Thread 18 - Corona Cohort Enrolling to Year 13 2021, Invasive Infections & Uni Uncertainty

[Orangecinnamon21]

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I feel secretly a bit miffed about our year group. The results most DCs this year got were very fair, especially for those from affluent/supportive backgrounds (not denying it has been vvvv hard for those facing disadvantage and disproptionately hard in areas where covid ripped through). But.. I do think the spectre of the algorithm loomed over ours and this has been forgotten. On my reckoning, if DS got his results this year instead of last, at least 2, possibly three, of his 8s would be 9s, since all his assessments had been graded at 9 but school's fear of the algorithm damage (and data obsessiveness) mitigated against any optimism. First world problem but since he has an eye on Cambridge it does matter.

Mild grumpiness. Certainly not sharing this with DS.

If that's what you are getting at, which I suspect it is??

No, that’s not what I’m getting at, at all …

@Zebracat Congratulations to your DD

Oh!

What are you getting at?!

Zebra well done to your DD on her EPQ.

I’m having a rotten day, week even, as I typing from hospital. Developed tennis elbow 2 days ago that hurts like the bone is being cracked by a chainsaw whilst having injections in both hips. Morphine & paracetamol have finally kicked in.

So why not do a bit of Mning?
Lots have been discussed but just wanted to Pick up on the discussion about choosing an insurance.
It’s true several universities are asking for the same grades for particular courses but this is where the game playing (unfortunately) comes in. E.g Sheffield and Sussex both asked for AAB for computer science (this is just guesswork) I know Sussex is the one most likely inflating their grades as I’ve seen that they been in Clearing asking for BBC for
The last 3 yrs. Durham asks for AAB for business & management and Birmingham also AAB for the same course. Durham is the one less likely to budge with a history of near miss rejections so I will instinctively decide Birmingham as the insurance even though their offers are the same. So it is possible to find an insurance although it is hard trying to read between the lines. DS is in a similar quandary with Nottingham, Birmingham, York and Loughborough. (They all sound quite similar to me).

Ds2 (17yrs 3mths) got his vaccine yesterday wohay! Just walked in and got it. No prior booking so hope everyone else has started being jabbed).

Thanks @ealingwestmum, he just wants the UCAT done now. 3 hours a day in the holidays is not sustainable!

@Piggywaspushed Cambridge are not as focussed on GCSEs as Oxford, and always contextualise. Even at Oxford both 8s and 9s are treated as A*s.

Off to work out what "pinned to education board" means!

That's good to know monkey. We'll need to ask school to mention his sacked music teacher in references to contextualise his 5.

Well done to your DCs, whoami and zebra - fantastic achievements!

If you’ve read the pinned post, then surely you would know?
Caveat: I have no political home and haven’t had for a long time since I live in an area of huge deprivation which hasn’t been addressed by parties of any hue.
I’d like to think, moving forward, at least the party in opposition would like to hear the thoughts from those that have DC about to go into YR11 and Yr13.
Once again, that’s perhaps ‘ just me’ ?

Piggy Cambridge interview 80% of applicants, and although holistic, they are really not going to care about a music grade if he is applying for social sciences. By far the most important things are to show passion for the subject and, if there is one for his subject, ace the admissions test. They also like super-curriculars, so if he can talk in PS about relevant things he has done in his own time to pursue relevant activities, MOOCs, lectures etc, that will easily trump a 5 in music. I assume you know they are completely indifferent to sporting and musical achievements, other than that they may show he has the ability to juggle a busy workload.

No proggy, I agree that's what I was getting at too!!

cf my first sentence in my post...

@Piggywaspushed - sorry , I don’t think you were but let’s agree to disagree?

Yes, I do know that monkey. I just fret slightly that he might be one of the 20% who don't make it to interview and , actually, the music is relevant, because the fact that any of those kids came out with a grade at all is testament both to the kids, and the dedicated sudden stopgap replacement the school found at the 11th hour!

Oh, I maybe wasn't clear proggy. I think our lot have been most disadvantaged and that the Labour people should want to know our views too...?

What are your thoughts Proggy? I am probably in the minority by not wanting exams as Dd is at the mercy of her seizures. She might not get to even sit them.

Personally, I think our year will depend on the shitfest of the autumn term when positive pupils are spreading it round school with no isolations. There will be teachers off for a few weeks at a time (except by rights Piggy who surely should be super-antibodied up) with poor cover for A Level. Pupils who get covid badly will be off for a few weeks too or may need mental health support if they or their parents/grandparents need to be hospitalised. This worst case scenario will be very patchy and some schools will be fine. This will mean everyone has to limp on as closure of schools is ‘not on’. However the patchiness will mean at the very last minute Gav, or his replacement could cancel exams.

What I would do is say exams will be coming back in 2023 and we are taking stock so they will be letters/numbers that are different to differentiate them from before. And that schools are given a lot more IT resources and support.

Maybe post on the thread and ask whoever comes along why views of current year 12s and 10s aren't being sought (especially since Lab accuse Tories of not preplanning!)?

I might, too...

(except by rights Piggy who surely should be super-antibodied up)

I should be like the bionic woman by then!

Oops see conversation has moved on….
Took me a while to write and missed the point

@shimy just seen your post, sounds painful, hope they can help you!

I would want to put 3 or 4 "first choices" this year in case the offer rates decline drastically. The universities will either delay deciding until they have a feel for what grades are going to do next year or will just be very cautious and reject a lot of people. I am worried about the number of gap applicants and deferred offer holders there will be.

I would recommend putting some FOI requests in to find out how many places have been allocated and how many offers they expect to make in the 21/22 cycle. It is really easy on whatdotheyknow.com but you have to be really specific in your questions, eg:

Would you please tell me how many places there will be for .......?
How many of those places are already being held for students who have met their offer conditions?
How many offers did you make for this course last year?
How many offers do you expect to make in the current cycle?

Discoveruni has been mentioned before as a good place to see how many UCAS points people doing the course actually had. Your UCAS person at school will also be able to see the actual grades of people on a course.

@Piggywaspushed

Oh, I maybe wasn't clear proggy. I think our lot have been most disadvantaged and that the Labour people should want to know our views too...?

but, and it’s a big but, they want to hear of experiences of 2021 GCSE and A level .,, Really?

Piggy out of interest, how many days would you have needed to take off school?

Gosh not sure. Everyone I work with was pretty much herded back in after 10 days, even when a few were plainly not up to it.

If this were term time, I would have had 6 days off school so far, one tomorrow and back on Monday. Certainly don't feel like I could go back anywhere at the moment.

Thank goodness you have a bit more time to recover. Teaching can be so intense at the best of times.