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.

Hope it’s ok to join here. I wasn’t on the GCSE threads but DD2 starts year12 on Monday. She’s staying at her previous school for sixth form so not too many changes to contend with.

Luckily she’s inherited DS’s hideously expensive calculator so I haven’t had to buy that again but we’re going stationery shopping today for the last few bits she needs.

Some slight nerves I think but mostly excited - start of term, new beginnings. Good luck to everyone’s DC’s for next week!

@beansoup
Wow..that is great your DD did that.
At this stage they should be taking charge.
That's my biggest worry here..

No stationary needed. Need a college bag for ds. He does want any writing on it - ie Nike, Northface etc.. not sure where to look really.
Also needed is Laboratory Coat - that will be online I guess and there's also a list of Art equipment needed X

DS (staying in his school for Sixth Form) is suited and booted thanks to M&S, has a new laptop-backpack but doesn't need any other kit. He claims to have done the bridging work. Induction Day on Tuesday, then straight into things on Wednesday (including a music lesson before school and choir afterwards!)

DD is all enrolled now at college and has changed one of her A Levels which luckily she was able to do as her English GCSE hit the grade required for it.

She has to do the HW required for it though in only a few days

The subject she swapped from she realised she had no interest in after doing the summer work for it

A few of DDs friends got bumped off their chosen A Levels such as Biology due to others getting higher relevant GCSE grades so they're pissed off

Some got bumped to BTEC but are just happy to be there as a few friends didn't get the necessary grades to get in at all.

DD has her college ID card and lanyard, and has done her summer work for ancient history, but not her other subjects yet, but none of them are more that a couple of hours' work. She managed to get quite a low summer workload compared to most of her friends. We've got a sturdy dressing table from a second hand shop being delivered on Monday to use as a sewing table, and I think she's planning on giving it a chalk paint makeover, so that and the summer work will take up most of her free time between now and the start of college.

I think she'll get her timetable int Monday, which will be handy, because she hasn't been able to sign up for her out of school activities yet because she doesn't know what time she'll get home each day.

DD is starting on Tuesday - induction morning at sixth form. Then Wednesday to Friday the whole sixth form is off for a bonding trip with all the teacher to Devon.

Off to CERN in 4 weeks as part of her Physics A level and part bonding for the group for Year 12.

Smart suit for sixth form each day. She has noise cancelling wireless ear headphones, iPad and new laptop except the laptop will stay at home. All lessons in one note.

All looking good here.
Biology, Chemistry and Further Maths summer work done - Physics to be done on Monday.

Quite pleased that our sixth form has ditched bridging work this year - ds1 spent ages on it when he were there but it didn't seem to be very helpful to the actual A level course, it never got looked at or talked through either. Also ds2 is starting 4 and will drop one so would have been annoying to spend time on work only to drop that subject.

He's got a good work ethic and has already said he feels like he'll be recapping and revising from day one - let's hope reality matches his plans!!

@Letskeepgoing Superdry do some pretty plain rucksacks (that's what ds2 has gone for) and I can vouch for the quality:
https://www.superdry.com/mens/bags/details/232845/unisex-essential-montana-backpack-khaki

Dd starts Monday. Timetable came today, bit mixed as not in until lunchtime on a Monday the in early til late all other days with big gaps of 2 hours between the time table lessons most days. Friends in general have better time tables. No induction straight into lessons as a start. I think she's a bit bothered that means she won't go in with friends Monday am but I'm hoping it will be fine. Just need her ID to arrive now. Posted out last Friday, friends got theirs Thursday hers still not here. Not happy with royal mail. No postie for 2to 3 days.

Hello all - just placemarking new thread & will catch up later! Really have found this a great help.

DD started 6th form at school this week - 2 days of induction / talks etc and then first day of lessons yesterday. So far so good but it's headlong into super busy already. 2 plays to rehearse all day on Sundays for starters so do hope she is going to keep on top of the reading for essay heavy choices 😬
Dance starts again next week too..
Just need to address the issue of being put down for a sport that wasn't one of her choices - told she has to do it & involves possible Saturday matches - FML.

We have to her 2x OCR books for Biology and chemistry and they're so expensive....
Also the bus pass is going to work out £80 a month! Which I had saved more for college!

