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

They are insisting it's to promote independence and bridge the gap between sixth form and Uni.

They want all students to have all 3 books by yesterday, ready to start the first book after October. It seems ridiculous. Even when they started year 10, they were given the book last and said the first one is needed so make sure you have it by then.

Same with their uniform. A few detentions given out for no jumpers yet the only place you can get the uniform sold out of Xl and L jumpers by the first week of summer hols and aren't getting anymore till end of October so students without a jumper have detentions. DS said everyone is lending their jumpers to each other when they have free periods tk avoid it. 3 detentions in a half term means 2 days isolation the following term.

I am an academic. No one at uni expects students to have books in place months in advance of when they are needed. And no one cares what students wear either (within the limits of civil decency 😁).

In fact, what we really want our students to be, is critical thinkers.

@YellowphantGrey Detention for nor having a jumper or a book they don't even need yet is NOT bringing the gap between school and uni! It is very much in the 'school' camp.

@YellowphantGrey What pettifogging nonsense from the school! Even my 12 year old is trusted to know when in the autumn it’s cool enough for a jumper.

My son's previous school would have given detentions for not wearing a jumper or not having the right equipment for a class. My son once got a 60 minute detention for "putting his blazer on too slowly". They were/are seriously anal about things like that. Each summer we would get a daily email to say whether it was warm enough for them to not have to wear their jumpers. I had to bite my tongue a lot over the years.

We shall see if DS' new school are as petty tomorrow when DS will be going to mandatory PE in non-school uniform sports kit. I have ordered the sports kit but it had to be in the correct house colours and he didn't find out which house he was in until last Friday.

First proper day for Dd and she doesn’t want to discuss how it went. She says she doesn’t want to dwell on it and become negative so she’ll do the rest of the week and then talk when she’s got a better picture. Crikey!
She can be negative and struggles with new social situations and she’s not gone to college with her friends so I suppose we should expect a bumpy start.

@YellowphantGrey that's awful. That poor kid being penalised and shamed because of the book.

@Teadrinker81 I like the calmness of your DD, very considered to wait and give it time.

My DD has had a few bumpy days, culminating in tears on Mon night after a day with more free periods than she wanted. She didn't have enough homework to keep her busy and they are only letting Y12 in a large hall in free periods until they have sorted things out. This meant her sitting near large groups of established friends, her own 'new' friends weren't there. She tried to chat to a few, some literally just turned their backs on her and ignored her. She sent me a message at work telling me she wanted to come home 😢.

She is very hormonal this week and dramatic so I had to talk it through with her and reassure her this is normal and will get better. She had also changed from maths to psychology so was waiting to start her new class.

Anyway yesterday was much better, she has lots of homework now to keep her busy and is loving psychology and the teacher. She does actually have a few budding friendships but I think she's been taken aback at the animosity of some girls (who are existing students). She does, and will, speak to anyone to try and make them comfortable so finds it strange others don't do the same. She even threatened to go back to her old school but agreed this is not the right option for her. Gosh I had hoped it would be easier than this.

@bluefineliner your daughter sounds lovely. Sorry things have been tough for her, but great that her subject change decision is paying off. Hope those budding new friendships continue to grow and flourish 💐

Oh, that's tough, @bluefineliner. Hope things settle quickly for her.

We had expectations of the 6th form last night. Really useful. Lots of let them be independent and make their own choices, but remember they are still only 16/17, and your children help us to help them.
Lots of EPQ and enrichment options, getting them to think of school as a working day and getting all their homework/study/etc done in that 9-5 day so weekends and evenings can br their time.
I was really pleased with how it all looks, so I just need to convince DS 😁

Quite! Especially as a lot of year 13s are 18 and being treated this way too

Across the entire school, jumpers amd blazers are to be worn all year round unless permission is given to remove them, then they have to put them back on to move around the school

Finally found you all here!
@YellowphantGrey that sounds soo old school. Poor kids, I also can’t believe teenagers of this era is going to take it as learning responsibilities. IMHO it would only backfire 🤦‍♀️
I came looking for year 12 thread, but to be honest it was basically DS starting secondary vs DD going to the sixth form. (I struggle mostly with the secondary school start with all the unknowns.)
DD is doing Maths, FM, Phy and Chem. she is a bit worried about Chem but again don’t have anything else in mind, other than Econ( we discussed this prior to appln and she decided that she is not good at essay subjects ) but now worried again! I am happy if she wants to move to Econ, but she struggled with Geo content for GCSE, especially finishing answers in exams more than learning part. And now school has externals and Econ would be in waiting list. She hasn’t done anything about it yet though!
We don’t have any kind of enrichment/ other stuff ppl are talking about, tmrw is welcome evening, may be we will get to know more.
Only found this today and thanks again for amazing thread, we will need this to support each other!

I can report back that DS was indeed allowed to leave school to get his flu jab during his free period.

@YellowphantGrey I feel for the kids in your DS's school.

Going well for us so far. However he decided on Monday that he no longer wants to do Further Maths, this is absolutely fine as he can change it to Geography which he also wanted to do but couldn't be accommodated because of a timetable clash.

He just needs to let someone know.

Hi all, I’m reassured ours isn’t the only bumpy start.
Need advice for dd, her maths teacher is very strict and old school it seems and she thinks other maths teachers are more supportive. Today teacher told them maths is really hard and if you’re finding it hard now it’s best to swap out - I feel this is poor given it’s the second day of teaching and also that maths, like other subjects can be learnt with the right attitude. Dd said the thing they were doing in that moment was straightforward, but other aspects that lesson she found difficult. Her class is mostly kids doing physics and further maths, whereas dd is doing economics and psychology.
She’s been told by her tutor (another maths teacher) there’s a chance she’ll move classes next week because her current timetable has one day with just a 20 minute session on it.. she is wondering if dropping maths is the right option. I’ve advised to talk to her tutor tomorrow. She’ll close quite a few options for uni if she doesn’t do maths. She got an 8 at GCSE. I don’t know.

