Thread 17 - Corona Cohort Summer Vacation to Yr 13, Finding Freedom?

[Orangecinnamon21]

PLACEHOLDER FOR NEW THREAD ...PREVIOUSLY TO BE FOUND IN SECONDARY EDUCATION

Yes we’ve had the staggered start email too - it’s a bit deja-vu already.

Still hope they change their mind for all Year 13s to get the jab. It seems unfair on the summer birthday ones.

@EverythingDelegated Thanks for tip on ant killer. How quickly does it work?

@Zandathepanda yes be good to get all 16 and 17 year olds vaccinated. They are near enough adults and they say that age group can spread the virus.

Yes year 10 upwards would be even better.
I think those in gcse and A Level years should equally have the benefits of being jabbed, considering the effects of long covid.

I posted this edition of More or Less on the other thread. Always a good listen. Looks like supply might really be the issue. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000y49w

@FoolsAssassin Sorry your family are caught in the floods devastation.

This thread races along! I hope both exam years are offered vaccination. Online lessons are not the same and having to miss an exam would just be mouldy icing on the dried out cake of their last 15 months.

Have decided to take DS on a dash up to see St Andrews. It's a long way to get there and I think he needs to have at least seen the place and know the logistics of how far!

[quote Shimy]@EverythingDelegated Thanks for tip on ant killer. How quickly does it work?[/quote]
Pretty quickly, my ants in the rockery disappeared within a couple of days. You need to be quite generous with it (I lifted the small rocks and squirted it into all the holes in the soil underneath them and a dusting on the surface. Also it only really works in dry conditions. I felt a bit mean but I have left several antnests in the lawn and one in the block paved drive so I haven't got rid of all of them.

@EwwSprouts I recommend lunch on the beach at the Toastie Shack - the classic is the Mac and cheese toastie! Hope you have a lovely trip there.

I have an issue with something that happened today.

KPMG rejected Ds1's application. For work experience for year 12's. I phoned them.

Turned out I had totally misunderstood the whole ethos.

The top 25 accountancy practices and businesses agreed to try and support disadvantaged children. All good. We all support that.

But here's the issue. The 3 criteria are :

This initiative supports young people from low socio-economic backgrounds to have access to the accountancy profession. You will need to:
• Attend state school or college, and
• Be eligible (or have been eligible) for free school meals (or attend a school with ‘above regional average’ free school meals*), or
• Your immediate family did not attend university.

So this is a good idea, of course.

But it's the ONLY work experience programme they run. It's not an extra programme, to tackle racism and diversity, to help disadvantaged children; that runs alongside their 'standard' programme.

Many of these children may be black or ethnic, or white. So it's not quite reverse race discrimination.

But if you are ONLY taking disadvantaged children on your work experience programme.

Then my white son with a parent who did go to uni, who doesn't qualify for free school meals, can't get any work experience.

And I'm struggling to get my head round that.

I am guessing that their position may be that they would get literally 1000s of applications.

and this narrows it significantly - whilst enabling them to say that they are addressing socio-economic disadvantage and tick a box on corporate social responsibility.

Presumably?

Great. We all support that.

But it also means no work experience for any dc not meeting the 3 criteria. Which presumably is quite a lot of dc. i.e. mine!

Anyway, as you can clearly see I am most miffed. And severely hacked off.

EverythingDelegated the Bognor Regis campus.
Thanks for the ant tip too - will save that info.

Oblomov that does seem unfair as there isn't an alternative. I wonder how many people take up the spaces each year. I'm guessing the full quota otherwise they'd open it up to all. Sorry for your DS and for you who'd put in the time to look into it.

So hot tonight. Was 28 degrees at 7pm which seems mad. Another hit one due tomorrow so will watch out for those beastly ants.

Springpod have this one @Oblomov21
www.springpod.co.uk/experience/finance-work-experience

In usual times I guess we would have work experience weeks and parents would use contacts to arrange. The scheme probably has targeted sessions or somesuch that only apply to the disadvantaged.

Dd friend wanted to get into finance...he very much had the background you describe (according to Dd). Went to one of the lowest-performing schools...came out with 8s and 9s. Now considering giving it all up to go into trades like his friends who tell him Alevels are for knobs. Dd said something about a parent telling him it was a waste of money...going to Uni.

I'll admit it crossed my mind when looking at schemes like Sutton trust that it was unfair that my Dd couldn't access the scheme as I'd just got a degree last year. When I had a word with myself I realised she had the benefit of a parent showing her in the household that education was important. Even the fact I know how to apply is a bonus compared to some.

The country is not doing enough for young people at this age in general. There are barely any jobs specifically aimed at school leavers for example (apprenticeships - yes). Corporate responsibility to young people, in general, seems to have gone out the window.

@ealingwestmum- well done to your DD!
Sending positive vibes that she has a truly wonderful time during her course!
@FoolsAssassin to your family and their communities.

I think they are just trying to encourage people who haven't had certain advantages into the profession and probably think it's even more important at the moment because those kids have been set back even further by the pandemic. As you say it's a good thing but a shame they don't also offer places to anyone who might be interested. I suppose resources are limited and they think that the more advantaged kids will get there anyway and don't need so much help. Disappointing for your DS though - are there other schemes he can apply for?

