Fledglings 2026 - support, discussion and looking after each other

[ComingInByAnsible]

A thread for parents of Year 13 leavers as they go on to universities, apprenticeships and other new adventures.

DS is off to Warwick to study PPE.

Hello @Wehaditsogood DD is off to York too! Move-in day for us is Friday 18th (each of the colleges are 18th, 19th or 20th). Is your DS going to be on campus? I think my DD picked the timing of the slot when she accepted accommodation offer.

Thank you @MamOfTwo
DS says there was a page that he hasn't fully read when he accepted the accommodation offer. The page disappeared and now he doesn't know. It is so frustrating that I can't sort these things out.
He knows it is the 19th. I will drive there on 20th, because we can't make 19th with his Dad.

Just over a week before DS moves out. He will have to wait until the end of September before he gets his first DA salary, so I’ve begun buying food basics that can get him started. He’s keen to raid home for as much as he can! Not worried about space as we will travel over in two cars as he’s keeping his with him, and the space they’re provided with in bedroom and kitchen is generous. He still has some things to buy and sort out, but he’s away at Reading atm, so he’ll have to crack on once he’s back!

Just been planning meals for the coming week and making sure we’re having lots of his favourites, maybe with a last ditch attempt to reinforce how to cook them for himself! He’s been away so much this summer that the plan to skill him up never really happened. I guess I might need to be prepared for mealtime ‘how do I cook this??’ messages!

Hope all the DCs who about to head off are enjoying the last days / weeks of their long summers.

We got ours- he had to do all the accommodation induction and then at the end of it would could pick our slot.

@WaxMeltsMelting Thank you. I shall ask DS about accommodation induction.

@Wehaditsogood @WaxMeltsMelting I think I read York students will get an email on 1st September with their room number/block etc. So then they should know things like postcode plus I guess they can find flatmates that way (although not sure how they will do that without putting all details on social media?!)

Thank you @MamOfTwo

There’s a WhatsApp group for Derwent freshers, but ds says there’s only a few people on it atm

Updates from my fledgling:

”I wish I’d listened when Granny was telling me how to get stains out”

”We’re practising lots of egg recipes, as meat and fish are soooo expensive!”

I’m finding this in between period mildly irritating!

DD doesn’t go away until end of September, and is going into a fully catered college so doesn’t actually need an awful lot to take with her, so very little preparation to actually do.

Meanwhile, younger DC are back at school, I am back at work (also work in eduction) and DH is in an intensely busy period at work - all the while, DD is just floating around the place with seemingly no concept that life is going on for everyone else around her!

She has spent most of her summer volunteering at various kids and youth camps, as have many of her friends, so it’s only now that they’re all actually free to hang out with no responsibilities and no worries, and that means that she’s in and out at all sorts of random times, arranging meet ups with friends, inviting people over for catch ups/goodbyes etc and I never know what she’s doing or whether she’s going to be home for dinner.

I’m ready for her to go and start her new life - this living in limbo is doing my head in.

Some asked if anyone was going to Notts - my Dd is. She is catered so doesn’t need so much stuff but I still seem to have spent a fortune. Just paid the first term accommodation - ouch! She’s an only so it’s going to feel very odd when she goes. And also odd to think that schools go back this week. I’d completely missed that

Went out this afternoon with list in hand and DS kept saying "I'll buy that when I get there - I want to start choosing my own brands" (!) as I went through it and then added loads of (fortunately very cheap) stuff that wasn't even on my 3-page list!

Is anyone’s dc choosing to be dropped off by their friends instead of parents? I don’t mean if parents are unable due to illness or not driving etc.

Been following your daughter! She has the same name as my DD. Very impressive young woman and so many well dones to her.

DD is going to Imperial to read physics, we are very proud of her 3A*s and an A. She really put in the work and has been focused on achieving this for years. Some pretty stressful times in there.

We don’t live too far away so I am assembling what she needs and we will drive her there. She is so ready for this, chose Imperial partly for the course and partly because she wants to live in the big city. I’m not quite sure how everything we think she needs is going to fit into the super small room she’ll get and the teeny tiny kitchen lockers, but I guess we’ll figure that out when we get there. She’s my first to go but her brother is only one year behind so I’ve had a bit of a meltdown tonight thinking of them both being gone this time next year!

So glad to have found this thread, thanks for the link from the results day chat.

My DD is also going to KCL but living in halls as we are miles away. She is ND and has anxiety so I am worried. What is your DD studying?

@Mummyoflittledragon I don't think our DD would manage the drop off without us and our car! She has a lot of stuff to take but also wants us to help set her room up with her. I think she is maybe a 'younger' 18 than some YP though so maybe it is just a confidence thing?

@ProdTraybakeQueen it is a strange 'limbo' time I agree, DH and I are working, no younger YP but DD is still working for another week. She is so excited about going though she is wishing the days away.

We live 2 hours from uni so took a trip up there today so DD could have a more calm look around the city and see where her accommodation is etc. It was a great day, really quiet around the uni and in the city centre it was quiet enough for us to wander round and locate everything she wanted to know about. We had time to explore more around the quayside and areas we hadn't ventured to on the open/offer holder days. This has now made DD even more desperate to go though 😂. It is going to take some organisation to get us all to drop off in timeslots though, I don't envy who has to coordinate this on moving in days, but have heard Newcastle have been pretty good at this previously.

DD is studying History. Yours? She has a friend who is going to KCL but a different campus. So at least she’ll have someone to say hello to at Freshers. She confided in me that she’s really not looking forward to it. I’m certain that she’ll be fine once she gets into the swing of it. I hope!

@bluefineliner
Thanks for responding. My dd isn’t going far. She wants to do everything herself. And has organised nothing apart from a lift there from her friend. He has a relatively big car for an 18 year old. We have lots of stuff at home, enough to kit her out with some basics if she wants. Idk what to do right now. So I was just wondering if it’s a thing at all.

We're off to St Andrews on Friday. First installment of hall fees paid last week - no matriculation otherwise!!

DS is going to our local university as he is a wee home bird! He is living at home and driving to the local train station and getting the train into Belfast and walking round to the university from there. He is excited and has registered online, we've paid his fees, he has had his first Men B jab, and has set up all the tech and apps he needs on his laptop. He has even got himself a Tesco club card to buy meal deals for his lunch! And hes set up a student bank account with a £100 cash bonus and £120 just eat vouchers as an incentive! Lol! Its his firm choice that he got offered so he is so pleased with that.

Well done to your DD. My DD is going to Imperial to study maths.
Have the halls allocations been sent out yet? I think they said early September so I’m expecting she’ll hear this week 🤞

St Andrews just need a payment plan set up thankfully - don’t actually have to pay the first installment till October ! Just thought I’d clarify for anyone watching who may panic seeing this !!

How funny there are 3 of us on this thread with dc going to such a tiny uni!

I've started packing ds' stuff today. I've split it into four holdalls - kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and clothes/shoes. Plus his rucksack with assorted tech, chargers etc, and his laptop.

DS is adamant that, plus his bike, is all he needs. I've included everything on our list, it just doesn't look very much for 12 weeks. 🙁

I'd pull one of the lists off the universiry site and read up what she will need. There's quite a lot of basic stuff. I had most things for my ds to take but needed to buy him pillows, an extra duvet cover, and a couple of kitchen bits.

That way, at least you are forewarned. She might ask for help at the last minute.