Bhasvic

[haggis01]

Hi - I know most OP on here want to know about primaries but does anyone have experience of Bhasvic college? My DD1 is at Varndean College and has not been very happy there and we feel very poorly supported (she is an A grade student. Not impressed really.
In October my DD2 will have to choose where to go for her A levels and usually you only get to go to an open evening and then have to choose. We live further away from Bhasvic than Varndean and not on a direct bus route - partly why my DD1 went to Varndean but inconvience etc would be worth it if Bhasvic better - I know it is pulling ahead in the past few years in terms of grades but wondered about tutorial support, advice on Uni choices etc.

Any thoughts very gratefully received - pm me if you prefer.

many thanks

Sorry, meant to write BAHSVIC.

Your spelling was right first time.

I don't have kids there as mine are too young but two of my good friends are teachers there and they seem to think it's good.

thanks spidermama

I am in the same situation but I tried to get ds transferred and it all went a bit pear shaped.All his friends bar one ot 2 are at BHASVIC and they seem to love it.Ds did NO WORK last term and is on a stage one disciplinary and has since got his act together but tbh he is so miserable and horrible at home we are at our wits end.What subjects does your younger girl want to do?

My younger daughter will probably want to do Early modern history, psychology, ancient civilisation, sociolgy or maybe English - definately humanities (if she gets the grades).

My DD1 did a mix of science and arts- biology,chemistry, history,geography. The science teaching has been fine, but the humanities not so good and the tutorial and pastoral support dreadful - lots of puff, little substance and a teflon attitude to any questions. My DD1 is in the A2 year now but has been miserable at VC basically since the start (but refused to let us try to get a transfer) and flies off the handle at home. Worryingly she has not gone out with her friends much even though they call etc (the ones she went to VC to be with) and is totally depressed about the future and finding it hard to work.

I feel for you noddyholder - I think the late teen years are worse and more worrying than toddlerhood. At this age I hoped my daughter would be looking forward to getting away from me and exploring the wide yonder. Her bedroom,laptop and trying to goad me seem to be the limits of her horizons.

God Haggis I so relate to this I could have typed it bar the sex of the dc and the subjects.Since ds has been there he talks to me like I am dirt.The teachers are seriously on his case as they feel he has the brains but wrong attitude but he k=just hates the place.I think it has been a shock to him after stringer which he loved every day without exception.He has until next month to catch up and he is working but his personality has done a 360 and I don't know who he is.Some of his tutors were very scathing indeed

Thanks noddy I am starting to feel that the environment at the college has been bad for a lot of kids.
My DD went to Varndean school - only for the GCSE years (as we had just moved here )but really liked it and was very happy. I think she thought college would be even better - so it has all been a bit of a shock. Her friends all dislike VC too (not quite as badly as my dd) and spend the minimum amount of time there that they can, they also did v badly in their AS's and most of them have been shunted onto vocational courses they were not keen on or are repeating/taking new AS's and not looking forward to a third year at VC. So my DD does not see them in class.

I was surprised that there is no common room - although there is a canteen but none of them will go in there on their own - they text each other and meet in the corridor or try to go home or to town in breaks. They seem to be on one hand treated as adults - not much support, lots of free time, taking responsibility for your learning and finding out about unis, little communication until it is too late with parents etc but are harshly and pettily penalised for being late,absent (sick)needing parental letters and the like (my DD has just been given a cause for concern for being off sick for two days last week which she phoned in and followed up with a letter- she is fuming, of course I have not been told about it by the college). There seemed to be no bridging between school and college to introduce them to this very different environment.
Also I think the buildings etc are a shock too after the whiteboarded and carpeted luxury of their secondaries - those portakabins are pretty depressing.

I know haggis My ds hates the whole place and is at home a lot.We are getting on terribly and I am going to tackle this.I can't seem to work out whether the tutors want more or less involvement from us.No common room is awful I think the social and care side is pitiful.It is the actual place ds hates not the subjects.I worry that he won't make it to uni.We were so excited when he got in to VC and we thought he would love the freedom but it has all gone wrong.I think I may write to them and outline some of these issues esp the common room and bridge between school and college.Many of ds's friends hate it so we are not alone

I think that is a really good idea noddyholder.I have written to them a few times about various issues and have talked to the tutor and the head of pastoral care about the issues of subject advice and support and adjustment to college life. The response has been that they are perfect - that they have spent a lot of resources on tutor support and have outstanding pastoral care and that all the tutors are wonderful - that my DD was unusual in not adjusting well and was "a difficult person who was hard to get to know." ( she is a very quiet, and initially an ocd level conscientious person)They said my concerns were "highly unusual". So if more people raise concerns maybe they will start to take note.

I think they rely on parents of kids this age not making a fuss. IN my past life (before children) I had a lot of experience in pastoral care with young adults and mature students and have been shocked by the attitudes and poor standards after being promised so much at the open evening and parents intro talk. I am keen to know if Bhasvic's also much vaunted support system delivers.
My DD has told me not to get in touch with the college many times - she was fearful it would affect her Ucas reference. I am not a strident person and rarely complain but it really has been one thing after another there.

I have also tried to raise the bridging issue with VS - the teachers there could tell me nothing about the college, except that there was a taster morning and seem to keep no records of student destination and results after they leave. The tutor there agreed something should be done but he has now left.I know the children have finished at GCSE but I think it is the school's responsibility to help them move on and think ahead to the future. I think I'll write a letter about it and send it to the head this time.

Good luck and thanks for your replies. It is good to know I am not alone - I don't know my DD friends parents very well and when I raised a few concerns with them they agreed but didn't seem too bothered.I would really like my daughter to be her happy old self again - I think we'll be looking at a gap year and perhaps remortgaging to fund repeats at a crammer!

I am with you there!In many ways I wish my ds had left before xmas when he wanted to but he was adamant he didn't want to start all over in sept 11 and be a year behind his friends.I will write too maybe in numbers they will take notice.I know a few people with unhappy kids x

Sorry to hear you are both having trouble with your respective dc's at Varndean.

My DD has been at bhasvic for a year and I can highly recommend it. The buildings aren't all that and it's a bit draughty, but the quality of education is brilliant and the pastoral side is their main focus since their last ofsted and so has had a major revamp over the last year or two.
They are treated like adults and it really is a good bridge between school and Uni, because of this it takes a good half term or so to settle in as it's quite a different ethos from high school, but one that does them the world of good once they're into the swing of it all.

Thanks Scarlotti