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.

How's your ds @Sisublondie?

Hi all, can I join? I’ve got a daughter who’s joined a vocational course this week. One of only two girls in a class of 20. She’s a bit nervous about it. How is everyone dealing with food? At secondary we had a payment system and the food was pretty cheap in the canteen for lunch. Are kids bringing lunch or buying lunch? There’s a canteen at college but they can also leave and the college is in a city. I’m wondering about how much money per day seems reasonable.

Dd's college has a canteen and coffee shop.
She went to starbucks and macdonalds today! (She's veggie, so she had a salad and a frappucino)
She's in 3 days a week so hopefully won't be too costly 😬

@swampwitch0

Hey.. so sorry, been unexpectedly busy day not packing for Uni departure on Friday, as planned, but sorting yesterday out. Thank God he is physically ok, but he’s really shaken and his confidence shot ( he only passed his test recently), and his ( and DH’s!) car is now in heaven with my Dad! So trying to sort out replacement transport too. What a pain in the arse! 🙀🤯🙄🙀!

😹😹😹to putting off going downstairs to see how she is!! I literally did that about an hour ago, when I heard DS on the phone ( after I thought he was asleep at 10pm ish)…do I go in?! Or wait to see if he gets off.. ( his room is pitch black)... In the end, I was weighing up what to do, as getting late, and he didn’t seem to be getting off the phone, knock, go in……. He was all “ OMG! I have SO much energy to burn off and I’m doing that!! If I don’t burn it off on the phone, I’ll have to get up and go for a run!!”. So, do you know what I did? I just went “ yep, well, do whatever, I’m so tired and pissed off with it all, I just don’t care anymore and I’m going to bed!!!”.. ……..

Not heard a peep since!! I think I shocked him! Score! 😈

How was older DD pick up? Did she get goss?! You say it was more positive today! That’s really good news! But, just as importantly- I hope YOU are feeling more positive, too….? How were things today? Are you feeling any perkier? 🤞🙏🤞x

Uh. Shitty start to the day with DS. Generally. Specifically, but not limited to…. Found out he’s opened the expensive padlock I bought him for his locker, saying “ decide before you open it, if you want this or one with keys”….🔐 and saying he wants the one with keys and “ why would you buy me this??”……Him yelling “ GET OUT”!!- apparently at the dogs, but….🤷‍♀️🙄.. I’m sure more me…….Discovering he has a list of clothing/stuff he needs to take today…..I cobble together most of it…….then he overhears me say to DH something about how he will need more food than a grenade bar and tells through his door “ WHY DO YOU GET A SAY IN THIS??!”……. 🤷‍♀️

…and then once he goes off to college, I’ll finishing laundry and packing (still have my fractured wrist 😖) for DS19 who is off to Edinburgh in the morning. At least he generally doesn’t shout at me. But he won’t even be around to do that after tomorrow, and I’ll no doubt wish he was here, screaming at me. Sorry! 😔 Rant over.

Hey ho. Hopefully everyone is having a more positive start to today 🌟.

Good Luck to today’s Induction or otherwise Starters! 🤞🙏🤞 🍀.. it’ll be great! 😊

@Sisublondie sorry to hear you’re having a rough start to the day. In some ways I’m lucky that my DS is incredibly laid back and easy going. I don’t think he’s ever shouted at any one once. The downside to that is the total lack of any sense of urgency or motivation. So he has to be nagged to death to achieve anything. And as for the procrastination…

DS has completed 2 days at college. It all went well and he much prefers it to school. He’s off now for 2 days but looking forward to starting properly next week. There are more people on his course than in previous years (and they have a waiting list in case anyone drops out). I’d have rather it was a smaller class but hopefully it will work out ok.

@Sisublondie
Sorry to hear about your rough start 😔
Dd gets quite sarcastic with me which raises my hackles 😬
She'll say I've said something I haven't said which infuriates me 😡
She's off to her 2nd induction day.
Hoping she doesn't spiral over the weekend 🙏

Dds course number is larger than I thought and they will be split into 3 groups

DD went in for her induction this morning. As agreed, I did the commute with her – her college is in a different borough to ours – which was fine. She was mildly terrified but when we got closer to the college and she could see other students looked as scared as her she calmed down! I've had a text saying it's good so far, so that's positive! Just hoping she can manage the commute home without spinning. Fortunately her college is near a busy high street with lots of shops so I think she'll calm herself having a browse before getting the train!

@Sisublondie I'm so sorry you're having a tough time with your DS. Is him speaking so disrespectfully to you a recent thing? Is it the stress of exams that's triggered it? My DD can be rude and sarcastic at times but she understands there's a limit to what I'll put up with.

Gosh, I missed the bit about your other DS having an accident @Sisublondie! Glad to hear he's okay.

Sounds very like dds college

Is your DD's college in a city?

@SuperTrooper1111
Yes, a big city in another county

Got her timetable...2.5 days per week
Self study/research the rest of the time

I wonder if they have big drop out rates?

I asked a number of different staff about numbers on DD's course at different times, and was told normally max of 16 students.

They have FORTY EIGHT!! Split into two groups of 24.

Not ideal as one of the reasons we went with this college was because of the smaller class size. If it turns out there aren't enough work stations for some lessons and they have to share I will be on the phone and going ballistic as there were very definite promises made on that front.

DD said most of the induction session was about how they are on 6 weeks probation and anyone not on top of things or with poor attendance will be out.

It is the kind of course that I suspect at first glance would look pretty easy and fun, and that once they realise just how much theory and complicated stuff there actually is it may well mean a lot of kids decide it's not actually for them.

I was wondering the same @OhCrumbsWhereNow

Crikey @OhCrumbsWhereNow, those are big classes. It must account for drop-out rate. What is the course again? DD just texted she's got 16 in her group.

20ish in DS class - all boys/young men!

It's a L3 Extended Music diploma.

Hence my concern on numbers.

If you have performance classes, the kids will all be bored rigid if they only get to perform for 5 minutes and then spend the other 115 minutes listening to everyone else (yes it's good to listen to others get feedback but let's be honest about ADHD kids and focus... )

For production, they need access to a DAW each, not having to share. Most music colleges limit numbers to their DAW workspaces.

Ah, I can see why you are concerned. I suspect you are right about the drop out rate. What's a DAW?

My DD just texted me a picture of her tutor's pet tarantula that's bigger than her hand. I think everyone in our street heard me swear because I was NOT expecting that!

Suffice to say, DD is giddy with excitement. Very early days but her reaction to today's induction fills me with hope.

Digital Audio Workstation - it's basically a computer system that you connect to a mini piano and allows you to write music digitally using the piano keys, various pads and anything you have recorded into the system like vocals. There are various different ones - Garageband is a DAW for example, but the industry level ones are Logic Pro, Ableton and ProTools.

You would expect each student to have a desk with the mini piano, a normal keyboard and a computer monitor each - and that the college uses an industry level system.

Quite a few colleges didn't have enough for 1 each, or they were borrowing time slots from other colleges, or they were using Garageband instead of Logic.

Love the tarantula pic story! DH used to have a pet one...

First day tomorrow. No timetable yet, but she knows she's in 3 days a week, 2 days a week placement (that she needs to find).
She's excited but also really nervous, people have said some horrible things about the college she chose and it's really taken the shine off of things. There's nothing wrong with it, just a silly sixth form/college divide.

First induction day here and all seems OKish except for they are in a class which is mostly level 2 moving to level 3 students who have already done a year at college. She’s plucking up courage to ask if she can move to a different class. When we went to enrolment the tutor seemed a little confused as to why she was in that group. Sure we will sort it out but definitely happy to be at college rather than school