Post GCSE’s 2022 - Year 12 2022/23 General support thread

[Rollergirl11]

This is a thread for supporting all young people post GCSEs 2022, regardless of their educational setting.
Our DC’s may continue down various pathways ( employment, apprenticeships, higher ed)
Everyone is welcome!

Happy New Year all!

My DS has also been really poorly @QueenMabby I've never known him to be ill for more than a couple of days before. He is now in week 3 and just tested positive for covid. I have had novo virus which thankfully he did not catch. It's been the worst Christmas holidays ever!

He has two days to do all his homework before school starts back on Wednesday. Can't believe they will be applying to university later this year!

Happy New Year all, DD2 has lounged around for the entire holidays.
I’ve encouraged her to get herself organised over the next few days before going back to school on Wednesday.

Happy New Year! Sorry to hear some of your DCs have been ill, wishing them speedy recoveries. DS has a heavy cold but managed to go back to college yesterday. I'm sure this term will go very quickly as it is quite short. He has more assessments in all his subjects towards the end of January. Finally got his BMO1 result today and he is pleased with how he did, not through to the next round but he didn't expect to be.

Well done to your ds @IThinkIMadeItWorse - that's a great result. Ds did the chemistry Olympiad yesterday and is hoping to do well so he can put it on his personal statement.

Happy Hew Year! Hope your DCs are settling back into the school routine. DS has made a good start, being granted the privilege of home study for periods 5 & 6 if he has a free period, based on timekeeping, attitude & grades. However, he is having a wobble again about Maths, thinking of dropping after AS. His heart is set on an Economics degree, & while there are some courses that don't require a Maths A level, our worry is that there will still be Maths content & if he is struggling now is an Economics degree the right degree to do. Appreciate there is some time to decide & guess the best thing is to see how he does at AS in the summer...I've a feeling this year is going to fly by!

Hey everyone. Think I dropped off the thread for a bit. Hope all DC’s are well. Not too much to report with DD. She has some assessments this week so will see how she does in them but I’m sure she will be fine.

She is still working in Waitrose and enjoying earning some money. She’s also met a boy there and they have been seeing each other the last few months. He drives and has his own car so I’m enjoying being less of a taxi service but just had to get over the fear of DD being driven around by an 18 year old. I suppose will have to get used to it even more once her friends start driving. Funnily enough DD has shown zero interest in learning to drive in April when she turns 17. I think she’d rather be ferried around by her mates and her boyfriend!

I agree with @legofrostqueen in that I think this year will go quick now that we’re passed Christmas.

Happy New Year all!

DD had assessments last week, so should get them back in the next day or two. She's decided to ditch DofE, which I'm a bit disappointed about, but better than her dropping one of her subjects at this stage.

It really feels like this school year will fly by now.

DS also had assessments last week with a straggler today. He's not 17 until the summer holidays so we haven't got to the driving lesson stage yet!

DS has got a merit for an assignment towards his BTEC. Sent it back to try to get a distinction but didn’t get it. But a merit is pretty good for a non academic kid. First cooking assignment Monday - at least we don’t have to buy the ingredients !

and he had first driving lesson which went well he says.

school seems a long time ago now

That's interesting. I had got the impression you couldn't improve BTEC assignments except from a not pass to a pass.
Maybe it depends on the type or level of qualification (DD is doing L1 City&Guilds. She isn't even being told the result of her practical assessments).

He’s doing an extended BTec level 3. It’s from referred to distinction for each element. So far he’s had two referered that he has re done but not had a re mark. One pass and now one merit.

Colleges usually set their own criteria for remarks.

The bad places (and I have worked in a few) allow unlimmited attempts.

My favorite place to work had an 'upgrade week' so all assignments were marked and returned. Then in upgrade week any student who had a referred assignment had to be present that week and complete the work.

Students with Pass or Merit grades had the option to come in to improve the grade and students with Distinctions got a week off college.

It was really a good idea because there were no formal lessons that week so you could have 1-1 time with the students and explain what was needed.

Oh I like that idea @sashh

Ds not interested in driving lessons yet and it doesn't seem many of his friends are either. However, we live in London so the transport is cheap and good. Depending on where he ends up after sixth form though it might be useful I think.

Ds school sent a little bit in the newsletter about the planned teachers strikes but they're not sure yet how it will affect learning. I'm sure Yrs 13 and 11 will be prioritised.

We get one attempt to upgrade from referred…..however he doesn’t know yet if he managed to upgrade to a pass as haven’t been returned yet ! Have to say it’s very haphazard plus half the kids don’t turn up for lessons which makes restaurant service for paying guests interesting …!

@legofrostqueen ds is also really thriving at economics but dropped maths - he feels that rules out a degree. Think he is still away off figuring it all out.

I think there are economic degrees that you can do without A level maths. Ds school has had a fair few dropping it and even more dropping further maths.

Online school tomorrow for strike day - ds happy as he'll get a lie- in. We're looking at virtual work experience programmes in anything science related for the Easter or half term holidays otherwise his personal statement is going to be very thin.

When we went to the economics talk at Birmingham Uni, they stated that they were one of the few institutes that were happy to take students without Maths A-level. Not sure of anywhere else.
My DS is also considering an economics degree or possibly PPE. They don't have long to decide really!

My DS breaks up next week for half term and then has exams straight after. Still don't see him doing any school work at all so will be interesting to see how he does.

Assessment week currently for DS. Not sure how much work is going on. He's aiming for A A B in these which would be progress so we'll see how he does. Will report back.

No clue what he's going to put on his personal statement either. He's looking at physics possibly with astrophysics so have no clue what sort of work experience that could involve!

DDs have a Progress Review next week with 1:1s via Teams so they're off timetable for 3 days and probably working from home.

DD1 has booked a one day workshop for half term with the Royal Institution on Bacterial Evolution which she's really looking forward to.

Not sure if DD2's plans - probably will involve going out with her friends and catching up with college work.

DS has come home today with results from Chemistry and Further Maths which he is pleased with, he has done well. Not heard his Maths or Physics results yet. Assessments were last week so they have marked them pretty quickly. He has a day at home tomorrow and his teacher is striking so no live lesson (some non striking teachers will be doing live teams lessons) but I think he has some work he can do.

He has nothing to write on his personal statement outside of school stuff, his main hobby is playing computer games! Mind you he is still not completely sure what he wants to apply for so feels like he has quite a long way to go. My nephew is a year older so (last I heard) has three uni offers and waiting to hear from the other two - scary how quickly time is going.

@aramox1 & @zighead I think with our Maths the top unis for Economics won't take them. DS's business teacher suggested Newcastle as one of the good unis that doesn't require Maths & interesting to know about Birmingham too. But of course they will still be competing for places with students who do expect to have a Maths A level....

Sixth form are in school today despite the strike, along with year 11s. But DS will only have one taught lesson today so it seems a bit pointless!

Only year 11 and 13 in at our school today so DS is at home. Only one teacher has set some work and there's no live lessons so I confess we are taking the opportunity to go shopping for some suitable clothes for the work experience he is doing at half term. There's no time when he gets home from school and weekends are always packed with sports and his part time job so it does seem to good an opportunity to miss. I feel a bit guilty though for some reason!

Blown away by this. He’s a bit of a star in my eyes Catering college rocks

Wow! @NameInUseAlreadyAgain that looks amazing!