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

[mmmz]

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

Hi Alex, that definitely sounds like Holocaust Education Trust. They select two from each school, and run trips in batches by Region (DD2 had to write a speal as to why she should be chosen). and they are fantastic trips. There are pre trip and post trip seminars with talks from survivors and MPs but if DD is standing in she will have missed those but it won't matter at all. They are accompanied by religious leaders and survivors and it was incredibly well run and organised. If they want to they can follow up with a project at school and take their involvement further but DD had so much on she just went on the trip and left it at that - but it was one of the best things she has done and was instrumental in her uni degree choice - as well as being good for PS and interview discussion topic.. And we paid something like £60 for the whole thing I think. Only down side was we had to get her to the airport at something like 5am and pick up at midnight !!

You can google the organisation if it is them - DD loved it as everyone on the trip was as interested as she was whereas sometimes on school trips half of the group just want to get to macdonalds !! It was exhausting too - so wear comfortable shoes - DD2 went at 5am the morning after doing gold Dof E which wasn't the best plan.

Of course it may be something else entirely.

DD went to Poland this time last year. Their trip included a trip to the concentration camps, the salt mine, a walking tour of Krakow and an authentic meal in a Jewish restaurant. She had already been to a concentration camp in Berlin, but I think the whole emotion of the trip will stay with her for a long, long time.

The two from her school sounds like it. She will have to give a presentation at school afterwards.

I’m just a little worried about dates as Ds is also performing in three different shows in November. When Dd went to Holland on the Model United Nations we had to get her to Liverpool airport at crazy o’clock in the morning.

maybe there will be others on the trip she can share transport with

Having dinner in Leamington Spa pre Warwick open day tomorrow.

No half term report here! But we do have parents evening end of November so assume we may get one shortly before then.

DD target grades are all As, current grades after 2 assessments are Chemistry B, History B and Biology C. However the second Biology assessment everyone underperformed as the questions were all applied learning so I guess the teacher was assessing their skills on that. No one got higher than a C, according to DD so I'm not worried.

It's so exciting seeing her thrive with an almost all new group of friend at college; she bloomin' loves it and I think it will be a fab prep for Uni vs the bubble of a very lovely, but small school.

Shalom see you tomorrow at Warwick! DS and I are looking forward to first Uni visit.

D's has targets for A A Maths and FM and A Physics but a rogue C for Geog. He has challenged this as he got a 9 and his friend who got a 7 is predicted an A*. He will need to drop it unless his prediction can be an A if he applies to Oxford.

Truly hellish week for me at work, came home crying most days because of stress. Off at thw weekwnd then only 2 more days then leave for 10 days (phew) and d's birthday to look forward to.

Sorry to hear You've had a tough time Kilash. Anything we can help/inspire/sympathise with?

Dd is home alone tonight eeek! She broke up for half term today, her housemate has gone home and her host family gone away for the week but because she is working tomorrow she is staying an extra night.

Guess it’s the start of adulthood.

Hope next week is better kilash

Thanks Sticker , you are all very supportive. I'm front line NHS, quite a senior clinical position and my team simply can't get through the work. We operate at 100% over capacity with 20% staff vacancies. This week I've had 3 12 hr shifts ( unplanned overtime) with no breaks, staff in tears. Many NHS staff will know the scenario but we are all expected to 'get on with it'. My stunning pay rise this year was not 4% it was 4% over 3 years (generous gov!). Truly, many of us are on our last legs.

Deep breath....don't want to scare people about the state of the NHS but I don't think my experience us unique. We keep going because of our patients at the end of the day. Early night for me.

Kilash my hero, along with all your colleagues ❤️

Hope you enjoy the Warwick open day as much as we did!

Has anyone actually had any predicted A level grades yet? DS has applied to do a student shadow day at LSE which seems to be aimed at Y12s, but they say they prioritise students who meet their entry requirements, ie predicted A^AA, and that maybe he should think about reapplying for the shadowing when he met those requirements. Surely no one has got any meaningful predictions yet??

