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

Well done @Oblomov22! We haven’t set up the accommodation portal yet but @heifer said earlier this week that it took 24-48 hours or so before she could do the accommodation bit. Hopefully before Monday!

DS firmed yesterday morning, it updated straight away but we couldn't get into the accommodation booking until the evening when he had received a confirmation email from the RAU. It was a busy evening of admin, various forms to fill in, scan and send for the DSA assessment, accommodation choices to look at properly and decide order of preference, click and collect shopping to finalise and the mouse was playing up on my laptop which didn't help with any of it.

Then this morning I went to pay the accommodation deposit for DS and the payment system wasn't working, so that took half an hour to sort out. Now for the DSA assessment, then it's laptop off for the rest of the day.

Oh and order a new mouse from Amazon (the other one is ancient). Of course it's working perfectly again today 🤷‍♀️

@crazycrofter

Well done *@Oblomov22*! We haven’t set up the accommodation portal yet but *@heifer* said earlier this week that it took 24-48 hours or so before she could do the accommodation bit. Hopefully before Monday!

*@Oblomov22* - Even after receiving the confirmation of Firming email it still didn't work immediately, was about 36 hrs from Firming I think we had to wait for it to actually work. I just kept trying and then suddently went from Not recognising DD student number to going to next page. I am sure they will get them all sorted before Monday.... (fingers crossed).

@crazycrofter - is your DDs set up yet?

I am amazed that we still haven't actually been sent any information on what to do and when it actually opens (time wise). Even the email confirming confirmation just points you in the direction but doesn't say what to do and when. I then thought perhaps they will email once I've set up account but still nothing accept and emailing confirming DD has set up an accommodation account.. I keep ready that last year it was open midnight but really hope that isn't the case as I will be travelling back from Swindon then! When I asked the accommodation team they said 8.00am but I haven't actually seen a time stated anywhere...

No, we haven't done it yet, too much going on. Dd is out tonight but I'm not sure when from, so I might try to make sure she does it before she goes. From what the accommodation office said though, they didn't seem to think Rutland or Sherwood would be oversubscribed so I'm hoping they're right!

@crazycrofter I noticed that you had already said you hadn't done it so sorry for asking again!

I've just tried to ask a question on the portal and it mentions they are having problems with the accommodation account setup but to keep trying.

Has anyone noticed any information saying how many accommodations types to pick? I've seen others saying previously that they picked areas rather than halls but I don't think that is the case this year - also still no time mentioned anywhere. It's all very odd tbh. I've emailed to ask for confirmation.

Nottingham looks lovely! I can see it suiting DS in a couple of years time. He's not a city person like DD.

Dd has her account set up now. Her friend’s brother who’s at Nottingham says catered is definitely best socially and Cripps and Rutland are the best halls, so now dd is happy to follow our advice!

@crazycrofter - excellent. They are funny aren't they. I haven't heard/read much about Sherwood at all so was planning on suggesting to DD that if she needs more than 3 options she apply to Rutland and then Cripps too (as have heard that's good and it's in the right place for where DD wants to be - she ruled out anywhere on the east side of the map (probably 5 more mins walk)...

actually I have no idea which side DD ruled out - it's the left side.

Thanks all. I will keep an eye on it.

For those who have an interest in Leeds or Leeds Beckett. Interesting that it seems openly to be all about money. Will more mergers follow?
thetab.com/uk/leeds/2022/04/01/the-university-of-leeds-and-leeds-beckett-to-merge-from-september-2022-57134

DSA assessment done. Very thorough, the system seems very efficient.

@EwwSprouts it’s an April fool I did wonder when I read the bit about the ‘stigma’ associated with Leeds Beckett in the document

@Oblomov22 great news!

@EventuallyDelighted glad the DSA assessment is done and dusted for you.

I'm losing track but if anyone has Southampton as insurance you can apply for accommodation from Mon, no deposit required . Also those who are Firm of course, they allocate rooms after results day and 96% of students were allocated one of their top three choices last year.

DD has received an email from Nottingham accommodation team this evening - not to the email address which she used for the accommodation account but the one on Ucas.
Still not time given as to when it opens on Monday but this is the jist.

