Thread 26 - Covid Cohort Hoping for a Stable, Successful 2022

[OrangeCinnamonCocktail]

previous thread

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.

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.

@delphigirl thinking back to you and your son choices dilemma on last thread...placement/intern opportunities? If you can get some insight into the type of companies they work with could be useful?

Sometimes they just get a sense of what is right for them and can't articulate it. That is fair enough really. I couldn't for love or money get Dd to consider Bristol or Brum for music...both very well respected in the field and with great opportunities. She struggled to articulate why to me, but don't they have to learn to make their own decisions and also trust their own intuition? I really struggled with Dd random decision making...over it now...I think. I know what you mean, it is a scary decision we are trusting them with, hoping they are not rejecting places for spurious reasons.

And as soon as I posted that he called me. Chichester, History, 104 points.

A couple of people have commented on the new name, I like changing it at the start of every month to reflect the season / frame of mind but still be recognisable. I was really out of sorts for half of December but have bucked myself up now and have a bit of catching up to do at home and in general hence this month's name.

Just - sorry to hear about the positive, hope its mild.

Singing - what are you studying? I did some OU courses a few years ago in biological and social sciences and loved them.

Oooo, UCAS application has been submitted! He's in the game at last!
@JustHereWithMyPopcorn, what a bummer. Fingers crossed the rest of you escape it.

@DoggerelBank: exciting: beat it feel lovely to have it all in. Thanks @OrangeCinnamonCocktail and @singingstones for keeping us all in order and good luck getting the essay finished @singingstones!!

Ooh, good luck to your DD, Anne

ExtremelyDetermined I'm in the second year of a psychology degree - first year was broader social sciences which I really enjoyed, nearly switched to sociology. But now enjoying psychology very much apart from the essay deadlines. This one's nearly there now.

Now that Christmas is over I'm back to refreshing DS's UCAS hub repeatedly. How long can it take Nottingham to say please come here??

Bad luck, Justhere. All is not lost, though - I am the only one to test positive here, despite us all going to the same places beforehand, and I haven’t even confined to my bedroom while ill either (we don’t have a spare room for DH to camp out in). DH thought he felt ill when I tested positive but it never materialised, so fingers crossed for you 🤞🏻

Thanks Orange. Can't believe we're here already, 2022! so nervous for them all. DS starts mock exams tomorrow!

Thank you Orange and Singing, amazing updates as ever!

Sorry to hear covid has reached your door JustHere

orange thanks for the new thread. singing thinking of sending you my life so you can organise that too - love the list.

Thanks @OrangeCinnamonCocktail for the lovely New Year Thread!
Belting list, as always, @singingstones

Thanks all. DS1 had his school LFT which is negative, fingers crossed he stays clear at least for the first exam (3 hour history exam).

Happy New Year everyone!
Thank you @Orange and @singingstones for a shiny new thread and fabulous list. Sorry about the covid @Just. DD is on study leave this week and next whilst the mocks are taking place. She luckily has only one paper per subject and as her third subject is Art, she will only have two written exams. She has done a lots of work over holidays though. I hope she would have had more rest. No news from any of her choices yet.

Thanks for the thread and the list. @singingstones for completeness we worked out DD’s Nottingham offer is ABB.

Hope ds avoids covid @JustHereWithMyPopcorn!

Thank you to @OrangeCinnamonCocktail and to @singingstones. I am also procrastinating usefully, cleaning long untouched bits of my house. Today has been mainly light fittings and book cases.I have to set myself up on Zoom and I have no faith that I can achieve this, but at least the house benefits. We have history NEA being written here. 1st draft is due in tomorrow. I’ve got a feeling that there’s a lot more staring into space than actual writing. She showed me some yesterday, and it was not great, and I said so, as kindly as possible obvs, so I don’t expect I will see any more. There seemed to be many unnecessary words, and she said this was deliberate, for the word count. So I suggested she do some more research and have actual content.. I’m so critical!

My DCs aren’t back until next week, but both are going straight back to mocks.
It’s not been a relaxing holiday for any of us, especially as DS has dragged his heels about revision, so I’ve had to nag and nag him. He did a GCSE maths paper yesterday and only managed to do 7 questions in an hour
DD, on the other hand, is setting her alarm every morning, getting up and going for a run and then getting stuck straight into revision, and has to be asked to stop work. She says she’s finding it impossible to remember all that she needs to.

I think this year may be the death of me!

Ds insisted he didn't have a letter from school about online parents eve. plus school report. I could see on the online portal that bookings opened today 4pm. I tried to book and it said opened 30 mins ago but also said not open. So I went up and asked Ds to find the letter now. He just shouted at me to get out his room. Anyway...I found the letter in his car. Along with his bag with damp books and lunchbox full of mould. I took the letter and left the rest. He will be looking for his bag 2 mins before leaving time tomorrow. The booking for parents eve is tomorrow. So a glitch on the page. I was annoyed he can't be bothered to even look.

He's back tomorrow anyway. Let's see what Boris says now.

Ds also has another offer. I thought he'd applied to Lincoln. But he changed his mind and applied to Lancaster. They've offered Distinction, BB. If he firms them. He's now saying it's a better university than Sussex so maybe he should accept that instead.

@icanbewhatiwant

Ds also has another offer. I thought he'd applied to Lincoln. But he changed his mind and applied to Lancaster. They've offered Distinction, BB. If he firms them. He's now saying it's a better university than Sussex so maybe he should accept that instead.

Wasn't he absolutely set on Sussex @icanbewhatiwant?

They are funny sometimes! DN having a great time at Lancs doing Maths .

As part of my job I have to do a big end of year review in Jan. So before Christmas I made a start on that, gathering data, making sure things were up to date etc. I was a little bit to find I had overlooked quite a few fairly straightforward things in the second half of the year - nothing serious but I've been in the job for years and it's usually only the odd thing that slips. So I started thinking about why, I wasn't excessively busy at work, I did have a few new things to do but nothing out of the usual.

So, towards the end of today the penny dropped that I have been so busy in my home life with A level and GCSE support, uni and college applications plus two that actually, it's not surprising I have let one or two spinning plates drop at work. It doesn't matter at all, apart from my metrics being a bit skewed but I will have to document it all, so I have made extra work for myself. I think I actually need to streamline some of my work systems, so that's a goal for the year.

@Alsoplayspiccolo I gave DS a 9 question Biology paper yesterday. he broke it up into three sections of three questions and took about an hour for each of those sets. Spent more time on his phone.

@icanbewhatiwant I don't know what to say but you have all my sympathy and maybe some

plus two is a cut and past error, I was going to say 2 spells of illness but they weren't long enough to make a difference, just unusual for me to be off sick at all.

Booking my spot, going to have a good study of the updated list later. Great to see it getting longer and longer .

Dd has already been down to complain that she still hasn't heard from her fave about an interview yet (Southampton)...I wouldn't expect her to just yet. She has been busy ranking her halls prefs whilst she waits and retail job scanning They have been sending her a lot of marketing emails too. This is quite disappointing for her after the initial excitement!

I want all this uni stuff to be over and her just there where she wants to be and not have to go through covid anxiety or revision anxiety or results anxiety....but then I don't because she will be gone far too soon

Ooooh @singingstones thank you for your elaborate and updated new list! 👍👍