DS has got interested in versions free lectures and talks which are happening this winter - he went to NCH in Londom this week for an economics lecture which he said was excellent - check out their website for other events https://www.nchlondon.ac.uk/faculties/taster-lectures/?utmcampaign=2019%20Prospects&utmmsource=hsautomation&utmmmedium=email&utmcontent=66656637&&hsenc=p2ANqtz-8HKYisa9VBy7GqH96QcP1fP0TVG12311WEcVUO2e-UEMetR0ib6WBCsmeCIaTEUGA5ravMA1lgklYhK-3ET170MWTXg&&hsmi=66656637 And next week is the Cambridge Festival of Ideas and several free talks in the evenings. He seems to have finally grasped that uni admissions will be looking for more than a straight A student!

We are all pleased about half term. DS2 looks knackered. I'm working my normal hours but will try to do some fun stuff on days off. I am tired too 

We'll be at the Birmingham open day tomorrow...

Kilash I can't possibly understand how stressful things are from your perspective, but you and every single one of your team have my greatest respect & heartfelt thanks. DH is not frontline or clinical, but is NHS and we definitely recognise the pay, recruitment & constantly shifting priorities scenarios.

Kilash you are a hero I'm relieved to hear you have some leave coming up and hopefully can rest.
We don't have any predictions, just an email reminding students it's a good idea to review their notes over half term, which is fair!
DS says his psychology test came back as a B, which considering it was from a past paper seems quite encouraging at this stage.

Your post has scared me, Kilash. I got an email this week to say that one of my friends is emigrating soon to the UK to take up a post in the NHS, a move that I had a big role in encouraging him to do and which has taken him 12 months to achieve (The NHS is v.v. bureaucratic!)
I have no experience of the NHS, except as a patient, but where he comes from the wages keep everyone below doctor level on the poverty line and he sometimes/frequently has to work 24 hour shifts, so I thought it must be a lot better here.
Have I done something terrible?

DS1 has been given two sets of target grades - a lower bound and an upper possibility.
It makes sense as there are a lot variables between now and the A level sitting exam day. You might not work hard. You might hit a wall with something that hasn't been taught yet. You could be ill on the exam day.

EllenJane, I suspect your school has just given the minimum expected grades that your DS shoudl get, even if something goes wrong between now and exam day.

DS has a half term report - Attainment is marked from 1-5 (no A*-E prediction correlation) and then assessment of his organisation, contribution in class, care over written work and (new for this year) evidence of independent study + research.

DD had exams which was one question on the topic they had studied assessed as though it was an A Level.
Then they were given a Target Minimum Grade that they are supposed to aim for which is based on their exam grade and the IQ/ALIS tests they did at the start of the school year (which also takes into account the subject combination and GCSE results).
DD pretty much aced the exams (A Levels are def suiting her more than GCSEs)
As a parent all I received was a table with the 4 x subjects with the 2 grades next to them, a column that says 'Keep/Drop' and a space for my signature and the head of department's. She dropped the one one she got the A* for and kept the A's.

As a word of encouragement the majority of girls got C/D in the exam which was enough to continue with the subject and they were told that with steady work this should increase by 2 grades (or more with a lot of hard work).
This is especially the case with Humanities where they become more mature and learn the exam technique.

Kilash you have my admiration and thanks too. Enjoy your well-deserved break.

Terf thanks for the heads-up on the NCH lectures-just booked DS on the Politics/IR one.

No half term grades here but we will get a written report at the end of term. And no predicted/target grades until June.

Does anyone know of a website where you can enter A level results and get a list of universities and their specific courses where they actually offered to students with results like those?

No predicted or targets here either even though DS sat alis tests - perhaps they will issue them later. Probably wouldn’t be that helpful for ds anyway with his history and Spikey profile but it does make it difficult to start thinking about post sixth form when you don’t know what level he is aiming at. I may ask for a chat with his tutor perhaps to get a rough idea of what they think

Whistl the whatuni app can do what you want.

DS and I booked for a lecture next weekend at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas as it is relevant to his EPQ.

We have done the Why Warwick talk and now the Living one is about to start

Just sitting in Debenhams cafe waiting for dd to finish work at 12 and take her home.

Found out more about the trip. It’s 4th Nov so we definately need a trip to Liverpool. There is an orientation meeting on 31st Oct & it’s there and back in a day so 4am flight out.

That’s definitely HET. Hope she enjoys it.