GCSE '18s (19) - New Beginnings?

[whistl]

Following on from the GCSE 2018 threads as our DC enter year 12.
This the first thread in our new home in further education

Gah! I was charged £24 in store on Saturday.

Yes - beware schools offering discounts - usually still what you pay in shops or more. Got DS's Classwhizz Ffx991 on offer in Tesco about a month ago. I think it was £22

DS has finally started lessons and needs what he calls the shiny calculator - pretty sure it's the one you're all talking about. He is exhausted but happy. He's made loads of friends but says there are so many people everyone is having trouble remembering everyone else's name at the moment. Maths is ok because it's going back over add maths, while philosophy and English are a big hit already and apparently psychology is going to be boring for the first half term before they can do the fun stuff. I'm just glad he's got two free periods tomorrow morning - I think he's going to need them!

DS3 has swapped his calculator with his friend's for the price of a cinema ticket. His friend isn't doing maths A level and had a swanky new one for GCSE. I'll have to quiz him tonight after Explorer's to see if it's an FX-991 or not. It was a nice excuse to meet up with his bestie who has stayed at sixth form at his old school.

DS3 seems happy at the new one so far. He's joined orchestra and the jazz group so will hopefully make some friends outside his geeky subjects! He's helping with house music next week as well.

It's the Casio FX9750GII. The college is selling it for £54 & (evil) Amazon has it for £66. I suppose it's easiest to get the recommended model so she can press the buttons in the right combo in class rather than spending ages working out what to do by herself.

At that price I would of thought those buttons would press themselves

Dd had first day of teaching and came home buzzing. So pleased.

Had to just listen to a full on explanation from her ethics class between the difference between ontology and deontology...
French exchange...(gulp)
And how cool the politics teacher is...
She hasn't stopped talking...

Wow expensive calculators! I did all my A levels and Maths degree with my trusty Casio calculator - still have it and use it in work! I did have to buy a fancy one that did whizzy things when I did an MBA for the mathematical bits for that, but could I get it to do simple sums - no chance!

DD is liking this free study periods - she is on a two week timetable and for each of her 3 subjects she seems to have 9 lessons over the two weeks. All going ok at the moment and she is looking for a job.

How is the fitness going - a few of us on here are on a mission? I lost a whole pound this week!

DS3 back from Explorers. His new swapped calculator is an FX991 classwiz, one careful owner, price one film ticket. His school recommended it and sell them for £20.

I've still got my 6th form calculator somewhere which lasted me through university. It's a Casio in a brown flap over case.

OH and eldest left yesterday. And got upgraded! Never happens to me. Wasted on them I tell you.

veiledsentiments do you also have a DC doing A levels or the IB, I know your not based in this country, sorry if you've already said.

Ellen DH still has the same calculator! He was rather looking askance at all this talk of shiny new calculators.

DDs new A level calculator was £19, direct from school. £60 is an astonishing price!

She's spending a lot of time doing homework already. And has suddenly decided that the kitchen table is the only possible place for doing maths. All previous school work having been done lying horizontal on her bed. I'm torn between being glad she has discovered that a table is a useful invention and irritated at the way she growls when I cook too loudly

Are they programmable calculators - both DD s needed one for IB/A levels and they were around £60. But perhaps you don’t need those any more. DS hasn’t mentioned it

AChickenCalledKorma does she have a desk in her room?

Maybe it’s a girl thing 😂 DD2 worked laying on her floor or at the dining room/kitchen table, never at her desk. I think she liked company when revising - didn’t need help like DS but more encouragement/moral support

A bit nervous not being involved in DS work now he s at school after so much input at gcse but at least his results give me some comfort he ll cope and small classes should help.

Sorry, yes do have a youngest. Just started A levels. Computer science, media and psychology. If she works, I'm sure she will be ok. Not outstanding like many of the children on here. Just a case of getting her to work, and not distracted by the boyf.

Yes, there does seem to be a lot of homework already. I went to 6th form Induction yesterday and the importance of independent study and starting off in the right way was made very firmly!

I re did ds's room after GCSE, bought a much bigger desk, shelving and a nice chair to encourage studying. Not that eh didn't study for GCSE - he did a lot, but it was mostly on his bed or floor as his desk was just not big enough.

It's great to see so many excited dc after the first week. Ds is really pleased to be back and seems to have grown up imensley over the last few months - I can see the next 2 years flying by (sob) and also predict a few teenage hurdles to overcome.

DD seems to be doing homework in IS/free's, is this normal?

Induction day was yesterday for us too. They are expected to do about 6 hours of private study per subject per week take part in timetabled enrichment activities, volunteer which must be recorded (to give something back to the community but in reality for their Uni applications ), do 2 hours of timetabled PE, and have 6-8 hours taught lessons per subject!!!

They must take 3 A Levels (or 4 if taking FM) plus an EPQ. They have subject tests in 6 weeks which will "help to inform their predicted grades and advise the subject to drop"!!?!?

Just the subject work plus PE equates to 9 hours a day with the weekends off. Add in the enrichment/volunteering and EPQ plus the 9 hours out of school sport/coaching she already does per week (which will hopefully count as volunteering) ....err how long is a day? Their attendance in the library will be monitored. It looks like all her waking hours are filled for the next 2 years hahaha.

Unsurprisingly they are actively discouraged from getting a job (since the volunteering will look better than paid work).

Surely this can't be 'normal'???

Jufus yes, my DD's found if they used their frees they could fit in extra curricular in the evenings and not have to work late - I on the other hand wasted all my frees and had to spend Sunday catching up with the work !

bpisok - that looks on the high end of normal,. I have often heard 1 hour of private study/homework for each hour of lessons but if they are now having 5 or 6 lesson a week and doing 4 A levels and EPQ that becomes unreasonable ! What I have to get through to DS is private study means doing stuff even when you have'n't got any set homework !!

Slowly coming back to normal life. Thank you for all your kind words.
DS is loving the whole Sixth Form way of life... The free study, the focused subjects, the small groups, the non-uniform...Everyone's DC feeling the same? Lots of homework already, but that was to be expected from his school.

DS has a theory that the History department is loading on homework and research reading/viewing tasks to ‘flush out’ the less committed students!