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.

Hey! Sorry, I reread mine, that was my bad grammar! I meant ( in my head!), your DD to do as you said, the Level 2 for the first year, then onto the two year Level 3!, not leave after it.. 🙄! Wow, ok, it’s really interesting she’s thinking forward like that! How fantastic if she goes on to do that ..( but, also any other path she may wish to take)..
That would certainly fit in, as you say, with the recent chat about the “ three years behind”… 🤔😺

DS is much chirpier today, thanks. I’m outside with my fractured wrist attempting to sort one of my indoor plants out, and he popped out ( never does!) saying he was bored (again, very rare!) . Excellent, I thought. Rope him in, but before I knew it, DH had offered MCD so, funny old thing! Off they went!!!

How’s your DD today, still excited?!

My DD enrolls later this week. She can’t wait to get started and make some new friends but it’s nerve racking. I think I’ll feel like she’s in reception all over again until I know she’s had a good first day.

We are currently "negotiating" with dd over her allowance 😬😅

😤… I’ve just written a long one to you! I came back inside to check I had WiFi to send, it’s been “ trying” to post for about half an hour and, nope! Not posted and just disappeared! ( I usually screen shot long ones in case that happens, so I can rem what I’ve said….but, guess what?!😹)

Anyway! It was predominantly about finding out how your sinus infection is ( 🤧.. I am wishing you all the luck 🍀 in the world… had it once at Uni… felt like my head was a cannonball that was so painful I would have begged someone to chop it off🙀).., so I’m hoping thst you feel way better for enrolment tomorrow.

Yes, I went to a rubbish school, too. Careers advice was with a disinterested Liverpool fan ( I’m originally from that neck of the woods) pissed off about crap game at the weekend, eating a sarnie out of his Tupperware box, squashed in a store cupboard near the gym. I didn’t particularly excel at anything, wanted to do Law, so the obvious choice was Maths, Chemistry and Biology 🧪. Obviously! I think I got a C in Maths, and the leap between GCSE and A Level was breathtaking. I had no idea from the get go. I simply cannot imagine what you went through, with undiagnosed dyscalcula! It’s shocking that that was missed throughout your schooling! Especially as your other subject results were amazing!!!

Ah yes, I echo you on what you have not used, Maths wise, Pythagorus?! Not once! I can add things quite quickly in my head, and by jotting down stuff if I need to work things out quickly at work and/ or WiFi is glitchy, the essentials basically! I am so thankful DS passed that horror show. But, the thought of redo English?! The Functional Skills sounds dream like, in comparison! It’s upsetting, too, as DS got a 3!! Which is good for him! And still a bloody pass ( although, obviously not recognised as such 🤯!)..

Anyhooo, I hope your sinuses are feeling a bit better! 🤞😻

I hadn’t thought of that!!! There is a bloody Gail’s within two minutes walk of his new Campus….. 🤔🙄🤦‍♀️….he’s never been there before… he is prone to a baked treat…
oh, where to start?! Go in with a weekly amount?! DH is very tight ( sorry! “ careful”! Of the “ why don’t you take a packed lunch to Alton Towers” type!! 🙀😹!).

How’s your “ negotiations” going?! 🤷‍♀️🤞🙏?!

You, or DD?! Or, both?! Guessing you must live in a bigger place than me, if your old DD went to a college in other direction! Mind you, DS’s college is not in our town, we only have a school with a Sixth Form, so I guess there are three nearest Colleges, two in towns, one in the nearest City.

How is older DD doing at the moment? 🤞🙏good, I hope z

We gave DD1 'college money' that would stop if she dropped out to cover meals and extras but she could save money by taking food from home. It was same monthly whether she was in college 5 weeks or 1 that month.

Dd2 (MH, ehcp) hasn't felt up to managing this herself so I just load onto her college account when it runs low, as per school.

@Sisublondie
Thank you for asking...she's much more like her old self 💕
Getting a bit antsy wrt job searching, but she's agreed to hold off until next month/October after she sees the university careers person.
We will get dd an annual transport pass.
Then we are going to add a bit more to her monthly allowance for college canteen/going out for lunch.

@TeenToTwenties
Dd works 1 day a week and would like to continue so she can use that for fripperies 😃

Dd loves coffee shops, bakeries and noodles 🍜
😃

How many days are people in?
From a friend whose DS is on same course as my DS, it seems to be three days.
No timetable yet but think he starts Thursday next week.

Only 3 days a week...

Although the kids we met on the open day all said they go in 5 days a week because it's fun.

Dds friend is doing a PA btec at a different college and thats Monday- Thursday

Oh, I’m so happy to hear that…….💕!

I’m trying to get DS18 to give me his list of stuff he needs for Edinburgh.. he is so annoyingly last minute. It’s a real shame he goes up on Friday 5th September, and DS first lesson on the 8th. At least his induction starts on the 1st, so there is that!

Good plan on the allowance. At the minute, it’s very “ drip feed” as he really doesn’t go out much. But, I do fear the “ Mum! Can I have £x for “Costa equivalent/ canteen”! Love you”!!! 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️😈😹…..

@swampwitch0@SuperTrooper1111and many others! Do you know where @QueenMabbyhas set up camp, next?? 🙀! I just had the catch up scanning, deciding what to write, then the “Noooooo!!! It’s got to a 1000!!”!
How the hell did THAT happen?! 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

DS “ induction” week starts 1st, in Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. 🤷‍♀️after that. He has his bloody English resit stuff, tho, too.

Think it's 3-4 days for DD, but also still waiting for timetable. She has to do 75 hours of work experience in the first year too. She starts on the 3rd. She's asked me to accompany her some of the way on the first morning but after that I think she'll be fine. Getting excited for her now! We've spent the day gutting her bedroom of childhood crap because she's decided it needs to reflect the fact she's now a college student. Think she found it cathartic to clear out her school uniform and exercise books!

It’s really critical to download the spec and see the full detail of the units and the criteria. Some providers give it in house style and it’s really not good enough. This is particularly important for the ‘full’ qualifications (ie the weight of 3 A levels). As Pp’s have said, everything counts there and then, no cramming at the end.

Dds enrolment is tomorrow
...can I ask for a copy of the spec?

Ask for the exact title or a link - they can be huge so I wouldn’t expect them to be given out

Brilliant idea! I didn’t even think of that! ( understandable, given circs, I guess 🙄).. Yes, I absolutely would, for anything that they are able to provide you with.

Good Luck 🤞 with the enrolling!! I hope it goes well! … and you get to go to nice deli or bakery afterwards!

@Sisublondie
I think we might go in early for lunch 😃

Perfect!!

Going forward, DS can get the bus from the next village, straight up the main road into the cool big town his new college is in….. I can l, however, foresee maybe cheeky lifts in or pick ups happening, bit of an excuse to pop to the fab delis and new places to try out…..🤔🤷‍♀️😹!

Hope you have a fab time! 💓

Try to get hold of the exact title or link to the spec and the unit numbers they are doing.

There will likely be some mandatory units but also a load of optional ones that college chooses which to do.

(The final grade is a bit like gcse combined science, they add up points awarded for each module and then score up from PPP to DstarDstarDstar (or P to Dstar, or PP to DstarDstar of course). So you can get eg DMM or MMP but not DDP or DMP)

I think that DS will be in 4 days per week, but I think it is 2 full days and 2 half days. He gets his timetable next week, so we’ll see. He’ll be getting an allowance but is trying to get a part time job. Seems almost impossible round here though. Every hospitality or retail job wants you to have experience and/or be over 18. He’s applied for loads of jobs and never got a single interview.