Year 13 2026/2027: Support Thread 1

[QueenMabby]

Sorry - I was not on it on getting new thread open. I hope you all find this one! I’ve updated the
year as we’re basically at the end of year 12 now. Scary!

Tagging a few people for this new thread.
@Araminta1003@ChannelLightVessel@NotDonna@thisperkysloth2@icanbewhatiwant @CreamBeforeJamOnScones @CatHairEverywhereNow
I’m sure I’ve missed people!

{mention:Poisoningpigeons}{mention:SE13Mummy}{mention:ThisPerkySloth2}@Oblomov25

thank you for starting the new thread

No worries. I’m hoping people find it because the old thread filled up before I could add a link.

Thanks for the new thread! I hadn’t realised the old one was filling up. Can’t believe they are heading into yr13. Seems 2 minutes ago we were waiting on their gcse results.

I know. And now we’re getting ready for uni applications and then they’ll be gone. I remember from ds how quickly year 13 goes. Dd is my youngest and I’m not ready to be an empty nester just yet!

I can't believe how quickly the last year has gone. When you have kids everyone tells you the time goes by so fast but I never really felt that was true until the secondary years. And now it's really accelerating!

Thank you for the new thread @QueenMabby! I'm another one who can't believe how quickly Yr12 has flown by.

Last day of year 12 - a strange one for us as DS1 will return to year 13 as an adult and it’s only just hit me .

Not sure I’ve done the best job this year in supporting him with another taking GCSEs too . Year 12 for him has been much tougher than I anticipated . Fingers tightly crossed for year 13 that he someone manages to pull it together to get where he wants to be .

Happy summer holidays to all

Thank you for the new thread.

I'm definitely feeling time going quickly not only is DD2 my youngest but we all just went to to see DD1 graduate. It was a lovely day - we took younger two up with us and IL came as well. DD1 had awful time with A-levels but enjoyed her degree and got a 2:1.

It was a really nice day and I think she felt celebrated - haven't said much to my family DS home now for the Uni summer mentioned it to them and it was full on interrogation into has she got a job yet.

I do think DD2 could be doing more at minute but she is at least doing some of the textile summer work. She going in in August to pick up AS level results and then we can work out last few uni to look at for her.

Thanks for the new thread, it’s a bit scary seeing it as year 13 though! I’m sure they only just finished their GCSEs

Checking in! DD was swinging wildly between switching to an MT BTEC next year but she's decided to carry on with A levels. Here's hoping it goes ok!

Same!! DD3 is my youngest. Albeit empty nest not just yet! DD1 & DD2 are currently at home. Both will be gone again after summer but by the time DD3 goes to uni I expect DD2 will be home for a while. It’s a revolving door! 🤣 which I secretly love… actually it’s probably not even secretly!

@CatHairEveryWhereNow huge congrats to your DD1. Oh my goodness the granny & grandads drive me nuts about the job situation. So many just don’t get that it’s tougher than it was in their day. My folks are the same. And I’m so tired of our young people being described as snowflakes. Deep breaths!!

@NotDonna thank you.

TBF my IL were there celebrating DD1 and made a huge fuss of her and I think the day went well for her.

It was contrast with my family attitude getting to me which they have long standing form for - mostly laugh it off but every so often it grates.

It's now looking like I may have all three kids here for August - which I'm actually looking forward to.

My two are both currently away. The house is v quiet! Ds has been with his gf as she graduates and dd is still at the IBO although ds is back Saturday and dd back on Sunday so next week will be lovely with a full house again.

Marking my spot! DS1 going i to Y13, DS going i to Y12 and DS3 going into Y10…. Life is about to get extremely busy!!
DS1 currently revising for his TMUA for maths at LSE or warwick… before going for 7 days in spain with his mates…. Work hard/party hard mentality which although it is what DP and i did, i am not sure is the best way to go about life…

dd needs to start ESAT prep when she’s home. No idea what she’s supposed to do for it. Does anyone have older dcs that have done it in previous years?

@Placestogo i think the ethos of ‘work hard/play hard’ isn’t so bad providing there’s a decent measure of both - it’s easy for it to swing too far in one direction though.

@QueenMabby thanks for starting it. I'm probably the only one who thinks I'll see more of my baby when she goes to uni.

She'll likely be closer (unless it's durham) and terms will certainly be shorter.

But I agree it is going very fast indeed.

DD2 is working quite hard on the things she likes and not at all on the things she doesn't so far this summer. So the Anglo-Saxon queen coursework is getting a lot of love, but the composition not so much. It is so nice to have her home though! It's hard to know how much to suggest she does as she is still very tired post glandular fever and definitely struggles if she overdoes anything.

Mostly she just wants to go to the Proms.

Congrats @CatHairEveryWhereNow on your new graduate! The jobs will come but it is really tough for them right now.

I know, i keep going on about having a balance in life…. But thats because sometimes i feel quite miserable as someone who is very competitive professionally… anyway, this is not the subject here!!!

@QueenMabby

A friend’s DS is sitting the ESAT because he is aiming for natural science at Cambridge and Durham. He is in a private school and they have started working for it around easter… There is such a difference between private and comp school!!! I think it is similar to the TMUA and we are in the same boat as you, only starting now….

@QueenMabby I'm not sure exactly what needs doing for ESAT, apart from that DD2 has been given a big folder of stuff from school that she is supposed to work through before they go back for Yr13. They had a couple of prep sessions at the end of term which she said were not very useful, also said that there aren't a lot of past papers because it is quite new, so practice opportunities are limited.

When she eventually crawls out of bed, I'll ask her what is in the folder - but don't hold your breath for a useful answer, it may just be the epic teenage eyeball

Dd is also at a private school but no ESAT prep help has been mentioned. The medics get loads of UCAT prep assistance. It’s very frustrating.

Any information would be helpful. Thank you. I do know that it’s quite new as dd said there’s not a lot of practice materials online.

DS is doing ESAT, I know he did a practice one a while back but I think decided it was better not to do too much too soon as there was a limited amount of practice stuff you can do. I know there is a list of content so was going to suggest to him he went over that. He does a maths academy at college as an enrichment activity and said they had done quite a bit of TMUA stuff in that but nothing on ESAT unfortunately.