BTW today I was idly checking whether DS would be eligible for a contextual offer from any of the 10 or so unis that are on his list, more in hope than expectation because we are in quite a nice area. But at a school with a reasonably mixed intake so I figured who knows. Anyway, every one I checked said no apart from one, Warwick, where surprisingly he is eligible. So worth looking for those at state school, as they all use slightly different combinations of criteria. According to their website Warwick want AAB for the course he is interested in, reduced to ABB because he's doing more than one science A level, then "one or two grades" off for contextual, and they also reduce by a grade for those doing Welsh Bacc. I find this very hard to believe but it looks like he could get into Warwick for a stem subject with BCC, which seems like an absolute bargain. I'm sure there's a catch somewhere (well, one catch is that the course is not his favourite - with those grades it could be a good insurance though 😂).

@Oblomov21 a lot of formal opportunities are similarly restricted. I think that it is still the case that children with university educated parents are more likely to be able to use their own networks to get experience - there is a mum at DS2's school who arranged for a few work experience people with her accountancy firm.

We get frustrated with the lumpiness of measures, for example DS's GF is eligible for lots of stuff because of her postcode, although both parents are university educated and it is an up and coming area so their education experience is absolutely equal. If we lived in her house or in a city centre development where a 2 bed flat costs £450k (which is a lot for Bristol), DS would be eligible for the "Partners" scheme at Newcastle University in which you only need BBB for medicine (instead of AAA) and a lower Admissions test score.

@singingstones did you look at Bristol? Their "aspiring schools" list is enormous. For medicine the offer is 2 grades below standard. www.bristol.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/entry-requirements-qualifications/contextual-offers/

@FoolsAssassin sorry to hear about your relatives. It all looks horrendous...my heart goes out to them.
@ealingwestmum good luck to Dd! The youtube Eve Bennett seems to be having a great time on her language course!
@MirandaWest how did Dd get on?

No Flying Ants here yet, related to the theme I managed to pick up loads of lavender for 15 quid that I'm not sure what to do with now ( 9 x 3l pots French, 6 white and 3 purple) I need to pot them I think ...so probably need wide instead of tall as there is so much. I probably got excited as Hidcote is the only thing I've grown successfully.

Sorry to hear about floods and plagues if insects - all sounds a bit Biblical!

We're staying in Norfolk for a few days and visited Norwich today. As we were so close, we popped into UEA campus as it's one on DDs short list. We were able to wander round quite freely and saw all the buildings - library, SU, halls etc from the outside. It's a beautiful campus - helped by the gorgeous weather, and DD seemed really keen. Hoping for a proper open day in September/October.

We're staying in Norfolk too, but Norwich is too far from home for DS to be considering it. We are considering a day out in the city but in this heat its tempting to stay on the coast for the rest of the week.

It actually wasn't too bad in Norwich today, but I think we'll be heading coastward tomorrow 😁

@Monkey2001 Brilliant thanks that would go down well! I don't know anything about St Andrews, if anyone else is interested I've found a diy walking tour on the website.

Thank you everyone for the good luck wishes for DD - she feels her pieces were pretty good, aural OK but sight reading went wrong . Will have to wait and see in about a weeks time or so. Problem is she’s had distinctions for everything so far - but I think she’s OK ish that this one might not be.

DS has been at their dad’s house the past couple of nights. Is always a bit odd when they’re not in the same house. He’ll be back tomorrow though as he has his driving lesson

@MirandaWest an examiner friend told me that ABRSM give you 7/21 for just attempting the sightreading - she once had a pupil who refused to do it, said she did not do sightreading! And it is easier than you might think to pass that section, so the difference between poor and good is not that big. Worst case, she will only be a few marks down if it was as bad as she thinks, and it was probably fine but did not meet her own expectations. 🤞

[quote Monkey2001]@Oblomov21 a lot of formal opportunities are similarly restricted. I think that it is still the case that children with university educated parents are more likely to be able to use their own networks to get experience - there is a mum at DS2's school who arranged for a few work experience people with her accountancy firm.

We get frustrated with the lumpiness of measures, for example DS's GF is eligible for lots of stuff because of her postcode, although both parents are university educated and it is an up and coming area so their education experience is absolutely equal. If we lived in her house or in a city centre development where a 2 bed flat costs £450k (which is a lot for Bristol), DS would be eligible for the "Partners" scheme at Newcastle University in which you only need BBB for medicine (instead of AAA) and a lower Admissions test score.[/quote]
I too am worried about the ‘lumpiness of measures’ particularly so when children are framed as ‘state’, or ‘private’ educated given neither sector are homogenous categories.
Then there is the category of ‘FSM’ - which has for a long time excluded the ‘working poor‘ as once in receipt of WTC the FSM entitled was withdrawn.
Postcode measures, as you raise is also another ‘lumpy measure’ as they don’t ‘paint the true picture’ of the socio-economic status of an applicant applying for an University course.
I’m wondering if a way to ‘flatten the lumpiness’ and indeed ‘level the playing field’ would be that all applicants compete the finance section at the same time as they select their 5 choices of university?

@EwwSprouts Janetta's icecream parlour if the weather is still like this. You don't really need much time, St Andrews is tiny, so you can see the whole university area in an hour, then check out the beaches, which is where the social life was last year when all had to be outdoors.