Thread 38 Covid Cohort, After Results Day

[CinnamonOrangeCremeBrulee]

ALL our children are heroes of their own stories, they have thrived through a once in a century catastrophe and they will succeed

This is a support thread for our young adults post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting, and their results (life updates for those who went into work or have had results earlier). 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 Sept?

Previous thread

www.mumsnet.com/talk/further_education/4613457-thread-37-covid-cohort-2020-results-thread-heroes-of-their-own-stories

@Fiddlersgreen I was in an earlyish batch because I volunteered at a vaccine centre for several months at the beginning and we weren't allowed to start until we had been done. When the boosters came out I phoned up to say I didn't need to be done so early but they said it was better for them if I stayed where I was in the system rather than having to move me back to my rightful place by age. So I guess everyone at least as old as me (51) will be getting one now because otherwise I wouldn't have been called at all. Some CEV friends had a booster a few months ago and I wasn't included in that.

Usual caveat though that I am in Wales so not necessarily aligned with England.

Same ED re also trying to look after the other DC's GCSE results and trying to make them feel just as important.

I thought I'd quickly pop on and say we've still no news, still stuck on waiting status. So as they worked Saturday this is now the 5th day with no answers. I do really appreciate that they are trying to get my dd a place but waiting this long is having such a negative impact on her and on me. She's just so switched off from the whole thing now and I'm covered in mouth ulcers and very tense. Luckily she was always staying home to study so any accommodation pressure and shopping isn't an issue.
She has enrolled on the level 4 btec at the same provider and has induction next Wednesday, it's a year long and will give her double the ucas points she needs to start uni next September and as her degree is an accelerated 2 year one she won't really be behind as it were.

Love ikea - hope everyone's teens are excited for whatever their next chapters, maybe next time I update it'll be actual news!!

And to the poster who mentioned gcses, I've got that Thursday too which is why an answer for my eldest is sort of needed now so I can focus on my youngest

Absolutely ridiculous chenin, what on earth is taking them so long?

@cheninblanc that is mad, no wonder you are stressed. We are all thinking of you and hope you get sorted soon.

I've no idea what the wait is? Now that it's been 5 days she doesn't even want to call them anymore. Every deadline they themselves set for an answer they miss so she doesn't see any point in speaking to anyone. She's adding me as a nominated person by email today so I'll be calling them after lunch

@icanbewhatiwant, as far as we are aware it is within 30 days of opening and of course there are some types of transactions that are not allowed. Let me find the link. I think we are just going to put a few hundred pounds in for him first and let him make some small purchases.

https://www.hsbc.co.uk/current-accounts/products/student/?cid=HBUK:PHD:NA:P1:RB:L6:GO:XTR:14:ST:14:0119:001:SCABrrExact&gbraid=0AAAAAC-h5DaXhd1zwH2B5kNK0rU-YtCYm&gbraid=0AAAAAC-h5DaXhd1zwH2B5kNK0rU-YtCYm&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9ZGYBhCEARIsAEUXITWZgQO6dEpIeIdCtzI-2btzVEMJ5sQvjrJWWsr0s6djad4xWQKqMa4aAg7uEALwwcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

GCSE results here too on Thursday. Ds agreed to look at A Level subjects yesterday on the basis that it was my birthday so he couldn't say no 😖We got as far as him rejecting every single available subject in the first 2 option blocks and deciding that he'd have to do PE A Level instead of BTEC Sport in order to open up some different options in the option block that BTEC Sport is in. He doesn't have an AQA approved sport, so he'd have to take one up and get good enough at it to do the practical bit of the A Level. So I've been searching for table tennis clubs! He hasn't actually decided what his third option would be - but he might choose Sociology or Psychology. Obviously he won't want to discuss it today as it's no longer my birthday....

Other than that, I've been on the phone to Virgin all morning trying to get out of the early disconnection fee when we move! And trying to work at the same time.... And we have friends coming for tea tonight so I need to get some food in. Uni is no longer a priority! Thankfully dh took pity on me yesterday because it was my birthday and took dd out to buy a tent for Reading, as the one I got from Ebay was too small.

