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Further education

You'll find discussions about A Levels and universities on our Further Education forum.

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

991 replies

BlackBean2023 · 23/08/2024 09:21

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

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JessyCarr · 16/12/2024 11:23

Sorry to hear that @gingercat02. It’s such a long and tiring term.

DC are on school holidays now and full of beans. DD is full steam ahead on UCAS and TSR, researching degree courses, optional modules, first year accommodation, you name it. I felt like she had a bit of a wobble a few weeks ago about the prospect of growing up and moving away, but apparently no more! This may be prompted by the fact that she has quite a few friends in Y13 who are deep into their applications, Oxbridge interviews this week, and what have you. (DD isn’t going to apply to Oxbridge though). We are going away for a bit and then she will have to knuckle down and revise for January exams. But it is nice to see her energy and enthusiasm for the future.

Waspie · 16/12/2024 14:45

Boast all you like @steppemum, it's great to hear that your daughter is in a good place, settled and doing well!

I hope your son gets a good rest over the break and finds his mojo again @gingercat02 . DS is also "hanging" (his word). Just trying to get to the end of term now.

Your daughter sounds so switched on and focussed @JessyCarr Good for her! DS has agreed that we will go through some university info over the break. He doesn't have an idea of what he wants to do or where he wants to do it. I've suggested that we look at some courses on the university's websites and see what sparks his imagination.

JessyCarr · 16/12/2024 16:15

@Waspie maybe also consider a UCAS Discovery event in the coming season:

https://www.ucas.com/explore/search/events?query=&refinementList%5Bevent_type%5D%5B0%5D=Exhibition

Waspie · 16/12/2024 16:38

Excellent idea, thank you @JessyCarr

Countrylife2002 · 18/12/2024 07:54

Two more days of term… thank goodness, DD is being completely impossible and it’s starting to seriously grate…

SunblockSue · 18/12/2024 15:00

Countrylife2002 · 18/12/2024 07:54

Two more days of term… thank goodness, DD is being completely impossible and it’s starting to seriously grate…

End of term was 13th here and we are currently sunny ourselves by a pool!

Teadrinker81 · 18/12/2024 17:19

DD’s best friend (male) has just asked her out! She really likes him but definitely isn’t ready for a relationship and she is only just building up her confidence in this friendship. He is so good for her and has really helped her settle into college and it’s been wonderful for her. It all seems to have unsettled everything now. Roll on the holidays to let everything rebalance itself.

steppemum · 19/12/2024 10:00

Those UCAS discover events, are they basically all unis showing their courses in one place? So the Nottingham one shows all the courses from roudn the country?

There are none anywhere near us, 2 hours drive to nearest !

JessyCarr · 19/12/2024 14:15

@steppemum That’s the idea, yes. Probably not every university and every course, but enough to generate ideas and give young people a chance to ask questions in person without having to travel miles from their home town. But it sounds like it doesn’t come very near you!

Muchtoomuchtodo · 19/12/2024 19:14

One more day of term here. DS is shattered after a very busy term in and out of school, but he amazes us! We had parents evening a few days ago and he’s getting over 90% in all of his class tests and is on track for 3 As at AS level. Mocks after Christmas will be interesting to check!

He’s very keen to study maths at degree level and is looking for a course with a good amount of financial mathematics modules. He’s even thinking that he might apply to Oxford! To be fair to him he’s doing a lot of research but I have to admit to feeling out of my depth.

The UCAS discovery days look interesting, thanks for sharing.

Waspie · 20/12/2024 09:57

DS, his girlfriend and his friend from school have signed up for the UCAS Discovery day in London. For DS it's about trying to narrow down options for open days later in the year really. Last day of term here too.

Well done to your son @Muchtoomuchtodo, it sounds as though he's had a very good start to A Levels!

wonderstuff · 21/12/2024 10:54

Thank goodness we are at the end! Although I speak more for me than dd! I’ve secured a new job starting in the summer term, which is a massive relief.

DD has the most adorable friend group, one of them organised an end of term quiz at a local church last night, with the help of his dad, there was another party on but they all went to the quiz and had the best time. They did all go drinking afterwards and rocked up at mine past midnight, but they are 17! No disasters other than using all my milk (and waking me up, but in the grand scheme of things not a big deal).

DD as instructed by her economics teacher has a careers appointment, and careers advisor said she had loads of time and not to worry, seems dd didn’t quite relay the idea the teacher had about setting some ambitious targets. Nevermind. Those UCAS days look great @JessyCarr thank you, dd is at college in Winchester where they are holding one so I’ll definitely get her to look at it.

I’m trying to push the idea of degree apprenticeship as something to consider, the civil service do an economics one, which I’m sure will be really interesting.

