Half way through Year 13 and the last school year.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

eep.

Mouse I know what you mean. For what Ds1 wants to do this is a fantastic offer. Ds2 is totally different though and if he gets through all his gcse subjects with 4 or over I will be thrilled for him. That will be a massive achievement.

Dd has asked for a tutor she feels she’s getting no good feedback from teachers and she’s not progressing she’s just at the same level constantly,
She’s seen a few university students, what should I be looking for in a tutor? It’s not the content that needs work it’s her essay skills that need work
Any help in how to choose a tutor would be grate

*great not grate

Drummers that offer is really good news, thank you for sharing it.

Nettles that must have been terrifying. It certainly trumps my broken night with a nearby house alarm going off every half an hour from 3.30am. I investigated as far as looking out of the curtains but I felt no guilt as they have much closer neighbours, one of which came to investigate at 7.30am.

Grades here have well and truely gone down the pan, I would be overjoyed with CCC now. I'm more concerned with his mental health at the moment, it's now four months since my husband died but I can't see that DS will be back on form by May. It is what it is I suppose, there's no point me worrying about it as there is absolutely nothing I can do to make things better for him.

Sorry to hear that knitting. Time will hopefully help him to heal, but that doesn't help in the mad rush to exams.

knitting
In a time where grades seem like they are the be all and end all we must still think about the affects on there mental health
Hugs to you

knitting I think you are absolutely right to focus on his mental health more than grades at the moment. In life there is often more than one route to a goal. I got very low A levels grades due to a bad situation at home, but went to do a HND which I could have used to go into the second year of a degree (but chose not to).

LDG - excellent news

DS1 got his mock results: DDE.

knitting I hope things improve for your DS soon.

knitting might it be worth speaking to school about whether it might be possible to repeat y13? I don't know if you've already thought of that, but we get one or two a year who repeat y12 or y13 for various reasons. He could possibly stop now and focus on his mental health for a bit, then do y13 again from scratch in September when he's had more time to grieve and get back to a more even keel. Apologies if that's not a realistic suggestion, I can't remember if there's a reason this wouldn't work. for you both, this is such a difficult time for you.

lots of hugs to your ds knitting I think they need so many hugs even when they pretend they don't. Would he consider waiting a year and redoing year 13, just to get his bearings, and not feel under pressure (although I know you said he was doing a non-ucas course, I think that is what you said earlier in the year) Hearing about your neighbour's burglar alarm has made me feel better about calling the Fire Brigade, at least I was doing a public service to silence my dreadful alarm

Dd has been making biscuits from a packet mix, and three boys are playing computer games. Ds has returned from Poetry in Camden and retreated back to his lair unable to give me the slightest detail about the day's events, although he did seem to be very selfconscious about his jacket, smirking when I said it looked nice (he had obviously been worrying about this all day, it was a mufti outing and he is not very good at being cool)

Second ds's school now seem to frantically trying to teach them technique, they are doing endless papers and extra classes. I don't know what to do, they have scheduled various sat classes, and that is when ds has his tutor, and it uses up ds's last ounce of concentration to go to these more general classes, concentration that I would rather he used 1:1.

Similar kind of thing with the cramming here nettle am I right in saying your DC has a tutor? How useful is it if so? Dd has rang in tears saying she really wants one

Dds mocks ranged from A to D.

No cramming here. In fact one subject has no teacher for next 3 weeks! Apparently they are being set essays to do in class, but they do need marking so they can work out where to improve. DS has tutor for one subject and it seems to be working really well. If college open tomorrow he has a test in that subject so hopefully will see some improvement. He does seem to be putting more effort in, so trying to encourage.
I think if they are asking for tutor, and you can afford tutor then it's worth doing. Both the 1:1 plus the fact that they know you're paying, seems to focus them more.

Fantasy I know this is a few years decades out of date - but I know that I wouldn't have passed my Maths A level if I hadn't had a tutor

Last mock today was 'bad'. DS is pretty good at assessing how exams went so it obviously wasn't great. But he is talking to me! Hopefully the results will come back soon so he can focus on what he needs to do to improve. But it's got to come from him.
I'm so relieved he's taking a gap year. We can reassess things and not rush into courses that might not be suitable, just for the sake of it, if things don't go to plan. Obviously, I'm hoping he pulls something out of the bag!

flat
Dds R.S teacher has had a family death so won’t be in for a while
chocolate
It’s worrying dd went to collect some work and saw a post it note as she was collecting with all the classes marks on and hers was pretty low she’s been asking for help for a while
However the same thing happened at gcse and dd got all A*-A a similar thing happening with internal marking as to now
Dd hopes that it is bad/harsh marking in her school
But wants a tutor

knitting it's all so soon for him (and you). Take things slowly, and there are always alternative routes.

Knitting, just getting through this time is an achievement.

Knitting, A levels can be re sat, and alternative routes can be found. You are doing amazingly to keep it together as well as you seem to be.
Keep taking things one day at a time, mental health is so important and is very easy to take for granted. You both need to be kind to yourselves for a while.

Derek I'm glad your Ds is talking to you again. Keep going your doing great.

Thanks all. We talked about repeating the year but I think the best thing for him is a fresh start with new places, new people, plenty of distractions and no associations. He has a EE offer so I think he just needs to do what he can and move on.

Snow day three tomorrow, I'm glad that they made the decision today so I can stop in bed in the morning.

knitting you may well be right about moving on in a new place with new associations. An offer that is achievable and that he likes is a very good option and most likely a better option than resitting to try and improve A level results.

If he's happy with that choice (and I guess he is to have put it on the application ) then that's a good thing. I've always thought that as long as they get what they need to move forward then they will be ok. You know he is going to achieve that so you can focus on healing.

I woke ds at 7.30 to go to school, then I did tough love and went back to sleep (I was exhausted still and the other two have closed schools) Then i called down the stairs about 15 mins later and he answered yes mum I'm getting up...at 10.15 I wake up blissfully cosy, only to find that ds is still blissfully cosy downstairs. Amazingly he then jumps out of bed and rushes off to school, he must really like it there

I'm hoping this is his first taste of realising that I am actually getting him out of bed and he needs to get himself out of bed in the mornings Anyway, to be frank the school should be closed!!! All the other schools are closed on this the third day of tortuous journeys, I don't know why they insist on being open.(must have lots of local pupils)..grrr.