@cheninblanc I can't believe the situation you in. It is totally unacceptable. No wonder you are so stressed.

GCSE's here on Thursday too. My younger DS has been refusing to do any type of bridging work for A Levels until he knows that he's been accepted into the school so that should be fun.

Oh crazy happy birthday for yesterday and I hope things calm down a bit soon!

GCSE results for us too.
Ds2 has to get 9's in his A level subjects in order to get a place. So far in his igcse's he's got 2×8. He missed a whole term of school this year due to ill health.
So I can feel the pressure ratcheting up.
I can't sleep & Ds will consider no alternate plan.

Oh gosh @Cantonet that’s lots of added stress.
DS needs 6s for his subject so should be ok, I hope! He was getting 7s and 8s in his mocks

Oh that's stressful @Cantonet . Hope he gets the 9s or alternatively, there's a solution he's happy with. @OverlySensitive my ds is just refusing to do bridging work full stop... and obviously we don't know the subjects so that's difficult too.

I’m one with GCSES too, I just feel bad because I’m still recovering from A levels. Poor DS2 probably thinks he isn’t important. He isn’t set on his A levels either and his school only ask for a 7 to proceed. So he should be ok.

My DD needs 6s I think but should be ok, she has picked her strongest subjects. She is going to college and there hasn't been any bridging work as far as I know.

Oh lord, feel for you all dealing with A level choices as well as the uni prep. My last-minute-dot-com DS spent so long deciding what and where for A levels that he started term two days late! A week of indecision and faffing that aged me several years! UCAS is good for getting a firm-ish commitment out of them early doors. Luckily, after lots of indecision in the autumn, he seems to be fairly happy with his choice of degree course. I wonder how he'll feel three weeks in.

Very happy news today, that he's got the bargain halls at Manchester. A bit tatty, but will do the job. About 3k less per year than the most expensive option he might have been given. Yay!

Can't believe Falmouth is so rubbish, @cheninblanc. May your misery be over soon.

How's DS2's job going, @Monkey2001? Hope he's enjoying it so far.

We also have GCSE results here on Thursday. I am not anywhere near as stressed as I was this time last week but there’s still time!

DD has known want A Levels she wants to do for a while and has been studiously doing transition work. She has her own very high grade targets - she would like all 9s. In some ways it didn’t help her that DSs results were better than expected as she has her own need to compete with him. Have told her to either not compare (unlikely) or to compare with his GCSEs.

Am quite glad I don’t need to be doing university things right now I must admit.

Current (very small) issue is trying to find a Congratulations helium balloon that’s different from the one I got for DS 😃

I have one who likes to compete also Miranda. I asked her yesterday what a good set of GCSEs would look like and she said all A stars. I asked what would a bad result be and she said, anything else 🙄

She only needs 5 x A-C to get into college but she wants to make their scholars programme which requires 5 x A stars.

On the plus side DS and I have talked through all the uni admin tasks without falling out and have a list of stuff to do and source, some of which I will do and some he will do, so that's all good. Strangely enough he doesn't want me choosing his clothes 😂 but I am allowed to buy a baking tray "as long as it doesn't have anything stupid like I ❤️ BUNS on it".

God @cheninblanc that is so awful. I have a friend who is a governor of Falmouth, I feel like phoning them up and giving them an earful. I’m so sorry.

Lots of us with GCSE results on Thursday. I haven’t spent 1 sec thinking about them what with worrying about DS2’s A level results and getting DS1 off to uni abroad yesterday. Also she is academically super able and organised and competent so I am sure she will do fine. Makes a nice change from DD1 and DS2 I have to say.

@singingstones I ❤️ BUNS 😂

DS has GCSE results on Thursday too. I was thinking back to when DD got hers 2 years ago and we’d had 5 months of wondering what would happen since the school shut and then the added stress of the algorithm and A levels results debacle the week previous. Seems a long time ago now.

