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.

Dd will have a powerbank
We have life360 on her phone
We've got a small torch somewhere...

Oh, an APP?! Of COURSE there will be an App!!! Which I’m clearly just about to search for! 😈😹…. ( I’m still getting weekly updates on DS’x Sparx ( or whatever it is!) maths homework! Apparently, he’s not been completing it recently! 😹)?.

Yes, how are you feeling, now? I really hope your sinuses are back to healthy…. 🤞

Dry run certainly will be better when feeling better! How long go you think it will take, or is it a wait and see?🤷‍♀️

@Sisublondie
Thanks for asking.
I'm feeling pretty rubbish, tbh
Very tired, very fed up, very old! 😬
I'm feeling quite anxious about next week - hoping dd is ok

@OhCrumbsWhereNow, @DreamingofRaining

Thank you! We have Life360, not the best here in the countryside, the other day I got a “SisuJr has left the house” and “ he’s returned” simultaneously! 😈… but definitely works when it does! I find it can be accurate when it’s working, so, yes, phew to that. I’ll check Find My Phone, very good point, I hadn’t thought about that.
Nor had I thought about AirTags! So, a huge thanks 🙏 for that. I bought AirTags and the Lifr360 Tiles ( I think that’s their name) for DS18 when he went travelling, so I’ll purloin those, if he’s not taking them to Edinburgh ( which he should!).

I hadn’t thought about transport apps, either! Or the “ what ifs”, so, again, a huge 🙏to that!

Torches! 🔦 Well! Again, hadn’t thought, because of phone, but in rain, or when phone shoved in pocket, myriad of reasons, torch better! So, @swampwitch0, I tried to find one of many small torches 🔦 or head torch ( no street lights where we live, so good for 🐩 walks in rain), found zero, so Amazon delivering tomorrow and that’s sorted!!

Power banks - I could depress myself before bed, and revisit the times when I have bought them Anker Powerbanks and 1ft nifty cable and I wrote names on all, to avoid mine being swiped. Got to be at least ten floating round somewhere….. But, yes! I think I’ll have to have an amnesty, and to make sure DS has one on Monday.

🙏😻

@swampwitch0…

Ah, I’m so sorry you’re feeling crappy…….. I know what you mean… it’s a bit overwhelming at the moment, isn’t it? DS18 went to take his lovely GF home this morning and breezily said, as I went to give her her usual hug goodbye, “ Yep, make sure you hug her, as you probably won’t see her till Christmas “… I hadn’t even thought that, of course, she is also going to Uni, and the whole lot just hit me and I did well up, and have a bit of a weep after they left… 🙄.

I think that you need to get as good a nights sleep as possible, and try and think of a way to treat yourself tomorrow, however little it may be. Now, my “old” vice is not just reading newspapers… but getting them delivered!🙀 I know! Shocking! You can “bloody read them on line, Mother!” But, we have no shop in the village.. Anyway, if you have an equivalent to that, or can escape to a bakery or something like that, try and treat yourself to that, tomorrow….

You are NOT old, and hopefully a good nights sleep 💤 and some time to treat yourself and to give yourself time to focus on something other then the upcoming week, and DD, will hopefully lift your spirits a bit 🤞🙏🤞….💕x

Well, the Big Day has arrived for DS. 🙄🙀… he’s subdued, and “ tired”. Eek. Hopefully he managed some sleep, he went to bed about 9pm, so my fear is that he’s woken, and had a second wind.. Anyway! Let’s go!!

Good Luck to any others starting today!! 🍀 🤞🙏…

I shall report back later 😸!

Good luck @Sisublondieds!
🍀

The person dd knows who is doing her course is coming over today to see dd -
I'm hoping they have the same timetable. They might even be able to travel in together 🙏

DD off on train... wearing the earrings she and her school music teacher fought over for 3 years... looking forward to no 'inappropriate uniform' emails in my inbox (actually momentarily sad about that in a way for about 3 seconds).

Obviously she had lost the lanyard and pass issued at enrolment, so total trauma yesterday evening until found in the bag of random crap I had sent upstairs to be 'put away'... 🙄

Dd's course (animal care) has v strict rules on practical days, no false nails etc. But she didn't wear any of the banned stuff normally anyway.

I taught 'Health and Social Care' but also dabbled in maths GCSE and English functional skills. There is some overlap with the various courses.

BTW it is BTEC. I see lots of different spellings.

Many years ago there were BEC and TEC courses, BEC was 'business education council and TEC was a Technical education council.

Hope today goes well for your DS @Sisublondie, do let us know how it goes. DD's starting to have a wobble about the commute to college and how she's going to be a distance from home (separation anxiety has been a big part of her anxiety in general). I'm doing the journey with her on Thursday and I'm just praying she'll get so distracted by starting her course and making friends that she'll be fine after that.

