Thread 25 - Covid Cohort - Christmas Trees, No Omicron Please!

[OrangeCinnamonCocktail]

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 posts 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 goodwill continues.

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.

Orange Cinnamon (Head Monitor )
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@Piggywaspushed

zebra, is the school also doing LFTs?

On a side note, DS's isn't. Apparently not required in standalone sixth form settings! His school is very clear and cautious so am guessing they also weren't sent testing kits.

DS is at a sixth form college and they’ve emailed today and asked that he does an LFT before going back tomorrow. We would have done it anyway but this is they first time they have mentioned it

@Piggywaspushed . The school are asking that they do an LFT in the 12 hours before they return. But thePCR is on its way now, so we will wait for that. I think by the time it comes back, she would be free of it anyway, but I do see that we need to do it now we have asked for it. @cariadambyth sorry for your bad night. It seems like it’s our job to worry about everyone. I’m just reading Deborah Levy - The Cost of Living. Thought provoking on Women’s role in the family.

@cariadambyth Take care of yourself too. Fingers crossed for you.

DD's school doing timed entry for LFT. She's 10:50 so pretty happy.

We're all stressed about mocks, Chemistry is proving a bit of a challenge and for her confidence she needs a solid mark. Even her school report said her confidence was a worry, which I didn't think was terribly helpful! She knows the content (her teacher says), but is suffering brain freeze in tests.

@cariadambyth I hope all goes well with your DS’s appointment and that DD manages to get some control over her stresses, it certainly doesn’t help when they have friends who seem to take it all in their stride. You must be feeling awful with worry.

I’ve taken all the decks down except the tiny outside tree, mainly because I’m too tired to face going outside to do it. Currently having a coffee and stealing the last of the mini chocolates while wondering why DS is doing a jigsaw instead of revising for his History on Thursday…

Our school is doing timed lfts for yrs 11 and 13 tomorrow and rest of school on Wednesday. Everyone back in on Thursday if well.

DS's school goes back Thurs with timed LFT slots in the hall. DD's goes back Weds they have been told to do one on Tues night and one on Weds morning before coming in. Her GCSE mocks start Weds too so it's all a bit stressy.

Thank again everyone, this place really is a little sanctuary for me today.
Sorry others are stressed too - and sorry others are not! It’s funny how all dc are so different, even within families.
@Zebracat, I’ll look for that book, thanks. I know my Dh is worried too but he seems to have no trouble sleeping!
Dd is going to a friend’s to revise this afternoon but I hope they don’t bother working and just go for a walk or watch a film together.

Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes yesterday, and a very happy New Year to you all.
I have been steadily improving since Jan 1st, so managed to enjoy a birthday dinner and cake, cooked by DH, with a glass of fizz and a film last night, and was very spoilt with presents.
Hoping to test negative today and tomorrow, so that I can come out of isolation, but the fatigue is proving harder to get over.

I hope your DS managed to enjoy his birthday too, mummyinbeds.

Sorry to hear of your worries, cariad. Nothing worse than worrying about your children, I know.
I was packed off to the cardiology department some years ago, after a concerning ECG. My heart rate would suddenly jump up to 130 bpm for hours at a time. I ended up in a&e on a drip, various scans and x rays and a referral to cardiology. There, I had a full heart scan and 24 hour monitor, which picked up my high heart rate but found no physical cause. It was suggested by one of the medics I saw that, anecdotally, it seemed to be something women of a certain age suffered from.
Obviously, that’s not relevant to your DS, but hopefully anything found on the ECG has a benign cause 🤞🏻 It’s good that it’s being looked at further and promptly.

@cariadambyth I’m sorry to hear about your worries with DS. Thing thing about heart issues is (I) the key is to catch any problem before an acute episode and (ii) hearts are very fixable, so for both reasons it is great that anybpotential problem has been flagged. It may also, of course be nothing. Fingers crossed!

I have just sat down with DS and made pro-con lists for his three uk university choices. It is really difficult, not least because they have effectively the same offers. I need @Piggywaspushed to give me a slap because I am worrying that he has come out with the most prestigious and best uni (4th best in the world for his subject) (Southampton) at the bottom and the post-1992 (Plymouth) at the top, with the other RG (Cardiff) in second.

My main concern about ditching Southampton is that they interviewed him and really liked him, so if things go badly with eg TAGs they would take him anyway I think. The other two don’t know him at all. Hmmmm.

