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!

We're in Yorkshire. Students at DS's school tend to start with 4 A level subjects (or 3 plus EPQ) but drop to 3 in year 13 . Taking an AS in usually one subject helps to gauge which subject to drop.

How’s everyone doing? DD seems to have spent much of her holidays either studying at the library (being able to drive there herself is useful) or glowering at the rest of us for daring to be in the same room as her.

DS is tarting university in a few weeks time and she has already commandeered the spare room, which often gets used as a dumping ground for DS's guitars as a study for her. We need to find a desk she can use in there. This does mean that we all might manage to not be glowered at so much.

Ha the glowering sounds familiar. We have that with the added frisson of never knowing whether to expect glowers or smiles from one moment to the next.

What studying is she doing Miranda? DD is doing a bit of reading for her PS between social engagements, but nothing else. She wasn't set any holiday work - she took AS exams and hasn't been back since apart from a week of enrichment and UCAS prep, so has basically had 3 months off. I think there may be a bit of a shock coming when college starts again.

DD is just in Mauritius with me at the moment. Just had dinner on the beach. We are having a lovely time, lots of snorkelling with tropical fish and beautiful scenery.

Other than that she's been doing her punting job all summer and earning very well from it and a bit of A Level work.

Hi all, hope everyone has had good summers, although the weather hasn’t been amazing. My two don’t go back until the 7th so still just over a week left. It’s going to be a stressful year for us with DD doing A levels and DS doing his GCSE’s.

DD just back from Reading yesterday and still in bed catching up on sleep. She’s hardly done any work that I can see this summer holidays. She’s done a bit of work on her PS and some English lit coursework. She was supposed to be doing some more work on her EPQ but that hasn’t happened. I’ve made a few comments and she said to stop nagging her. Generally speaking DD works hard and always gets excellent grades but DH and I did feel that she was ever so slightly coasting in Year 12; going out too much and consumed with her boyfriend. DD admitted that she didn’t put in as much effort as usual. She is adamant that Year 13 she will be back on form. She will be applying to Cambridge (so perhaps should have been doing some prep over the summer) so this term will be busy for her getting her application in and then her mocks in November. We also have a couple more open days for Lancaster and Warwick in September and October. So deffo feels like the calm before the storm.

@Silkierabbit - gorgeous photos! I'm so jealous. Hope you and dd are having the loveliest time.

@MirandaWest - you're right. It's hardly felt like summer with this glum weather! My ds has also coasted in year 12. Predicted grades were a bit of a shock and he's worked hard over the summer particularly on physics where he's done 10 past papers provided by school to try and help him get his grade up. At least his EPQ is done and the grade received for that. He got his A which feels like one hurdle cleared at least. Open days for York and Loughborough next month.

Dd goes back on 6th. Holiday work has been completed and we have a first draft of the personal statement. No more open days as she has decided on Cambridge, Bath and Exeter.

DD saw some friends yesterday and returned much more pleasant to know 😊

She and one of her friends both have September birthdays and so are having a joint 18th birthday party on Monday. There is much planning happening - luckily for me the friend’s mum is doing most of the sorting out and also hosting it and I just need to contribute money 😃 (DD and friend are involved but the mum has organised things like a marquee in their garden, having checked with me this was ok first)

DD has also done her application for a choral scholarship at Oxford - is a somewhat complex process which is also basically independent of the actual application and you’ll know before making your application through UCAS. She needs to coordinate her references from singing teacher and choir conductor now

Sounds like DS has stepped up over the summer holidays @QueenMabby. Good for him!

@ShanghaiDiva DD is applying to Cambridge and Exeter also. Is your DD not applying to the full 5 options?

@MirandaWest hope your DD has a fab 18th birthday party. Sounds like my idea of heaven not having to host. DD doesn’t have the best track record with parties at our place!
Also fingers crossed your DD gets her choral scholarship. It’s sounds complicated.

DD admitted to me how much work she still has to do. She has 2 English lit teachers who have both set NEA work over the summer. She’s done one lot but still needs to do the other. She has History coursework to complete. She has a fair amount of amendments to make to her EPQ and she needs to finish her PS. Finished version of that, with approval from her teachers, needs to be in by September 22nd for early app.

She has also just told me that she only put in her holiday request with work for the Lancaster and Warwick open days a few weeks ago and the Lancaster date has been denied. So we are just over 2 weeks away from that and she currently doesn’t have any cover at work. Pretty fed up with her at the moment.

Ds hasn't done anything on his PS so I'm also guilty of nagging as school want it in soon. He's done a bit of reading and a very short course. He's also applying for Cambridge and it's scary reading posts on the Student Room about the level of work some kids are doing. I'm starting to get anxious about the whole thing to be honest now.
Booked to see Imperial again on 16th as when ds went last year, he was interested in a different course/dept to the one he's now picked. Think he's ruled out Durham, St Andrews due to distance which is a shame as they're both great universities. Looks like Bath, Warwick are also in the running and for 5th choice maybe Southampton. Would have liked to visit Exeter but we've run out of time.

@Rollergirl11
her other choices are Warwick and Loughborough but she’s not overly interested in visiting them. Ds graduated from Warwick two years ago and didn’t visit any universities so dd visiting three is progress!

