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.

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest - thank you and that is a lovely story!

I highly doubt DD will be persuaded to change her uni preferences for a boy. I think it is more a case of having two brothers who are similarly inclined and it being a current safe option of a nice, safe, kind, intellectual, driven boy. However, there are some wild ones (boys) in her wider friendship group so I think she will branch out pretty soon too the more adventurous type of boy, as long as she does not get herself one of those adventure seeker types who push boundaries and climb Everest into their 50s, it is all good. DH and I have some eternal seekers and boundary pushers in our uni friendship group and it is not what I want for my DD. Friends yes, relationships, big no.

I have always told my DC that who you end up is way more of an important decision than your uni choice, career etc. I personally think it is the most important life choice anyone makes. Happy for them to self discover and experiment safely at this age though.

I wouldn’t worry too much about sixth form relationships. My whole floor of girls started the first term of university with boyfriends but all were gone after 2 weeks.

These stories are great!

DD is competitive and was revising to beat his score on something, and is applying for something he is not.

Hope that continues.

So took DD for our £6 Toby carvery last night so we actually chatted. She has had some tests, did very well in psychology, maybe because she’s one of the only people that did it at GCSE, did well at maths, beat lots of the boys, who apparently think they are all great. She did the maths challenge yesterday and although she found it tough she refused to walk out and show weakness! She said that now she’s done GCSEs she understands the importance of revising and being organised. Maybe there is hope. And then we watched the traitors! I claim it’s good psychology revision😂.

That sounds like a lovely evening @labradorservant. Did your dd do the girls’ maths challenge/olympiad the other week? Dd did and said it was definitely easier more accessible than the main one which she also did yesterday! She’s also got the UKMT team challenge next month so a lot of maths for someone who wants to do biochemistry at uni. 🤣

The school play starts on Monday so she’s had a lot of rehearsals this week at the same time as auditioning for the school musical which will start rehearsing as soon as the play is done. Doesn’t seem to have impacted her work though. Test scores are looking good so far and she’s squeezing in as much homework as she can in her free periods so keep her evenings a bit lighter.

At DD’s school they have a double period of “enrichment” each week. Dd picked volunteering so goes along to a local infant school every week to act as classroom assistant and then run playground games at lunchtime. She’s really enjoying it and gets so excited when one of her little Year 2 class gets something that she’s helping them with. Definitely doesn’t want to go into teaching though.

@QueenMabbyI’m not sure her school would know they exist 😂. I also think she’d run for the hills if I mentioned the words maths Olympiad.
I did chemistry at Oxford. I only did normal maths but so wish I had done further maths as the maths course was hard, so too much maths is never a bad thing.

I asked the exams officer at my son's school if they did GCSE Further Maths (my yr 12 DD did it at her school last year) and they seemed surprised I had asked and said that it's not offered there. Though their attainment 8 is about half that my DD's, despite both being non-selective state schools.It's a shame some kids don't have access to the same opportunities as others.

DD incensed that her old school didn't offer GCSE FM whereas her new school does.

DD found girls' maths challenge harder than yesterday's.

So impressed by ALL the maths. Do I have the only child who couldn't wait to drop it? She used to get bronze certs on the maths challenges, nothing more than that and we were honestly quite impressed she could even manage that. I think there must be some schools where they actually give them some coaching on how to do them though, rather than just throwing them a piece of paper?

Here DD2 seems to be finishing lessons for the half term (or term as the school calls it for some reason as they like to pretend there are six terms) today - next week is pretty much entirely symphony orchestra and then she's on hols ... I can see why her other teachers find the whole thing so stressful. Yesterday she missed history for a chamber music masterclass and is constantly running to catch up.

Has bought her own new copy of the Canterbury Tales though and texted me to say that she was 'listening to medieval music while doing my chaucer essay to get me in the mood'.

Love the idea of volunteering in a primary school @QueenMabby though as always have no idea how your dd does everything, she must be such a powerhouse of a person!

DD is insisting on signing up for DofE gold - didn't do silver so that's a whole load of volunteering. It seems a bit pointless to me as apparently she's allowed to tutor a housemate as her volunteering (no idea why this counts, it's not exactly public benefit) and go to climbing club as her physical. Hilariously she's picked 'bassoon' as her skill. I guess she does put the hours in.

