New Batch of Year 13 parents this way!

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Hopefully this thread will appear on TIO! No need to use it til our old thread is done, but at least we have it for when we are ready.

I don't know how DD's cohort have fared on average though, just that there are a lot of bright students.

Well DD went back yesterday and seems ok.

She has finally made her peace with dropping French, helped partly by talking to the the uni people at Exeter open day.

Bit frustrated by the fact she spent a lot of time over the summer reading Candide, which was unnecessary. Then found out yesterday she want allowed to do the history topic she'd chosen for her coursework, which she'd been working on over the summer. And she also changed her mind about her English Lit coursework, so that work was wasted too!

On the other hand going from 5 AS to 3 A2 makes her timetable look a bit emptier.

She hasn't been officially given predictions yet, but informally it's looking ok.

5 AS is a bit of a stretch. Why 5? DD struggled with 4. She was on her knees with exhaustion by the end of term.

Five AS - because she was stubborn and her brother did. Further Maths is offered as an additional semi-twilight subject at her school.

I was worried she would try and do 4 A2 as her brother did, and it worked really, really well for him but Physics/Maths/Further Maths plus Geology has much more crossover than Maths/Further Maths plus History and Eng Lit,

She's dropping French and Further Maths.

Were AS harder this year? Asked up thread.

I think that more was expected when examiners marked but then exam boards/ofqual published a week before that they were going to award same percentage of grades as last year. So some A grade border marks were quite low.

Also Maths had a problem as paper was leaked for one board and it seems to have given surprise results when board tried to
calculate /factor this in.

As are notoriously difficult as jump is high first year. Many schools do no tdo them now.

Well dd is the last one in her R.S class as the other girl has left
Dd is very worried but it will be tailored teaching I guess

That was interesting, thank you all. His timetable is awful this year- split site and he has some odd combinations.
I've really let the driving thing slip. Been busy and got distracted. Must try harder!

I was talking to a teacher at dd1s school who said that some subjects had the worst results ever this time. Lots of disheartened students in those subjects. Music and Physics were mentioned

The subject in which DS had his surprise C was dire across the class. The head of department has seen a couple of the scripts and the marking (he saya) was harsh.

Schools can only choose not to do AS where the subjects have been reformed, not all A levels are linear yet. For some pupils bombing their AS level matters because it still counts towards their final grade.

It counts towards my son's year. He can resit the papers he needs to, and is dropping the subject he got a C in. But his mates did really badly. He isn't impressed by the teaching as well, and decided he needed to study himself on the side if he wanted to do well. Thank goodness for the internet.
The only subject everyone did as well as they expected was computer science. Physics was dire, maths bad.

On a more positive note, DD heard yesterday that one of her friends (not close but they've known each other since playgroup) was just 3 UMS off full marks in Maths. This girl really struggled with maths in primary, so it really goes to show that they all progress at different rates. I'm so pleased for her! After so many tales of disaster since results day, it is just lovely to hear a good story.

Oof, well first week navigated. DS1 had highest marks in his IT class, he was 3 points off a B in the exam and B in the coursework so he's going to resit next year - how that isn't a B overall I don't know? - (none of ours are linear so everything counts to next year). Like Fantasy half the class has left so there are only two of them now so hopefully some excellent teaching.

Getting panicky about UCAS application now. He's a major procrastinator and the SEN don't help At All.

That's lovely Inchy :)

Well done to your DS MrSlant, almost 1-1 tutoring in something like IT is hopefully an opportunity for excellent teaching.

I'm knackered after this week. I can't cope with the early mornings any more. I didn't think there was anything I was looking forward to when dd leaves for uni. An end to the 6:15 alarm clock is one of them. Even if
I don't get up with her, when I'm awake I'm awake.

My alarm goes off at 6.20 on college days, I hadn't realised how much less light there was at that time in the morning than when I did it at the beginning of July.

Anyone taking DC to Open Day at Leeds Uni tomorrow? See you there...

We are in Bristol this weekend. Hope you like Leeds.

DD is off on her Gold DofE expedition and the horse is in hospital so it is a small taster of what life will be like next year. And I don't like it.

We went to Leeds last term, it was well organised with a shuttle bus from the station. There were some issues with scanning the QR code on entry possibly because it was a sunny day.

Ursula I hope your horse makes a speedy recovery.

I hope your horse is ok Ursula.
I met a good friend earlier this week whose dc is off to uni next week. She was in floods of tears despite being a very hardy pragmatic type.
That'll be some of us next year. waaaah.

I can't bear the thought at the moment, DS1 is such a huge and calming influence on our house (just me and three boys) I'm going to be left with Diva and Tantrum, not a great thought . Also you've just reminded me that I have 8 more years of the 6am alarm to go, bad age gaps, I really should have thought this through more.

We will be amongst the ones who only go to uni's after an offer but I think because of DS' circumstances it's a little different. It doesn't matter what the course offers if it's more than two hours away it's not happening which rules out all of England for a start! [starts looking at courses on the east coast for Diva ]

Well done to your DS MrSlant.

There's so much info available online re uni's and many upload the subject talks (either as videos or podcasts) so you are able get a decent idea of the course. DS has only looked at mainly northern universities (Nottingham was the furthest south he was prepared to entertain). The ones we have looked at have been no more than a two hour drive, apart from Liverpool which is half an hour on the train and Manchester which is virtually on our doorstep!

Ursula - hope your horse is OK.

Ursula I hope your horse recovers quickly and that your DD gets better weather than DD did last week - her boots are still drying out!

Oh no, I missed the horse was in hospital Ursula, I hope for a speedy recovery.

Thanks all. They are such a bloody worry. Stupid horses. All that gut to go wrong.

I'll hold your hand Ursula. I'm big on dietary indiscretion in dogs ("he ate WHAT?") but horses are a mystery to me.