Thread 35 - Covid Cohort from GCSE 2020 'What They Did on Their Summer Holidays'

[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. It's all relative!
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 continue down various pathways ( employment, apprenticeships, higher ed) We have decided for anyone interested they will find a thread within the Further Ed board.
Possibly a move to Parent of Adult Children Board in future? Post Results?

Previous Thread

Glad that your ds is doing better @Monkey2001 - and sorry to read your news, @Wheresthebeach , how devastating. Any news on recovery times and implications?
Sorry for being quiet on the thread: hols in Mexico (amazing, kids loved it) - then back and busy with work. Can not believe results in less than 2 weeks: how did that happen?! Ds and dd are both having a somewhat lazy summer: neither has found a proper job and not much organising going on, although ds has had a mates holiday in UK and might have another one later.

@Oblomov22 : what sort of things and destinations were on your list so we hit the right tone? My recommendations would be wild swimming and destination-wise Sri Lanka once it's safe again :-( Oh, and my 'wild card' was to go to a properly posh spa - something I had never done and assumed I definitely wouldn't like. Turns out if they're really post I do!

I must admit I'm struggling a bit with the HP books but Mr Fry is the perfect narrator. They are just a bit too long for me and I mainly listen while driving and keep missing bits when concentrating on junctions etc. I LOVE the Strike books, I have got the next one on pre-order for the end of August.

@mummyinbeds hope your DD has a fab time. I can't imagine DD doing all that on her own. She was supposed to be going to Malawi at end of L6. One of the reasons she changed schools - her new one has a permanent link with a school there and go out each summer to build a new classroom or similar and help with teaching etc. But covid....again 🙁

Potterhead family here too. It helps that Primark never seem to give up on the merchandise! Dd got terribly ribbed at secondary school for her Ravenclaw scarf (it was the same as in the film) and her HP canvas PE bag. Quite sad really. They called her a witch all the time 😡
I'm a Hufflepuff. Dh told everyone he was Slytherin as a joke at the studio tour 🙄🐍

I adoredd swimming with Turtles in Akumal @Isthisjustnormal . We were trying for Costa Rica next Jan but DH and I reckon you need two weeks , we are going to Bayahibe in the Dominican Republic instead.

How are our patients doing @Wheresthebeach and @Monkey2001 ?

Good luck to your Dd @mummyinbeds she is so brave ! I went to Africa at 16 it certainly changed my views on life/ the way I viewed the world.

Ahh, Costa Rica is amazing, @CinnamonOrangeCremeBrulee - a family member lived out there for a number of years so we got to visit cheaply, and it's absolutely amazing in terms of the mix of wildlife and environments - really stunning place! I do think you'd need 2 weeks - we wondered about it this year, but we wanted to be a bit lazier, and I don't think it's worth going there unless you are going to make the most of it!
@EspeciallyDeIighted I do enjoy HP but prefer Strike too: had forgotten the new one was end Aug: must get that ordered :-)

Thanks for all the holiday destinations suggestions. You lot are so classy and up market with all your fab with Normal's Sri Lanka, Mango's Costa Rica, etc suggestions. Sprouts that food at the Boardwalk Whale Watching in Alaska looks amazing. I do like good food. I might need to tone down by expectations budget wise compared to some of your suggestions though. Was thinking maybe Canada (only ever been to Toronto).

I have been watching Watkins in 'McDonald and Dobbs' and the arial views of Bath are so beautiful that I'm arranging my next meet-up with Best friend from Uni, in Bath.
I too like Sprouts, ED and Normal love Strike. Like also the tv show with Burke and Grainger.

Well, I’m not much of a traveller, butI have been to Tofino on Vancouver Island, and it seemed like heaven on Earth to me. There were 2 kinds of eagle and humming birds just chilling on Main St, sea lions and otters lounging on the docks. We saw humpback whales and bears actually mating. I loved it. The place has a really relaxed, hippy vibe.The 3 day train journey from Toronto was also wonderful, although I wish we’d flown to Vancouver and then got the train to Toronto, very long last day. I haven’t flown since though. Spending 14 hours certain of imminent death confirmed to me and Dh that flying doesn’t suit me. Shame, I would love to go to Costa Rica

I really like the Thermae Bath Spa, especially the rooftop pool with the views over the rooftops of Bath. Also ....Bath Buns with Cinnamon Butter mmmmm.

@CinnamonOrangeCremeBrulee That's exactly where we are going! Can't wait to be on the Bath Spa Rooftop!

@Oblomov22 I travelled across Canada/America in a camper van when I was 19, taking in so many beauty spots like Lake Louise (Crater Lake nearby even better) and Niagara. It was a fantastic holiday.

Canada is gorgeous abs a great choice: I’d second travelling about: if you’ve done Toronto, I’d probably look at Rockies/Vancouver: Vancouver islands are really magical, I agree with @Zebracat

@zebracat - I also love Tofino. If you want to transport yourself right back there you can get the Tofino radio station (Tuff City Radio) on the internet - mixture of hippy-vibe music, weather (the clouds are always rolling in) and snippets of local news (a hiker was scalped by a grizzly yesterday…)
here you go!
tuffcityradio.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com

For me a holiday destinations would be anywhere outside the Uk. With a dh who won't go on a plane and me who won't go on a boat...we don't go far. There are so many places I'd love to visit. Once ds3 is old enough to leave home we might try France and the euro tunnel, or I'll just have to go on a boat.

I've been to France, Corfu and Lanzarotte and that's it, I went with a France with our village twinning group and ds3. The other 2 places I went with a family friend age 16 and 18.

Ooh @Delphigirl , that is wonderful radio, Tofino is definitely somewhere I could live., if only it wasn’t so far away.

Another lover of Tofino here. DH and I both have cousins in Vancouver. Our trip was when DS was only 1 so am glad we didn't see bears then, I think. There was only dual carriageway from Victoria to Nanaimo! I came back talking about emigrating but DH wasn't keen.

In other news DS received a letter from student finance today. His living costs loan is well short of the cost of self-catering accommodation. I had done a rough calculation but it's still a bit depressing.

Student loans. Ugh. We are on our 4th attempt to get the right calculation. Last letter took 7 hours.

Is that because he got accommodation that wasn't his first choice, or because it's all so expensive?

I think most student loans don't cover accommodation. It really is a poor system.

Well full student loans do cover the cost of the accommodation in nearly all cases.

i think the main problem is that in this country we were used to free education so never did the whole ‘saving for college’ thing that is the norm in places like the US.

it needs to be a lot clearer that parents are expected to top up to the maximum loan. I think that is going to be more explicit from next year. But it needs to be so more openly known that parents do know years in advance that that is the expectation.

Thankfully we knew in advance that we would have to contribute the difference between minimum and maximum loan and only have one going to uni but for those who didn’t realise the situation it’s really hard.

There is definitely some accommodation, though , where the full loan doesn't or barely covers it, I think is the point?

Plus what percentage of students qualify for the full loan?

Not sure. I'm sure that varies from uni to uni, too, as does the range of accommodation costs. Some unis have really expensive accommodation as default, and some have a good, decent range of less eyewatering stuff.

It was a complete fluke that we started saving specifically for the DC’s uni costs - back in 2001 our oldest received a cheque from his US godmother ‘for his college fund’ and we felt a bit guilty spending it on gin for us, so bunged it in an ISA with a direct debit and (sort of) forgot about it.