DS has been in holiday mode the last three weeks or so but yesterday I told him to check his emails and summer work instructions and he discovered that the Physics project he has been ignoring is due by the end of Friday this week and suggested length is six pages. He did make a pretty good start on it today. Think he works better with a deadline! He is dyslexic so finds extended writing tasks challenging. The good news is he has done all his Maths and Further Maths and most of his Chemistry.

He has tomorrow morning (and Friday itself) so hopefully he will get it done. Don't think he has looked at his personal statement so he will need to look at that beginning of next week (college starts later than school fortunately).

He says he doesn't want to visit any more universities so I guess he will have to put some down without having seen them. A few years ago my niece went through clearing and ended up somewhere she hadn't looked at, she has just finished and really enjoyed her time there.

DS1 is focussed on his history coursework now (apparently) and is still maintaining he doesn’t need to do anything with the P.S, despite there being a template he was obviously given on his desk.

We’ve booked and sorted travel for St Andrew’s (train there, flight back so he can gauge if the distance is worth it), Liverpool and Birmingham. He has Leeds and Manchester from before the summer and that’s his lot. Looks like he has ruled out Oxford so we’ll just see these then see what he thinks.

Summer has been very lazy here (I’ve mostly been working) but both DH and I have had a week off which has been nice. The kids were really being awful to each other and it feels like we’ve recalibrated.

I am looking forward to some routine next week when they are back and DS3 doesn’t keep trying to steal my desk and screens for his PlayStation. Next summer I have decided to take parental leave and annual leave and we are spending the whole summer probably in Turkey, though we’ll have to be back early for GCSE and A Level results <high-fives @Rollergirl11 >

Hi All, feeling very autumnal this evening here.

DS survived Leeds Festival. There was a lot of press interest locally as the inquest of the boy who tragically died at Leeds fest last year was last week & I gather additional security measures & restrictions were in place this year. There were no tents set on fire on the Sunday night this year, thank goodness so the measures may have worked. DS said he's unlikely to go on the Wednesday next year, as there was an odd crowd there on the early bird with a sinister feel, but apart from that & having his rented portable phone charger snatched so losing his deposit, he had a great time. He came back with a line shaved on one side of his head, the whole friendship group had it done! I went for the day on the Sunday with a friend to see the Killers, I was genuinely shocked how young the crowd was. Amazingly I ran into DS briefly (embarrassing mum 😂) & it was good to see him enjoying himself.

Back to reality this week. He is now ploughing through his History work & I'm sure wishes he'd started it earlier. 1000 words needed & he is aiming for 200 a day so that he can finish it at the weekend & then have Monday & Tuesday to relax before school starts on Wednesday....think he's not quite on track & is working for the next 3 nights so it will be tough but is doable with a few earlier mornings

We've booked open days at Durham (again, this is the favourite & going primarily to look at accommodation), Liverpool, Nottingham & Birmingham. I'm concerned that there are no insurance choices. He has done some work on his personal statement & his Economics tutor is currently reviewing it...there was no feedback from school so it will be good to have some external input.

@Silkierabbit what great photos, glad you're having an amazing holiday!

@MirandaWest 18th birthday party sounds great

@StColumbofNavron summer in Turkey will be wonderful. DS is already talking about a lads holiday next year which fills me with dread! I think he will be finished at school quite early in June so hope we can squeeze in a family holiday before prices rocket too.

@legosunqueen I have actually offered my parents' house in Turkey to both him and his brother and their mates before the rest of us descend. We have a DS3 too who won't finish early but they can make the most of it.

DD passed her driving test in July having had a bit of a rocky start to driving but persevering through it (and passing first time).

She's just back from a trip to IKEA which involved two motorways and I am very impressed - she did drive on a motorway with me there in the car less an week after passing her test but this was her first time alone.

(I was of course a bit nervous until she got safely back but every successful drive helps)

September already! Here we go... Busy summer here (nearly) finishing the EPQ. Most holiday homework done, but Art still on going. There is so much to do and it will never be enough. For sanity's sake DC can only do so much. Applications next term. Eek. All feeling very real now.

I'm presuming FocusedFuture was trying to sell us something!

DD is doing English homework that she has just remembered about. Think it may be NEA based....

Thanks QueenMabby and Lego DD and I have had a wonderful holiday in Mauritius about to fly back shortly, lovely day visiting Ile aux Aigrettes today with Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, saw pink pigeon, tortoise and lots of beautiful birds and ebony forest.

Back to reality next week. Dd back on 4th. Hope start of term goes well for everyone.

We've just had an e mail from school saying they've not had their RAAC concrete survey results from DfE yet...Really hope none of our DCs are impacted by the chaos that's about to hit...

Sounds as if you had an amazing holiday with your DD @Silkierabbit .

Good luck to everyone with back to school next week, assuming our young people are not directly impacted by the RAAC concrete survey negative results. What a total mess for those affected. Presumably, key academic stage year groups would be prioritised for continued in-person teaching, where possible?

@LouisCatorze I think they would prioritise years 7,11 & 13.

Could university buildings also be affected?

@Silkierabbit the colour of the sea - simply idyllic...

@Silkierabbit that looks amazing, so glad you had a good time.

DS has just handed in his Physics project on Special Relativity. Fingers crossed I can get him to do some work on his personal statement at the beginning of next week before he goes back. Of course next week is now forecast to have lovely weather after this week being a bit of a damp squib!

Hope back to (their last year of) school/college goes well for everybody. UCAS applications here we come! Appreciate having you guys to talk to about it.