Belated birthday wishes to @Alsoplayspiccolo and @mummyinbeds DS and advance birthday wishes to mummyinbeds herself!

Sorry to hear of your worries with DS’s health @cariadambyth. I hope his appointment will bring clarity for you.

No mocks until late Feb here. DS doing nothing at all study wise 😬

Most of our decs came down yesterday. Still the real tree and one set of twinkly lights in the living room to go which will probably be done today or maybe tomorrow.

Please don't ever apologise cariad or anyone else for posting of woes. We all have them. Just in different ways. Hope you get answers on Wednesday.

Just did DS's day 6 LFT - still a strong positive 😫 I was hoping he'd get away with only missing one day of school. Still no symptoms though.

@ExtremelyDetermined

DS's school goes back Thurs with timed LFT slots in the hall. DD's goes back Weds they have been told to do one on Tues night and one on Weds morning before coming in. Her GCSE mocks start Weds too so it's all a bit stressy.

Like the positive New Year name!!

In theory DD has a LFT slot in school at 11 am for a Wednesday start, in practice of course she won't go. She has a counselling session on Friday morning so she'll test at home before that, I guess.

DD2 (y12) is doing the LFT tomorrow and starting school proper on Thursday.

@Delphigirl. That’s interesting, maybe you need to encourage a more objective approach.Marks out of 5 for course Content, ranking , vibe, opportunities, location maybe. I don’t know what his criteria are, but you make a very strong case for Southampton. It didn’t achieve that ranking for nothing, , and the fact that they interviewed shows they have chosen him rather than just anyone.
My Ds2 went to a post 1992 university which was great for his course , and he was able to get his dream job afterwards. But he found it very frustrating to do group work tasks with people who just weren’t at his level, and he really wasn’t stretched at all. He didn’t mind that at the time so much, of course.

We have had an email from school today about spotting the signs of type 1 diabetes but nothing about what's required for next term in the way of testing, masks etc. They go back on Thursday.

Ds2 goes back weds. With LFT first. Ds3 doesn't go back until the following weds. Not sure if any other schools are staggering the starts that much. The parents on the school Facebook page are furious at the late starters, saying they will send their dc's on the 5th when they should have originally returned. I bet they don't. Ds3 is pleased with the extra week, but thinks there will be work online.

DD Is back in next Mon with LFT first.

Her 2nd set of mocks are after half term, but she's prepping hard for her interviews, with fingers crossed for the one she still hasn't heard from.

@zebracat thanks for your post. Yes you make really good points. Lots more thinking required. We know a kid (ex classmate of DS’s older brother) currently doing that course at Southampton (3rd year) and one (brother of my DD’s friend) who graduated from the Cardiff course a year ago, so I think he needs to talk to them both too.

DS back in Wednesday and they want them to test 2 consecutive days before they return, so today and tomorrow or tomorrow and Wednesday morning. As mornings are a struggle here it will be today and tomorrow! They gave us lots of tests before Christmas.

Happy new year all and best wishes for those celebrating recent birthdays too.

No news from DDs sixth form so can only assume they are doing testing at school on the first day back which is Wednesday. No mocks till March so DD had a break for once over the holidays and only started on homework today. Parents eve online this week too.

Ds and dd are both back tomorrow: dd testing in the morning and then in school once negative result back, and ds in the afternoon. They are staggering the school over this week so everyone is back for the end of the week, with online learning for those years not yet back in. DS starts mocks on Monday so guessing this week will essentially just be revision... He's been working solidly over the holidays so hopefully will be enough: I'm horribly conscious at the mo that his uni offers are all going to be very high (his first choice is likely to have A*s...) so if we are back in TAGs (looking ever more likely) he needs some good results...

Good luck to all with impending mocks, and to @whoamitojudge DD, is it tomorrow she starts work?

Good luck for all the mocks - it’s so horrible to have them after Christmas, I hope they’ve managed to have some time off too?

My gcse Ds is in tomorrow for his mocks, been a long hard slog for him. I don’t think it is a great time to have to revise, he had loads of tests before Christmas as well so he’s shattered.
A level DS has done a fair amount of work, he was told he needed to work on quite a few things. First time he’s put any real effort in and he tidied his room, which is a rare occurrence.
LFTs for mine the day before returning, nothing about face masks in lessons though. I keep hoping for exams but think it is getting less likely, TAGs were not kind to DS 1(hence why he’s working a bit harder).