GCSE '18s (20) - half term beckons!

[mmmz]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/further_education/3355907-gcse-18s-19-new-beginnings

For anyone interested, some of the Cambridge Subject Masterclasses (one day with a couple of lectures in the subject plus admissions advice) are now available to book online.

Well done to your dd Sticker, very mature response.

So sorry to hear about all the bullying You'd have hoped that by 16-17 they would have grown out of that! I expect the girls in question will be sad and bitter women by our age who will regret their wasted youths. But it's so hard to explain to our teenagers about "the long game"...I feel for you all (I was that bullied girl too and thank goodness for no social media in the 80s)

Actually I still get a bit of that from a couple of women I'm friends with now. Just occasionally they do that diminishing thing that makes me feel small and stupid. Like I will mention something that's going well/going badly for me and instead of support, they make it all about them and how much better/worse they have it. Last night I came home feeling really low and had to ask DS1 for advice (he had none but he made me laugh and we chatted for ages to cheer me up!) Bloody females can be so horrible

Warwick Uni is AMAZING! Yes it's in the Coventry rain...but the dedicated free P&R is well organised, student ambassadors welcoming and knowledgeable, campus is gorgeous, facilities great (single sex toilets too!!) DS is at an Economics talk so I asked for a bar and was directed to a fab place with cheapish beer and good music on the PA. I feel 18 again 😀😀 This is a definite UCAS contender from my point of view.

Really sorry to hear about all the unpleasantness some are experiencing, I work with all men and I have to say I don't miss having any other females around at all!

Terf sounds like you will be off to Uni with your DS thanks for the feedback, liking somewhere in the rain is pretty impressive.

limitIsUp will you be appearing on the Chase anytime soon?

Terf that sound great - I'm very excited that we are off to Warwick on 20th - it's ds second choice (on paper) at the moment. A friend as a boy in his last year there and he has absolutely blossomed.

Sorry for all the bad feeling you DD s are experiencing. We found sixth form much better from that point of view so hopefully it will settle down or they will have the maturity to find new tribes or their own path.

Have a slight complication here (although not a bad one) in that having been adament all last year he wanted to do computing ‘when he grew up’ and an apprenticeship, not uni, DS came home today saying he was loving physics and the theoretical side not mechanics so may look at studying physics. I thought that might happen so we may need to start looking at uni s alongside apprenticeships research. May be a busy spring/summer !! Would be easier if it was the mechanics/engineering side which lends itself to apprenticeships like computing but he says not. A bit tricky as I have no idea what grades he is looking at but hopefully the next couple of months may clarify things.

Youngest is snowed under trying to catch up the work she has missed with the subject change. Just had a Skype chat with the eldest, who has gone to the outlaws for the weekend. She sounds really poorly. Poor lamb.

@cherryburn thanks for the heads up - have just booked for the Political Sciences one as there isn’t a specific HSPS one.
Very wet rugby today - so wish he’d chosen fencing or squash...

bluebelle - maybe, I have to pass the audition first and they may decide that I have a face for radio

Regarding the Cambridge master classes would you think attending one was more beneficial that the Open day, we couldn't do both as live too far away?

Bluebelle, some departments also do specific subject/dept open days which we went to and was brilliant. If that's possible then that would be the best bet (a bit more involved then the masterclass). Others might say different but I would go to the subject specific things rather than the general open day. Most of the info available on open day you could glean from the website anyway (which is brilliant). The only thing you might get from the general open day is the chance to view more colleges (though you can wander around these anyway before/after the subject day).

Happy to be contradicted though

Kingscote me too!

Bluebelle I agree with Oratory that the subject specific things are better than the open days.

DD went to a college open day (Pembroke) that covered a few specific arts/humanities subjects which was really helpful. They were split into subject groups, taken off by a relevant member of teaching staff and given lots of info/advice. She did end up applying to Oxford but it was helpful nonetheless!

She also did a Y12 study day for her subject at Oxford, at the college she eventually applied to and got a place at, which she found really helpful and enjoyable.

Thanks for the feedback I knew a couple of you had DC at Oxbridge
DS is keen to attend a masterclass so as soon as his opens hopefully I will be able to book him on. Thanks for the heads up Cherry I didn't even know these classes existed!

Can I have a prize for being the first one to put a rail season ticket through the washing machine? It's currently drying in the sunshine, but the computer readable strip has detached from the ticket itself.

Its £10 per replacement ticket, Stickerrocks. How long has the ticket got left to run? If only until half-term, it might be worth the nuisance of having to show it to the guard at the gate each morning.

Bad luck Sticker. I hate when they leave things in pockets!

I once accidentally laundered the only copy of DS1's handwritten notes for a GCSE English controlled assessment. He was not happy.

Unfortunately it's valid until the end of December. At least she should be able to get a replacement (which she is going to have to pay for herself).

Thethird were you responsible for putting the English in the washing machine or did it magically get in there by itself?

Maybe if your DD goes to the ticket office, they will take pity on her and replace it for free.

It is not as though she has lost it - that's what they especially don't like as it raises the prospect of fraud (i.e. giving the season ticket to someone else and claiming a replacement for the "lost" ticket.)

It went like this...

I asked DS1 to empty his blazer pockets and then put his blazer in the laundry. He successfully managed to follow half of that instruction.

Somehow it was my fault that the notes were still in the pocket when the blazer went in the washing machine.

That’ll be a similar phenomenon to the frequent scenario in here where DS can’t find his keys/headphones/tie and is adamant that he ‘left them in the kitchen’ (the implication being that I’ve moved them.) When they miraculously appear in his room/bag/the study where he does his gaming, that’s somehow my fault as well...

I've managed to launder Oyster cards, cash point cards and money(!) so far with no disasters but it's only a matter of time!
FIL is much better today - out of ICU - and DH is coming home tonight - hurray!

that's good news Loose, I hope things continue to improve and the DCs have a better week friendship wise. My worst washing mishap was DDs phone !!