BTEC/T level/other vocational 25/26

[BTECnewbie]

Hello all. My DS will hopefully be starting a level 3 extended diploma in September (assuming he gets the grades). I know very little about BTECs having come through the A level route myself. So I’d love to have a support thread for parents of kids taking vocational qualifications this year.

Just checked and DS said not heard from college, other than email saying he hadn’t filled out a bus pass form. Which he did, at the same time I paid £200 odd for it ( so, that doesn’t fill me with hope).

I just don’t want him turning up at the huge building he enrolled in at 9.30am on Monday and going 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️…where the hell am I supposed to be??

@swampwitch0, eek, thst 1 mark off is nasty. I hope she gets it remarked. DS is 1 mark off in Combined science too.

@dinnermoneyready Well done on enrolling! Yes, DS is similar, 9 marks off with a Grade 3 in English, so having to resist ( unless the remark brings a miracle! 🤷‍♀️😹),
Hope DD work goes well tomorrow. Dry run will be exciting! ( flutter as to whether she goes with older DD🤷‍♀️..,, DS would pick that option, every time!).

@swampwitch0
@dinnermoneyready

apologies! The last sentence is for @swampwitch0! I tried to corrrct it, but typing with my left hand I was unsuccessful 🤯.., sorry!!

@OhCrumbsWhereNow…” upside down reading!” 😹 .. that’s so me! Otherwise, find out zero! I’m panicking as got no details, or confirmation which I find out. His, too, starts with induction Monday 1st, then 8th “ proper” start.
I know what you mean by it’s gone on sooooo long. But. I have to admit, I’m kind of dreading next week- nerves for DS, and on Friday DS18 heads up to Edinburgh for his first year at Uni. Which is great, obviously, but makes me so tearful and sad at the thought. The house is going to be horribly quiet without him here, and without having to wait up for 2am pick ups from town….🙄😹

🤞it’s good news it’s gone up!

At DD's agricultural college at the first day there were loads of people at the bus stop and carparks directing students where to go by course.

That's a good point. Very early on, and possible within the 2 induction days, those resitting maths had maths tests to see where they were at, so send them off with maths kit from the start.

People using ChatGPT to create a first six weeks plan, make sure you've told it what units are being studied, as BTECs have some optional units, and there is leeway in a two year course to decide which year you teach which units.

I've not taught on it but having some students in my class.

Usually they have a uniform.

They also have to call staff 'Sir' and 'Ma'am'.

Just to dd to @Magpiecomplex the optional units are chosen by the school / college not the students.

How’s everyone feeling about next week? DS is excited but also quite nervous. Mainly about the social side as he is shy and has always found friendships a bit tricky. I think he’s hoping to find some like minded people on his course.

DS doesn't start until next Friday. He's excited about the course and getting away from some school frenemies, but also anxious about going somewhere new. And also about the social side I think.

Ditto for dd

Sadly, a couple of friends from dds hobby group have said quite negative things about where dd is going 🙄
I've had to remind her that

1. They didn't look at her course or her building (huge campus in a big city..)
2. They are not the kind of kids I'd imagine at an FE college (both lovely, but quite immature and very religious)
3. The other one was thrown off their course (not dds course) for not turning up and not doing the work!..

Sigh. So thats thrown dd a bit. Also, the person she knows who is doing her course is doing different induction days to dd. I'm just trying to be zen 😬

Thank you! So, you teach BTec?, that’s really interesting! Sonething related to the public services course, I guess if you have those students in your class?

Yes, DS has to wear “uniform” of hoodie, T-shirt and cargo trousers…. I mentioned to him about the “Sir/Ma’am”.. I think that’s better than a first name prospect. Fingers crossed for him, starts Monday.

🙏again!

Dd doesn't have a uniform. This has pleased her greatly.

@swampwitch0

Ahhhh, no, I’m so sorry, that is not what you need right now. I think what you said to DD is perfect. It does sound like they have no personal knowledge of DD new college….
Do you think there may be a teeny bit of jealousy involved? Not in a mean way, but envy that your DD is going to the huge campus in the big city, and perhaps they don’t have either the courage, motivation or drive to even consider going? DC have a horrible way of laying negative thoughts…..

I really hope your 🧘‍♀️ is working……🤞🙏🤞……x

I was very careful to say "I'm sure those comments come from a kind and concerned place..." 🙄😡
But, yeah.
Not jealousy I don't think, just very, very different kids and differing world views.
Two of the girls are very "young" for their age, very religious and I just cannot see them in such an environment.
The other girl is struggling to find her place in the post 16 landscape...she's now nearly 19 and has "left" 4 x post 16 provisions and courses 😕
She was thrown off a course at dds college (Health and social care I think?..) for just not turning up or doing the work 🤷‍♀️
She has very strong views about the college due to this!

There’s a bit of snobbery in our area around doing a BTEC at college vs staying at school to do A levels. DS isn’t bothered though as he knows it will be better in the long run to get a decent grade in his BTEC than struggle to get mediocre A levels that will probably lead nowhere.

