Year 12 - first half term DONE.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

new thread so we don't get lost. Well done to all our dc whether doing btech (or breach as autocorrect prefers to call it) or a levels. 1/6 of the way through this year. (blimey)

Thanks everyone. Yes we are definitely relieved.

Iam, ds1 was having a similar problem. He kept being told he needed to be 18 or have insurance. He just kept asking different organisations. We solved one problem by agreeing to stay and shadow him, after a few weeks he was allowed to volunteer alone.

Pharmacy is a good option as it involves learning about meds, potentially asking in the hematology department or maybe blood donor service.

Can she volunteer as a hospital friend?

Gp practices have to have a patient participation group now which are made up of patients registered there. They should ideally be representative but often struggle to get young people involved. She could ask about joining yours.

Some great ideas, thank you. I know for a fact that our GP won't take under 18s, but will make enquiries about patient participation stuff.

Shineyshoes I expect my students to spend as much time as necessary to understand the work. So there's no fixed amount of actual hours but we'd expect a rough guideline of 5 hours per subject. Some of my class spend that long on my homework, and then as long again on the homework from the other teacher, because they are finding it difficult to get their head round it and need to keep looking things up or coming to ask for help. Others probably spend about an hour each on the homework (so 2 hours total on maths) because they've got it and can get the right answers without looking much up at all. My dd is doing maths and further maths, she spends probably 4-5 hours on maths each week but gets very good marks on each homework so I'm not worried (I might start worrying when she gets her mock results back after half term of she hasn't done well). So basically, the answer to your question is, it depends on the student, better one spend less time than weaker ones and still get better results in the end. Sorry I can't be more definitive.

Little I'm very impressed that your ds has been able to fit in work experience as well as getting good grades while he has been ill. He sounds fabulous.

Iam it is really difficult to get work experience isn't it? I hate the whole process and the problems with insurance.

Dd has applied for some holiday work luckily she's 18 so can apply for lots.
Dd has had holiday essays to do and hasn't done them, she's been very tired i think I might book her an appointment for the drs, as she is constantly tired and sleeps from 10-7:30 so she's getting sleep. Might be period related plus she has asked me to book her an appointment to discuss contraception as she hates ringing and making appointments even now she's 18

I know Shiney but she is currently undergoing CBT for anxiety, and if I left it to her to organise she just wouldn't do anything at all.

Iam your dd sound similar to mine, but mine won't even do CBT for the anxiety because that would mean speaking to someone! She tells me she doesn't have a problem though, she thinks she'll just avoid speaking to people forever

It's so hard isn't it MsAwesome I find that people who have never suffered from anxiety or whose children don't suffer from it just don't get it.

DD has refused social invitations because she didn't want to get a bus to get there. She is OK asking for a fare on the train, but not on the bus.

"people regularly say we need to be tougher on him, err no that just leads to him hurting himself and others"

Yes I agree. My in laws just don't think that mental illness exists, and sadly, I think this has contributed to BIL's alcoholism. They think you should just pull yourself together and get in with it. They think that depression is self indulgent.

What about via a volunteering agency or writing/emailing people?

Dd suffers with anxiety and so has panic attacks even when going to new places even though she loves going to places it's strange and definitely hard. I still Ring a lot of places for her as she struggles she also has a lisp and finds people aren't always understanding on the phone mainly cause she talks fast. Dd has gone back to school and I'm off this week

When dd was looking for Law work experience last summer, she wrote a cv and cover letter and emailed/delivered them to every solicitors, council building, court, legal department in about a 20 mile radius.

She must have sent 30+ out in the end, and then followed up with an email/call to each one a week or so later.
She found making a 'follow up call' much easier than making a 'cold call' because she could talk about her letter rather than introducing herself from scratch each time.
From all of those she only heard back from a few. She got lots of "not at the moment but try again next year"s, a couple of odd days and one regular weekly slot which she really enjoys on a Saturday afternoon.

DS volunteered at a care home when he started his DoE. He carried on after the initial 3 month requirement and still pops in as/when he has free time..

He had a bit of a melt down yesterday after taking his Maths mock. He sent me a text in the morning ( never texts from school unless he has forgotten something/needs a lift home) to say it was awful and is now thinking of dropping Maths after taking the AS.

It probably didn't help that he was in lots of pain, tired and grumpy after we spent Sunday lunchtime in A&E - he was knocked off his feet due to an uncalled for and unprovoked attack during a football match and all 6'2" of him landed on his shoulder.

I'm trying to be positive for him re the Maths as he thinks he will be lucky if he gets a D - I have said that he can book time for the one to one sessions school hold at lunchtimes and can go over the work with his teachers.

