Thread 30 Covid Cohort, Mad March Hareing Towards Exams

[OrangeCinnamonCroissant]

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 29

I've made this one a little bit earlier as things are so busy, at home and on thread, so please feel free to use up previous thread first

Happy birthday for yesterday @icanbewhatiwant! 🥂🍾. Glad you had an argument free day!

@ealingwestmum Your DD has broad horizons with Dublin & Canada. In your shoes I'm not sure how much weight I would give to the likelihood of her ever living full-time back at home. Hard to think about that though.

You know my argument well Eww !

I think once we know where DD is actually going to be, I may start the debate in earnest again. You are right Eww, is is very doubtful that even in semester breaks, UK is the place she heads back to each time.

It’s great that your DS is on board Crazy, hope it all goes ahead as smoothly as possible

@cariadambyth

A belated happy birthday *@icanbewhatiwant*. That’s a shame she forgot *@Alsoplayspiccolo*, in fairness to her, she’d have had a very busy weekend if she’d done both open days. I hope she likes RH today. My dd was very impressed with it and is now having to decide between there and Southampton for firm and insurance. Southampton is very… aspirational!! I wonder if firming RH is the better idea as we can sort accommodation. I fear that if we firm Southampton, she won’t get the grades and we’ll be scrabbling for a accommodation elsewhere in August.

If it's useful to know my DN got an accommodation offer straight away (and what he wanted)when he went to RHU via clearing the fact he didn't check his emails and lost it thereafter is by the by

Happy Birthday for yesterday @icanbewhatiwant! Glad there were no arguments..sometimes silence is golden but can understand you feeling sad about it !

I've been on a self constructed spa weekend ! One of my sisters lives in the East Midlands so me and two of my other two travelled up there. There is a new spa opened not far from the airport and it was lovely and quiet with a fab afternoon tea! Highly recommend. Outdoor thermal pools etc. In the evening we went for a pub meal and ended up in the section with cocktails and live music ...a motown singer, it was like a tribute to my Mum but such good fun to dance and sing along. Lovely to see baby sister's house ...have not been yet because of covid !

Back to work and mocks start tomorrow

The dc's have grown up not being able to get anywhere where we live. I can't imagine them getting about by themselves like I did as a child. They have always needed lifts as no transport. I can see it being a definite plus though. That's why they have been so keen to learn to drive as soon as they get to 17.

Thanks for the birthday wishes for yesterday. Ds2 didn't even get me a card. He has a car to go out and get one plus dh gave him one too. Never mind. I think it's a boy thing.

How lovely Orange, I bet your heavenly mum was smiling at you all being together again. And you got to bop!

Fond memories of E Mids. I used to commute to Castle Donnington and offices behind the airport a long time ago for one of my favourite past employers. Still miss the banter of my local colleagues.

I worked by Castle Donnington/E Mids airport for a couple of years too @ealingwestmum! It was a secondment from our Birmingham office and the vibe was quite different, more laid back. I’ll be going that way a lot in future if dd goes to Nottingham!

@OrangeCinnamonCroissant, thank you, that’s incredibly helpful to know. Teenage email checking is not the most reliable is it!! I hope he got it all sorted in the end.
It sounds like you’ve had a lovely time with your sisters, I bet your mum would be delighted.

That sounds great @OrangeCinnamonCroissant. I’ll be checking it out because I live quite close, and outdoor heated pools are heaven to me.. I didn’t know there was an offer holders day for R.H.U. Just realised I may have encouraged a silly choice actually. She has applied for History at RH and if the typical offer is BBB and she gets contextual offers, her offer would be 1 or 2 grades lower, and they guarantee a place even if you drop a grade, so a place at BBC or even CCC, which is the same as the offer for the foundation year course I encouraged her to apply for as an achievable fallback.Don’t think I’ll confess, she did her Cambridge assessment today and she doesn’t think it went well. Que sera. We did give her the face off dhs Colin the Caterpillar cake. There is no greater love.

That’s really helpful to know, thanks, Orange.
Glad you had a lovely weekend - it’s sounds just what you needed.

DD has phoned me from the M4 on the way home from RHUL. She sounds really excited about the course and the uni (almost as excited as DH, who is in raptures about the liberal arts lecture they attended!), but said the compromise is still the location.
I think the grade drop guarantee is a big plus for her, and London isn’t far to find some nightlife.

@Zebracat

That sounds great *@OrangeCinnamonCroissant*. I’ll be checking it out because I live quite close, and outdoor heated pools are heaven to me.. I didn’t know there was an offer holders day for R.H.U. Just realised I may have encouraged a silly choice actually. She has applied for History at RH and if the typical offer is BBB and she gets contextual offers, her offer would be 1 or 2 grades lower, and they guarantee a place even if you drop a grade, so a place at BBC or even CCC, which is the same as the offer for the foundation year course I encouraged her to apply for as an achievable fallback.Don’t think I’ll confess, she did her Cambridge assessment today and she doesn’t think it went well. Que sera. We did give her the face off dhs Colin the Caterpillar cake. There is no greater love.

That is real love @Zebracat!

Link for the spa is below for those interested. It is quite new so wasn't busy at all. I'm not into treatments so was perfect for me. We got a special deal as they're still landscaping the gardens. The staff were lovely.

nice spa link

@OrangeCinnamonCroissant sounds like a lovely weekend, glad you got the chance to see you sister and let loose.

Our mocks start tomorrow too although DSs first one is on Tuesday.

Zebra, that’s why I pushed for DD to include RH in her top 5. They offered her ABB for a course that requires AAB, which means she can still go with ABC; if she doesn’t make ABC, they’ll let her take the foundation course, so it’s a win-win situation IF she firms it.

