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

Ah it’s lovely reading about all the fun summer stuff the DC are up to. 😊

DD had a lovely day/evening yesterday chilling with friends in St James Park in London for hours and hours, listening to tunes, eating pizza and nattering with friends she’s known since she was tiny, in the sunshine.

We fly off tomorrow early doors so it’s carnage here atm with piles of clothes everywhere! Not looking forward to coming back on an overnight flight - jet lagged, and having less than 48 hours to turn around DDs washing for her girls trip to Greece….

Sadly no vote for August born DD, but DS has posted his first one ever after much deliberation and angst, as have DH and I.

I've been so busy at work this week that I've barely had time to stress about DS being on holiday @Rollergirl11 He does have very sensible and well travelled friends thankfully and they've been having a great time sightseeing.
Hope your DD has a lovely incident free holiday. Yours too @TenSheds
Well done to your DD @PumpkinKnitter My DS also passed on his 3rd attempt. I was unbelievably happy about this, as I started thinking it was never going to happen and lessons are sooo pricey these days.

Lovely to hear of all the summer plans. Just on flight back now from Kuala Lumpur to Heathrow and DH will collect and looking forward to seeing the boys including Floof. Wonderful holiday. DD off again on 4th to Greece.

@MirandaWest my dd just got back from Barcelona today! They went on Monday, 6 of them, and have had a fabulous time. She has slept all day as they had a 6am flight, 3am taxi, so didn't bother sleeping.

Glad your DD had a good holiday Great We are back from Borneo getting in late light night after a 13 hour flight and DD is already out again for a concert with friends in an impressive display of energy. I, on the other hand, am half awake in bed. Floof is much more impressed with me than DD though for that.

So great reading about all the pros, holidays etc....& relax.

@Rollergirl11 the fine for their one room was £42, the other two rooms had spurious fines too - all the boys were skint so I got a panicky call on the Saturday morning, transferred the money - DS then offered to pay by card but they insisted cash only (hmm) so he had to dash to a cashpoint, all super stressful when they were expecting the airport shuttle shortly. He had the best time though, I'm sure your DD will be fine & of course these days it's so easy to communicate if she needs to seek advice. I have no idea how our parents coped with teen holidays back in the day!

A real boost for DS that he did very well in the year 12 mocks & school have actually upped his UCAS predicted grades so even if he has to apply again, it's on a better basis (still no news from Durham re rolling the offer forward...). Meanwhile he went to see Liam Gallagher on Friday & is hoping to work pretty much full time at the restaurant over the summer, apart from our holiday, Leeds Fest & a few odd dates, to build his savings up as he spent a fortune on holiday -topped up by us towards the end of course. He has two weeks at school to go.

He is looking forward to voting but shockingly revealed two of his friends are voting for Reform, these lads genuinely believe Farage is 'like us, the man in the pub'....I was so surprised!

DD safely made it to Barcelona - this morning there was a storm and they bought an umbrella (she texted this in Spanish to me) but then the weather perked up bit. Looking at the forecast that was hopefully the last rain they’ll have.

Glad your DSs mocks went well and higher predicted grades Lego and he's enjoying life.

DDs impressive energy level continues - back from Borneo on 28th late then out all day at concert in London on 29th, out all day with friends on 30th, out at school to fill in some uni forms and with boyfriend yesterday, working punting next couple of days then off to Kefalonia with her boyfriend for a week on 4th.

That’s so annoying ref the fine @legosnowqueen but it sounds like they dealt with it without too much stress. Glad to hear that his mocks went well and his PG’s have been amended upwards. Fingers crossed for Durham.

Hope your DD enjoys Barcelona @MirandaWest. And impressed with how much your DD has going on @Penguinsa.

DD is currently in Malia having a whale of a time. I woke up this morning to a flurry of texts from her saying that lots of her friends had got tattoos and she was really tempted but had restrained. Thank heavens as I’m sure a tattoo you got on holiday when you’re 18 and wasted is one you will regret. Can you even go in the pool/sea/sun after you’ve had a tattoo?!

Anyway she gets back in the early hours of Monday morning. Then she has her prom on Tuesday, then goes to see Catfish & the bottlemen in Liverpool on Thursday and then we are off on our family holiday on Monday. It makes me tired just thinking about it!

@Rollergirl11 DD and I had a conversation about tattoos before she left - she said she wouldn’t have one on holiday but probably will get one at some point in the autumn and has researched tattoo places in Bristol 😃 (this is very DD)

Lovely to read about all the exciting things your young people are getting up to. DS has been relaxing at home mainly on a computer screen. I've been helping him work through admin forms which needed to be completed and also he's been working on clearing out all his A level notes and tidying his room - quite a big task! He still needs to shortlist accommodation preferences at his insurance choice but most of the other things on the list have been ticked off. We had to get his GP to fill in a form for his DSA application as they didn't accept his autism diagnosis as evidence, managed to submit that yesterday so hopefully it will go smoothly now. He needs a student bank account but I think he can't open one until after results - is that right?

Ha, another one here who’s DD is talking about getting a tattoo when she goes on holiday in a few weeks! She’s been talking about it for years and the tattoo she wants is very small & discreet.

Thanks so much for this, made me so happy to see and for you doing it ❤️🐒 (closest to an orangutan emoji I can get). How amazing. I’ll definitely may PM at some point for details. Hope it’s continued to be a great trip!

