Corona Cohort: Statements Scripted, Grades Predicted

[Monkey2001]

This is a thread for supporting all young people post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting. It is respectfully requested that all are supportive and helpful to each other. If you want to start a debate, e.g state vs private, please don't within this thread. Please also be sensitive when responding to threads about grades.

Some of us have been here since first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. Everyone is welcome. It is hoped this will continue.

From OrangeCinnamonCocktail:

Our DS/DD may go down various paths (such as employment, apprenticeships, higher ed) We have decided for anyone interested they will most likely find us within the Further Ed board.

Previous thread - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/further_education/4339233-Thread-19-Corona-Cohort-Enrolling-on-Year-13-hopefully-NOT-unlucky-for-some?pg=1

Exeter doesn't do social policy sadly. Leeds has a good reputation for it but DS was massively turned off by its virtual offerings. Exciting to hear of another young person wanting to do it!

Depending on desired distances , Edinburgh and Glasgow are also very highly regarded. Bristol and Sheffield too, and Manchester. If they like data look for a place that has Q Step degrees.

@Piggywaspushed

Exeter doesn't do social policy sadly. Leeds has a good reputation for it but DS was massively turned off by its virtual offerings. Exciting to hear of another young person wanting to do it!

Depending on desired distances , Edinburgh and Glasgow are also very highly regarded. Bristol and Sheffield too, and Manchester. If they like data look for a place that has Q Step degrees.

Thanks!

Zebra, DD is looking at a couple of courses that offer integrated foundation years. We’ve suggested she apply for the straight BA course, knowing that the foundation version will probably be in clearing, should she not meet the grades. (In her case, it’s Royal Holloway).

Reading about the dc with adhd and extra time, i’m a bit annoyed at ds’s school because although he’s had a diagnosis for many years and struggles with timings, they have refused his request for extra time. They refused it on the grounds he gets good grades so what does he need extra time for? We’ve explained how he struggles to complete question papers and how his slow information processing but nada.

I don’t whether to look at this as positive at this point as he’s having to just cope. The first test would’ve been GCSEs but that didn’t happen.

That’s very frustrating, shimy. Ds has dyslexia and asd diagnoses and gets extra time and use of a laptop where appropriate: our school are very hot on it and do all the running tbh once the diagnoses are in place. Ds has always got decent grades but he definitely processes relatively slowly and takes more time to organise his thoughts and structure things and write up long answers. He doesn’t always use his extra time but I’m glad he had it in place for his humanities at gcse where he really would have needed it!!

I have a friend who is something of an expert on adhd, and she says that extra time can be counter productive for those students who struggle to make decisions, as they keep changing their minds. I think we have very little chance of getting a diagnosis in time, as there is at least an 8 week wait in the funding process. Last lot took 10 months, and of course, it may not be agreed.Very difficult to explain that to a teenager.
She’s had a really good day today, and did the reading that was impossible yesterday as well as college and 2 pieces of homework. She couldn’t understand why she had more energy today, on less sleep. I tried to explain that lie ins at the weekend aren’t great for some people . She was appalled!

My DD said to me a few weeks ago that she thinks she might have ADHD but doesn't want to pursue a diagnosis (she's in y11 and has had extra time in exams for dyslexia since y7 so doesn't need an additional diagnosis). I'm not so sure but I sometimes think DH might have it - there are a lot of dyslexias, dyspraxias and ASC diagnoses or traits in our families. I have just put myself through a screening test linked on another thread as I struggle to stay focussed at work at the moment but scored well outside the cutoff, I suspect perimenopause and not having much work on but a lot of home stuff is more to blame in my case.

DD had extra time awarded at the start of year 11 and didn’t have a diagnosis of ADHD until the summer. On our request the school SENCO did a processing assessment and she qualified on the results of that test. You should challenge the school and ask for a test, you don’t necessarily need a diagnosis. She does have to maintain a normal way of working so uses different colour pens in class work to show when she runs out of time and in all mock tests etc. She also gets rest breaks and a time prompt and sits in a different room for exams (this came after an Educational psychologist assessment) and also before a diagnosis. After a psychiatrist assessment and getting a diagnosis it has been really beneficial for DD as it’s allowed her to understand herself better.

Interesting that extra time can be counter productive for in some situations: that makes real sense @Zebracat, I wouldn’t have thought of that!

