is going well, he is even joining clubs which he hasn't done since primary. He has settled back in well.

DD was very excited this morning by the announcement of additional medicine places from next year. Finally something positive (for us) from the government.

That is good news mint.
Exciting times for your DD. Does she know what kind of medicine she wants to study?
Dd2 is leaning towards med, she's only yr 10 so a while to go yet.

Excellent news mint
I have a question for you clever people These new alevels are they required to do more research than ever before? DD keeps saying that's what her R.S teacher keeps saying that they need to be researching as much as a degree student? he told DD today if she wants a top grade she needs to be researching more than she is,DD also pointed out when she does she sometimes comes across views/theories she doesn't understand?

DD has said paediatric but we'all see. A long way off. We're going to our first open day soon. It just suddenly feels quite serious!

Sorry, life has got in the way these last few days. Literally have 15 minutes with a cuppa to catch up for the first time since Thursday!

So, forgive the lack of reading back.

fantasy, I think the background reading is a trick one. Ds's friend is doing all essay based subjects, so has been given loads of research/background material. I think the STEM subjects are a little easier in a way, it's hard to 'research' Maths, you kind of DO Maths! I think there's a rule of thumb per subject teaching time.

We had a sixth for parents introduction evening last night. Useful information. Nothing ground breaking, but a little further information about how they will manage the AS/A2 exam crossover next year, while some subjects have changed and others haven't. Extra dedicated study areas for Y12's with teachers floating around for guidance. How much extra study they expect. When decisions will be made whether the students can study from home.

DS has a Chemistry test today, to check how the learners are coping so far.

I've had limited time too.
dd has internal exams for all subjects over the next couple of days. The whole year group do them at the same time. I really like the idea now - it seems a good point to consolidate and make sure no one is getting left behind.

I think we are beginning to realise how fortunate it is that dd is doing stem subjects. You do what you need to do, you can practice step and competition problems if you want extra and that's it.

Reporting back as I haven't posted for a while.
All very quiet and no sign of any new parent type evenings etc.
In contrast to last year where there were loads of requests for extra money, have so far paid £3 for dd to attend a session with a visiting author.
The first assignments have been handed in and she seems to be coping with the workload. For Health and social care the college offers work experience visits and the first one is next week at a local daycare centre.
fantasy I think that the tutor is expecting at bit too much imo. By the end of the A level course that sounds reasonable, but at this stage surely the pupils need more guidance.

Update DD has done some further reading of other views on the soul she asked him to explain a bit and he said you don't need to know that! so why tell her to do further reading and when she does say she doesn't need to it?

Fantasy that sounds very frustrating. I always think sixth formers should be encouraged to read and research on their own but need some guidance about where to start looking and how deep they should go. It's definitely easier for stem subjects because really don't expect them to research anything because if they try learning it without guidance they get the wrong end of the stick and we need to reteach it properly

How do your schools/colleges deal with free periods? Dd's school officially say they need to be in school for free/study periods but nobody checks on them. If they leave the site they need to sign out. BUT, they don't have a morning registration, registers are done during lessons so if kids are free first lesson they aren't registered and they aren't required to sign IN, just out. So dd missed a fire drill this morning because she was free all morning and didn't go in, but nobody knew whether she was supposed to be there or not because she hadn't been registered. She's concerned because if she had been in school nobody would have looked for her due to having no way of knowing that she was there.

I mean if she'd been in school, but had been trapped by a fire, rather than being there and lining up in the right place for fire drill.

Sounds like a bit of a hole in their system MsMermaid.

dds college has morning registration and they have to be in for any frees they have. If they are late for registration there are consequences. They also have registration at the end of the day. Only allowed offsite at lunchtime or during certain activities.

ms
They need to be on campus at DDs school either in their studies or sixth form center or libary. They have to attend registration at DDs school never used to but they wanted pupils in school to prevent lateness to lessons etc. DD said no one checks on them in their free periods although head of sixth hates that because he said there not frees there "non contact study periods" DD has to attend lunch for her afternoon mark. There allowed to go home early if they have last lesson free but must notify head of sixth and then sign out