Thread 27 Covid Cohort Snow or Like Spring? Let's Do This Thing!

[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 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.

previous thread found here

@sofakingcool well done to your DS!
Spurred on by a thread on HE asking about guaranteed accommodation in halls for ‘insurance choice applicants’ I’ve checked out the two Unis she’s still deliberating over - to help with her decision- and I’m a bit

Oh gosh...DD hasn't had a Men vaccine this year so I need to chase that!

That cost is shocking Just.

Congrats SoFakingCool

I find all the accommodation stuff daunting, all uni's have different policies/ different booking opening days. Feels like such a minefield

@Horace123 Oops!

@sofakingcool Great news. Very envious all 5 have offered.

DS is now HPV vaccinated. If you got them done at 16 it was only two jabs but lockdowns screwed the timings so he had to have three.

Didn't realise another Meningitis jab was recommended. He isn't eligible for Covid booster yet as young in year.

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn the HPV is free for our age DS on the NHS if there is any chance they will have gay sex iyswim.

@sofakingcool

I find all the accommodation stuff daunting, all uni's have different policies/ different booking opening days. Feels like such a minefield

And eye watering differences in prices! For firm choices perhaps there is a ‘safety net’ in the sense that applicants will get ‘first dibs’ no matter what their budget is? When it comes to choosing an insurance choice, it seems to me, to be a whole different ball game.

Hello - not been on here for a while as Dd been through all sorts of gruelling hospital tests to see if she can have surgery to stop her seizures. Still don’t know if she can so she’ll be taking a year off. She has an extremely risky strategy of only putting down one course that she’s had an AAA offer on from a university not too far away. She was taken off all her meds in hospital for a few days and had a cannula inbetween her thumb and finger on her writing hand to supply emergency meds if needed. Scary stuff. The week after she did a mock (hand still hurting) then week after that 2 more that she should have done but we’re delayed as she was in hospital. She got A and 2A. She’s annoyed about being 1 mark off an A in the first one as she’s predicted 3!!! She doesn’t have many friends due to a previous bullying incident before the brain injury so hasn’t told anyone but I want to shout from the rooftop how amazing she is. However it’s too bloody windy out there at the moment so, at the risk of outing myself, I am going to tell you lot instead. We are in the bizarre situation that, if she has a run of seizures, she may not be able to do the actual exams. Also she has 3 in 3 days (2 clashes) which with rest breaks and extra time is physically impossible. One mock took 4 hours as she had a seizure in the middle of it.

Take care everyone. I saw the stuff about meningitis - definitely get as many jabs as possible. The virus that caused her brain injury has never been identified. For those who know about IQ and CAT scores, her verbal reasoning is 136 but some processing and visual memory is now in the low 80s. She is incredible - just don’t ask her directions to anywhere!

I don’t think any of the uni’s DS has applied to will guarantee accommodation for an insurance choice. It’s so worrying.

@ChristopherTracy yes I’ve read that boys/men can get the hpv vaccine on the nhs if they are gay up to the age of 45 because they cannot benefit from the “herd protection” that the females are providing

Accommodation is the most stressful part!!

Hi zanda . Lovely to hear from you. Full of admiration for your DD's resilience.

The other thing we were told about boys and the HPV vaccine is that as well as gay relationships they may travel and have relationships with women in countries which aren't jabbing girls, or haven't rolled it out as successfully as the UK. DS had his at 14, at that time you had to have three once you turned 15, it must have changed, I guess as time goes on they get more data and update the guidance.

Zanda - those are amazing results, especially considering the health issues, no wonder you are proud!

Zanda, good to have you back; what a tremendous but scary update. You should be very proud. I know it is still touch and go as to whether she can sit her exams health wise, but she clearly has will of iron to do so. I hope health turns a corner.

Shout loud @Zandathepanda those are excellent results especially considering what your DD is going through. She sounds brilliant.

Accommodation seems to be such minefield. I am a little worried we apply for what we can afford but get given something costing even more! DD ideally wants Catered and ensuite but it's just so expensive, maybe affordable in 1 block but not the others.

Love to hear from you @Zanda.
Your daughter sounds so determined to succeed in spite of her health issues👏

@BlueMarigold congrats on the EPQ

That all sounds super stressful @Zandathepanda, of course you must be insanely proud!! It is awful when children get viruses which turns their lives upside-down, it happened to someone I knew in Y6 and she took 6 years to get back into mainstream education. Don't worry about a high risk strategy, she will probably get the grades anyway, but if she doesn't, she can make an excellent appeal for leniency.

Re accommodation, it may be worth looking at private halls, in some places they are much better value than university owned accommodation and there is not the same random allocation issue.

@Zandathepanda Wow your DD has brilliant grades and sounds gutsy in the face of her challenges. Shout long & loud!

@Monkey2001 Thanks that sounds a top tip. Need to work on DS as he is averse to the tower blocks spotted in Nottingham & Sheffield.

Brilliant results @Zandathepanda, what a star! I hope she’s able to take the exams - and more importantly I hope her health improves and they find effective treatments.

Thank you for your lovely replies. She is not that resilient a lot of the time - it’s taken more than a village to get her to this point. We have an amazing sendco, I have all but given up work so she just goes into lessons then I pick her up inbetween. It’s a fine tuned operation but the A Level work is her stability. Having said that covid is a bit of problem at the moment as at least half her classes are missing as of Thursday and we don’t know how she’ll cope with it. She is in a mask but without the others in masks it’s not much protection. Tbh the time when schools were online was so much easier.

[quote Horace123]@DoggerelBank - agree re meningitis. I checked with our GP. Kids in year 13 hopefully all had the Men ACWY jabs as routine. They wouldn’t have had Men B which babies now get. GP said the ACWY is the one students must have.[/quote]
Do you mean you should have a Men jab in year 13 or that most year 13 students would have had one say in year 9 or 10 when they had their boosters? Just wondering if DD needs one but know she had a booster after her HPV jabs around year 9 or 10 so she may be covered.

Fantastic grades Zanda you must be so proud. What an amazing young lady you have.

Hello @Zandathepanda,whoop whoop to your Dd for those amazing results in the teeth of adversity. I do hope she proves suitable for surgery.

I think accommodation is a huge worry and this last year has increased everyone's anxieties. News for places such as Bristol students living in Bath had thrown things into another league. DD hasn't got anywhere for insurance that will guarantee accommodation.

@Zandathepanda great to hear from you. Your dd sounds amazing. I hope she gets through exams. I've said before that ds3 was diagnosed with epilepsy age 3. Though he seems to have grown out of it. I'm always worrying about something triggering it again. I'm still undecided on second covid vaccine incase it is a trigger. It's such a worry isn't it.

@AnneOfCleavage sorry, I meant that kids in year 13 now would have been eligible for the men jabs (except B) when they were a bit younger. Not they that would have had it in year 13. I think if they didn’t get it for some reason they can get it now on NHS. The universities have vaccine recommendations on their websites (well, Oxford and Durham do - quite hidden away - I came across it by accident).