Year 12 - 2025/2026: Here we go again!

[QueenMabby]

A new thread for the new school and college year. A friendly thread for parents of those going into year 12 in September 2025.

crikey @QueenMabby that's a mission and a half - three grade 8s! She must be wildly organised. At least the aural is the same ...

We're back at the 'no information' stage with DD2 - but she did get a merit for keeping her bedroom tidy. Which is progress.

Hope everyone else's teething troubles subside soon.

Ratty has managed to get himself into further maths - think the class was full initially, he wanted to put x4 on his original application but they only allowed 3, think we might just put further maths when Little applies and be done with it (also Little wants to do maths at university so it's an easier choice).

Ratty has gone to a college with no school friends, they weren't the most academic of people and his college was a not that low conditional offer college. He has seen a few old school faces who he didn't really know that well during school and it seems that they are in the same boat and saying hello to each other now.

Are there any new students coming into school 6th forms? New faces that might be interesting to get to know? Or are they all students from the school already? You would think that school 6th forms who know there students would be a little more understanding of the friendship dynamics. Or perhaps there are already some pushy parents who have pre-sent emails demanding, basically, a bespoke subject/friendship group timetable already. The only indication Ratty's 6th form have said for our communication, so far, is if he is ill, they won't accept and absence from him alone. But that's it I think.

I think being made to sit in the teacher's chair though @SB1971 would be torture for Ratty, some teens could brush that off but for him he would be mortified to just not be "one of the class", schools expect a lot from their students you would think they could get the number of students v desk space accurate. Hope he has another Politics lesson this week, where he gets a desk and can have the weekend without knowing if the classroom is going to be big enough.

@DataColour he should find the meds help significantly! If they don’t, they aren’t the right ones. It really is trial and error. They worked brilliantly for DD but she lost a ton of weight (is only a size 2-4 anyway) was investigated for disordered eating but it was the Jed’s, sadly. In different ones now and whilst not as fabulous re focus they defo help with emotional regulation (and no weight loss). If he starts on methylphenidate (lots of different trade names) just watch his appetite & any weight loss.
Agh @SB1971 thats really difficult - what’s the chair situation all about? They’ll know the numbers. Hopefully he starts making some new friends 🤞🏼 It’s very tricky though.

DD is doing 4 new subjects and thinks sociology is possibly going to be swapped out. She’s had 2 lessons (1 per teacher) and not loving it, which is a shame but was always a risk. We ‘think’ history is in the same block so she can hopefully switch to that if the other two lessons later this week aren’t great. I’m a bit sad as think sociology is fab but… she’s always enjoyed history.

@NotDonna that's really useful thanks. They did say that loss of appetite is the main side effect, yes it is methylphenidate he is being prescribed. He is very slim already, so will definitely keep an eye on him. He goes to a running club twice a week and I hope he can still continue with that as it helps his symptoms, but the lack of appetite kind of worries me in combination with intense exercise.

I think perhaps let her try Sociology a bit longer, it's hard when they're starting a new subject because you can't really tell that much at the start, and normally with Sociology they try and get the theory and methods content done first, which for most they find the most dull. Get her to maybe talk it through with the teachers, have a look at the specification and some of the later topics, and whether she'd be okay giving it a longer chance, if not I'm sure after 2 weeks she can switch to history.

DD missed the school bus (OCD’s fault) so I hope it hasn’t spoiled the day for her. I’m having a small operation tomorrow, so I’m already worried about disrupting her routine. I think lessons are going well.

DD is/was a gymnast with 16 hours plus training a week at the time, so I totally understand your concerns. She’s never had an appetite and I expect she has very mild arfid; huge issues with textures and how things look, but could just be another aspect of adhd. Get him to have a high calorie bfast before he takes the meds (they’re quite quick acting) and if he’s not hungry for dinner then make sure he still has it before bedtime (when the meds gave worn off a bit) - push high fats and calorie dense foods too. I still add a tonne of butter and cream to everything. Nothing in the house is low fat. It’s a shame as the meds worked so well. She got the award at school for best lunchbox bc it’s full of choc bars!

I thought we were all settled and sorted and school have thrown a spanner into the works. Daughter doing maths, chemistry, biology and EPQ, however the school have said she can't do her EPQ on what she'd planned.
She was planning on doing it on something to do with viruses but they've said it's too close to biology a level 🤷🏻‍♀️
She's planning on microbiology at uni, so she's been given options. Change her EPQ plan which is something she's not really that keen on doing or swap to further maths.
I've also just floated the idea of actually not doing a 4th option but not sure if I'm right to suggest that, any thoughts??
She's got to decide quickly so she doesn't get too far behind in further maths, she got a high 8 in maths at GCSE and does like maths

@NotDonna luckily DS loves rich food. Especially cheese and cream. Creamy paneer curry is his favourite! He tends not to be hungry at breakfast and often skips it, but with these meds even a small breakfast is necessary otherwise might get nausea. We will see how it goes.

@Mycatismad what is she hoping to do at degree level?

DS is also thinking of doing an EPQ. I think it's compulsory at his school, that or core maths. He's currently has no idea what he wants to do at degree level but wants to do the EPQ on cycling and cycling clubs, it's his obsession. I don't even know if it's an acceptable topic for EPQ.

