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.

Each uni has its own list. It looks likely that DS will qualify (automatically) for a contextual offer purely on the basis of postcode at one of his likely choices even though he goes to an independent school some miles away... which is just bonkers.

I heard recently that Bristol uni has a very long list of schools that it classes as ‘aspirational’ which qualify - I looked it up and my dc’s school is on it which baffles me as it’s one of the city’s better schools - we wouldn’t otherwise qualify for a contextual offer.
I haven’t looked at any others yet to know whether this is as unusual as it seems

How do we find out which Unis offer contextual offers? My DDs school spent the entire 5years in “needs improvement-inadequate” ofsted and the results from her year group were awful some the worst in the country. half the boys failed maths & English (40% of the girls). It’s such an unfair lottery when you have zero choice of school. Yet many of her friends were forced stay on there for the 6th form as their grades meant they couldn’t go to the college, I’m so relieved she scrapped enough to move on. It’s not in a deprived area either many people are moving into our location not realising the issue with secondary schooling here. Needless to say we are now home educating her sister to hopefully have a better time.

I've just discovered it on individual websites of universities. It's usually mentioned somewhere when you look at admission/grade requirements.

E.g https://contextual-admissions.liverpool.ac.uk

Edited to add - Looking again at the Liverpool page I think the Realising Opportunities scheme could be what DS is part of at college. Need to ask him specifically what it's called.

I was looking at this the other day and uni’s are now widening the criteria for their contextual offers, which is great. They all have their own criteria but for some you only have to meet one condition to be eligible. It did say that they consider each case individually, so I think that if you were in the required postcode but at an independent school, you may not qualify.
Also, at the uni we were looking at it didn’t really make much difference eg the course required AAA as a standard offer to include A’s in maths and science. The contextual offer was AAB BUT it still required 2 A’s in maths and science.

All the universities we've looked at have different criteria for contextual offers. For our local (RG) uni, you need to have all three of the school where GCSEs were taken, school/college where a-levels will be taken, and home postcode to add a contextual flag. DC1 has two (both school and college) but not home postcode so doesn't qualify.

The Bristol method of listing of schools is interesting. We live in a borough where no schools have sixth forms, and so no schools in the borough feature at all. As a consequence if you move from a poorly performing school to an average sixth form you don't get a contextual flag, but if you move from an amazing school to a less good sixth form you do.

It is interesting - on further investigation my son’s sixth form features on a few lists but not the school it’s part of. Bristol is the only uni I can see where we’d get contextual - postcode and school don’t apply. Not that he’s looking at Bristol!

Bristol's list of contextual schools is a bit random. The school I work in has many, many disadvantaged pupils but is in a very upmarket postcode and isn't on the list. My nieces school, which is packed full of wealthy middle class kids is on it. Hopefully the kids in the former may qualify on home postcode but possibly not as it's in London and postcodes don't always tell the whole story.

I should add that I'm not complaining BTW. DC1 did go to an urban non-selective, bit below average achieving school, but I'm not sure that makes her educationally disadvantaged. I think outside of MN, where she went is probably pretty representative of the majority of kids' educational experiences.

Hopefully schools and colleges are on the ball with flagging up those kids whose achievements should be seen in the context of challenging circumstances regardless of whether they fit neatly into the right boxes.

As a consequence if you move from a poorly performing school to an average sixth form you don't get a contextual flag, but if you move from an amazing school to a less good sixth form you do.

The problem I see with it, is that if it really takes off then I'll bet the middle class set will start making use of it.

Go to a poorer 6th form and pay for tutoring.
Use granny's address (no check on address for UCAS) because it's a poorer postcode.
etc.

DD had a friend who had been at the same schools as her since preschool, but had moved 2 miles to the north in year 12, and got contextual due to postcode.
Another friend who had been at private schools until year 11, but moved to a small state 6th form got a contextual offer due to the 6th form.
She didn't get any contextual offers.
Neither of them had done it deliberately (it was new I think around her year) but you can see how someone could make decisions to get them without actually changing their chances.

It is a really good idea, which I support, but I think it needs far more fine-tuning before it works well.