From Monday 4 April, you'll be able to apply for university-arranged accommodation for your University of Nottingham course. Take a look at your accommodation options now.

You can choose at least three options when you apply. We cannot guarantee to allocate you your first choice but will endeavour to offer you one of your chosen options wherever possible.

We'll contact you again when accommodation application open on Monday.

@crazycrofter Doh ! Fell for it.

Congratulations to everyone for firming !!!Goodness what a day of firming it was yesterday - we went out to dinner with friends and the day was crazy busy work wise so just caught up with the chat on here.

DD did covid booster this week and has a party tonight so fairly quiet. She has suddenly clicked in with revision and suddenly took herself off after dinner for revision ?!? On Tuesday … and has not stopped since. I think being handed a hard copy of the exam timetable did it !!

Also ordering the leavers hoodie was a moment too! She ordered something other than black but then there is a National shortage of the colour she chose so it’s back to black again🤣

DSA needs assessment on this Friday morning plus lots of revision

We can’t book accommodation for Sheffield as insurance but have put the preference form in for colleges at Durham who allocate in May ….

Congratulations on all the button pushing: exciting times!! Ds has DSA assessment on Monday: @EventuallyDelighted - did yo do any prep in advance? I’m conscious of having ignored this one a bit and wondering if it’s a good idea to spend some time thinking through what we would hope to get to make sure we put a good ‘arguement’ in!

Congratulations on all the button pressing.

Obviously we can't press any buttons without any offers (☹️) and poor DS has not got the weekend he would choose first his 18th birthday (tomorrow) as we are moving DH"s stepmother's stuff. We have got her a flat near us and her house sale completes on Friday. She doesn't want to move, but is not coping in her big Georgian house due to poor mental health, so the move is altogether difficult. DS has 2 exams on Monday and wants to spend Sunday revising, so didn't even want to go out for a birthday meal and not seeing his GF as he doesn't want to be distracted. So today he and GF are shifting furniture and tomorrow (his 18th) he will be home alone with dog whilst we carry on during for the move!

DH agreed the completion date without asking me - I would never have agreed to the 8th, which is the last day of term as well as the Friday after DS's 18th!

@Monkey2001 everything crossed for your DS for an offer. Can you still do a cake and leave some nice food for him?

DD got the DSA report back and all as expected and very thorough. So now waiting for SFE to approve and then should get a letter in the post (DSA2 entitlement letter). @Isthisjustnormal no prep needed but perhaps think of things that might help and can then ask if not covered.

@Isthisjustnormal I felt the same about the DSA assessment, should I have prepared more but didn't need to. We had sent the assessor all the supporting docs from the original application, she sent a couple of forms for us to fill in and send back beforehand (a reading questionnaire and a form about any specific needs) which took an hour or so between them. Other than that didn't need anything. It still took 2.5 hours which was quite draining. All good though.

@Monkey2001 sorry to hear it's not going to be the ideal 18th for your DS. Agree with @PaddingtonPaddington, can you get his favourite takeaway for Sunday night if he doesn't want to go out. Really hope the offers come in soonest. How many is he waiting on still?

Great news @Oblomov22 on pressing the button, especially as he had some lovely but difficult options!

Well done for all the other button pushing. Exciting times.

Good luck @Monkey2001 with the move this weekend. I’ve had to do this twice for my own DP’s & I know how challenging it is. In my DM’s house, although looked neat & immaculate at first glance, contained enough bed linen (including a single brown & orange duvet coverI had in the late 70’s & towels to run a large B&B. That was the tip of the iceberg!! But, after a million charity shop/car boot sales/ebaying etc we did get there! I’ve vowed to keep my own house pretty minimalist so my kids don’t have to go through such a nightmare! I’m sure your MIL will be much more settled closer to you & feel less overwhelmed once she’s in. Maybe you can have a belated 18th celebration in the hols?

We’re still waiting for Durham & Edinburgh….. but DS was pretty smitten with Exeter last weekend. Fingers crossed for everyone still waiting for answers, so we can all move on!