Year 12 - 2024/25 - Support, Discussion and Looking After Each Other

[BlackBean2023]

A survival thread for Y12 parents (24/25) now that GCSEs are over and our young people move onto KS5

DD will be doing 4 A Levels - History, Sociology, Business Studies and Religious Studies plus EPQ.

She's started her bridging work today - long may the enthusiasm continue!

DS couldn’t have done any better in his GCSEs and will go back to school sixth form to study maths, further maths and physics A levels, and of course Welsh Bacc!

Thanks for the new thread @BlackBean2023! DS is also staying at his school sixth form and is currently down to take Maths, Economics, History and Geography (they start with four and then drop one). He might still change his mind about his subjects though. He found narrowing his options for A levels very tricky.

My son is doing maths, FM, physics and computer science at his school sixth form, just got his courses confirmed today 🙂

My DC got great results and went to talk to sixth form about options. Unfortunately, even though the grades were more than what was needed, there isn't a teacher for one of the subjects so it won't be running this year. :(
Thankfully we have a plan B and I'm sure it will be fine but it was tricky as they'd got the grade they needed for the subject but still can't do it.

Thanks for the thread. DD did better than expected so we are all relieved. She is going to a big 6th form - she just needs to finish her online enrollment and confirm what subjects she wants to do. We are having some discussion about this!

Today is going to bankrupt me. DD has to have a laptop/chromebook for school - they can loan one from the school but it works out about £250 over the two years so seems a false economy as they have to give it back! Then shoes, bag, stationery... we've already dropped £200 on a new uniform...

In all seriousness, I'm going to be putting away £50 a month especially for uni supplies shopping in 2 years!

Morning!

Nice to see some familiar faces from the Y11 thread. So DD had excellent GCSE results and is doing maths, chem, bio and an EPQ for A levels. She has chosen to move from her selective girls grammar to a mixed 6th form with around 300 pupils in Y12.

We went to enrol on Thurs and they were so welcoming and enthusiastic about her it was lovely. She is anxious now start day is looming but also excited to meet new friends. Her old school was small and covid made making friends outside her form difficult, meaning her social relationships were limited.

We went shopping yesterday and stocked up on folders/pens etc as well as some bits of clothing she deems appropriate for the 'business wear' dress code. I advised her to wait a few weeks as we've been told they relax their rules on uniform a lot once everyone is settled in.

So, I'm looking forward to supporting through y12 with you all, I feel an immense weight lifted after results and feel like I have a few weeks breathing space at last, well until the first mock A levels exams I guess 😂.

We are still without a school. I am so stressed.
please someone help.
my DS has eight 5 and one 7 in maths and before results he had three conditional offers.
When he opened the envelop, we saw that he could study what he wanted to study in at least one of the schools so we didn’t enrol in his school’s sixth form, which anyway would have let him study only one of his choices: maths. He would have to choose two subjects which were not his favourites so we did not enrol. At lunch time we went to his first choice, but since he only got 5 in English, he could not study anything but maths as alevel and they offered him only a BTEC National in sport which is equal to 3 alevels. Now, this is not his favourite option. He wanted to study PE alevel but not this massive btec. He wanted 3 normal alevels and not one alevel+one btec for a total of 4 alevels equivalent.
His second choice, where he could do three normal alevels and he has the grades, they are still operating a waiting list, even if we had a conditional offer. It was not clear that they would apply the distance based criteria. that even if you got an offer based on grades. This school became our new first choice once the previous one offered only maths+btec. However yesterday they told us that and they have not offered us a space.
So, now we are worried and anxious as we do not know where he will get and what happens if the second school says no and he is not keen to do the btec. Any help please? I am so confused and he is completely sad.

Joining you all!
DD is desperate to buy stationary for college but I’ve refused until she has enrolled and completed her orientation day. No uniform, she got some shoes she wanted for her birthday and now buys all her own clothes. I’ve offered to buy her a pair of trainers if wanted as it’s a bit of a walk away!

She also needs a laptop but I’ve just set up her with her own login on my Apple MacBook and she can take that in as a I have a work pc.

1,000 in her year in college!

DD did very well, but had a few curve ball grades which were 2 or more below her predicted.

She's devastated, but coming round to the realisation it won't matter in the long run.

She needed 44 points to be accepted for 6th form and she got 60.

We're still debating asking for marking reviews. Mainly so that faith can be restored in mock and target grades going forward.

@Thisisreallyweird what subjects would he like to do?

Maths, PE and Physics. He got 6-5 in science (because of chemistry which pulled the grade down badly) so happy to do business or psychology.

That sounds sensible. It's crazy that it's so hard to find a place to do those.

I've got two entering year 12, with wildly different aspirations.

DC1 did extremely well in GSCE (mostly 9s, two 8s) and is enrolling in a local college for the variety of A levels. She's going to do history, RE, maths and Latin, with the intention of dropping one going into year 13.

DC2 also did well (mostly 7s, one 6, and two 9s). She's looking at art university eventually, so she's going to stay on for sixth form at her school, as it's well-resourced for art and she knows the studio. She'll be doing art, biology and French.

I'm a little bit nervous as it's their first time in separate places since starting secondary and they do tend to lean on each other quite a bit. But they're unlikely to end up at the same uni in two years, so it might be good for them to develop a bit more independence now.

1000! wow I don't think we have anywhere around here that big, I am sure they will operate on a very organised basis to support that many students though. Maybe more like a mini uni?

@Thisisreallyweird gosh that does sound stressful for you both.

So does he have a second choice school he is waiting to hear from? Sorry if I misunderstood your message. Does he have any offers for schools with a good selection of courses if he needs to choose alternatives to his ideal subjects?

One of DDs friends wanted to do Eng Lit, but got a 5 in lang so couldn't do it, she chose Law instead. The school has a large selection of subjects though so I think she easily found an alternative she fancied.

@bluefineliner yes, his second choice but he is only in waiting list and we will call on Tuesday. They initially told us he had an offer and instead since he had to change a subject, they have put us back in the waiting list. They have really ruined our bank holiday weekend.

Good luck to everyone starting. My son got all the A level courses he wanted now just another week to wait.

Oh no, I will keep my fingers crossed for you tomorrow, hope you get some answers. I am sorry your weekend has been ruined, but totally understand why.

We have been accepted in the school I wanted! Three alevels, maths, business studies and pe!

’We’ have been accepted in the school ‘I’ wanted!

You sound thrilled but has your dc had any / much input into this?

Sorry…typo…. He wanted the school of course, not me 🤣

I somehow missed this thread 😂 and just spotted the link on the results one. Ds is staying at the same school for sixth form. Uniform, stationary, shoes all sorted. Just waiting of his laptop arriving, I ordered it last week. He has had lots of bridging work and is spending today doing the last of it. His school do an assessment three weeks into term for maths. I wonder if all sixth form/ colleges do this .

Is he doing maths A level @Spacecowboys ? My eldest didn't have that but he didn't do maths.