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.

@PhotoDad how annoying about his bike
😞 Hope the uni move goes well - will be doing the same this Friday for my elder ds

Another DD who looks exhausted tonight from juggling her job and sports training. There’s not been much college work yet she said .. I’m abit worried she’s got a lot to juggle with the longer commute (1hr each way in total). It’s also the ramp up of her competition schedule after the summer break as she trains 15hrs a week but absolutely loves her sport it’s her exercise & social life.

Thanks, all good with DD! Annoying indeed about DS, some thieving bastard cut the lock with bolt-cutters. Luckily it was only a cheap bike and he managed to get to his mates' houses.

DS says he’s finding level of homework on four a-levels too much and is planning to drop one. Think it might not be that straightforward though since he’ll only be left with maths, further maths and physics. Will be interested to see what the school says…

I think most colleges (certainly around here) only allow further maths as a fourth because of high drop out. He might struggle to drop something else and keep FM

That’s my understanding too, @Wolfcub though DS is quite determined. He thinks he’ll have more time to do the work if he’s not doing his fourth subject. Which is obvs true.

But then if he doesn’t carry on with FM that’s an issue. He thinks there’s no chance that he won’t carry on with FM though, so what’s the point in doing a fourth. He got 9s in both at gcse and feels confident. I just think the sixth form won’t let him drop one though. We’ll see.

DC1's class has quite a few students doing three including FM. Most often with Physics or Computing, so in essence Maths, More Maths, and Applied Maths! They're confident in their abilities and know what direction they're headed in so the college is fine with it.

As an arts graduate I do struggle with the idea of maths, more maths and applied maths, @TheTurn0fTheScrew! No more maths was much more my thing.

However, it does seem unlikely he'll ever do the exam for his fourth A-level, so I guess he may as well drop it now if allowed - and then uber-commit to maths! He's getting the very long form that has to be filled in as a first step. I think some of his mates are also currently dropping their fourth a-levels. I expect this is just what happens in September year 12...

@Changes17 a very long form sounds like they don't make it easy! My ds emailed head of sixth form on Saturday and asked to drop his 4th, she replied yesterday having sorted it for him, which felt above and beyond what she should be doing.

Agreed, @Monstermunchy! That sounds like it's been very straightforward for your DS. Mine is looking very tired though not really sure if that's the step up in work or the gaming. I think the move to sixth form has been quite a shock to the system.

Going into week 3 here - things seem to have settled down a bit. Hope that is true for your DC too. So far, the workload seems comparatively light compared to some of you - having 2 periods each day without lessons planned is helping (at least I hope that’s why not much seems to be happening at home 😂).

The thing I’m finding hardest is getting feelings in real time when something goes wrong/ not DC way. At secondary school, phones weren’t allowed so they had the day to process issues before we saw them - not they can message us instantly but we can’t actually do anything to help.

We’ve started looking at universities now too which seems way to soon in some ways. The aim thing year is to a) find out what an earth a liberal arts degree actually is and b) work out what kind of setting will suit DC best (they’re autistic)

Mine too - feel sure it's getting up before lunchtime that's taking its toll! Plus he had an early football match yesterday and an optician appt Saturday at 10.30 so he didn't even get to catch up on sleep 😂 Bless... 🙄😄

Very true. It's been a very long lazy summer, so any level of effort was probably going to come as a shock.

Are you in the US - or is your DC thinking about going there to study, @FellowClassicsMum?

Hi @Changes17 - no we’re in the UK. A friend mentioned it in passing and when DC has looked into it, they really like the concept (it does look great for an allrounder tbf). Only been to Nottingham so far which has a very flexible approach to module choices so will be interesting to see whether enthusiasm continues at places like Manchester/ Birmingham when we visit other unis that set their course up differently.

So a bit like a humanities degree? DH did that, involved philosophy, literature and history. Sounds like it was very interesting.

That’ll be the route my DC will takes pulling in modules from English, sociology, history, classics, a language most likely but (if I’ve understood it correctly from our one visit so far 😂) you can do it with science or maths focus so choose chemistry/ maths/ physics/ stats/ economics type modules for example at some universities too.

@FellowClassicsMum whay universities are you looking at for a liberal arts degree? My son is looking at history/ English/ politics/ maybe MFL and classics (but has no ancient languages or class civ) so a liberal arts may be the right approach for him. I’ve not heard of it before.

All seems good so far, although DD has yet to meet her personal tutor - I think they are still in the recruitment stage! She does say that it's a pain that the drama department is right next to the construction department, so all the artsy theatre kids end up getting catcalled by the construction students.

Hi @HairyMaclary

So far we have been to Nottingham but we’ll also visit Birmingham, Manchester, Royal Holloway who all do it too in this round of visits. Off the top of my head: UCL, Warwick, Exeter, Kings College, Queen Mary UoL, Leeds, Bristol, UEA all do it too. There are others too but I’ve forgotten them.

I think (as with all degrees to be fair), it’s a case of looking really carefully at the structure and how guided their module choice is. Nottingham for example appears incredibly flexible and you can more or less pick 80 credits of modules from any other school per year but I’m not sure other courses. The benefit when researching for us is - there aren’t that many courses available (unlike English another choice and where there are hundreds of options) and we can limit it further by looking at Unis that also do classics/ classic civ as DC would very much like to pick up some modules from that course.

Being able to narrow the choices means we can focus on the type of uni DC feels most comfortable with and also that we (well really I 😂) can ask a lot of questions to the disability support team in person

Ds said all the year 12 now have to teach reading to the year 7's. Apparently 40% of them have a reading age of 8. It has been sold as will look good on your uni applications!! We are also talking about uni but he has no idea what he wants to do so for now we are looking at where he wants to live and which one is best for him continuing his sport!!!

Similarly, DS is volunteering to coach year 11s with physics - the sixth form requires an hour a week of volunteering and also he's thinking of doing DoE gold and this would apparently count for both.

DD is doing French help for Y7 and Y8. She is really looking forward to it.

DC1 did peer reading with some struggling Year 7s when she was in Y10. She really enjoyed it and thought it worthwhile. Only problem is a lack of resources - all the Biff, Chip and Kipper style stuff is not appealing in the slightest to DC of that age, and books written for that age group were too challenging. We ended up buying a few magazines (Nat Geo juniors, The Beano, Top of the Pops, Horrible Histories) to get some short, accessible and interesting material.

@TheTurn0fTheScrew i think he thinks this is a bit out of his comfort zone but i agree that it might be good for him and it is good to hear other dc have found it positive. I think he is feeling a bit overwhelmed with a new school etc so it was an added thing he was not expecting!