@SooperOuting Sadly no vote for August born DD

Yes, I have been feeling a bit sad for DD about this as well. For us it was so, so close. Of course they have to have a cut off, and Rishi had to choose a date, but if he had chosen a couple of weeks later DD could have voted.

In addition, she is going to turn 18 while she is interailing (setting off next week after having just got back from Amsterdam which she went to separately with a different crowd), which is annoying in that we want to add her to various credit cards and things, so she could have some back up, but can't be done until she is 18. As everybody has said though, so nice to be finished and for them to be enjoying themselves. She came in at around 4 in the morning this morning, and has just got up and is very croaky, but sounds like she had a good time.

DS has a friend who turns 18 the day before results day which is a bit tough for them as nobody is wanting to go out that night! Hopefully there'll be a double celebration the following day instead.
I forget that there are still a few of the cohort who are not yet 18 as DS is at the other end of the scale. I realised the other day that if he gets his first choice we will need to drop him off on the weekend of his 19th birthday in fact. He feels a bit sad that he will be spending it "alone" as he won't have made any friends yet but I actually think it could be a good ice breaker. I'm planning to take a cake with us and I reckon if he plonks it on the kitchen table it will lure his new flatmates out into the open!

In DS's friend group the oldest has a 4th September birthday and the youngest 30th August!

DD is a mid September birthday and will go to uni before her birthday. One friend is even earlier with her birthday 2nd September.

At the other end of the scale there’s one with an August birthday and another with a July birthday. Think they are both taking gap years,

DD flat out refused a gap year despite being an August birthday and me recommending it. Probably because I recommended it.

Currently in paradise in the Far East and in some ways wish it was just DH & I. As much as I adore their company - when they are in a good mood it’s heaven- they definitely want to be their own people and there’s a pull away from us which is tricky on a family holiday. I irritate both of them and they let it show and it makes me sad and makes me reflect on how I treated my own mother at the same age. It’s all part of life, I know.

Too much time for navel gazing! Usually it’s manic with work, chores etc so no time to breathe. Makes me realise I don’t want to retire any time soon, as blissful as this is!

Glad your DD is having a good time Rollergirl

Thanks Writer

That looks lovely Sooper. Love seeing holiday pics. Hope the teenage moods improve. DD was quite cheerful and pleasant but she did keep insisting she knew the best way to places and saying I didn't then we would go her way and would find out my way was right. Last day she agreed to go my way which was right apparently as I was lucky. Did get random teenage moans like why is the wildlife boat trip 2 hours they could do it faster in 1 hour then I could have an hour on the internet debating A level boundaries. 🤣 And had my boyfriend wasn't impressed how last minute I added myself to this trip but all his friends were impressed and then 1 day later my boyfriend says he wants to come here to see wildlife and his Mum is boring and I am coming here again in 5 years time.

She's just off to Kefalonia, DH left at 4am to take the two of them to the airport.

DD is at an 18th birthday party - am glad it’s stayed dry this evening. As I dropped her off I felt a pang of sentimentality (didn’t help that the theme was Mamma Mia) at realising that this time will come to an end soon and everything will change. It’s good but I am a bit sad at the same time.

I’m also a bit sad about all the change happening @MirandaWest

DD is going off on a short holiday with a friend next week, and then starting a month long paid work placement that’s going to be great experience for her degree. Meanwhile DH, DS and I will go off on holiday without her, and DD will then go away to a festival with friends. Our plans are now having to be focused on 3, not 4.

Same here, starting to feel wistful about how things will be changing come September.

I picked DD up from the airport in the early hours, she’s back from her girls holiday. We’ve had a little taste of family life as 3 rather than 4. DS has really missed her. Thankfully she is coming on our 2 week holiday next week so I will soak it all up
and savour her company.

It’s prom tomorrow so no doubt I’ll be feeling sentimental then too. DD has pre’s at a friend that she has had since primary school. They have a gorgeous garden and they’ve hired a bar and parents are welcome so it will be really lovely to see all the girls looking gorgeous! Shame that I think the weather is going to be rubbish!! 🌧️ ☔️

DS had his last sports match of the season this weekend. Unfortunately they were soundly beaten so not the end of his junior days that he was hoping for but he was happy about his personal performance, they were just beaten by a stronger team. But I did feel sad, knowing that I'd never be on the sidelines or see most of the other lads and their parents again. Some of them have played together on various different teams since primary school so it was quite sad, especially as the heavens opened at the end and everyone dashed to their cars so I didn't get any photos. I think there was an official team pic at the beginning so hopefully I can get that.
I am sure he will continue to play at University which is great, but that will be his life and I won't be part of it. I guess that's why I am sad. It's the natural progression of course and what we actually want...but it's still hard! Lots of people were saying things like "Great, no more getting up at death o'clock at the weekends" but it was all a bit half hearted - I think we were trying to convince ourselves we were glad!

@MrsAvocet - we're the same. DS's sport actually finished at Easter so it's been a while but he does miss the regular training and matches. Fortunately for us his club has a "returners" membership which is social plus training and about half a dozen matches which should be enough so see him through the holidays at least.

DS is still trying to get a job. Struggling a bit - applied for many but few responses. I feel he may have left it a bit late but he wasn't in the right place to do all the applications mid-exams.

We are back from our trip and ds has a busy few weeks u til the end of July. I'm trying to encourage him to sign on with an agency for work in August. We'll see what happens.

I'm hoping a good bedroom clear out will happen this week. Accommodation options for uni have been picked and I need to still do my bit for student finance.

Ds needs to research a student bank account. Any recommendations or are they all much the same?