I wonder if there's a bit of that...
Dd's grades are very good and the majority of her friends with similar grades are doing A levels.
It's just not for her.

DD thankfully couldn't give a rat's arse what anyone she knows thinks about BTechs – she's like her dad in that respect, not caring about other people's opinions, whereas I'm much more of a people pleaser! I love that about her.

She is nervous about starting and getting to know new people – she's got her induction all day Thursday, then lessons begin proper on Friday. Hoping all the animals on site should be a great distraction/conversation starter.

@SuperTrooper1111 Pets would be a good conversation starter on animal care courses....

Any person who asks DD about her pets might regret doing so – once she starts on about our puppy she won't shut up! 😂

Well quite, but in an animal course ...

So! It’s pouring down here today, DS and I did a “dry run” for Monday. He can either get a lift to the next town, or, there is a college bus from the next village…., which then goes up an A road to the town where his college is.
a lift to the bus stop is only about 5 minutes, but he could walk it… the only problem is the shortest route is down a country lane, which I would not even want him doing in daylight, but absolutely no way I’d let him do that in the dark. You can walk down a well know tourist trail between the villages, then down the hill to our house, (which would take about 20 minutes, or so) so I’m impressing on him that if he wants to walk back from the bus stop, he MUST do this route… especially in winter months. He does not have good road sense at all with his ADHD/ASD, and I worry if he is out walking anywhere not within our village and hills etc. Anyway! It went well, we were laughing and joking, and he is in a very good excited mood, so that is all it takes for me to be so!

Now, I’m just hoping he gets a good nights sleep tonight! And wondering about tomorrow, and things I need to maybe chat to him about before Monday…..

Does anyone have any tips they are giving their DC for their first day?! I’ve not done the “ walking into a room of strangers” for years! Tho, I do have to do it fairly regularly at work, but more usually with only a couple of people…

Anyway, hope that everyone is having what is probably a last chilled weekend, before college starts!!!! 🙀😹

@Sisublondie in prep for my DD when she started college we ran “what if” things like what if the bus doesn’t turn up, what if you miss the bus / train, what if someone follows you or you lose your phone, or the battery goes flat. She did in her first term have broken down train, and cancelled train home had to use a different bus. So we added two different bus and train Apps and loaded payment details in. Checked she knew how to use Google naps to walk to somewhere new etc.

Have you got any of the following:
Find My Phone
Life360
AirTag (in bottom of school bag)

I have all of them for DD. Life360 is the least useful.

Also ensure that his phone has any transport Apps and he knows how to use them! V useful for change of plans or routes.

We also have:
Torches - one on phone, one that attaches to bag with a carabiner, and you can get hats with inbuilt headlamps. V handy in the winter mornings and evenings.

Personal alarms - again, one that attaches to the bag and you just yank to set it off.

Power pack - because phones run out of juice at the worst times.

@swampwitch0

Eeek, ummmm, that’s a lot of different courses to try out in a couple of years…..😼🙄….. and for one of them to be at DDs college, certainly sounds like a trigger for her. It sounds as if she isn’t really suited to any type of course, and maybe really would love to be DD age again, with all her new life at college literally waiting to start…….but knowing she herself would probably still be in the same position she currently is. It’s a real shame to have to leave a course because you literally aren’t attending or doing the work ( especially if she had asked for support). So, it’s most probably a trigger, DS’s college, I mean. It looks like you have handled the situation really well! It must have been annoying for them to have said such things to DD, after the careful choice she made to go there ( I would certainly have found it so). It definitely sounds like the younger acting girls, are absolutely not ready to go to a non-school environment and would not fit in, or thrive there, at all. Maybe they are also worried the large campus may be too “ relaxed” with their religious views.

Well, I hope DD agrees with what you have said, and isn’t letting what they said take the shine off her excitement. They are obviously all good friends at their hobby, so I hope they don’t continue with any comments like this, especially the older girl! 🙄

😹😹😹 as to your DD and “ uniform”!! When one of the instructors at enrolment mentioned it, it was literally when we were in limbo as to the course, and I thought “ Oh.No. What The……?!”.. but he very quickly went on to say…. Hoodie…etc…! And, the relief!! Until not that long ago, hoodies were ALL DS wore! ( luckily his village primary let him in uniform, as opposed to sweater). He wears the hood up all the time, he finds it a comfort and mentally can “zone out” wearing it, similar to how he wears his headphones. Plus, he hasn’t mentioned it yet, but I’m sure he agrees with me, that it will help him “blend” with his course mates, and he won’t be stressing about what to wear. Saying that, either of us have seen the uniform yet! 🤞🙀😹

@Sisublondie
I know what you mean...
I'm quite irritated by their comments, but am trying not to let dd see that.
She's just done some online intro stuff and downloaded the college app 😬
Dry run public transport wise is going to be Tuesday, as I wasn't well last week 🤧