University 2020 :8: Use the CAGs, don’t use the CAGs...

[MillicentMartha]

...if you can use the mocks, then use the mocks but not if they're higher than the CAGs.

And hopefully on to university!

Old thread
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3993327-University-2020-7-Results-tombola-roll-up-roll-up-pick-a-prize?pg=39

@MillicentMartha

Sorry *@seedybird*, meant to credit you for the thread title!

@MillicentMartha - no worries at all, I was just chuffed to bits when I saw it

Sorry @Aragog - where did you say your DD is off to?

Ds has had a very nice welcome email and induction checklist 😁 for his college at Durham . Feels very real now or though his main preoccupations seem to be around whether he should take his electric guitar and acoustic or just the acoustic.

Seriously I think it is becoming clear how stressed he has been about the whole thing . I feel like my ds has replaced the very grumpy and edgy lodger we have had for the last 4 months .

Like many others on here he definitely has survivors guilt though. 🙁

Does anyone know if they finished South College at Durham? No wonder they're struggling for space if not.

Kingscote - she is now going to Edge Hill to do primary ed.

Waving hello.
Panicking slightly as we were all set to defer but now it’s full steam ahead, albeit with first choice.
Am mostly stressing about finances. I posted on chat ( I could have sworn blind this whole topic wasn’t here when I looked earlier!) so will C&P my query across

If anyone can help smile

DC qualifies for enough maintenance grant and a couple of bursaries to cover pretty much all accomodation fees apart from a few weeks worth.
Our plan then is to let them do a monthly online shop for food basics, toiletries etc and we’ll pay for that. Will also continue phone contract and Spotify.
DC has always worked part time and will be able to hopefully get a part time job.
They’ll be in a city centre location.
So budget wise. We can reasonably afford another £200 a month to cover other costs.
Is that about right? Or an I totally off the mark?

Better to give your child a budget for the month/term to encourage independence, and let them do their own food shop, and have money left for going out. I would pay for phone but not Spotify.

Will they have time for a job this term? What about getting a Christmas holiday job instead?

@Peaseblossom22 DS has same dilemma! Think he taking both guitars as hoping he'll be able to form a band at uni. Have drawn a line at taking the electric drum kit too though! Think his poor flat mates wouldn't cope!

Spoken to my exams officer relative today who says word on the street is that gcses have been marked down more than A LEVELS.

Hope it's not true.

Noooooo!

We will pay for DD's phone contract and car as normal. She will also use our accounts for Netflix, Disney+, Deezer, Amazon, etc. just as before.
She is also an additional card holder for one of our Credit Card accounts - one we now rarely use. This will be for essential expenses, her car and travel costs (she will need these for her placements) and other emergencies. She will know what kind of payments can be added to these, with a strict budget. Rest will be a monthly budget to her account we think - this may move to termly in time.
Her loan will cover her accommodation costs we believe.

Due to her placements DD is unlikely to be able to get a job. She hasn't had one during A levels as she sent her spare time doing as much voluntary work experience as she could - glad she did rather than leaving a chunk of it til this summer, as we know some students she met at the interview days were planning on doing, as she'd have not been able to get any sorted.

We will fund the accommodation and dd will use her loan for living costs. It worked ok with ds and he even had a bit left over, although he does not lead an extravagant lifestyle. The amount they need to live on rather depends on where it is and what is included ie. Catered or sc. Even a laundry wash can be several £. We also pay phone, insurance (halls is covered by our home policy), railcard etc. Dd also has some earnings from her gap year in the bank for any societies and trips.

We do exactly the same as LIZS. It works really well. They have independence, and can make choices about how to spend/save.

That's exactly what we're planning to do LIZS and Spanish. He's catered, so hopefully he will be able to save a bit. We have said we will pay for his phone and insurance and sports kit.

Peaseblossom and specialted DS is taking his bass guitar but not his strange electric string bass thing.

If his hall is catered, he will be minted! Lucky boy.
Maybe pay for half the sports kit

Kingscote perhaps we should get them together, just need a drummer maybe specialteds ds should bring his electric drums after all !

I think we are expecting around 40% downgrades for GCSEs, but the model is much worse. Part of the problem for mixed ability exam centres is the fear that the (selective) centres which always get 90%+ 7/8/9 will not be downgraded so much as they are more consistent, so the burden will fall on the non-selective schools. OFQUAL reported in the big report they issued on 13th that for most subjects only around 50% of candidates will get a grade within 1 grade of the "correct" grade. Bit better for English and Maths (around 75% within 1 grade) and worse for some subjects (only 35% within the grade they should get). It is a load of crap. Chart from the report attached.

Headteachers are pushing for CAGs
www.theguardian.com/education/2020/aug/16/boris-johnson-urged-to-intervene-as-exam-results-crisis-grows

How will the unis accommodate all the eligible students if they revert to the CAGs? Especially given the record grade inflation that would result.

@Monkey2001 thanks for the link...honestly feeling quite sick now as I'm really not sure what it will all mean in terms of a successful appeal for DS and many others.

They are managing it in France where they have accepted teacher assessed grades and are getting on with providing 10,000 more uni places with a Gallic shrug

Makes good sense to send them off to Higher Education rather than add to the ranks of unemployed given the contraction in the economy

I don't know where I got the 10,000 from (I can't find the reference now) but there was an article about how are European neighbours had handled exams in the Times. Nobody else had messed up quite so spectacularly as The Times