Year 13 2024 - General support thread part 2

[Rollergirl11]

All welcome as our young people head in to their last full term before the summer exams. Between UCAS applications, receiving offers/rejections, learning to drive and taking driving tests, revising for mocks and sitting them the pace hasn’t let up for our DC.

This thread has been a lovely supportive and immensely helpful place to talk as we guide our DC’s through this challenging time!

Old thread here https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/further_education/4851165-year-13-20232024-general-support-thread?page=40&reply=132323436

@QueenMabby same day for DD's first (written) exam - physics? Last day of normal school today then pranks/breakfast/service tomorrow (home by 11), ball in a week, then it starts. DD fitting revision in now, preferably in a library with others. She plans to go into school a fair bit next week - teachers available on the usual timetable if they want.

I'm currently waiting for DS to emerge from his last day at school. He's decided to go to his sport training session tonight rather than joining his friends in the pub so we are heading straight there. I don't know if he will be feeling emotional but I am! One of his teachers gave the class all personalised home made cards yesterday and I was a blubbering wreck when I read DS's. End of an era.
(That said, he is planning to spend most of next week at school as Year 12 are out on work experience so the 6th form centre will be very quiet, but it's the last day they'll all be together and he's been with some of the same boys since Reception.)

DD has firmed and insured now which is good and is applying for finance but only has her other nationality passport atm so they've asked for her to send in birth certificate and I also have to phone as had a loan in the 90s which seems crazy as it was immediately paid off c 30 years ago now.

First exam on Tuesday and another on Friday. Then Tues and Wed following week.

@Penguinsa sounds like you might be doing the same exams as us ... Business and Psychology?

Thank you @Lightsabre DS had a great day & evening, helped by glorious weather. He managed to stick with having a couple of drinks only, quite an achievement with a pub crawl & a house party, & was the only participant to turn up for his History lesson the next day!

Still feeling very strange not to be preparing for exams next week...

DD went to 'Spoons' after her leavers' do but they were all on soft drinks.

This time next week, she'll have two of her seven exams done and dusted.

No decision-making on her current UCAS options until she's finished her exams - with 24 hours to go until the deadline!

She's angsting over her summer holiday with her besties now.

Yes Aardvarksforall the same plus Maths but think that's later. Hope they go well for your DC.

Glad your DS enjoyed the night out Lego

Summer holiday has not been booked yet for her and her boyfriend but close to it. DH is away for a couple of days at the moment. DD is in a pretty good mood but I did get told I was playing ball with the cat too loudly at 11.30am and she needed a couple more minutes before getting up. Though when she got up she said Floof had been in at 6am.

All the best to those starting exams this week. DS is still in college as his study leave doesn't start until next Monday. I don't think they have any leavers events, not that I have heard about anyway. I think he is feeling a mix of sadness to be leaving college and impatience to get started. He was a bit under the weather with a cold this weekend so didn't seem to get much revision done but better to be ill now and not during the exams I guess! He had covid in the half term in the middle of his GCSEs, let's hope we can avoid that this year.

Good to hear that your DS is doing well @legosnowqueen. It must be quite an adjustment for you all!

Good luck to all DC’s that start exams this week. DD’s first not till a week on Thursday so still a good amount of revision time left.

It’s her last shift at work this evening. I think she feels slightly nostalgic about that but is more worried about eating in to her savings this summer when she won’t be earning! Hopefully they will have her back as a temp in the holidays. She’s the only one out of her friends that is stopping working but there’s not a chance she would have got the time off for her A levels plus the 3 holidays she has booked this summer.

I think it’s their leavers assembly next week but unfortunately I can’t go to it as I’m working.

One more week to go; they have their ceremony next Tuesday and the prom after exams; no leavers event for parents as far as I know. School are doing a 'transition to university' talk tomorrow. DD's not going - she has a medical appointment anyway, but as a prospective Oxbridge student, already signed up for a bridging course, she doesn't think it'll be relevant. Basically she's just impatient to get on with things. Can't say I blame her.

@legosnowqueen glad to hear your son had a good time. It must be tough for him, but hopefully he will also be able to relax, have fun and recover during this “bonus” summer.

Study leave started yesterday for mine and he does seem to be settling down to study hard even if he does need more than the occasional prompt. First exam is a week away. There wasn’t any major end of Y13 celebrations but they are having a prom the day after his exams finish.

Durham are displaying what seems to be their normal levels of disorganisation. Last correspondence from them implied we would hear about initial college allocation within a few days of the end of April ranking deadline. Now, via Student Room, it seems it will be the end of this week. Thankfully it is not a huge stress point here - although his top two choices will offer very different experiences it was tough for him to choose between them so he will be happy for his position in the ballot to decide.

