Year 12 #2: Carols, commutes & a few stocking fillers

[Stickerrocks]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/further_education/3410431-year-12-1-gcses-are-sooo-last-year

Good luck in the new job kilash

I've got a job interview next week. I'm panicking! Not so much about the interview but about moving jobs if o get it. Does anyone else hate the whole process?

I've only had 2 jobs in my adult life and when I left my last one it was the worst breakup I've ever had

Part of me doesn't want to get it so I don't have to go through with handing my notice in. It's going to be awful.

Advice and assistance needed here - DS saved up and bought himself a V. expensive puffer jacket. In a football match crowd last night, he must have brushed the arm sgainst a lit cigarette. There is a hole about the size of a 10p in the blue material and you can see the white padding inside. It’s not a slash - there is a gap with sort of melted edges.
Any suggestions for ways to fix it? It’s the first really nice piece of clothing he has ever had...

Find something you don't need any more made of similar fabric - is that feasible?
Then cut out a piece of material to fit from one horizontal seam to the next.
insert it inside the hole and smooth it down. then stitch using invisible stitches to anchor it into place.
Finally glue down the edges of the hole onto the blue patch using fray fix. Be careful not to get any of the fray fix appearing through the hole.

Or claim it on insurance?

Bishop Good luck, give it your best shot and don't stress about moving jobs until it becomes a thing to stress about! It'll be a happy problem then and you'll make the right decision for you when the time comes.

Kingscote Yikes - your poor DS! He must be gutted. Can you pinch the sides together and sew it up that way? Or find a few cool patches to put over and around the hole (makes it less obvious it's a mend)?

I've googled it, and repair tape or duct tape is your friend. You can buy repair patch kits on Amazon.

Type down jacket repair kit or patch into Amazon or How to fix a burn hole in a down jacket into Google.

KickBishop best of luck. Moving jobs is always hard, particularly if you leave behind close colleagues. I was very emotional yesterday saying my goodbyes but thankfully my shift was so busy that by the time I slid out at 10pm we were all glad to he finished.

Starting new jobs is equally hard, in every single one u gave started I have felt that I hated it but I have since learnt this is normal! Don't worry until you have to and good luck with the interview.

Thanks kilash. Yes I know exactly what you mean. I don't enjoy being in a new job. It takes around six months to really feel like I know what I'm doing and until then I find it very stressful.

I think it's because I stayed in my first job for 18 years and I really knew the place inside out.

There are lots of reasons why a move would be good though. Mainly that I took a £5k pay cut to move to my current job because it's local and flexible. It meant I was around for dd from year 7 when she stopped going to after school club. I've been there for her through the secondary and GCSE years with forgotten calculators and PE kits and lost keys.

Now she's at college in the city there's no benefit to being local and I can get back into a more senior role.

I've talked myself into it now. I'll be gutted if I don't get it!

Our children are embarking on new beginings, so are we

Good luck, Kick and Kilash. These steps are daunting but I so envy the opportunities you have.

DS1 and DS2 are looking forward to leaving home. They just see the future and the independence and embrace it. This is what I turned my life upside down to do 16 years ago, but now that it's nearly here, I'm finding it hard to move on.
It could be worse though -DB's DC are the same ages as my two and they find home so comfortable that they never want to leave. He thinks it's great that they are likely to have him running around after them for another couple of decades, but I'd feel like I'd failed if it was my two that didn't want to grow up.

Thanks whistl. Yes I agree I'd feel that if dd stayed at home for years she'd be missing out.

Going back to education - dd has her further maths mock on Monday. Are any other dc just doing it to AS? She is planning to drop to 3 subjects next year which I think is the right decision. It seems to have rolled round very quickly

DS is doing Economics to AS level only. I haven't heard anything about a mock though.
TBH I'd forgotten about it until I read your post

Very frustrating time, DD will hardly engage in any conversation about College and how her A-levels are going. All I've got out of her is she is struggling. (don't know to what extent) by her own admission she is lazy and should revise more but doesn't...

College will not tell us anything "we treat our students like adults. If the students are late or don't pass it is up to them". Very different attitude from secondary school, completely the students responsibility for their own grades.

I managed to prise out of the College before Christmas that they were concerned about DD progress enough to place two amber flags against her name. As I've heard nothing back since the start of term, I contacted them and got a what can only be described as a "stop inferring" response.

