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

Thanks for the birthday wishes! I've been at college all day, got home to DD making me a birthday cake...just wondering when she is going to be doing her homework?!
She doesn't appear to have hit a maths wobble so far, but there is plenty of time!

DS is also fine with the Maths, FM and Physics but is baulking a bit at the ammount of reading and essay writing for Geography.

pandaG happy birthday

I think I'm the only one wobbling in our house at the moment

pandaG happy birthday!

DD is coping fine with all A-level work and now I am worrying because she hasn't had a wobble!

Yay for jufus

Interesting about maths ceiling.
DS DID know really that private schools wouldn't have done loads more beyond GCSE but he was having a huge confidence crisis and it's always easier to blame someone else!! And he has wished at times that we'd paid for private for him so any excuse to knock us is welcome!

A close friend has evidently hit her maths ceiling despite getting all 8/9 at gcse, and planning to do FM A level, she has now decided to switch maths for chemistry as the maths was "just too hard" and she felt like she was "starting to drown" after just 3 lessons. I say that's pretty brave.

And if course the fact that most students haven't done any maths since mid-June will have an effect!
We finally got DS's marks from school - he was 3 marks off a 9 so he's taking them up in their offer of a review. It's probably won't go up but a nice bonus if it did. And he does feel really pleased with himself knowing he was very comfortably in the 8 zone. As a pp said, a 7 was 30 marks lower and that's quite a big knowledge gap to go into A levels with.

panda you've got a lovely family! 🎂 🎈🎈🎁

So DS came home today to say how did we feel if he asks to drop Maths now rather than half term (which is apparently the first opportunity they get to drop it, then Christmas, then end of year 12). He has a speech for his tutor prepared to state that he would use the timetabled sessions to read 4 books he has plans to read, 2 History (one as extra reading and one as background for his EPQ - not yet timetabled) and 2 Economics books too.

We have told him we would support his decision and we are glad he was able to timetable 4 as it means there is no catch up to be done.

So am I the first to have one to have a DC actually ask school to drop a subject?!

Happy Birthday Panda 🐼🎉🎈

DS3 is being typically laid back about sixth form. Happy with all subjects and glad to finally be officially taught about imaginary numbers, which he first discovered in Murderous Maths books a few years ago!

More importantly he's volunteered to help with some 1:1 with Y8s who are struggling with their maths and helping with a coding club at lunchtime for younger pupils once a week. He still wants to be a maths teacher, (I can't put him off!) so great CV material.

He's reading some Simon Singh and Matt Parker books about maths to kick off his 'super-curricular' topics for his personal statement. He particularly enjoyed 'Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension.' Never sure if the universities pay much attention to the PS for maths and science subjects, I think they're more interested in grades, but it can't hurt.

Lots of DC have dropped or swapped subjects in Y12 at the school I work in, Shalom, the sooner the better if swapping! It's a grammar and they're all taking 4 or 5 subjects in Y12. Some have already dropped to 4 but they're not allowed to drop to 3 before Easter. Bit harsh, IMO.

Twinplusone

Some apprenticeship resources below. The world skills exhibition has loads of exhibitors including the obvious like aerospace engineering to cyber security with the National Grid (very important obviously), GCHQ, BBC, HMRC etc.

Your home area may have a local apprenticeship college/broker that provides training for local companies. Other companies work with universities.

It is worse than UCAS as different companies recruit at different times of the year and have different recruitment processes (online tasks, assessment centres, interview etc). The gov.uk search for an apprenticeship is good for showing current vacancies.

www.worldskillsuk.org/directions/our-events/worldskills-uk-live

www.notgoingtouni.co.uk

www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship

www.ucas.com/alternatives/apprenticeships/apprenticeships-england/how-find-apprenticeships-england

Wales has a different website (Careers Wales).

It is worth bearing in mind that the minimum requirements are just that - the minimum. The most popular schemes are competitive and many candidates will have higher grades.

Here's an example of a degree apprenticeship in electronic design engineering showing timescales etc

www.renishaw.com/en/embedded-electronic-systems-design-and-development-engineering-apprenticeships--34710

DD spoke to dh earlier. He said she sounded happy. I just texted her & she’s about to go to bed as she’s tired & she has an 11 hour day tomorrow.

He particularly enjoyed 'Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension.'
DS2 has a copy of that! We've seen Matt Parker perform live a couple of times as part of Festival of the Spoken Nerd.

Thanks Peggy

Peggy wow! That's an impressive post!