I have a non maths liker here too. Her GCSE teacher said at the last parents evening you want to get the grade that says I could have done maths A level but I chose not to which seemed a good plan(& she did!) She is loving biology somewhat to her surprise!

It's additional maths here not exactly a GCSE but a certifciate -and it wasn't offered to DD1 but was to younger two - DD2 as afterschool extra. DD2 said more sat in on lessons than ended up sitting the exam - one of 2 hour one after GCSE were mostly done. Apparently it's a huge help for maths and FM A-levels. Most of the local schools now try and offer it even the less good ones but that change in last few years.

DD2 had first test back chemistry came in at an A which is a good start. She sat some external maths multiple choice maths test yesterday she was keen but all FM students got entered.

We should hear back about rest of results soon - though she had a FM wobble - and tears last week turned out they all struggled with the HW - it's where DH having a maths/phycis degree comes in handy - she ended up doing more than her friends and also learnt a bit about time management as she had left it to last minute assuming it would be like previous HW.

I think the girl’s maths challenge was hard. Dd sat the Olympiad which was oddly on at the same time and said from what she’d seen there wasn’t a huge amount between them only that the maths challenge was 90 mins multiple choice and her Olympiad was 2 1/2 hours on 5 questions! She had to do full worked answers too which she hates.

Dd normally does very well on these types of things. She got a gold on the senior maths challenge last year and got through to the kangaroo. I think you just need to have a certain type of brain though. Ds who is very good at maths and is doing a physics degree never liked them and never did better than a bronze. The year that he (year 13) got a bronze and his younger sister (year 10 and her first year trying the senior maths challenge) got a silver was an interesting one! 🤣

DD did Maths Olympiad too yesterday, simply said she was tired afterwards, that is all the feedback I got. I think I mentioned previously that she switched her EPQ to Further Maths. I only realised in the last few days that the school is going to get extra funding for her, because she will do 4 A levels including Further Maths and a Science (for now she is still doing 5). She did the OCR Ad Maths at her old school at GCSE, found it really tricky but it has definitely helped her access A level Maths and FM.
I feel now like my DD has been the subject of DFE intervention and Government intervention from the get go. 1.5 years ago she wanted to go to a specialist music school, the VAT on private school fees completely hampered that one for her and us and now she is poster girl tech girl doing the Maths and Science they want her to do. This is after all the Covid shenanigans she went through during Year 6/7 transition like everyone else.
It reminds me of my days when I was all set to go into being a journalist and travel yet Gordon Brown & Co were doing the milk round at uni and there like a dunce I signed up to corporate law, which was never really my thing!

Rant over. Hopefully it all works out for her. She is still in a band and doing music and still tutoring younger kids and some volunteering and definitely a fair few parties, driving lessons and crushes. So probably all good!
However, it is Friday and I just feel like it is all so random really. And then I got the rage because I read that musicians are going to get visas because it is a scarce profession. Thanks a lot Big Brother!

We didn’t sign up to Gold DOE. DD wasn’t keen enough and it was very expensive. She can go on an orchestra course or two instead! And oops I meant DD sat Senior Maths Challenge, not Olympiad! Far off Olympiad standard. I think.

Dd doesn’t do DofE either. She is doing her Crest Gold Award this year though which I think is more useful for her.

@Araminta1003 I love your suggestion that the choice of partner is the most important decision of your life. Bizarrely that’s never entered my head but you are absolutely correct!

Can’t recall who said it above but I also think the boundary of 3 months together before sleepovers is a good benchmark. None of my 3 DDs have had a boyfriend/girlfriend. I think there’s been interests at uni etc but not enough to ever mention it or to bring home. DD3 had a cinema trip with a boy last week but she’s friend zoned him. Mixing with males is very new to her and I’d prefer her to have a few male friends before anything too serious.