I am frustrated with this response as DD is only 16 and if she was at Sixth form attached to the school, I know we would have had a progress report at Christmas term. (my friends DS goes to Sixth form attached to the school)

Can't really see what I can do, she will not discuss without ending in arguments. So am now leaving her to it. Just wondering if the next two years is going to be all for nothing if she fails (sorry it that sounds negative but it is a real concern)

Twin that is really tough. I can't see any way really unless DD can find a way to open up. Sorry you are going through this.

Have been lurking on and off but not posting as I don't have much to post about DD. She is still struggling. School attendance is patchy and our issues are different than those on this board.

On a separate note I have DS who is going through GCSE choices. Very tricky and he is struggling with a few things. For those of you whose DC have done the following subjects - can you tell me your thoughts on how hard or not is the GCSE? Is coursework a lot for those that have it? Anything else we need to bear in mind when considering subjects. He is stuck between Theology/Philosophy and Geography and then between DT and Computer Science? Would it be madness to consider doing both DT and Computer Science?

eaglefly and TwinI'm sorry you are going through difficult times.

Eaglefly DS1 did Geography. He got a 9. There was quite a bit of terminology to learn but really it's just an easier science since so much of it is common sense eg sanitation becomes an issue when lots of people suddenly migrate to the big city and it leaves those left behind without enough people to run their lives like they used to.

(I'm now going to take cover because someone will say it's a lot more difficult to conceptualise then that!)

Twin if she's lazy, then why not give her a target eg unless she either gets certain grades in the end of year exams or you've personally witnessed her working her socks off starting now so you will know she's on the right track to fixing any or grades, then you'll require her to find a job come August.
It's tough love and TBH I'm not sure it will help your relationship, but then nothing will unless your DD decides to meet you halfway

I should add that he says he wants to do history but we are looking at whether to do 2 or 3 further subjects from the list given. He will be doing the usual English, maths sciences, modern language. History from DD experience I know has a lot of content to cover and a lot of analysis.

I thought she had to be in full-time education until 18? Just braved talking to her and saw a marked questions with a note from teacher saying "see me after class", asked DD about it and she told me to stop being nosey Does everyone sit AS exams, i guess we will get a view of how things are going then?

Only know about Geography Eaglefly but all 3 of my DC have enjoyed the subject

eaglefly if my dyslexic dd can manage a 7 in history GCSE it can't be that bad. I tend to think that if they enjoy the subject they should do it since it doesn't feel like 'work' when you enjoy it? My ds is doing both geography and history GCSE (supposedly a heavy combination in terms of volume) but loves them so is finding quite straight forward

Options until you're 18:
Stay in full-time education

start an apprenticeship or traineeship.

spend 20 hours or more a week working or volunteering, while in part-time education or training

I think AS levels are becoming relatively rare (unfortunately for your dilemma).

It seems that there are not many doors open to you.
The school won't tell you what's going on.
Your DD hides her educational progress from you by default, and from your previous posts, I get the impression that she also hides unpleasant truths from herself.
If you think about it, you're probably not going to get the information you want, but maybe you should ask yourself why you want it?
Is it to get confirmation of what you have already guessed? That your DD's studies are going badly and she's not doing enough work?

Maybe that's the real problem. But even then, I don't know what you can do except take the nuclear option of making your DD believe that you will withdraw support unless she proves that she's putting a decent amount of effort in.
I know it's tough and I really feel for you.

twin - unfortunately there's probably nothing you can do....it's all down to her and her motivation now. The only thing I can think of is to work with her to find out what she wants to do with her life and identity the steps she will need to take to get there. Then it's down to her to follow the path or not. It's horrible when we want to help but can't

eaglefly - DD found CS very very easy and needed very little work. She said it was pure logic and common sense - so if he has those attributes then it's probably a very good choice. DDs friend did DT (resistant materials) and it was time consuming (but not as all consuming as art). My niece did the other DT (textile) and absolutely loathed it - it was supposed to be her 'fun' subject.

So has everyone started Uni and course choosing? DD has now started in earnest....History now seems to be the front runner having galloped away from English whilst Politics seems to have fallen at the first hurdle

Sighhh you are right whistl
I want to know so I can help her address the problem (if there is one, positive thinking ) now rather than waiting for results day. Had another look at prospectus and seems she will have internal exams in may/June which assess suitability to continue into year 2 of Sixth form so will find out what is happening then.....

She has an idea of going to Uni and doing engineering.........

That’s so hard Twin.

Can you remember - in the original prospectus/open day, did they say they’d ask people to leave after Year 12 if they weren’t showing progress?

kingscotestaff tbh, because she didn't do as well as expected in GCSEs, she was forced into a quick decision. We didn't ask about lack of progress by the end of Y12. Rather hoping she has learnt her lesson about not revising from her GCSEs......