Y12 2023/24 - support, discussion and looking after each other

[BonjourCrisette]

GCSEs are over and we are beginning the next stage. Let's hope it's a bit less stressful than this summer has been! All welcome to discuss, share experiences and support each other as our children move into Y12/BTECs/apprenticeships and start a new phase.

I'm not exactly glad to hear others are going through the same but it's somehow comforting that we are not the only ones! We have Sunday rehearsals too quite a lot of weeks, and until you mentioned hockey, I was wondering if were were describing the same show!

All I can say is that we went through exactly the same last year and the sweet relief once the show was over was amazing.

Only had 3 days total at college and son fallen asleep on sofa! Anyone's else's dc so tired? I guess they haven't had any learning for a long time since the last gcse!

Mine is exhausted. The journey at either end makes his days incredibly long and his nausea is back big-time - I've had a morning of texts saying he's going to get off the train, and DH is late for work because he had to hang around to see if he needed to go and rescue him. He made it in and he's only in until midday, but I'm starting to think this year's not going to happen unless his specialist appointment comes through soon, or that we'll need to look for a closer course :(

Yes DD is really tired every day, gone from staying up until 1 (ish) in the holidays to being in bed by about 10 pm. Getting up at about 6 to get to a 7.30 bus has changed things somewhat! But at least it means she's using her free college time to do work (not just sitting in Costa drinking coffee) so that she can use the evening just to relax and catch up with friends who've gone to different colleges.

One good thing is that it's forcing me to go to bed earlier as well so I get more done during the day.

Checking in. I was on the GCSE support thread.
DS is doing Maths, Physics and Chemistry at A Level.

My ds said that in every A level lesson so far there's been several kids missing and we are only into the second week. In Chemistry he thought there were about half missing yesterday. Is this usual for A levels? I guess some may have dropped out already.

Today's the first day I think the adrenaline has worn off a little and she is suddenly exhausted. She has started with 4 A-levels as doing FM so very few free periods which means quite a lot of work to do at home. I think on the whole she is really enjoying it but she is v tired.

My daughter said there has been quite a bit of swopping of subjects already at her school.

A week on from a meltdown about having no friends and everyone hating her and wanting to leave, my DD is loving college and her course and is starting to make new friends! I hope the same is true for others who were in a similar position!

I have been really impressed with the pastoral care at this college as they have bent over backwards to support/check in with her.

Great to hear, @beansoup!

My DD's course had several new joiners this week and others didn't turn up - so I guess waitlists are coming good for some if others have changed their mind about what they wanted to do.

DD's only a couple of days into her course, but I suspect that college is just the right place for her. She's found a tribe of like-minded art students and has said that she misses the comedy element of disruptive students in class, and that all of her classes now feel like her (small, high-achieving and therefore relaxed and focused) textiles class because everyone has a genuine interest in the subjects they are studying.

That's really good. Ds said all the kids so nice in his classes, noone messing around or being idiots. I said that's because they've chosen those subjects to do not made to do them.

That's brilliant - pretty much the same with DD's college. I did tell her it would be a different experience doing what you've chosen to do rather than subjects you were forced to take!

What IT tech are your kids using in class? We were waiting to see what she needed and it looks like work is set on mix notepad online & teams using online methods. She likes writing in notepads but said they were being asked to read a lot of text off a computer screen instead of books in psychology. We are looking at a light weight chrome book for in class use and just the family laptop at home. I’d be interested to know what others think.

Ds is loving 6th form, well the free periods and the different selection of food in the 6th form common room anyway. The lessons do get in the way a bit, but they're not too bad. Although apparently they spent a product design lesson talking about a shrimp. It had a top hat and a drove a car apparently. I have learnt not to ask for further details as it doesn't normally get more comprehensible the more I know.

@SummerChilling ds has a laptop he uses in class except for maths, but he has used it since year 10 so it's not a new thing for him.

@SummerChilling Ds in IT has teams and online resources for reference/Reading so not taking laptop with them to begin with. Later on, might need laptop to revise during free periods. But Ds said revision can be done on any shared computer in college.

@SummerChilling ds tells me that no one uses iPads or laptops in class but they do in frees, to do work. We were waiting to see what he’d need - he has an oldish iPad but not sure if that’s adequate for getting onto websites/reading digital textbooks. We’ll see.

After seeing the homework set for the weekend he’s also made his decision about which subject to drop - so he’s narrowed it down to his final 3 now!

Yeah, DC1's classes all seem pretty analogue so far, so it's notes and folders in college, old laptop at home. I guess it's probably subject dependent as well as institution dependent though.

Yes he has strict instructions about how to file notes and how the dividers need to be labelled!
He had a school ipad from year 7-11 so they are a techy school normally

thanks for the comments. We’ve bought a chrome book today as it’s lightweight and with good battery life looks like it will do what she’s needs but not costing £££s. And she can use the laptop at home.

Have the teachers shown how to label and divide. So far ds has been given A level booklets. For example in Biology he currently has one on cells etc...

Good to hear how everyone's doing, especially those who had wobbly starts and a feeling happier.

Agree with all those commenting on how tiring it is, and the long days. DD has gone from a 10 minute stroll to school to at least an hour's bus ride each way. They've hit the ground running with the workload as well.

Generally, she and her friends all seem to be thriving and loving it though. She was debating giving up her part-time job, as the hours didn't work with the commute, but she has been given new hours which should be OK. Will see how it goes though, as the college workload seems like it's going to be pretty full on!

Note-taking etc seems to be paper and pens while at college here too, with some weirdly specific requests ('a beautiful, hard-backed A4 notebook' for Spanish grammar, for example).

I am currently away helping DD move into uni 2nd year accommodation. DS has been at his friend's for a birthday party and is getting himself to play DnD (somehow) today at another friend's. His bike was stolen last week (!!!) so he's reliant on public transport. He is running a little tired as his musical and sports commitments have also all re-started.

His school issues laptops to students and everything is meant to be available online. As a teacher there, I can report that this has had a mixed reception from both staff and students!

Two of his teachers have issued a list of all the labels for dividers and will be checking sporadically that all notes are filed correctly - which seems like good practice