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

York had changed for DS. He has ditched it and gone with Cardiff instead as offers were too similar. And it is only 30 minutes away!

Well done on all the driving test passes!

Here's hoping the weather remains calm for us both this Saturday @SandyBayley, hope your DD has a fabulous time! We are filled with trepidation of 40/45 big kids in a very modest mid terraced house, hence the need for the outdoor space to be accessible!

Roll on Sunday. And the attempt to return the karaoke kit to the other side of London when a half marathon is running in Ealing...

Ah thanks @ealingwestmum - we've gone for 40 as well. We're also doing a massive dominos pizza order - you can get 50% discount for orders over £100.

Weather looks good for Saturday 😊 Enjoy your party!

Papa Johns is the beneficiary this part of town

I'd have loved a pizza, beer, cider and Prosecco party when I was 18. Plus a big chocolate cake with sparklers and fairy lights in the garden. I think these DD are very lucky.

Fingers crossed for good 18th birthday party weather, but I'm sure dc will have fun whatever happens.

Shimy and crazycrofter when I spoke to the school counsellor she mentioned that she could do some CBT work with dd so here's hoping.

Oddly enough, I've bumped into 3 'primary school mums' I hadn't seen in years this week - every single one of them has a child who is struggling with anxiety around going into school, to a greater or lesser extent. Anecdata, I know, but...

I missed all the 18th birthday posts! Hope they all have an amazing time

DD is, thankfully, very happy at school. My main concern is that she has too much going on. After 18 months of quiet she has thrown herself with gusto into everything. Its exhausting to watch and I predict she'll be ill by half term.

Hope all the parties go well! Dd has 2 18th birthday parties to go to in a couple of weekends time, and then there seems to be a bit of a run of them. Lots of her friends seem to be at the older end of the year.

18th birthday parties...hmmm..wishing everyone well and a great time. DS went to a mates 18th last weekend, he’d been looking forward to it for ages, black tie event, security at gates the works, but at pickup he was very much deflated. Apparently, everyone was just interested in, getting drunk and passing cigars round . When I went to pick him up, there were girls unable to stand being propped up by friends.

Thankfully, we had had the conversation about #everyone invited and consent and being able to say no etc etc, so he was confident enough to say ‘No more thanks’, after a few drinks and didn’t ‘cop off’ with any drunken girls, as quite a few boys seemed to be doing.
I don’t understand why some parents supply so much alcohol it’s not necessary.

So odd to hear about parties after all the restrictions, I can't imagine having 40 people in the house! Hope they all have fun.

I am going to ask a friend who used to be an Admissions Tutor at Bristol about the changes in grades as they seem to be for all courses. I am hoping he says that as long as you are predicted AAA, you can get an A*AA offer and if grades go back to 2019 levels there will be flexibility on results day. That seems the most sensible approach for managing uncertainty right now.

Hopefully they'll mainly be in the garden @Monkey2001 😊

We've taken the view that a party where we supply the alcohol and supervise is responsible. It's invite only and we're supplying a lot of food. Interestingly we got a talk at school with DS2 (starting Lower Sixth) on parties and has come to the same conclusions as the school on sensible measures.

Wishing great weather and minimal puking to all party havers/goers this weekend! So nice to hear about parties happening again.

@Monkey2001 I agree that it would be fairer if the unis did this.

@SandyBayley That does sound like a good plan- drinks AND food! There was very little food at the party DS went to, they provided a free bar, so I think they were making up for it by just drinking. Anyway, hope it all goes well and the young people enjoy themselves.

They just don't have parties at DS school!

Good luck with the 18ths - have to admit that my own DD was one of those who drank too much at a 18th last weekend - we had to go and get her as she was sick in the garden - along with a LOT of others sadly. They haven't been out much for 18 months, they have no idea how much they can tolerate or what damage mixing drinks can do. She was absolutely fine the next day but agreed she had too much and she can't remember certain things which she hates.

The party was outside with lots of tables and chairs and a marque and they had lots of older helpers - which apparently were needed to sort out the drunken youth. I wasn't that impressed with DD have to admit until DH reminded me of my youth. Not a leg to stand on..

I was wondering about parties, DS isn't 18 till Feb but he has a couple of parties coming up. For my 18th my parents went out (only to the pub at the end of the street) but it was a bit nerve-wracking hosting by myself and I ended up chucking out gate-crashers who I found smoking weed in the bathroom. My parents never found out about that AFAIK. Is it fairly normal for parents to go out?

@Piggywaspushed

They just don't have parties at DS school!

Not even 18ths?

Not sure if normal EssentiallyD, but we will not be going anywhere. By the sounds of it DD’s school has given similar talk to Sandy’s DD’s school, we will be supervising the alcohol, though I know this doesn’t mitigate against the minority of those that go overboard.

DD is making them all LFT before. Just makes her feel better. She too is having a crazy busy time, juggling multiple requirements for different country requirements and I want to see her relax and enjoy herself for a change; I think she’s earned it.

I’ll report in next week with hopefully, minimal drama 😱

No parties here either, DS doesnt even really want to do anything for his 18th but we will take him for a slap-up meal.

At dd's school, they've been socialising madly since Mar/April, starting with groups of 6/8 outside when allowed and over the summer it was bigger gatherings of 25 plus in gardens, with bought in pizza and bring your own drinks (her school is in a wealthy area of the city so there are lots of really big gardens!) She went to 2 or 3 of these a week, some were more rowdy than others, but I think they've now worked out how much they can drink etc and had experience of dealing with gatecrashers. So I'm not sure how different these 18th celebrations will be!

@Piggywaspushed how come no parties? What do they do instead, for birthdays? And general socialising?

Ds1 never went to any 18th birthday parties (he's now 20) or any other parties since primary school. Ds2 has been to a 16th party about 2 years ago and a Christmas party 3 years ago. But no others since secondary either. I've not heard of any 18th parties yet.

To be honest, the parties DS goes to are few and far between and so far have been a few people round to play on the xbox and eat pizza rather than big parties with girls but with 18ths round the corner it could change a bit. He's never been to a big gathering outside of school. DD (y11) hates big gatherings. Both have winter birthdays and our house is very small so the options at home are fairly limited in any case.

Yes, fortunately we have a small house and garden and we live on the other side of the city, so we’ve only had to host 2 gatherings so far. We went out for the second one, which made it easier!