Year 13 2023/2024 - General support thread

[Rollergirl11]

It’s now the time for our young adults to sit their final year at sixth form/college. Everyone is welcome!

Morning, just looking for some hand holding I think. DD was predicted AAB in her a levels. She has recently changed school due to bullying and has received a D and an E in her mocks so far. Has anyone experienced this situation? She is totally floored. I've reached out to the school and she's also sent her papers to her old teachers for feedback. Is it usual to drop so many grades?

DD waiting for Oxford decision tomorrow - she’s had offers from Bristol and Belfast. Not heard from Edinburgh or Durham yet. She really wants Oxford….

@MrsGolightly, sorry to hear this. Is the new school using the same syllabus as the old school for her subjects? Has her Ucas form been submitted yet?

Thanks Miranda and Monday DD assures me that when we end up with 80 cats lots of her friends will take some. DD also wants to take Floof to university but 1.2 metres of non-stop trilling / chatting cat is a bit hard to disguise so think there will be lots of visits home to see the cat.

Sorry about your DD MrsGoLightly My DD changed schools mid GCSEs and all the advice on other MN threads was the grades could well go down a lot. But she was in a similar situation to your DD where she needed out of the old school and we took a gamble. I think you are absolutely right to move your DD but feel for her with the mocks. I had found a school with similar GCSEs but we found some subjects had been taught in reverse order and some she had to start from scratch as new subjects. So there was a lot of very close checking of what she had done so far, what school had done so far and how to plug the gaps. The school were also pretty relaxed about attendance which helped and DD caught up a lot from home. In the end her grades were fine and she was much happier at the new school, got lovely friends, supportive teachers and it was definitely the right thing for her. I would check what A level syllabuses are, what was done at old school, what is being done at new school and see the gaps. It might be worth looking into a tutor if you can finance that, we didn't need one but its quite short timescales now. I would talk to the schools as well as you are doing and see their take on it but it might be she has been taught in reverse order in some subjects or something like that which would mean rest of year for new stuff is fine but needs to redo their previous stuff.

DD is grumpy as the exam she did this afternoon is one she’s already done. Plus grumpy about tomorrow. I have found somewhere else in the house to be.

Good luck for tomorrow for all Oxford hopefuls! 🤞🙏

Thanks Rollergirl Good luck to anyone awaiting Oxford tomorrow. DD is still cheerful and was fine in our discussion, phew. We are having a Thai takeaway tonight which helps.

She says she is staying up until 3am so that she will sleep until midday and the results will be in when she wakes. Apparently she will be here. She has told me if she's not got in not to talk about it so at least I know what to do. I've been suggesting other courses she could apply for but so far its no on them all, there's ones she likes but she doesn't like the entry requirements and she says she'll want that with AAB as entry requirements. 😆I found a year abroad ones but that was a no as it makes it 4 years, abroad is apparently fine, 4 years is not fine. I think I just need to talk about cats if its a no.

Yes good luck to all those awaiting Oxford news tomorrow. One of DS's best friends is in the same position so I will be thinking of her, and you all tomorrow.
I'm not sure if it's better or worse to have a definite date that to hear on, but I hope it's good news all round.

I do prefer a date so you are not looking on random dates but not sure I want it to be tomorrow. Well I do if its good news. If its bad news prefer to dream a bit longer though its helpful for planning to know asap.

Try not to worry. Most important thing is to get feedback and detail of what went wrong. Is it how she is answering the questions, ran out of time, content, application of knowledge? This helps her with what to focus on.

Mocks can vary hugely between schools. Was the prediction from the existing school?

All the best to the Oxford lot!

Good luck to the Oxford hopefuls- whatever happens, they've done so well to get to this stage!

Sending positive vibes to all Oxford hopefuls for tomorrow.

Thank you. Oxford offer through for DD for E&M. Good luck to anyone still waiting.

Excellent news @Silkierabbit ! So pleased for her (and you.) Good luck to all still waiting.

Thank you MrsAvocet So relieved as her heart is really set on it and they were so lovely with her at interview, she came out saying I know they will look after me. 😻

I'm so pleased for you and your DD @Silkierabbit 😊 Turns out she was right to not think about other plans

DD is in a mock exam until around 11:30 and even then I’m not sure how long she’ll take to look at emails etc and then don’t know whether she’ll let me know straight away so could be a while yet

Good luck Miranda Feel for you waiting. Thanks very much.

Yes, good luck to those waiting on Oxford outcomes today.

Congratulations to your DD @Silkierabbit .

Congrats to your DD @Silkierabbit so pleased for her (and you!)

Sympathies to those who got a no and those still waiting to hear.

@Silkierabbit -- what great news for your dd! Congratulations.

@MirandaWest - I hope you don't have too long a wait. Fingers crossed for an offer.

Great news @Silkierabbit

fingers crossed for everyone else.

DD didn’t get an offer but says she’s weirdly OK about it and is going to go to choir later on (which she thought she wouldn’t have been able to do if she didn’t get an offer).

One of her good friends did get an offer but more of them have applied to Cambridge so not too much angst at the moment.

I’d got her some chocolate for if she came back here (has stayed at school which also suggests she’s OK) so might eat it myself (will probably keep it for her 😃)

Wonderful news @Silkierabbit finally some good news for your family. Your DD sounds very confident & determined, all of which paid off.

Commiserations to your DD @MirandaWest - sounds as if your DD is dealing with it well...but may still need the chocolate later!