Good luck with the ADHD meds.

DD has been on them for just over 2 years now and they have made a huge difference.

She also has the appetite issues, but is then starving when they wear off. She's weird with food and has a strange diet, but mainly lives on packets of ramen with cheese... so DH orders them in by the box load.

Some brands of methylphenidate are an absolute nightmare to get hold of (Equasym) and not all work the same way, so worth trying different ones till you get a good fit.

@DataColour she's thinking microbiology she can't decide if she wants to go further then degree level with microbiology/virology or be a biology teacher

@Mycatismad - my son (a levels this June) has always had a flair for maths - 9 in gcse maths and 7 in gcse further maths so started further maths as his 4th a level but found it very tough going and dropped it after a year. He did history and sociology as his other subjects. History was very heavy work wise. He said it was the combination of subjects that didn’t help with the further maths, just too heavy a workload. He did epq, compulsory in his school, never quite followed it but he completed November of upper 6th (would have been better off completing in the summer of lower 6th, quite a few completed in November so he wasn’t alone). He did something to do with funding around football. He also did a good few extra curriculars. He’s just about to start a degree in sports management so the epq did tie in.

dd has just started 6th form - maths, biology, chemistry and philosophy. She was advised against further maths as the 4th as she’s hoping to do medicine. Epq is on the agenda but I’m not sure what she’s likely to go for. They had a talk about it this week.

You can do anything for your EPQ, it's an independent project, so school won't help that much other than telling you when you need to do certain things by. What I would day though is that it's 5000 words, so make sure the question and focus has enough room to have a good and in-depth essay, otherwise you won't be able to access some of the higher marks.

It can be very useful for those doing STEM @Mycatismad as it can be good or them to do something with longer essay writing skills, and referencing etc as they don't have coursework. Looking at what she ants to do, I think doing research may be more useful than FM. It also at an A or Astar can get grade reductions when applying for university.

@TheLivelyViper that's why I can't understand why school have said no to something about viruses, their her interest and she could write a book about them and she was hoping it would show extended interest to support her uni application.

It's because whilst you can do it on anything, they don't want her to be accused or seen as doing less work because it's something she's studying. That is one of the only things you sort of can't do, it can be linked, but not too similar, so someone doing Politics could do something on what impacts voting but wouldn't want to be doing too close to the spec, I know someone who looked at religion and how that impacts politics - so linked but a new topic developed from there. Again I know someone who did history and did it on female rulership, but didn't discuss Elizabeth I for the whole thing, as they did the Tudors, and so really stayed away from her as the main focus. Hopefully that makes sense, get her to look at medical journals etc and develop some ideas on microbiology but that aren't too similar. She could look at some modern things with healthcare and, why certain diseases are back, etc.

DD also lost too much weight on Methylphenidate then tried Atomoxetine which dilated pupils and caused headaches so we have given up as felt benefits didn’t outweigh the side effects, but they work well for many kids.
Eng Lang review of marking stayed the same so will stay an 8.
Fingers crossed for a better Spanish lesson tomorrow and Friday! I think the kids put a lot of pressure on making friends and having everything settled in the first week which isn’t realistic! I’m happy with how she has pushed herself out her comfort zone so far at the new college.
Have had no parent apps offered by College or any contact apart from setting up parent pay!

@TheLivelyViper thank you that explains perfectly, I'll have a chat with her later

@Mycatismad none of mine have done an EPQ but from what I gather it’s less about ‘what’ you do but ‘how’ you do it. It’s meant to be a reflective piece. Hopefully someone here can explain this better than me. Can I ask how your DS felt about history versus sociology please? DD is now considering switching out sociology for history (her other subjects are politics, psychology & business - they don’t offer economics) she got 9’s in both English’s and history so she’ll be fine either way. She’s defo into humanities rather than stem.

Yes it's both what you said, every time you make changes or make a decision on title, how do x research, there's a reflective journal you need to fill in. That's seperate to the actual 5000 words, but both are part of your grade, and having a poor reflective journal can impact your grade.

My DD’s school requires a 9 in maths and a minimum of 8 in FM AQA to do FM A-level, and still people drop it.

If your DD loves maths, she should consider it, but if not she should maybe rethink her EPQ topic. Is the issue that viruses is on the A-Level syllabus? Is there something related to her interest that isn’t on the syllabus that she could do instead? Would that be allowed? Or still too close?

May totally not be her thing, but would she consider/be able to do core maths? It would be useful for psychology, business and economics (not sure if economics courses would require the full A-level).

her plan now is to do something along the lines of how the world has dealt with emerging health threats such as flu or hiv. Hopefully her teacher will think this is far enough away from pure biology to be ok 🤞🏻🤞🏻

Sounds really interesting!! What a great EPQ.

Sadly they don’t offer it. That would have been her choice, for sure. Her eldest sister did A level maths but her muddle sister did core maths and has found it very useful in her degree too. I’m disappointed it’s not offered.

I sadly had no idea about this EPQ rule, eg that dd couldnt do old title because it was too close to pure biology. What is this such nonsense. But her new title (which sounds very interesting btw) is ok? How is this ok? Mind boggles.