@Rollergirl11 hope your daughter’s last shift went well. I know zero hour contracts are generally unpopular, but for students I think they can work really well. My son should be able to stay with his current employer throughout university as you will only ever be allocated shifts if you have said you are available and you can stay on payroll for up to 6 months without working, They seem to have a mix of students coming and going during vacations depending on if they are studying in London or elsewhere. He’ll probably work only 3 or 4 shifts from now until the end of his exams, before working as many as he can get between trips over the summer.

I'm quite worried about DD's work prospects over the summer. She's got a month left at her current job, but as it's tutoring, it's not active in the summer. With holiday at the start and pre-start course at the end, she's only got July and August. Quite hard to pick up temp work, as we're near a tourist hotspot but the cafés etc are heaving in summer and it's quite stressful for someone with anxiety to deal with. She's hoping for retail but it's been oddly difficult to pass the online customer service tests thus far. She's very engaging, they're missing out with this system!

The whole work thing is tricky. Ds doesn't have a job but wants one over the summer and will apply as soon as exams finish. But we're away the end of July to the start of August so I'm not sure how that'll work!

I'd love ds to get a job doing anything. He currently has the whole of August free so I'm encouraging him to sign on to an Agency for stewarding or warehouse type work. He'd prefer 'behind the scenes' type work. Failing that, there's a local hospital cafe that's looking for volunteers so he could sign up for that too.

First exam for DS this afternoon.

Hopefully it will settle his nerves!

Best of luck @lifeturnsonadime and all other DC’s with exams today.

Best of luck to everyone with exams this week.
I think DS is at the point where he just wants to get on with it now. He's another one starting on 24th. In fact he has 2 on that day so he has a bit of a baptism of fire. Still, it gets his worse day out of the way quickly I suppose!

Currently waiting to hear how the first exam went. I bet I'll have to wait until the end of the day. Aargh!

Lovely to hear everyone's messages. Well done to all the DC working hard and the mum support. It all seems very real reading this thread with exams starting this week. My DS is going 2 music A levels so last week was final week for coursework so revision doesn't really seemed to have kicked in properly yet. I'm plus he's starting the summer programme of concerts with ongoing rehearsals. I'm not holding my breath for stellar results. Finding it all quite stressful tbh. First exam is next Thursday which is fortunately a music one. His college doesn't have a leavers event either although both music classes have had a party this week. Study leave starts next week.

Hope exams went well for your DC @lifeturnsonadime and @Aardvarksforall!

DD is the same as your DS @MrsAvocet in that I think she just wants to get going now. She has exams/revision on her brain to the point that she’s struggling to get to sleep and waking up lots during the night. Then her brain is so active that she's taking ages to fall back to sleep.

DS well in to his 2nd week of GCSE’s now. I wonder how stressful it will be once DD joins him next week! 🥴😬

All good, he's come home happy he's done his best.

2 more papers this week but can have the night off.

Good luck to everyone starting over the next few days.

Reasonably happy face here too. Good to start off with, if not a positive, at least a calm feeling. Lie in tomorrow and then back to the grindstone.

One down, eight to go, next on Friday. She got the bus in this morning at 7.15am so early start but good to have one done. She stayed after with her boyfriend and some other friends. Very calm, told me yesterday about half way through exams I will probably realise I am doing exams though a couple of days ago she did say I had exams this week. But I just said good you aren't doing 4, better than GCSEs of constant exams and lets have a banana split and all was fine. Her brother did have a night of demolition very loudly about a week ago which made her jittery he might do that all exams but first time he's been like that and been fine since. Though today she comes back and finds he has moved the TV and is watching it for first time since hospital with sound at max volume, first time he's had sound for years, normally has subtitles. All very good but not the easiest for revision. Though she can chill tonight, next one on Friday. She said exam was good with a couple of weird questions.

Good luck to all with exams. Her job is on a zero hours contract which actually has suited her really well and means she can continue it all through university as well, she loves it and pays very well and keeps her fit as its sport based. She's just doing Saturdays at the moment but its quite seasonal for pay as well, in summer its really well paid so she'll be doing a lot over the summer.

Well done for all those that had exams today and best of luck for the rest of this week!

For those DCs with zero hours contract jobs, what sort of thing do they do and how did they go about finding them?

DS works at a local golf club behind the bar and helps at events there eg weddings. It’s much busier in summer than winter. He did a trial shift to see what they thought of him at the start and then just texts the owner to let him know when he’s available. He likes it best when it’s really busy and the bar is ten deep with customers, gets a buzz from it. He’s been doing it a few years and it fits well with uni holidays.

DD doesn’t fancy it so although it’d be super handy and easy she is going to look for something else (no idea what!) once A levels are over. Although we are going on holiday first two weeks of July and then she’s off to Greece with a bunch of mates so doesn’t leave long for work……