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

EP report needs to be within the last 2 years - I presume that means 2 years from the DSA assessment or from starting the course.

I'm only redoing the full one partly for curiosity. And the psychologist doing the initial assessments for both DD1 and DS is still around and was lovely !

Shalom interesting about lifeguard wage in Cambridge - DS said he'd heard that his wage was low in comparison. But it's only 8 mins drive away and when he starts at 0530 on Christmas Eve we will be glad of that
And yes they all spend way too much time hanging out at the Leisure Park! Long Road walk down there too so the shop staff must love having 3000 or so 17/18 yr olds there every day...,!

Terf - Yes I would stick to the convenience of the location over a bit extra per hour. DS can cycle to his job in about 5 minutes so works for us! He is hoping to get a job punting in the Summer - long days but great pay for youngsters!

Ha! They are destined to be together! DS also keen to do punting in summer, do you know much about jobs with the companies (we have looked at Scudamores website but there are others I think?)

Parents evening this evening.
I was given minimum target grades based on the ALIS/IQ test which were based on a 50% quartile.
Then I was given the teachers 'predicted grade' based on the ALIS result and their experience. I put 'predicted' in inverted commas because they made it plain that they are based upon continued effort and their experience of similar candidates.
All good

Well done bpisok junior. With us as a fan club cheering them on, how can they fail to put in the effort!

Thanks sticker

I think it was very interesting and very different to previous parents evenings. They had reams of paper in front of them - test results, essay grades, various graphs, ALIS outputs (which had some kind of probabilities and more graphs), class averages etc.
Previous parents evenings went more along the lines of "Ah, bpisok Jnr...all going OK, needs to do a bit more work on last terms osmosis chapter", then the bell would ring and we would trundle off to the next teacher.
I assume that it's the same in all schools?....very interesting (but I do know that statistics won't affect what she does on her A Levels and that anything can happen!)

Every parent's evening I've ever been to (age 5 - 16 inclusive) always starts with the teacher addressing DS1 (or DS2) and saying
"How are you finding ?" and the child sitting next to me saying "It is fine." Then the teacher waits for something more illuminating, which rarely comes whilst I sit and fizz at the time wasting!

Then the teacher tells me what is on the report i got. I ask questions to which the teachers usually don't know the answers and try to waffle meaninglessly at me to get out of answering directly.

I thought sixth form would be different but ti was exactly the same.

Our Parents evening was at end of November and we had already had a tutors evening where we went through ALIS results and ALIS predictions which they say are invariably too low for most students because it takes into account all their gcse grades too and doesn't really allow for the fact that you may have dropped weaker subjects enough. They also had stats on the combination of his A level subjects being taken together on a national basis and the same stats for his school (higher).

The parents evening was all possible and had a working at grade were he to take exams today (A) and the fact that these would be higher as he is taking all essay subjects and his technique will definitely improve (with same amount of effort as now).

Terf Yes Scudamores is his preferred Punting Provider but he has a friend at Rutherfords already. If you are on facebook it is worth "liking" their pages as from time to time they have the jobs advertised.

Got nothing yet apart from the normal regular grade cards and I can't find parents evening in the calendar (though I'm guessing it will probably be after summer exams), I'll wait to see what comes with the end of year report and ask for a meeting if its not enlightening !

Although it could be of course that DS has been through it all and just not thought it interesting enough to pass on :)

oratory you have mentioned grades cards before. How often do you get them? It would have been good to see something like this in previous years but we only had 2 x reports per year.
It looks like in 6th form we get a termly report - no words just grades, whether on target and some boxes for effort, homework and engagement which are scored Excellent/Good/Intermittent/Unsatisfactory - and a termly parents evening.
I am kind of surprised that we get more information in 6th form than we did during the earlier years though. I am guessing that there will be several meetings at the end of YR 12 on Uni applications....I will see more of her teachers this year than all the previous years put together, even though it's the time she needs me least!!
whistl - how's DS1 doing now?
Ps - I am starting to feel Christmassy 🎄

bpisok Its nice of you to ask after DS1. I think the best way to sum it up is he's looking forward to the end of term! He got a report yesterday. He has screwed up one of his recent exams - the AS level - but the 3 A levels are still on track for A/ A* - so overall he thinks its a good outcome.

I think he "just" needs to find a more efficient way of getting through the work because he needs to start making revision time for the AS level and to find more relaxation time too. It doesn't seem real that he'll be doing an AS level in a five months time.

bpisock, they've moved to fortnightly grades cards for effort and attainment and each marked 1 to 3 (3 being good and 1 bad). He gets them from each teacher so for instance 4 of each for maths. I wasn't sure about it at first as not sure whether teachers would have much to go on every two weeks - but I now actually think it works well as they are very much aimed at the student and for them to discuss with the tutor and they know whether a lower mark is just a blip (didn't hand in some homework) or because they are struggling or not putting in the effort. Then we get a wordy report at the end of this term and end of summer with more stuff about behaviour, character and contribution to the school etc added. Last year there was a separate one after mocks with predictions and what they needed to do to get the best forecast.