Sorry to hear Cambridge didn’t go well, but maybe how she feels it went isn’t actually how it went? Fingers crossed.

Happy birthday for yesterday @icanbewhatiwant.
@Orangecinammon theres nothing better than time out with sisters.
Ds & I loved Bangor today.
it has beautiful old buildings and was very friendly & much better organised than Aber.
The sports building had wonderful views of the sea from the modern labs within a Victorian Shell & a stunning staircase.
Someone asked me about Aber. a while ago.
I'm happy to answer any questions if you still need feedback.

Morning all, reading all the offer-holder day reports with interest.

DS is still undecided . This is doing our heads in. He doesn't feel ready to go to uni quite yet is the bottom line, but feels pressured into doing so now because of the student finance changes. Especially if he goes with RAU because its a 4 year course. So we are off to Chichester on Saturday for another offer-holder day. He says he would feel better if a decision was made but its all jumbled up in his head. RAU ticks all the boxes apart from he doesn't love the course just likes it. Whereas he loves history. But I'm not sure if loving a subject is enough when all the other factors are taken into account (no clear career path, low contact hours, huge amounts of self study, bigger universities). I'm just worried he'll come out with a very expensive degree and no real improvement to his career prospects. This is not knocking history degrees generally, I just can't see him him any of the careers history grads typically go into and I don't think he'll cope with the low contact / high self study aspect as he needs a lot of support now and attends every possible extra study support session at school.

So my suggestion would be to firm RAU. It's his lowest offer so insurance choice is irrelevant. He is likely to meet the grades for all his offers in any case. Fallback is clearing, with real fallback being history at Winchester as it will be in clearing and he can live at home if he fails to get accommodation. If none of those work for him, gap year and re-apply next year.

Sorry, brain dump. Don't feel obliged to try and follow, I just needed to get it out.

@EventuallyDelighted - I’m sorry DS is finding it so difficult. Can I say as a mother to 2 kids who find everything academically easy (kid 2 and kid 4) and two kids who are just as bright but have significant processing issues/LDs and find academic work and exams very difficult (kid 1 and kid 3 - in this cohort) that the most important point you make is this “ I don't think he'll cope with the low contact / high self study aspect as he needs a lot of support now and attends every possible extra study support session at school.”

Listen to your instincts in that one. If that way of learning won’t suit his learning style, don’t send him down that route. He will either do poorly and lose his confidence while doing it, or he will drop out and the student finance advantage will be lost.

Don’t pay much attention to a potential career if he doesn’t know what interests him yet. Kids get employed when they come out of uni with a good degree, some work experience, good self- confidence and can demonstrate an interest in the job and a capacity to learn and work hard. The subject they study rarely matters.

If I had sent kid 1 to do a degree in geography where she sat in a lecture theatre for 4 hours a week and wrote essays the rest of the time with massive end of year timed exams (the original plan) she would have come out with a 2:2 at best and shattered confidence. Instead I steered her in the direction of landscape architecture which had no exams, only project and group work, and she excelled. She came out of her RG uni very clear about what she wanted to do (commercial property) and three years later has a great job earning £50k +, a masters done alongside her job, professional qualifications, and loves what she is doing (asset management). I would never have believed it when we were trying to kick her through GCSEs and A levels (which she tanked, btw).

So ask your son if he can really see himself enjoying the learning style of the traditional history degree, and whether it might not be better to find something that allows him to play to his strengths. As long as the subject can hold his interest for 3 years, he will do much better. If he can’t identify a course that he is enthusiastic about, tell him he can take a gap year. He may just not be ready. As long as he gets out into the world, and doesn’t just work in the local pub for the whole thing, he will gain maturity and have a better idea of what he wants.

Also if he doesn’t do well in an academic environment don’t sign him up for a 4 year course unless one year is in industry. Let him get the degree as fast as possible and then decide what to do.

That’s my 2p worth anyway.

That sounds like a tricky decision @EventuallyDelighted. What career would you see him doing if he did the RAU course? It sounds like maybe history at Winchester is the best option, with you able to support him - maybe plan for him to live at home regardless? He could get a part time job too, which would help him with work-related skills/employability later?

But having read @Delphigirl’s post, that sounds like it may be better advice? It’s just that I have a brother who had a lot of issues at the same age, probable undiagnosed ASD, late developer etc. He did a history degree whilst living at home. It was a struggle, he needed a lot of support from my mum, but he got the degree and I’ve no doubt it helped him in the long term, in terms of the skills he developed. I can’t imagine him coping away from home at that age.

Glad you had a lovely time Orange.

I think Delphi is right Ed - fitting into the uni, the right style of teaching is important. We had that chat last night with DD on the Portsmouth v Southampton debate. Portsmouth is more 'down to earth' which suits her. It may not have the rep, but it's about what fits for her. Its hard though.

Cantonet - Bangor sounds fab. I've just looked and not sure how we missed it off the Marine Biology list!

Agree with @Delphigirl here. The only reason DS is possibly going to uni now is that an engineering course is 25 hours a week and much less self study than I thought. He would not last a month with a degree where it was mostly self study.

@Wheresthebeach, DS is going for Plymouth over Southampton for this very reason - I think Plymouth will suit his learning style so that he can excel, whereas I don’t think S’hampton will. And although Southampton is much more “prestigious” as a uni, Plymouth also really excels in Marine Science and so is a perfectly valid voice in that sector. So I say if she will be happier and do better at Portsmouth, she should go to Portsmouth.