Ouch Starfleet your poor DS!
Tell him not to give up yet - dd's whole class we're convinced they'd failed the maths mock but their results were all a lot better than they expected - it was just a killer of an exam apparently.

Loads of kids mess up on their mock, that is usually a kick up the arse to make sure they do more revision for the real thing. At least with maths it's a matter of practise and there are right and wing answers so if you're prepared to put in some work you can improve your grade yourself. That's more difficult in other subjects where it's more subjective. Dd got her maths mock result on Friday and although she did well, her friends got anything from Bs to Us.

I hope his shoulder heals soon Starfleet

Having talked about DD having anxiety just a couple of days ago, she's spent the weekend on a music residential and loved meeting new people from other schools. Then yesterday she asked if she can go on a holiday with a couple of friends from the year above in the summer. So I'm trying to set rules while thinking this is an amazing step forward in confidence and thinking she may pull out as it gets closer

It was a D. His teacher said he will be contacting parents (quite a few by the sounds of it). Apparently quite a lot of low marks within the class.

He has been told not to be too despondent as it just shows which areas he has to work on, to do as many timed past papers as possible and also has to attend the maths sessions during lunchtimes.

He's still thinking of dropping it...

That's great re your DD Awesome! Sounds like the residential was good for her, sometimes being around more
like minded people helps and I hope she does go on the holiday.

DS's shoulder still painful but on a brighter note he thinks he may have done better in his Chemistry (which apparently is now starting to make more sense!?!) and Biology than he did with Maths.

Tbh, I wouldn't be contacting parents over a D. Half my class got Ds or lower in our mock. We're doing another one next week where I hope they all get a grade (some got Us in the mock). A D at this stage can be improved to at least a C, possibly even a B by the summer (even an A if the reason for the D was not enough work and he gets working now)

Mocks are the perfect time to mess up and see what they know and don't know. Also helps teachers. Sounds like he's had it a bit rough but I think they all go through a rough patch in alevels

I'm glad the residential went well Ms, neither of mine could go unfortunately.

DD did better in her Further Maths than Maths, which surprised me. But she says she likes the FM topics better.

Doesn't sound like your DS was at his best on the day Starfleet, it can't have helped.

I did wonder if yours might be there raspberry. Dd enjoyed it, and what they played at pick up sounded quite reasonable. Your dd sounds completely sensible, the FM topics are much, much more interesting.

Better news re Chemistry DS got 80% which is a bit of a boost for him after the disappointing Maths mock - he still talking about dropping it though.....

Shoulder still painful but some improvement.

After a nice relaxing half term (where I was I'll for the first half and spent the second half decorating) I really don't want to go back to school on Monday. Dd does want to go back so she can get more results back from her mocks.

I haven't posted here before as I missed the first call and don't come here often to catch up, but want to comment on lamastonished posts and DD trying to get experience for medical school.

DD is also set on getting a place to study medicine and as such, we have been doing quite a bit of research to that matter. Firstly, what's important to consider is that different schools look for different attributes. Most favour academic achievement over experience, and some don't care at all about experience and only select on the basis of grades and UKCAT results. So if your DD is academically strong, got all A*s at GCSEs and likely to get a strong UKCAT score, as lon as she selects the right school, the lack of experience won't matter as much.

If she stands in the middle arena of likely candidates, and therefore need to build as much experience as possible, then she doesn't need to focus on health experience. What schools are looking for is evidence of leadership, comfortable in taking initiatives and making decisions, good communication skills, empathy etc... This can be shown in many different settings.

DD is very lucky in that our local health Trusts are taking on pupils for experience/shadowing/placement from the age of 16, so she's been able to shadow a whole specialty team for a week and is now volunteering at the local hospice. Gaining experience at a nursing home has been a lot more difficult, but she finally managed to get a week-end job at one after knocking on many doors. GPs have been more difficult as indeed, many said they only take on medical school student, but again, she has emailed many and one of them has said that he would be happy for her to come to his practice.

However, her best experience that she will be able to use to support her application is not directly to health but is her tennis coaching for a council run scheme. She's started last September, only helping with some of the classes, but she has now moved on to coaching her own classes and being paid for it. She coaches kids between 7 and 11 and some with some learning difficulties and it is proving to be very valuable.

Other areas to look at is community care. District nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, health visiting. Any volunteering for any organisations that will expose her to dealing with vulnerable people, any role that will boost her confidence.

Has she attended any open days about applying to Medecine? There are a few organised by some medical schools, British Medical Association and others. DD went to one two weeks ago and found it extremely helpful to give a perspective on how to best prepare for her applications. Good luck for your DD, there's still time to find some experience.