Oooooh! I so hope that that goes well 🤞! That would, indeed, be an excellent situation! Not only a burst of positivity after the other day, but, if they had the same…… 🤞🙏🤞😸..

Ah, thank you so much! I will do! At present, all I know is that DSnow19 got him on the bus successfully and he got there! Oh. And, of course, a request for money as “I’m allowed out for lunch”! ..

I’m so sorry DD is having a wobble…… Is it much further to go than she is used to? I think it’s easy for us to forget things like distance away being a huge stress factor, in already anxious DC ( or adult- even tho I’m part Australian, I felt incredibly unsettled out there when travelling, the time distance made me realise just how far away from home I was). I think dry run will help, and hopefully, as you said, it would be perfect if she is able to be distracted by positive and excited college thoughts ….. so lots of 🤞🤞🤞💕….!

Ah! Thank you for that!, I see different spellings everywhere, good to get clarification. 😸

Yes, I can see the potential overlap there.. sounds like an interesting job!

Nooooooo!! I’m sure that was unbelievably stressful!!, but the thought of that is do horrifying, it’s on the border of “gallows humour”! Thank God you located them! ( in our house, DH would most probably have binned the bag, and been 🤷‍♀️ !)!!!

The earrings tickled me, too!! You go @OhCrumbsWhereNowJnr!! I bet they’re lovely! It’s good she gets to wear them…. I hope she loves them just as much, now that they are “legal”!!! ( not having had a DD, and no “ inappropriate skirt earrings/skirt length/whatever”. I have always wondered what you are meant to reply with!!)

I hope today goes really well, and no problems with the trains…. 🤞💕

The earrings saga was quite entertaining over the years - they're just medium size thick gold hoops, so not particularly exciting - but the running battle was amusing.

DD is one of those annoying kids who manages to break rules and get away with it by making teachers laugh... a skill set she has not inherited from either of her parents.

So... she's already back and I am irritated.

Told that induction was 2 days this week... nope, it was 3 hours and only today (why did I buy a season ticket?)

I also did vast amounts of research and phone calls when looking for our Plan B... one of the reasons we picked this college was they said max of 16 students on the course (question asked to multiple staff on different occasions). And now it turns out they have 48 split into 2 groups. Which I am feeling very anxious about due to how some of the classes are structured. DD's ADHD is generally very manageable, but there are certain sure fire triggers for it to become a major issue and I can see trouble on the horizon.

I have said to give it at least a month and if it's not what we were promised (happily in writing) then I will be THAT parent.

Ugh... why is nothing simple?

Dds friend came over today...they had a trip to Starbucks :)
The friend is going in in the same bus as dd and has the same induction days!
So...that's something.
Dry run tomorrow.

@SuperTrooper1111
Dd is just wobbly full stop...😔

@OhCrumbsWhereNow Sorry to hear you have concerns already - hopefully they are just teething troubles. What course is your DD doing?

Well…… I didn’t get a huge amount out of him….. did smile…..but, apparently he said to DH, on being picked up from the bus, “ after all the years of crap at Old School, that was the best day ever”…… so, even if it goes tits up tomorrow, we had today!!

NB- it looks suspiciously like his lunch money, went on……. A Chocolate and Hazelnut cake from Gail’s!! 🙀.., it’s the first time he’s seen one..,, my fears are confirmed!!

It's horrible when your child has anxiety. I'd do anything to take my DD's away. I have a feeling the next few days are going to be bumpy. @Sisublondie It is quite a bit farther – she'll need to get a train or bus there. I'm hoping someone on her course might live near us and they figure out travelling together. But if not, as I've just pointed out to her, it's only three days a week that she's got to make the journey.

Just concurring re anxiety. It can be so debilitating and exhausting.

Yep...expecting bumpiness here, too
Solidarity @SuperTrooper1111and @Sisublondie
💕

Oh, I am so so sorry! And, so.cross for you and DD!! What did she say about it? That is so bloody irritating and upsetting. Do you have a contact at the college that you can speak to? Yes, that is a good plan, a month to see how it is starting to pan out. I truly hope things improve ….. fast…. 🤞🙏🤞….

It looks like your DD former teacher needs to find someone else to be annoyed by now! I always think in these situations that the teacher has a soft spot for the student involved! Or, maybe they were just a studs fan….🤷‍♀️😈😹!

So, I take it that DD is not in tomorrow? Bit of a difference between 2 days and 3 hours, tho?! Hard to miscalculate that 🙄🙀!

🍀 going forward…x