@wonderstuff Forgive me if you have already mentioned this, but does your DD know what she wants to do after A Levels? Or what her third subject would be if she swapped out of Maths?

FWIW my DD got a solid middle-of-the-band 8 in Maths GCSE and I am glad she didn’t go for it at A Level. I think the jump would have been too much.

She isn’t sure what she wants to do for degree, so wants to keep options open. She is considering finance and is really enjoying economics. In year 10 she did some data analysis as part of her work experience and after that considered statistics as a back up option if she missed maths, at that point she was predicted 7, but it all clicked in year 11 and she decided on maths instead. Stats would still go well with psychology and economics but would still close some uni options.

Her dad and I got really mediocre GCSEs and did social sciences at A-level, the only uni our parents did was open university and we don’t feel terribly well equipped to advise her!

@wonderstuff I think that your instinct that she needs to talk to her tutor is the right one. This isn’t a decision to rush. Perhaps over the weekend she could have a look at some degree courses that she might be interested in and see what they require. It may be that what she leans towards isn’t a very quantitative economics degree (which would require maths, but would it play to her strengths?) but rather something which she can achieve without it. It’s a tough one, no doubt.

As well as the tutor, is there also a careers adviser she could speak to?

There is a careers advice centre, I’ll encourage her to head there tomorrow too. Thank you.

@wonderstuff I had similar conversations with my DD who has just swapped maths for psychology. I am actually glad she has done this as the pressure of trying to get a good grade in maths may have been too much for her. She loves psychology now and is v enthusiastic about the teacher, she is also really motivated for chem and bio which she needs As in too.

DD is having a much better time now after the first bumpy days, She is full on into her homework and has had opportunities in her classes to answer questions and prove to herself she can do this!

On the enrichment side, they had a mini freshers yesterday to sign up to things, and DD signed up for mentoring y7s in science, one to one mentoring a y11 in chem, training to be a mental health supporter (not sure of the exact title!) and attending a medics class after school to practice ucat questions. Phew! not sure she will stick at it all, but the mentoring will be fab as this is right up her street. She needs to wait now to see what she gets to do but is very keen to get involved. I wish I'd known this was going to happen 2 days ago, I could have helped calm her down when she was struggling.

Changing subject does seem to be perfectly normal at this stage still which is important if they don't take to their chose subjects.

@wonderstuff I hope your daughter's chat with the careers adviser goes well. I think it was on noblegiraffe's thread where it was stressed that maths, more than any other subject, is cumulative and that students have a personal ability ceiling. Like you daughter my son got a solid 8 at GCSE, and had toyed with taking maths A level, but has decided against (a good choice in my opinion). Maths is the most popular A level currently and I think lots of students feel they should take it, rather than they want to take it.

I'm glad your daughter is feeling more positive now @bluefineliner. Freshers event sounds good fun! Hopefully she will really enjoy the mentoring.

DS is loving his classes - the teachers are good, class sizes are small (fewer than 15 in two subjects) so they can debate and discuss topics in class. He says the change from GCSE is noticeable in that his classes are comprised of students who want to study and don't act out during class. He has fallen in love with 'Paradise Lost' and there is a History trip to Vietnam next year for which he will need to save a lot of pennies! We have a teams meeting with his tutor later today - just a meet and greet but nice to have.

@SunblockSue we are in a similar boat. DD is doing Biology, Chemistry, Maths, and Further Maths. She was invited to take the fast track Maths course because she got an 8 in GCSE Maths (a couple of marks off a 9) and an A in her FSMQ OCR Add Maths exam. The Add Maths course curriculum overlaps with A-level Maths, to some extent, and that is supposed to help.

So she will be studying the A-level Maths curriculum in year 12 and sit the exams at the end of year 12. FM is over 2 years, normal pace, exams year 13. The good thing is that there are only 7 students in her fast track Maths and 15 in the Further Maths one.

The main problem though - she was told she couldn't drop FM in year 13, if she wanted to - this is due to the school funding rules, they need to study 3 subjects in year 13. Also, many unis base their offers on 3 A-levels sat at the end of year 13 in the same session, so it's a bit useless to sit the Maths exam early. And TBH she doesn't need a 4th A-level, 3 of them would be perfectly fine.

So I'm a bit worried about workload in both year 12 and year 13. DD doesn't want to drop FM, as she likes Maths. However, I'm not sure whether she realises how tough the workload will be. She is considering either Medicine (:sigh) or biotech/biomed research for post 18. Not 100% decided yet.

Her days are quite full: 4 A-levels (with Maths being on a fast track). For her enrichment she chose Gold DofE, which means athletics training 2x/week (this isn't new, it's her usual sport), 12+ months volunteering in NHS 1x week, and likely an online 6-month cookery class (1x week). For DofE Gold, there will also be a 4-day expedition at some point and a 5-day residential trip.

On top of this, if she does decide to try for Medicine she will need to do UCAT prep, interview prep & wider reading, summer medical work experience, etc. I just feel like it's too much. Summer of 2025 will be crazy.

Having said that, DD is motivated and less sceptical than I am. She talked to her teachers and form tutor about the workload and she is confident she can do it. She also said something that sounded so mature so I kinda' stepped back and I'm letting her do her thing: "Mum, the workload for at uni for someone studying to be a doctor will be tough. If I can't cope with 4 A-levels and some extracurricular stuff, then I should probably do something else with my life".

@anoukis Love that from your DD - she sounds fab!