Monkey, I’ve c&p’d this from my post on another thread, but I’m sure you can answer it.
DD’s English teacher doesn’t seem to understand the difference between UMS and raw marks, so I wanted to check that I’ve understood correctly.

“Can anyone clarify that I’m correct in my thinking, please?

DD sat WJEC English lit.
Her result sheet shows UMS marks, not raw marks.
She is 4 UMS away from the next grade band up, so the HoD suggested a review of marking.

However, am I correct in thinking that raw marks carry different values to UMS marks, and therefore, 4 UMS may actually mean she’s actually further away in raw marks which means there’s no point in asking for a review?”

@crazycrofter I don't know what your DS's plans are, but for AQA PE A level you might like to know that 30% is coursework, of which half is for a performance (you have to identify where you have used various skills) and half is for analysis of a performance which can be the candidate's or anyone else's. I don't know how ambitious he is, but in a normal year it is one of the subjects which does not give many top grades.

@cheninblanc more outrage on your behalf here!

@DoggerelBank thanks for asking, he had a good first day, although there may be a bit of pressure ahead as he is joining a team of two and one of them had her last day yesterday! Glad to hear your DS is happy with his cheap and cheerful accommodation - funny after your DD got AMH; whoever the patron saint of thriftiness is, they are watching over you! Has your DD found a good place in Manchester too? I think she was hoping for Chorlton.

Ds2 is very competitive with his siblings. He compared SATS grades with ds1. Then they do an English speaking board thing in year 9. Ds1 got 98% so I said to ds2 that he can't beat that. He got 100% then he wanted to compare gcse grades. But as he didn't actually sit them I'm not sure it counts. Ds1's GCSEs were all a similar grade. But ds2 had a couple lower than ds1 but a couple higher, so I think averaged out they are probably the same. But ds2 says his were better. A levels they both had a distinction star for business. But ds1 got BB compared to ds1's AA so I guess he won that. Ds2 sent me a text after results saying it's proof he is the better child. Apparently ds1's 2:1 in his degree will be beaten. I feel for ds1 really. He doesn't want it to be a competition. Ds2 has high expectations of ds3 now. I don't think ds3 wants a competition either. As ds3 is going into year 9 sept. We have a long time until next GCSEs.

@cheninblanc I can’t believe you are still waiting, it’s a deplorable situation. No wonder you have mouth ulcers. So stressful.

@cheninblanc I do hope you hear soon. I can't imagine what you are all going through and no wonder you have ulcers!

Good luck to all those waiting GCSE results on Thursday. What a stressful couple of weeks for you all.

I'd be grateful for some advice please. DD turned down her alternative offer at Southampton as the course wasn't for her so her place at Cardiff was automatically firmed. She's really undecided what to do and we are going round in circles.

Her heart was set on Southampton but she doesn't want to resit Biology so she needs to discount it.

She's not overly keen on the first year of her course at Cardiff but likes the content for years 2 & 3. Her main problem is she doesn't really know what she wants to do and chose both courses as she liked Geography A level. We've suggested she takes a year out and perhaps asks if she can defer but she's unsure she'll feel any clearer next year as she's not got any burning ambition to do anything. Covid was not kind to her and she struggled with A levels as she wasn’t motivated.

She has her ASD assessment in October so the timing for that is not great with uni start but she's been waiting so long we're not keen on pushing it back. I am quite convinced she has ADD too. Talking about how her A levels went we are thinking she may have slow processing as she didn't finish any of her A level papers as she ran out of time.

I’m thinking regardless of what course she does she should defer to get herself more equipped and ready to cope with uni life. She was only 18 last Friday so very young in the year and would benefit from some life experience. She feels if she doesn’t go this year she’s missing out and will get left behind by her peers. Also she may not want to go next year.

Does anyone have any experience of deferring or any general advice would be very welcome.