Not sure what we'll get this year in the way of predictions etc. We've had 4 grade cards which at least told me that his teachers think he's putting enough effort in and I'll get the end of terms words which will tell me how lovely they think he is - which is lovely to read and makes me feel good but is actually on no practical benefit. What I'm missing is what they think he is capable of achieving in 18 moths.

whistl As and A stars is a good outcome indeed. Glad that he's limping through to the break (well, not glad that he's limping but you know what I mean 😀)
oratory I guess that if he's scoring highly on the attainment score then that's all anyone can ask....and it's clearly a good sign.
I think it's pretty important that they start to give some idea of predictions soon. Choosing courses and Unis looks like it's going to be as much work as doing an A Level!!! There are so many options and choices to make.

Are you all intending to visit lots of Unis or just a couple of favourites? DD wants me to come to all her potentials with her (I was rather hoping her dad would do the midland ones since that's where he lives - but oh no, she doesn't want him to) I am beginning to think I will set up another one of my spreadsheets. Hahaha

DS currently prefers the idea of an apprenticeship (which itself entails a whole new are of research !) but a bit tricky as I’m wondering if we should look at uni s too in case he changes his mind over the next 18 months - and that’s where I’m a bit stuck without grades as he wants to do CS and I don’t think he ll be aiming for the top courses which are very maths based and require mainly A* s but not sure what level below that we should be looking at.

Anyone else looking at CS ?

oratory if you had asked the question 'anyone looking at CS' 4 months ago I would have said yes....but it's all change here. I think you are right in that most of the 'top' courses do require maths (many don't require CS A Level at all).
Maths was the reason she ended up dropping CS - she decided she hated maths and her teachers pointed out that if she didn't like maths (so dropped it) she probably wouldn't enjoy CS (so she swapped to Politics)

As for apprenticeships- if you manage to get on a good one they are a really good option. Has he looked at some of the big companies (buildings contractors, gas companies, electricity supplies etc)? Many have IT apprenticeships so it's worth looking at them not just at IT companies. I would also recommend trying to get some work experience in an IT Dept.

No CS here. I would find a local university with a vaguely interesting course and trot along to an open day to get an idea of the scale, facilities, nature of the course etc. Is it possible that any of the apprenticeship providers would offer him a summer placement? One of my chums did 2 weeks of work experience with the company which has now taken him on permanently.

DD wants to study PPE or politics & history, but each potential is a long, long way away. We've spent time in the cities she is interested in, but I don't think she will go to open days, just interviews if she is lucky enough to be offered any. She has a place on the Cambridge outreach scheme which gives her the chance to win a place on a study day there as well.

Hi all I’ve just found out that dfe have announced there is no need for an assessment in the last two years to qualify for dsa. Any assessment will do - even ds s which he had when he was 9. I may redobut anyway for curiosity but would save some money not too

Apparently people advise do lots of coding and on line coding courses etc or competions if you want to go into CS rather than look for work experience - but well try and look for both

oratory - yep I was told that yesterday. No additional assessment required for extra time in A Level exams. She just needs the SENCo to submit paperwork to the examining body.
She did say that it's worth having the assessment redone after her 18th birthday so that it applies immediate she starts Uni but she would delay it until after her A Levels have finished.

Yes that’s always been the case for a levels But the change is you don’t need it for post a level support ie dsa at uni now

Well done bpisok and whistl's DC - always encouraging to be told that you are on the right track.

whistl Our previous Parents Evenings sound exactly like yours - teacher asking DS how he thinks he is doing etc etc. Pretty useless if you actually need specific answers! Plus it ran in 'speed dating' style where parents had about 5 minutes with each teacher - made it more stressful than anything else. With DS1, it was fine as he was fine, but with DS2, we really struggled to get anywhere. Last year saw me with photocopies of his SEN report (done privately as school refused to acknowledge his needs), handing them out to each teacher as the SEN support team in school hadn't bothered informing them. He has since been assessed by school and awarded 25% extra time.

Our sixth form Parents' Evening is in the summer term - seems far away. In the meantime, we get termly progress reports like bpisok's. Scary to think they start UCAS applications in 10 months' time. Please hold my hand as we go through this process together! DS2 more open to apprenticeships so I shall be looking closely at your experiences too.

Hello! Joining this thread 😃 if that’s ok? I have 8dc. Eldest is yr 13 (dd) and next is in yr12 a ds.

@242Mummy at the yr 12 parents evening the teacher had a sand timer...Annoyingly the one teacher that insisted on using it was the PE teacher who only has 4 (yes 4) A level students and they were spread across the entire evening...our appointment being his first at 3:30!!

oratory - not what the SENCo said last night but I would 100% trust your knowledge above hers 😀

I just had an invite from the school to attend a higher education meeting in Feb. So I guess they start the ball rolling early here!

Strangely my head is skipping over the actual A Levels and I have turned my mind to the 'what next' question. It's probably because she seems to have the study side of things under control and I suspect she will leave the 'what next' decision to the last minute.