Waiting for GCSE results and starting y12.

[makemineadecaf]

Come and join me! Dd1 and I are on the countdown until results day. She is going to stay at her school for alevels.

Hopping on as also waiting for gcse results next week having been through the stress and elation of A levels last week with my eldest. We are also booking two open days for October. What I learnt with my eldest is to start early and spread them out. She was going to apply for Oxford so needed to do them before October deadline but in the end she got a Saturday job and just couldn’t take that many days off in the summer term so we only visited two, and one with school. Wish we had started earlier in year 12 and could have done more.. what I didn’t realise is that visiting some led to crossing them off the list rather than loving them, so that meant needing to add more to the pool. My next one wants to do vetmed so hence also the need to start early and see at least three in autumn and three in summer term. Really don’t want to be visiting any in autumn of year 13 when they are manically preparing personal statements and doing interview prep.. and mocks. I realise it’s different for those applying in Jan but just a warning, year 13 is insanely intense and whizzes by in a flash.

Checking in for the year 12 rollercoaster. DD is expecting everything from a 5s-9s but has been offered a place at a very competitive sixth form if she gets the results, so we are anxiously awaiting Thursdays results.

She’s halfway through her 2 week course at the Royal Drawing school, is a good taster as she’s keen to go to art school after A-levels. We haven’t given university a thought yet, seems so far away!

We went to an open day yesterday, she really liked it, so will be one she will applying to.

The cost of student halls has gone up considerably in recent years, god only knows what it will be when she goes in 2 years time 😬😂

Ah exciting! Shows how much of a novice I am to all this - I didn’t even know open days had begun thought the autumn lot were all September - November!

All I want is for my dd to be pleased with her results and to have a nice day and perhaps go out for lunch.

When my ds did his gcses 3 years go I waited at the school and saw some kids coming out crying :-( just broke my heart.

My dd is not sure if she wants to open them inside school or go to the car to open them - we will see how she feels when the time comes.

She is planning to go out with a couple of friends after celebrating - they plan on heading to places that are offering freebies to those who have gotten their results 😂

I am just praying for 667-6(maths)5
Just enough to get to college. DD pretending she’s not bothered but she would be gutted. I’m trying not to think this is an option

Who knows of any freebies? Maybe if people know of any they can put them on here!

Its seems to be restaurants who are offering free items.

Wingstop are something like 15% off

Deals here! Bills etc.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/cheap-restaurant-deals/

Checking in here too.

DD could end up with anything from 5s to a couple of 9s. I think unlikely that she fails anything but who knows at this point. She did well on coursework in her weakest subject so hoping that’s made a difference.

She predicted herself a 9, 2 8s, 5 7s and 2 6s the other day, if she gets those grades she (and I) will be delighted!

Plan is to stay at current school for 6th form and do Maths / Sciences.

I’ve been trying not to think about this as it’s all a bit stressful.
Child attends an elective grammar and it was a shock to me that getting into sixth form there is a reapplication - and the expectations are both high and competitive. Child should get what’s needed and really should be mostly 7-9, so when they applied to other sixth forms and didn’t get an offer I was quite shocked. Turns out the issue was that child wants to do music which is non negotiable (that’s what they want to do as their degree, god help us all.) And the sixth forms don’t offer music at A level. So at this stage, child only has an offer for their current school sixth form which they may of course not meet.
I have no idea at all what we do if they can’t stay on there as most schools return over the subsequent two weeks and we would have to scramble to try and find somewhere that does music that they could get into. I suppose child would have to consider dropping music to get a sixth form place somewhere else. I’m trying not to think about it before Thursday.

@Volpini that sounds stressful!! The three college options DD has all have music and also things like music tech on offer. Would not have occurred to me that some don’t. Is there any big colleges maybe a bit further away?

Thanks, because it didn’t occur to me either and I felt really stupid - and horrified - that other local sixth forms aren’t offering it. i couldn’t understand why she hadn’t been called to interview at the places she applied and I called up to ask them why. That’s when I realised - it was her choice of music at A level.
We live in a very industrialised and low education expection location so our local colleges are focused on skills based training courses rather than A levels. She has had quite a commute for the last 5 years to get to her grammar.
There are a few independent schools who do offer what she wants to do and I know they would have her but her younger sibling is just about to start at an independent secondary and I can’t afford to send them both!
I’ll keep looking - thanks for your good wishes. We will figure it out!

We are a big city so loads options. Must be supply - demand in your area. They can’t afford to pay teachers to run it if no sign up. Some people here do commute a long way into the city to attend the most academic larger ones.

Checking in ahead of results day. I am worried in case DD feels she’s not done as well as she could. She worked so hard for these exams, and she is so tough on herself. I hope she allows herself to enjoy what she’s achieved rather than beat herself up for the marks she didn’t get!

My dd is the same. My eldest was the opposite and tended to have very low expectations in order to save herself the disappointment.. however my youngest has declared she will be disappointed with anything less than the highest grades so I’m a bit fearful that she might do incredibly well and still come out upset

Also checking in. DS will stay on at sixth form at his current school (academic indie and most stay on) so we are lucky not to have the stress of trying to confirm college places, it’s just (ha!) about grade confirmation.

Does he need specific grades to stay on?

My local sixth form dropped music recently. Low numbers, poor results, lower numbers, no longer sustainable. Unfortunately not all secondary schools offer it at GCSE any more.

No - no minimum grade requirements for any A level. School is selective and very academic so they take the view that all the DC attending should be academic enough for any A level, and don't specify requirements as such. If there are any concerns about individual students being able to cope with A level choices, direct conversations are had with families. DS is predicted straight 9s though so Thursday will be more about managing his disappointment if he doesn't achieve them. (I do realise that's a hugely privileged position to be in and we had very different experiences with older DS who has SEN and is not so naturally academic).

Ah that makes sense! Well good luck to him for Thursday - and for all of our babies Young People! Next 2 days - operation distract..

Is anyone getting Cambridge board tomorrow? Weirdly DD gets English lang and lit and history tomorrow then everything else on Thursday. !

DD has one subject (history) down as CAIE board, which I think is Cambridge iGCSE. Nothing has been said however about her getting her grade tomorrow!