No bridging work here either. Ds in on Tuesday with the year 7s so it should be a quiet day and allow him to find his way around. Still need to sort our transport as we have no bus. A college bus goes from the village but he is not eligible for school transport for the school. Service bus times are tricky too and we still have to drive him to get. Really need him to pass his test quickly after he turns 17!!

Thanks for starting this. I've been sat for the last 48 hours feeling quite anxious about ds starting college. I was in and out of the gcse support threads, more a reader than contributor. I worry ds won't cope with the social aspect or the size of college etc and am very worried (based on lack of revision effort outside of stuff run by school for gcse) about his ability to knuckle down and study more independently. Not helped that I am away with work for his entire first week which means I won't know what's going on. Aaargh!

Thanks for starting the new thread.
Dd starts her mechanics apprenticeship tomorrow. Her uniform should be waiting for her but she's been told to wear something comfy if it hasnt.
Tomorrow will be a lot of HR and form filling but thankfully she won't be the only newbie- they have an apprentice front desk person starting too.
Dd will get a proper tour of the garage and meet the person who will be her one to one mentor for the next 3 years. I guess they'll also try to get an idea of what knowledge she already has.
Work won't give me the day off to say good luck in the morning ( I work 6am-2pm) so serious mum guilt here.
This will be the first time in 13 years I'm not labelling uniform either.

I feel the same as you. It's going to be a big adjustment travelling 45 minutes to our nearest city when we live in a village and he went to secondary at the local town. He's not socially confident and I'm concerned he'll be overwhelmed by it all. He's also rather laidback when it comes to knuckling down and getting work done. GCSEs were a constant battle when it came to revision. He has Freshers' days on Thursday and Friday next week and they'll get their timetable. I'm hoping there aren't too many 'free' periods at the start or end of the day as I can't see him using them to study.

My eldest DS struggled so much at school. He has ASD. College has been so much better for him and we’ve not had any of the issues we had at school, he found school completely overwhelming. College is a lot more laid back. There was much less information given to parents though, so that was a negative. We got a report on progress but that was not very often. He is also not one to knuckle down. The classes for him were much smaller and my DS came out with a distinction so that was a lovely surprise! Hopefully, It will be a great experience for your DC.

Hope you don’t mind me joining - I followed the previous GCSE threads but didn’t post. DD starts properly on Monday and it’s not the most auspicious of starts after a phone call on Friday telling her that they aren’t running one of the A Levels and putting her on the spot to pick a different one so instead of a relaxed weekend, she’s been doing the transition work for the next subject.

The thing that makes it super irritating is that DD is autistic and went for an additional transition morning where the Headteacher stood in front of her and DH and said that the a level would definitely go ahead this year regardless of numbers. She is finding it very hard to understand why this has now been contradicted 🤨

Thanks for the new thread. Back from holiday and now looking forward to term starting on Tuesday.

DS has moved to a sixth form that’s nearer to home. (Massive) lever arch files, new calculator etc all bought. One transition task left to do. Seems ages since school finished at the end of June - so about time to get back to it. I hear they have to hit the ground running for A-level…

DD starts tomorrow
She is very anxious even though she is staying in current school.
Her friendship group have mostly moved elsewhere. The ones staying are in different courses.
She has always struggled with friendships and only found a group that stuck well into y9.
I am not expecting miracles and a life long BFF but hopefully she will have someone to be with.
Good luck to all DC who start this week.

Good luck to everyone starting 6th form this week.

DS2 starts tomorrow at a different school. A few of his friends are going too from his grammar as they didn't want to do the IB.

I think he's mainly looking forward to finding out when his "free" periods are 😂

DS is starting college tomorrow. Very very nervous, although his best friend and one other friend are starting with him. He's worried about the nausea that blighted his exams and the three months before them coming back, but the nausea is more anxiety-related than physical at this point so it's a bit of a loop. We've restarted his meds for at least the first couple of weeks to give him a bit of a crutch while he settles in. I really hope we don't have a crisis in the morning though.

Am a bit concerned the same thing might happen for DD this week too and not sure what the alternative is if it does.

I hope it doesn’t for your DD - it’s so stressful isn’t it! We had a back up 4th choice picked originally and if it hadn’t been ‘guaranteed’ that the favourite A Level would go ahead, we’d have prepared for that choice as well 🤦‍♀️ We have had a very apologetic email today so I’m slightly less cross (but only slightly).

I will feel a bit more confident when I see it written down on a timetable @FellowClassicsMum ! Hopefully your DD will enjoy her 4th choice 🤞