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

DS started properly yesterday, so far, so good I think. I'm doing drop off tomorrow so that's going to be a learning curve as I'm not quite sure the best way to go. Dropping him off / collecting him from college was never the plan but we will see how it goes.

As it was all a very last minute scramble I'm not sure of any SEND plans for him.

Induction morning tomorrow for my son - he is staying on at his school for sixth form. Still not totally decided on his a level choices, so it will be interesting to see what he actually plumps for! Probably maths and further maths will feature.

DS had his first day today. Was home early and doesn't have his full timetable yet but was chatting away about the new students that have joined from other schools (he stayed at his school but sixth form is a bigger intake). He enjoyed getting to go out of school at lunchtime.

Hope all goes well for those starting tomorrow.

DS is back tomorrow too, a return to his school but it will be quite a change - half the year have come from the school y11, half are externals. The rest of the week is team building stuff to help them mix. Just been digging around for a slim ring binder that he can take in - no pre sixth-form stationery haul happening here! I’ve held off buying a new calculator to see what his maths teacher wants, hoping it’s the £25 one rather than the £100 one!

If he’s doing maths a-level I suspect it’ll be the £100 one I’m afraid. A friend said she’d give me her ds calculator as he dropped out of maths last year, she delivered it last week and I think she’s confused the gcse one with the a-level one, it’s not what is listed in the course description. Never mind, can’t face awkwardness of telling her it’s wrong! College apparently are putting in a bulk order so I may save a few pennies buying from them?

Nice to hear some positive starts! Dd tells me she’s worried about talking to new people. I’m sure she’ll be fine but anticipation at this point is getting a bit much.

@wonderstuff he’s doing maths, further maths and physics (and economics), so yes, the costly one maybe feels inevitable. Should be good value on a cost per use basis though! Not sure I can get away with declaring it’s a present for his birthday next week either! I was surprised it wasn’t mentioned in the sixth form joining instructions.

I've started with the £25 one, I can upgrade further down the line if needs be.

DD had 6th form induction morning yesterday. She felt it was a mix between "telling us off before we've done anything wrong" and information overload about all the new responsibilities they have.

First full timetable day today and she's already got a twilight lesson after school.

She's not really thought about an EPQ topic up til now, but is going to go for something creative to balance her 3 essay based A level subjects.

DS is in for his induction this morning, he has chosen to do critical thinking in addition to his A level choices.

Induction day for DS today as well, complete with baseline testing. He is looking very smart and grown up in his new suit!

DS got into Sixth Form, we had the place confirmed late on results day.

He will be doing Geography, Combined English A Level Btech Sport level 3 and and AS Level Maths (compulsory)

No bridging work. Goes back tomorrow.

He's really excited and looking forward to concentrating on his favourite subjects. I l know people are very critical of Btechs and think the children who do these won't be able to cope with A Levels but given how high the school have set their requirements, he will be fine.

Hope everyone's child has a good first half term!!

The next stress factor: maths set tests. I am more worried than DS.

Good first day. Only 4 of them doing further maths! At least they'll get lots of attention. He also got told his Mandarin GCSE went up a grade at review.

DS went back today, he only had two lessons after y12 assembly and form time - surprised by the size of his classes, he thought maybe 20ish people in Physics and Economics. And there are four Further Maths classes apparently! I wonder if they might end up combining them if people drop out over time.

Good day 1, new teachers, form class better than he was expecting. Too much ice breakers/stupid games today. Back to normal lessons tomorrow.
We have parents' expectations evening on Tuesday, so we will know what to expect then.

DS has about 9 in FM, but he said some are yr13's doing AS level.

16 ish in Sociology, not sure for Maths.

Thursday and Friday are annoying timetable days as he has a massive gap in the middle 2hrs and 3.5hrs. There isn't really anything to do locally, so is a lot of time to fill, but hopefully will work well going forward as he is generally more disciplined at school with homework.

DD's first day turned into 2 hours, so not much other than meeting her form and having the talk (similar to PPs) of how hard it will all be etc. She was very positive about meeting lots of new people though, already got a friend to sit with in chemistry. Most of her chemistry class are boys (4 girls) which will be interesting for her as she came from an all girls school.

Day 2 yesterday went well too, she loves her biology teacher, who started off telling them how hard they will all have to work as her classes get the best results in the school 😂.

Still all positive feedback from DD though, think she wants to get stuck into the work now.

Dd off for her first day at college. She’s excited about the prospect of wearing her own clothes and the 4 day week has gone down very well! (They do condensed weeks as the college has lots of people travelling in from long distances due to the rural location).
She suffers from social anxiety and is really nervous, especially as her friends have chosen a different college. I have said that the majority of people will be uncertain, nervous and ready to mix and make new friends but not sure she is ‘hearing me!’
fingers crossed she has a decent day and can see the positives of a brand new beginning.

@Teadrinker81 my DD is in similar situation. She doesn't know anyone at her new 6th form and she's quite shy and struggles with social anxiety. She found day 1 hard in terms of not being confident enough to make new friends but she's trying to stay positive about it. It should be easier once she's in her subject lessons, doing group work etc.

Just checking in. I've got ds2 starting 6th form college today doing music production, maths and computers.

Checking in also ... DD first day at college in town so got the bus in nice and early. Has a lesson for each of 3 subjects today but with huge gaps in between ... I'm hoping if she can't resist the tempo to wander into town she a least keeps an eye on the time

Ahh week if not she's going to learn a life lesson

DD has texted me saying the bus driver is asking students for directions!

That must have been a huge relief @YellowphantGrey

DS' first day today - had to be in at 8am so we were all up at 6am which was a big shock for DS - although he didn't need to be woken up. I gave him a lift in as it was so early but from tomorrow school day starts at 9.10am so he will get the bus. He's only there for the morning and I'd imagine it's just getting their user ids, cafeteria, network and other IT stuff sorted plus some time with tutors.

He looked both very old and very young in his new dark grey suit and sixth form tie when I dropped him off.

I hope all of your DC have enjoyed their first days of year 12.

So I've just looked at my DD's timetable more closely. Each fortnight she has 9 hours of teaching per subject (x 4 subjects) and 4 hours of timetabled study time (I'm guessing supervised?). That's 40 hours in total. And each morning form time from 8:30-9.

The rest are free periods, but she is supposed to be in school from 8:30am each day until 3pm on Mon, Tue and Fri, and until 4pm on Thu. The only day when she can leave school early is on Wednesday, when she has a free during period 5.

School says they should do independent study 4-5 hours per subject per week, so that would be 16-20 hours each week. Which means about 6-8 hours during study time and frees at school, and the rest at home. So it would be 2-3 hours daily at home, wow that seems like a lot considering extracurricular stuff (sports, volunteering etc.). DD hasn't said anything but I am now thinking... does she really need a 4th subject?

It was. His friend has been through the mill though.

Wanted to do Biology, computer science and physics A Level. Needed 8s in those subjects to do them at A Level plus 4 in English and an 8 in maths.

He got 9s and a 7 in Maths. 1 mark off an 8 and the declined his place. Requested paper back, teacher went over the paper and saw marks had been missed, sent it off for remarking. School still wouldn't accept him.

Got into a college to do the Alevels he wanted as he had over the grade requirement for their, got his paper back and has moved up a feade boundary as he was awarded an extra 16 marks that were missed. Has had to reapply for this sixth form and is now waiting for the outcome which he will know by the end of today.