End of term reports say she’s doing what she needs to, parents evening is invite only and we were not invited which is good. She got a D in her latest maths assessment which isn’t a disaster, but she’s definitely finding that tough, she’s aiming for C in maths and A/B elsewhere. I think it’s probably a bit early to know with maths, you tend to struggle and then make a significant improvement when something clicks.

steppemum · 22/12/2024 07:36

JessyCarr · 19/12/2024 14:15

@steppemum That’s the idea, yes. Probably not every university and every course, but enough to generate ideas and give young people a chance to ask questions in person without having to travel miles from their home town. But it sounds like it doesn’t come very near you!

these do look good, I'll see if I can persuade dd to go.
It's a shame there isn't one in Bristol, I was a bit surprised by that, that would be easiest to get to.
Dd knows she wants to study chemistry. She also wants to take a gap year, which I think she will need. She is going to find it a huge step up to go to uni, autism etc and I give her a LOT of support, and I think another year would help.
She'd like to do an internship at our church, but so would 20 of them and they only offer 2 places.
On the one hand she wants to start to plan what comes next and on the other hand she doesn't have any head space for it.

JessyCarr · 22/12/2024 09:13

@steppemum They did do a recent Bristol one (at UWE) in October 2024, so perhaps it will come around again in autumn 2025.

From the spring/summer list, is Newport or Exeter any good to you?

https://www.ucas.com/providers/events-calendar-2025

Waspie · 22/12/2024 10:04

There is one at Hartpury Uni too @steppemum - Gloucester's not too far from Bristol. There isn't one at Bristol, Bath or Reading which I find a little surprising.

Techno56 · 22/12/2024 12:41

Waspie · 22/12/2024 10:04

There is one at Hartpury Uni too @steppemum - Gloucester's not too far from Bristol. There isn't one at Bristol, Bath or Reading which I find a little surprising.

The Bristol one was in October some time, on a Friday afternoon..I know because my son's school instructed them all to go and he did not 😅

bluefineliner · 04/01/2025 07:54

Happy New Year 😊

Hope you all enjoyed Christmas. DD has been mainly working in her part time job (pub/restaurant) making the most of extra shifts. I was hoping she'd do more school related things (she needs to sort her CV to apply for more work experience and do some online work experience too) but she seemed to want a total break and has enjoyed being busy with her new team of friends at work.

I've left her to it and yesterday she finally spent the day doing school work so is gearing up for school now. I think it will be very full on when they return so hope she's prepared.

Are your teens raring to go back?

Philandbill · 04/01/2025 08:23

Happy New Year all.
DD is not in school Monday or Tuesday this week so a slow start for her. She's done an awful lot of art this week and rather less reading of the novel that is a set text. The art was necessary but so is the novel! The next few days are to be reading days... She's also seen friends and slept late too often 😆. She had her art portfolio at home over the holiday and has shown it to visiting family so I think their admiration (some of it informed as they paint/ draw too and some of it from utterly uniformed love) was a bit of a spur to produce more. She's experimenting with oil paints rather than acrylic so we've had windows open despite the cold as nobody loves the smell of turps!

wonderstuff · 04/01/2025 10:29

Happy new year! Dd has been doing school work she was a little bit behind in maths which stressed her out, all caught up now. Teachers on strike next week, so she’s not really sure when she’s back, she thinks Wednesday. She has a job interview on Tuesday with HMV, first interview after lots of applications I do hope it goes well. A friend has also asked her if she’ll tutor her child in year 10, which she’s nervously agreed to but seems to have left all the arrangements to me.. we’ll see how it goes.

Muchtoomuchtodo · 04/01/2025 10:35

Happy new year all!

DS is back in on Monday. He’s got mocks in a couple of weeks so is working really hard for those.

gingercat02 · 04/01/2025 11:27

There is no raring to go back to school here (or work to be fair)
We have completely destressed, which we all needed.
DS has a business exam on Thursday, so he has done some revision

Tebheag · 04/01/2025 21:32

Happy New Year
DS finally did some work today we where away for Christmas till new years day then he needed rest no idea why. He is back Monday and still got more to do. Still no part time job though don't think he is really looking.
Hope all the kids have a great first day back will be hard for some who commute with the cold and dark nights.

JessyCarr · 04/01/2025 23:09

Happy new year! DD has belatedly got down to some work in the last few days and term starts on Tuesday. Exams are coming up in late January and then summer exams are late April into early May. A bit of an eye-opener when she realised that her predicted grades for UCAS will be pretty much based on what she does between now and the first week of May. (I’m sure they keep assessing them into the autumn, but still).

So… we’ve put her driving test back to June. It feels like 6th form just started and yet suddenly we are lurching towards UCAS and all that!

Waspie · 05/01/2025 19:57

Happy New Year to you all!

DS surprised me this evening by announcing that he would be glad to get back to school tomorrow. It was lucky that we were all sitting at the dining table or I might have keeled over from shock!

We bought a car yesterday for DS to practice in once he has arranged some lessons. He has some savings and his grandparents gave him some money at Christmas towards lessons. Looking for a driving instructor is now on my ever growing To Do list.

No exams for DS until the summer. His end of term report was good and this has bolstered his confidence ahead of this new term.

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