The year really has gone so quickly. DS is going to a Conservatoire. He had 1 open day on 29/9/23 and the other on 1/5/24. The application deadline is 2/10! College are supportive, but they have a Progression week and a Skills week which take no account of the fact he knows exactly what he wants to do and has been working towards it since he was 11. They divide the students up into specific pathways for year 13. There are ones for Medics, Oxbridge, Creative Arts and apprenticeships, but Conservatoires are lumped in with all the other UCAS courses even though they too are v specific and have different timelines. It will be a massive waste of his time and is so frustrating!

that's really frustrating @Pollyanna8234. DC1 goes to a large college with a tiny music department, but they do seem to have a good awareness that Conservatoire applicants should be given the same kind of specialist support as all the other early applicants. DC1 gave serious thought to that pathway too. Does your DS have a preferred choice of Conservatoire yet?

@TheTurn0fTheScrew he is at a v large college too. There are 2 A level music classes per year and they have experience of sending students to Conservatoires, which is great. He is applying to RCM and RAM, but currently is heavily favouring RCM. He's been at the RCM junior department since year 7. At the Open day, the accommodation and the performance simulator were big pluses for him! Of course, which professor he most gels with will be most significant. What pathway has your DC decided upon?

I've just been to a Higher Education conference at DD's school. It was pretty interesting. I think DD knows what she wants to do and where, but very useful to get presentations from some different universities.

@Pollyanna8234 she's looking at MFL now, although she'd have loved to go for conservatoire. She's been at a JD for a couple of years, but being brutally honest with herself she knows she's not one of the top kids there, and the competition only gets tougher. As your DS has been at RCM since Y7 he's clearly in a much stronger position!

Downsides of working in retail. My DD was at work today and got verbally abused by a customer whilst serving him. He had already shouted at changing room staff and sworn at people in the queue. They called the police and she had to give a statement - she was a bit shaken. Shes still 16. Why a full grown adult male thinks is ok to do this to a 16yo girl I don't know.

I am so sorry to hear that, hope that your DD is ok.

She seems ok now @Sadtimes1 .

Bad luck he ended up on her till. She had heard him swearing in queue but as she was the first till she could not alert managers as he would have heard and obviously she was wary of escalating things. Same as she didn't say anything even though he had queue jumped. They had followed him from the changing rooms I think and were just hoping to get him out the store as soon as possible.

Well is is the first exam for us. Biology this morning and i would say we have quiet panic!! Chemistry and geography tomorrow so will need to get the chocolate out for ds I think. Good luck to anyone else doing AS levels.

So are the AS exams the first half of the syllabus so what people who are doing the A level would complete in their first year?

Apparently the question for the AQA gcse paper was Lady Macbeth again. Just reminiscing about this time last year! I hope students weren't thrown thinking they wouldn't base the question on her again this year.

@Fluffycloudsfloatinginthesky your poor DD. People can be just awful. I hope she's doing ok.

Good luck to all the AS crew 🍀

DD had her first AS exam today, but it's a gentle start because she's already scored in enough in her coursework to get a C even if she handed in a blank paper. History is the nerve-wracking one for her.

Yes AS first half. So sitting 2 papers in each subject this year. They then get a grade on results day. Hope your dd did ok today @DaisyWaldron . Ds not said much but had 2 tomorrow.

My DD also had biology yesterday seemed ok afterwards and Pychology exam in pm. She was knackered mentally afterwards but still went to sports training last night. Next week at least the exams are on different days. Good luck to everyone taking exams.

DD has exams for business this morning and btec sport tomorrow that will count towards her final grade. Bit of a flap this morning as there was an accident outside of college so sat in traffic for ages and then had to turf her out the car to walk the last bit (slow and painful as she’s recovering from an ankle injury), but she got there in time. She got decent marks in her mocks so should do ok, but if they’re a disaster she can retake them next year.

The Cambridge Technical and Btec courses seem to be much more suited to DD’s style of learning and she looks set to get distinctions.

A-level psychology is more of a struggle for her. She got an E in her mock last month and is mainly getting Ds and Es in class tests. At least she’s passed as some students who fail end up having to leave at the end of y12. Her teacher has just gone on maternity leave and so far DD says her replacement is really grumpy and shouts a lot - no comment on the quality of teaching yet!