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)

Dd1 doesn't have any orals until May. She's pretty laid back about it all so far.

Good luck to her Raspberry :)

Good luck Raspberry, someone has to start us off. DS has his first exam on a Tuesday (May 16th if that's the Tuesday) which is close enough now to appear on the radar. I was about to schedule a music lesson on the Monday but had to ask whether he thought he might be doing last minute panic revision as he will have an exam the following day. Apparently it's all under control and he's doing lots of (stealth) revision.

He has his first open day next week. I am assuming he's had confirmation back but he's vague as to details (little things such as what time he needs to be there)

dds first one is on the 15th. A month of the blasted things. Mocks finish today, so a few ahhhh days before she buckles back down to it. It definitely feels less stressful than gcses.

Hope it goes well raspberry. Can't quite believe they are starting AS levels so soon - is it really a year since GCSEs?
dds 2 AS subjects are 60% coursework so only one exam for each. Both are on 17th May. No external exams for the Linear A level subject.

DD has her first exam next Tuesday. (Spanish spoken). She is worrying because she is the first one in.

She has also apparently decided after many years of wanting to study medicine, that she may in fact want to do chemistry. I just can't decide if she's having a wobble because she's panicking about the exams, or if she really doesn't fancy it anymore. She's still volunteering in our local big hospital 3hrs a week, so I suspect the former. I have no idea how we support her choices without influencing them at all. We're close, but I know she worries about both letting us down somehow (not possible, she is ace, but refuses to believe we mean it!) or failing.

I've just realised I may have n/c a couple of times since I posted here last, but have appreciated being in this gang before! GCSEs seem like a lifetime ago already.

Thank you for all the good wishes. DD feels it was OK, not great but didn't disgrace herself!

One down, twelve to go!

12 more! It's so funny how everyone's experiences are diversifying so much, isn't it! GCSES do seem such a long time ago.

dd is still waiting to hear about her nuffield placement. I hope she gets it.

Thirteen Rasberry! DS has three exams, two in one subject and one in another subject that has a major coursework element. College only put them in for the AS in linear subjects if they are planning in dropping it next year.

dd has 10, but 6 of them are in maths/fm. It seems so weird to have exams after just two terms of teaching. They start their a2 material straight after the exams.

Six are Maths/FM like OYBBK. The rest (French/History/English Lit) are linear but her school is entering for all AS.

She is almost certainly dropping Maths, which are the only ones that count. It's ridiculous!

it's a really odd half and half system at the moment.

It really is an odd half and half system at the moment. Dd just had exams in maths/FM, and she's feeling pretty confident about those (and her teachers agree she should be feeling confident about them). She also has a mock week that they were told would be after all the AS exams had finished but actually she still has all her FM modules after that mock week . She's decided to concentrate on the real exams and just do the minimum for the mocks.

I'm glad your dd's French oral went ok raspberry.

Dd has agreed today to let me "self refer" her for CBT for her anxiety. It's "just" social anxiety, she really doesn't get stressed about anything else, but all her to talk to someone and she goes to pieces. The only issue now is that the place the GP told us to self refer to is for adults age 18+ but dd is only 17. I suspect she's supposed to be still under cahms but by the time she would get to the top of the waiting list for them she'd be 18 and no longer eligible for their help. So we've filled in the form for the adult service and hope they will see her.

I hope that they show some common sense MrsAD. Sensible to get on top of it before uni. Do college offer any MH services?

She's at her school sixth form and they have a "school nurse" but I believe that's just a fancy name for their first aider rather than an actual school nurse. She doesn't know who to speak to to arrange anything, which is what her anxiety is about, so she can't really access anything through school. The adult service we've self-referred to have their first assessment over the phone, which is going to achieve precisely nothing because she can't speak on the phone - that's part of what she needs help with! I've written that into the form, but if you don't ring within 7 days they assume you no longer want to be seen. So we'll have to arrange a time when we are together during normal working hours (when? I'm at work and she's at school) for the assessment so I can speak to them on her behalf. It's a really tricky thing to try and access help for, because asking for help is the thing that sets off her anxiety and stops her being able to speak.

Perhaps it might be possible during the school holidays, Ms Ad. Sending you a PM also

Very best of luck to everyone's DCs. I can't believe how many exams some of them have!! DD is unbelievably lucky to only have one exam as two subjects are BTEC and the only A level is partly based on coursework.

Ms AD - does your DD have dyslexia or any dyslexic traits?

that's so difficult MrsAD and I fully empathise with the difficulty of accessing mental health support.

I don't think dd could make that call either, she is very phone phobic - well, the sort you talk on anyway!

dd had an email from nuffield. They've accepted her apparently they now need to find a research project to match her to. Fingers crossed. I'm so pleased for her!

Congrats to your dd kitten. That's fabulous.

Dd isn't dyslexic, and i haven't noticed any dyslexic traits, in fact she picked up reading and writing very easily when she was little. She has always been the sort of child described as "painfully shy", but shyness usually gets better as they get older and hers has got worse. I'd almost describe it as selective mutism, but she's fine talking normally at school, it's just the unusual stuff that she gets anxious about. I'm sure she'll get there, but she just needs a little help along the way.

MsAD the reason I ask is because my DD has an unusual presentation of dyslexia - she was always ahead with reading and her handwriting is neat, but she has auditory processing problems and problems with decoding social clues (the meaning of facial expressions, body language clues etc). It was only when we took her to a consultant psychiatrist that he identified that her social anxiety came from her dyslexia. Obviously it may not be the case with your DD - but I mention it in case it helps.

kitten - massive congratulations

Great news for your DD kitten

That's very interesting choc, I'll bear that in mind. I'm not quite sure if it fits dd or not. Has your dd overcome her social anxiety? What sort of things have helped?

She did have some professional help with it - the therapist would show her pictures of people, ask her how old the people in the picture were, how they were feeling and what was going on. She often got it wrong, but got better over time as they always discussed her answers. She is on Fluoxetine which helps prevent her panic, she was taught some mindfulness techniques, and had therapy which included CBT. I think it also helps that her social group are a bit more mature now and are more tolerant of her if she reacts in the wrong way to something.

DS1 has a group interview tomorrow for an evening/weekend/holiday job at a very popular tourist attraction. He did the application without any input from me, and only mentioned the interview because he's hoping for a lift! If he ends up getting a job there, he can cycle (it's about 4 miles).