There’s no maths chat here, or DofE, or music or any extracurricular other than dance outside school but there is an awful lot of costume designing / making for the FOUR Halloween parties she’s attending during half term. At her new school they have a ‘parliament’ and I suggested she volunteer but it’s a hard no and only for ppl well established at the school. Of course that won’t be correct but she’s adamant. I’m not pushing as I think she’s doing well at a brand new school where she knew no one and taken on 4 new subjects. She’s really embraced it. So I’m hoping she’ll organically embrace the extracurriculars offered once she feels more established. 🤞🏼

@NotDonna - costume making/planning sounds amazing!
DD has a close friend who made her Year 11 prom dress entirely from scratch, it was stunning! Well done to your DD on settling in so well and 4 new subjects as well. I completely agree to just be led by her as once she feels in control, she will branch out to as much as she can realistically cope with. My DD is bombarded daily with additional opportunities to engage with like lectures at London unis, but she just cannot do a lot of it. It is exhausting just staying on top of her work and existing stuff.

Mine were late starters with girlfriends. Ds1 had his first girlfriend in second year at uni. It didn’t last long. No others since (well, obviously I don’t know what he got up to at uni. but no other serious gf’s) he’s 24 and home now. Ds2 had his first official gf in third uni year abroad, though she wasn’t a student. He was in Australia. Fell madly in love then she dumped him on his 21st birthday. He nearly quit the year to come home. But he stayed. He met another gf. She lives in Australia. They knew he was coming home in the June and decided they’d break up then. But now they’ve decided to keep up a long distant relationship. I don’t know if it’ll last. At the moment he’s hoping to get back to Australia when he’s finished uni. She has another 2 years to go after this uni year as she’s doing a masters.
Ds3 has never mentioned girls. So I assume he’s not got a gf either.

Ds had a maths challenge this week. He’s hoping he’s done well enough to move to the next round.

Ds actually asked about the university process the other day. He asked how the choosing part works. I explained that he will choose 5 and hope to get offers. Then finalise 2. I said best to choose one with grades you hope to get and then a back up with lower grades. He said I’ll choose ones offering B’s and C’s. I didn’t know what to say to that, I’m assuming he will be predicted A’s as he got 9’s in all A level subjects. He also said he won’t look round any as he doesn’t care where he goes. I wish he had a bit more enthusiasm.

Dd hasn’t had a boyfriend yet. Has been on one date but didn’t enjoy it enough to bother with a second!

dd has got a distinction in the girls’ maths Olympiad which she’s very happy with. Not sure when the main maths challenge results are out though.

She’s been asked to contribute an article to the new school science magazine and thinks she’s going to write about bacteriophages. I didn’t know about those but they’re fascinating. Viruses that multiply in and therefore kill off bacteria.

Crikey @QueenMabby i don’t know how she does it. I’m exhausted just reading it.

@icanbewhatiwant I’m guessing he was serious? In which case, do you think it’s a pressure thing? Especially at this early stage?

@NotDonna- she’s tired and cranky at the moment. Music practice isn’t happening and we’re counting down the days to half term!

@Araminta1003 DofE is really cheap at DD2's school. Wouldn;t get even one orchestra course out of it! I'm still trying to dissuade her though.

DD1 seems to have made a 'special friend' at college although she is tight-lipped about how 'special' the 'friendship' is. I'm fine with that, but am not particularly pleased that their special friendship seems to involve walking for hours along the canal after college each day. We had to set a curfew of 7pm so the family can eat dinner together, which TBH I think is already too late but DH reckoned we shouldn't start out too strict My other concern with the hours of canal walking is that DD is therefore not putting in those hours for study and homework - which are required by her college, and then she gets in a panicked tizzy at the weekend trying to cram it all in, and gets in a mood when the rest of us want to go out and do weekend family stuff.

DD2's collage organised a day trip to Oxford for an open day, quite impressed that they were so "switched on" - but DD2 said she'd rather go to Cambridge, (whilst DD1 was grumpy because she wishes her school had arranged a trip to Oxford ). DD2 has made a nice group of friends and none of them seem to be 'special' - they all go to the library together after college to do homework and hang out.

We're wondering about extracurricular stuff and work experience that might be helpful for university admissions. I was thinking of looking into memberships of national societies for their relevant subjects, etc, although I'm not sure Oxbridge really care about that sort of thing.

I say "special friend" too about DD's new beau but she doesn't like that term.

It'll start getting dark earlier so hopefully park and canal walks etc will end earlier.

Ah but then they might want to hang out in bedrooms "listening to music"