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

EllenJanesthickerknickers Glad to be of service!

TheFirst love your comment about travelling to exams by HGV on another thread. I quickly lost interest after that.

DD is restocking her wardrobe for Christmas, but there is also a Lego ludo set in there. Limit I would simply give her an ASOS voucher!

Good luck Kilash.

The little book of bad moods has just found it's way into both my own & DD'S Christmas stockings.

Stickerrocks

I love that Sticker - brilliant

Stickerrocks I think my book group ladies are going to love that book! Doing a bulk order now.

242 I meant to say hi earlier, but I got distracted by Limits immense Christmas list. However, you have sent me off at another tangent again. Right then gang, if you could have only 1 book on your Christmas list that you haven't read yet, what would it me? I'm waiting for my copy of Becoming by Michelle Obama, because I've exhausted every Elizabeth Strout book in print already. No physics books on my list!

Oxbridge The big 8

8 v 3000. That is a huge gap.

Stickerrocks I would be very happy to unwrap a copy of Becoming. I love the Obamas; every time I hear Barack speak, I shed a tear as he just moves me. He makes me want to be a better person and believe the world can be a good place.

I would also like to read the new Kate Atkinson - Transcription. I loved her debut novel though wasn't as keen on her detective novels.This new one sounds good - will wait for the paperback.

Oxbridge - shocking. DS1 is in a state school which won't prep students for Oxbridge. I brought it up with the Head of Sixth Form and her response was 'if they need help, they're clearly not Oxbridge material'!

The 8 list is interesting.

Hills Road (state sixth form) in the list - it states around 60 offers. It fails to state that it is selective and also each year group is 1500 students so not a high percentage.

I understand that Peter Symonds is similar.

The others do not state cohort sizes. The selective indie along the road from Hills Rd had 49 Oxbridge places in 2018, 51 in 2017 and the cohort is 178. They usually have aroind this number of Oxbridge places. So either on the actual places or % should be in the list too.

I think it is definitely more about being encouraged to apply.

I just love the relationship she has built with the Elizabeth Garrett school. I wonder how many girls she has inspired to try applying to university who would never have had the confidence to do so before.

It's suddenly dawning on me that this time next year we will be in the lull before the storm again. It will be 30 years ago next month that I met my 2 best friends on a platform Bristol Parkway station as we were on our way to our university interviews. I plucked up the courage to ask if they were doing the same as me. Two of us got unconditional offers and the other one got in through a reserve offer.I'm My life would have been very different if she HAD got the grades she wanted.

Symonds is definitely not selective (the highest grade required for anything is a 7 if you wish to take maths) but it is out of around 2000 - 2200 students. The only limiting factor is if you can afford the time & cost of transport from across the South Coast.

Dd is feeling very pleased with herself tonight. She sat end of term tests last week and got the results today. She got A A A* A.

The A was in FM so apparently it's the highest grade.

She wasn't one of the stellar GCSE students but her attitude and work ethic has transformed since she moved to sixth form. I'm so pleased for her. She's absolutely beaming.

That's fantastic Kick. She can have a cheer for effort from me.

Wow Kick, that’s superb.

That’s incredible kick you must be so pleased.

Likewise - I have hinted at Becoming so I am pretty sure I am getting this. If not I will get it myself. I too love the Obamas and the way they carry themselves as a family is really to be admired. I have played so many of the Obama speeches to the DC as I find them so inspirational - especially the famous Yes you can speech.

Saw that 8 School article too - read something similar last year too and saw some schools I know well mentioned in that. I think apart from Westminster Eton and St. Paul's they have kept the rest of the list secret.

That's great to hear Kick.

kick what amazing results - such a confidence boost for your DD, knowing that she is on the right track in terms of work and results. I think moving from 10-11 GCSE subjects to 3-4 A-levels that they are really passionate about, makes all the difference.

DC received their reports yesterday. DS1 getting predicted grades of A*AAA but early days yet so will see how these change!

DS2 needs to choose his GCSE options next term - he's completely different from DS1 (less academic, more creative/scatty/lazy and has processing issues) so it's a new ball game.

The 2 state schools will presumably be delighted to be on the list, even if the % compared to the cohort is negligible, it raises their profile. I want a job where I can trawl the internet adding up Oxbridge places from marketing info and publishing my findings!

KickBishopBrennan exceptional results - well done to her!

Thanks all. Yes it's definitely a huge confidence boost. I think she needed it.

GCSEs were a struggle for a number of reasons. She put hours into English and was delighted with her 5. It ate up so much time though and she barely did any revision for her stronger subjects.

Also friendship dramas didn't help and teaching was patchy (particularly in maths and physics). Interestingly her old school has this week been rated as inadequate and particularly criticised for poor maths teaching and low aspirations. Exactly what I'd been saying for the last 2 years.

It's so lovely to see her genuinely enthusiastic about her subjects and enjoying learning for the first time in years.

242mummy well done for another set of fantastic results . Apologies but I haven't been keeping up with the thread. Are you a new joiner or a name changer? Either way thanks for your kind words

That's fab KickBishop - well done to your dd

I don't have my next book to read lined up in my sights yet, but I will look at the suggestions on here with interest.

In fiction, I really loved 'Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine' (Costa First Book Award, 2017)

I think the lady who wrote Eleanor must wake up each morning and pinch herself. Maybe she will do a Harper Lee with To Kill a Mockingbird and refuse to publish anything ever again until she is too old to care.

It may not be to everyone's taste, but Billy Connolly's Made in Scotland is a great tale of someone who didn't thrive in school, used a library to develop a love of literature and took an unconventional route to achieve his dreams. Inspirational, but in a completely different vein to the Obamas.

@KickBishopBrennanUpTheArse & @242Mummy - great sets of results! So important to get a good start, both your DC deserve special treats this weekend.

DS1 has seen his report (they get a read through with their tutor) and says it's good. He is not prone to exaggeration so I'm guessing it is! Yet another rugby match today (you out as well @KingscoteStaff ?).

Still not sold the house though!

If Margaret Atwood had written it yet the sequel to The Handmaids Tale would be on my list. Maybe she'll has finished it by next Christmas. I love that book so much.

Brilliant results - well done Kick and 242 dcs! We don't get predictions until after the January mocks, which makes sense. DS is working very hard but now says he can't see so well out of his left eye, which means a trip to the opticians before any chance of booking his driving lessons!