Ds is nearly there he thinks with his PS: reading through today and then sending onto a teacher mate of ours who has a friend in admissions who is going to review for him. I’ve just remembered that my dad also did uni admissions (actually for one of the unis Ds has on his list!!) hummm, wondering how many reviews is too many ;-)

Isthis it is fine to get lots of reviews if they say the same thing! Your dad might like to be asked anyway, but processes may have changed a lot - certainly have in Bristol, even over the last 5 years. The massive increases in student numbers have driven change. Did you manage to find out whether his choices use the PS much?

Ds has always got decent grades but he definitely processes relatively slowly and takes more time to organise his thoughts and structure things and write up long answers.

@Isthisjustnormal You’ve it in a nutshell. It’s not about whether you’re getting good grades it’s about processing speed to collect your thought, understanding what is required that they’re failing at. It means they would do even better if there was enough time.

I’d like to speak with someone like Zebra’s friend. What did they mean by it being counter productive? I’m assuming they mean they get used to the extra time and run out of time again. It’s not just the extra time though, it’s also getting prompts to keep them on track.

On a different note, well done again to all those who have submitted personal statements, must be a weight of their chests. Can’t believe we’re here, it seems this group got together back in year 10. Soon it’ll be posts of excitement about offers .

Soon it’ll be posts of excitement about offers

🤞🙏

I so hope everyone gets what they are hoping for. I wasn't expecting to be this invested in the children of people I have never met. 🤦‍♀️

DS's PS has gone to his tutor, it just needs final tweaks. We are also waiting for feedback from a family member. No great rush as we still have three unis to visit and hopefully will send it off for real straight after half term. Yikes!

2 of ds's closest friends now have covid in their families. We've escaped covid so far throughout this. I can't see us escaping it much longer. So at this rate we might not be going to the Sussex open day. I have paid for an Airbnb too. He friends mum has just tested positive, she's a teacher at the school. She's taken her Dc's out of school which is sensible. But of her Ds tests positive then Ds2 will be a close contact so I expect he will get told to pcr.

I think Airbnb usually gives refund at the moment.

DD (y11) had a negative PCR after a positive contact last week, went on a residential over the weekend and so far there has been one positive LFT and a raft of people with symptoms all waiting for PCR tests (one negative so far). So I suspect we will be PCRing again this week.

I've had the same issue with dd not being offered extra time because her grades are already good. She definitely struggles with processing and needs a lot of time to get her ideas in order, but because the 2 answers she managed out of three are good, she doesn't ping the concern-meter.

We're just back from the GP who has prescribed anti-anxiety meds, now she's nearly 18. I'm not getting my hopes up though. (OK, maybe just a bit.)

None of us have been contacts of covid cases at all yet. We've been very fortunate to get this far.

Oh hopefully a good start there Zitti. I hope the meds do the job for her.

All DD's classmates were negative. Considering DH and I have worked outside the home throughout and the DCs have been at school whenever it's been open we've got off lightly so far, two periods of SI and another positive contact last week all for DD, none for the rest of us (touch wood).

@ZittiEBuoni: hope the meds are helpful. I must say, I find the different approaches at different schools SO unhelpful ito additional support for SEN kids. Such a shame as good support really is transformative, as we've seen first hand with ds who had really amazing support across y9-10 which put him back on track. It's an extreme example, but my mate has profoundly deaf kids - so really, really solid, clear needs, but could cope in mainstream (aids/lipreading etc). They were doing well in attainment, with various additional practical steps put in place to help support their learning and make sure they could access the teaching. As they were achieving, the school suggested that they could stop the support ... Ummm, no, because the support is WHY they are doing well, don't take it away to set them up to fail!

Loving the Good Mummy awards! I'm sure those endeavouring to get the support their children need whether for well-being or academics would all be worthy recipients too.

The excitement of offers seems miles away. I hope those who have made early submissions get numerous interviews.

We shall give eachother regular
'Good Mummy Awards'
on this tread. That's because none of my dc even rate any of my efforts! Don't they say they you don't appreciate your own parents till you are at least 25+ and have you own kids?

DS is on extremely low percentile for one of the processing ones. Previous school said no extra time for GP. Current college got someone in to test him and he now has extra time and is able to use a laptop if he wants to. I consider him to be very lucky in current climate.

PS is pretty much done, one of the predicted grades being reviewed and then I think he will submit and add 2 later. Keen to get it in as offers were thin in the ground from some places in his subject last year with waits until May so have fingers crossed for early offer from one who say they do an automatic offer if you have the predicted grades. Let’s see if that applies to this year.

Finally booked DD’s first uni open day - anyone else doing Southampton on the 9th?