Further proof of how popular degree apprenticeships are becoming. In my field the September intake has almost exclusively been graduates with a fair number of post grads thrown in. This year one of my groups has around 40% school leavers with straight A*s at A level. I'm having to change my approach as they definitely lack the experience that 3 years of independent living brings as they are very naive about things like loans, rent etc. and how they work.

On the other hand, I overheard a grad student say yesterday that she had just spent £27k on something I had covered in 6 hours!

I don't think I ever used the knowledge gained in my degree. The stuff I learned at school was enough even though my job was in the same field as my degree.
It is strange though because I'd have never been given the chance to do the job if I hadn't had the degree.
What the degree course did teach me was how to think. I can't really explain that statement, because surely I could think before I went to university? Yet, somehow, it was different.

Also, as Stickerrocks points out, doing a degree did mean that my future employers didn't have to teach me the basics of life as I arrived in the workplace significantly more mature and experienced than I was when I left school.

Is that all worth £27k + living costs + opportunity cost of 3 years of lost income? I don't know.

ShalomJackie DS hasn't actually asked school to let him drop maths but I can see the thought forming in his brain!

I can see that arriving in a degree apprenticeship at 18 will feel quite different to starting work at 21 and that the experience of getting through a degree is useful.

Different paths and different pros and cons. DC1 just started work after degree. DC2 just starting HNC on new apprenticeship.

DD2 left home at 17, lived in lodgings and two shared houses. Learnt how to juggle studying, learning skills and functioning in the workplace.

Interesting debate sticker and whistl. DD friend is doing a degree apprenticeship and loves it but has struggled at times and been caught out by some of the life skills/office protocols and politics that no one teaches you but you might find harder to pick up as a school leaver at 18. Being a fairly new thing too most of his colleagues think he is a graduate and don’t realise he s just left school. He was also dealing with learning about running a house and car and travelling across country at 18 without the support of halls and working 9-5. On balance loving it though and two years down the line is enjoying the benefits. It’s a huge generalisation I make as well as I realise not all graduates are street wise and worldly and some are more ready for work at 18 than iterscare at 25 !

Cross post Peggy ! One of the main things he had to learn fast was dealing with a more diverse office environment in the workplace and that not everyone thinks and works like him (but that may be partly from moving from a private boarding school bubble and was a valuable lesson quickly learnt)

Peggy thanks for posting that, personally I like the fact that at 18 there is now real choice and not everyone is funneled down the Uni route.

DS has tests this week in all 3 of the sciences now this must be a first, clearly haven't done enough of the A level syllabus so its going to be on the GCSE syllabus.......all of it!!

My DS would really struggle with that bluebelle - good luck !

And agree re choice at 18 in DD 2 cohort there was a real range with by no means the majority heading straight for uni. Very different to a few years ago

Within my industry a degree apprenticeship is a no brainier. The degree takes longer but the company pays the both the fees and the apprentice and they get paid day release and study leave. Since they are building up demonstrable competence throughout the apprenticeship they achieve chartership faster than those that took the Uni route and are often earning more than the grads after than 7 years - not to mention they don't have a student loan (or should I call it student tax?).
The other benefit is they can build up a network of contacts within the company so more opportunities come their way.

It's really hard to get the apprenticeships and many have turned down RG places so it's def not an easy or inferior route.....for fear of this sounding like nepotism/jobs for the boys some are DC of very senior directors but that's because they are more informed about the benefits. Generally they are applying with straight A's/A stars so many schools wouldn't even think to suggest this route (Advice at DDs school is that Uni is the only option and apprenticeships are considered as only applicable for the less academically able - bad advice in my opinion!)

bpisok at DS's school they actually had someone turn down a place at Oxford to take up a degree apprenticeship instead, the school put on a very brave face but they must of been gutted as I've never known anyone from the school get into Oxbridge

There seemed to be a choice when I went to university, back in the 1980s. There were lots of jobs for able candidates that required A levels, banking, insurance, etc. These jobs seem to require a degree now. In effect, we are a more educated workforce, but with a huge student debt in many cases and are merely postponing entering the workforce for 3 or so years, which had a positive effect on the unemployment figures for a while. But we are having to work longer before taking our pensions. In my case 7 years longer than I anticipated at 18.

I worked in manufacturing engineering after university and never used any of the content of my degree in my job, similarly to whistl, but it qualified me to start on a graduate trainee scheme. I use more of it now I'm a lowly school physics technician!

I'm not sure that university is right for everyone, but it does at least open doors to employment opportunities. Unfortunately it also closes doors to those capable of doing well in work but struggle academically. Degree apprenticeships aren't aimed at them!