Year 12 - 2025/2026: Support Thread 2

[QueenMabby]

A new thread for us to keep chatting on!

@NotDonna it is the summer school at Cambridge university that Ds applied for. We don’t expect him to get a place. But thought we’d give it a go anyway.

Absolutely!! Unless it says only to apply if contextual then definitely still worth a shot. Good luck to DS!! I was just waffling about apprenticeships incase ppl thought the same applied.

Ah @icanbewhatiwant just re-read your post and he is contextual apologies. He’s probs a good chance then if ppl on FB got places. Fingers crossed for him! And he’s got the work experience - which is super hard to get!

@NotDonnawell…he only meets one of the criteria. So it’s unlikely he’ll get a place. But there’s nothing to lose applying.

@icanbewhatiwant fingers crossed - you might be surprised. Our DD1 got contextual offers everywhere as we have a dodgy postcode and we had no idea (didn't think we were living in the 'hood but turns out we do).

DD2 back for half term. Actually knuckling down to history revision this am. Just had her 'working at' grades - 3x A for the main ones so we're pretty pleased with that. She is not, as she got an A* for English last report and there was no explanation of what she could do better - probably because it is fine!

Still a B for the composition component of music (and they don't bother with a grade for performance) - but as I keep telling her, she has plenty of time!

Her English teacher is clearly fed up though as the comment in her report began 'despite frequent absences....'! Even at music school, eventually the constant rehearsals get the teachers down in the end.

Went to visit DD1 at Uni at the weekend. The state of the kitchen (it was indeed vile) has convinced DD1 she'd like to go somewhere catered.

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest - my dd also revising. She’s spent the past two days helping at a junior orchestra and we’re off to Cambridge for a couple of days later in the week too so she’s having to cram it in over a few days.

She was excited to learn that she got a gold in the Biology Olympiad and is through to the second round. At her school only the U6th take it but she asked and was allowed to have a go. She had to do a bit of self-teaching of some of the material they haven’t covered yet but she obviously did more than enough as she had the second highest mark in the school! It’ll be good that she’ll have that for her personal statement for UCAS. She took the chemistry Olympiad this year too but she’s less confident about that one! 🤣

@QueenMabby we're off away for the rest of the week so DD2 is cramming it in before we go. Your DD continues to be extraordinary. How does she do it?

Thank you. The simple answer is - I have no idea! Neither dh nor I are anything other than averagely bright. Ds is “normal” bright too. Dd is just an outlier!

Well it's brilliant. Lucky kid - I wish I had a supercharged brain - but I fear mine is very standard! On the proud Mummy side here, DD1 has just got a first in her second nursing assignment (a massive essay on diabetes).

She did the same in her first. No idea whether it actually matters whether you get a first in nursing though. It's such an odd degree. Having just started her placements she seems to have matured ten years overnight having just dealt with her first death and injected some people.

Apparently she's also really good at changing sheets now - which is definitely a plus in my book and not a talent she's ever shown before!

That’s amazing! Well done dd1. Nursing is crazy. They throw them so much into the deep end so quickly. Well done your dd for handling it so well.

I accidentally unsubscribed from the thread and wondered why all was so quiet in Sixth Form

But now I have a question about work experience, DC colleges have been helpful in sending out alerts about local work exp opportunities. But so far every one has had eligibility criteria which exclude DCs, e.g. parental education, household income, etc. DC are searching for opportunities themselves (but to be honest with a certain amount of teenage meh-ness) and getting disheartened by not fulfilling criteria, while several of their friends have secured places on these programmes already.

DH and I said they could shadow us at work but this is apparently the most mortifying idea ever thought of by humankind. And to be fair not in areas DC are interested in pursuing.

Do you have any friends who could return the favour - you let their kid shadow you, and they have yours?

Afternoon! Dd passed her theory test today. Any tips for the 6 am scramble on Monday? She hasn’t even had a driving lesson yet but her instructor told me to try! Lesson start Tuesday..

@labradorservant i got online at about 5.45/5.50 and it puts you into a queue. I was number 4,000 it took about 15-20 mins to get to the booking screen. It brought up my nearest test centre and the availability was for a week about 5.5 months from that date.

@BellaIthanks. Ok will hop on then. Might get Dd to do it but as no doubt she’ll ask questions I might as well do it!

@MissMogs Unfortunately none of our local friends are working in areas which interest DC, although I did say that if they can't find something they want, they'll just have to suck it up and go with whatever one of our friends can offer.

Well done to your DD @labradorservant!

Back in the mist of time when I was doing work experience - they don't do it here - I wrote both times to local companies in fields I was interested in and each time managed to get lucky and got two interesting placements ( that school then knew for the favoured kids next times). I don't know if firms are as willing as they once were to do work experince but it could be worth a try.

We took DD2 to Swansea open day to have a look round - seemed to be a mix of Y13 and Y12 students. I think she was more taken with department and campus than she expected - it was extremely friendly place. Next open day not till after the AS exams in May - but one down.

We went to Swansea on Saturday as well, both DS and I really liked it. All the other open days seem to be June/July so think we will have lots to cram in then!

June is going to be crazy. We potentially have three in a week!

Are your schools supportive of open day visits during the week? I think ours will have finished their y12 mocks and be concentrating on the y13s in June. Trouble is lots are on Saturdays so they clash.

Glad people are liking swansea. DD1 is very happy there. It's also a very nice place to visit as a parent - stay in the Mumbles, get a nice cottage and walk in the Gower.

The other very nice thing is there is absolutely no pressure on accommodation. Do not underestimate how nice this is!

We’re allowed two authorised absences for open days. We’ll be using ours for Edinburgh and Imperial I think.

There are also open days in the autumn. And then usually offer holders day when you get the place and before you accept . So you can spread the load. My DS didn’t visit his preferred uni until holders day. I would recommend them over a generic open days as much more subject specific and not so manic. Our school ‘allows’ 4 days I believe.

DC has only expressed interest in visiting one university so far, I've said we really ought to look at a couple more so we're not just throwing darts at a UCAS list later on.