Thread 42 Corona GCSE Cohort - 👻Creeping it Real for Oct22

[CinnamonOrangeCremeBrulee]

This is a support thread for our young adults post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting, and their results ( or life updates for those who went into work or have had results earlier). It is respectfully requested that all are supportive and helpful to each other. If you want to start a debate, e.g state vs private, uni vs employment please don't within this thread.

Some of us have been here since first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. Everyone is welcome. It is hoped this will continue. We were previously on the secondary board and then further education, now we shall be here in 'Parents of Adult Children' gulp

Our DS/DD may continue down various pathways ( employment, apprenticeships, higher ed). Be warned there might be lots of 'Uni Freshers' chat this time of year. My experience is that everyone is welcomed wherever, whatever their child is doing we have some in work, gap years , apprenticeships etc too. Lots of contributors with different experiences and always sympathy and advice to be had.

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@Oblomov22 DN is doing accountancy qualifications in London post grad. He can't afford a social life! Would have been better off in Manchester or Birmingham.

Hmmm 🤔 Sprouts.

I'm really hoping DD listens to me about not having to rush to get next years house in Nottingham as they aren't in short supply apparently and can wait.

Agree, all this talk of year 2 accommodation this early is ridiculous. Most of them have barely found their way to the freshers sick bucket, let alone different lecture buildings, without worrying about which 'fwend' to share with next year, yet.

I remember the accommodation thing being tricky for my placement year, luckily (or not as it turned out), my then BF was on the same course and our placements were not too far apart so we travelled to the area, found a letting agent and found ourselves a flat. Unfortunately he viewed this as a serious step in our relationship and I viewed it as a temporary flatshare and the flat cost a fortune and was freezing. As a stopgap we moved in with some other students working at his company, but this meant a long commute for me and I needed out of what was showing signs of becoming an abusive relationship. I moved into a houseshare with a young graduate recruit at my work and her uni friend for the rest of the year with a huge sigh of relief. I don't think my parents know much about any of this , it was quite a steep learning curve. The placement itself was brilliant though, definitely set me on the path to the rest of my career. Ex-BF, I was so well shot of him.

I'm so glad I didn't listen to @mummyinbeds about accommodation. 😉😁

I am going up to see DS on Sunday. What should I bring? If I ask DS he'll say nothing as he won't be thinking about useful things.

Dd asked for a sewing kit, a glass bottle to keep water in in her fridge and some plastic plates @JustHereWithMyPopcorn ! And then she took loads of pot noodles/instant pasta pots and other snacks back with her. Saved her a fortune at Spar apparently!

Dd is planning to leave most of her stuff in friends’ rooms in other halls and just bring back clothes and essentials at Christmas and Easter. I’m happy with that as she’s not got a ground floor room 😂

@Oblomov22 if he does his placement in Birmingham it will be easy enough to pop back to Nottingham for social stuff at weekends with non-course mates, so that’s what I’d be advising!

Ds is definitely waiting for a bit before thinking about accommodation. For one thing his very good friend is applying for 4 different music colleges next year and he is waiting to see where he gets into as they would potentially share.

Ds1 started looking for accommodation in December of year 1. Everything they viewed was snapped up within an hour or so of them looking or they'd arrive to look round only to be told it had gone already. So they went back to their uni accommodation early after Christmas to look at properties while others were still at home for the Christmas break. They found somewhere, but it was advertised as luxury student accommodation so more expensive than I was expecting. One lad dropped out as he couldn't pay that amount of rent. Ds told me he didn't want to drop out too as he had a good group of friends he liked and wanted to share with them. Ds2's second year rent is going to be at least half as much again looking at property in Sussex. So I'm not looking forward to it.

Don't want to scare-monger, but the way interest rates are going some landlords might be putting rents up significantly to cover increased costs, so I think a toe in the market early could be a good idea as the mortgage free landlords are less likely to increase rents. I think it is often a good idea to talk to older students you meet through societies who live in nice houses to talk about taking over contracts. That happened a lot in the church I went to as a student, people from the church would take over rooms as the older ones moved on.

That’s a good idea @Monkey2001 . Dd is still deciding on a church but her options are all ones with lots of students, so I’ll suggest she gets talking to them!

@crazycrofter I sent him with 10 XL Pot Noodles (Bombay Bad Boy). 😁

I haven't heard DS mention next years accommodation yet, seems crazy to sort this when they barely know each other. My DN was in a flat of 5 or 6 in his first year accommodation and they all agreed to share in year 2 very early. By the end of the year they pretty much all hated each other!

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn how about some home baked goods? Flapjack is great because it is super easy to make, keeps well and is filling, if DS is a gym bunny, oats are great for protein, even better if you add pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.

That would be lovely @Monkey2001 if I were anywhere near a half decent cook! I have put some of his favourite breakfast type snacks but they are not vey healthy I have to admit.

DS is struggling with lunches, snacks etc. He has a tiny mini fridge (says he doesn't want a bigger one) but nowhere really to prep food, there is a microwave/toaster corner in a common room and they have kettles in their rooms. He also has the complication of having braces so can't eat things that are too chewy or hard eg pepperamis, dried fruit, crusty bread. So he is eating a lot of pot noodle type lunches and fresh fruit. Doesn't help that he's not keen on most sandwiches.

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn happy to share a super easy flapjack recipe!

My DD was in Rutland a few years ago. Found her gang early. Failed to get any accomodation sorted for 2nd year as agencies wouldn't rent to overseas students without full upfront years rent! ( 8months before move-in date). In May, Broadgate opens it's 2nd year group slots and they secured a flat there. The next year, the same group went for private accomodation which was a whole other nightmare (mainly landlord, then covid).
Other groups formed later in 1st year and fell out by Xmas in 2nd year. Any house-shares have their potential problems. But very much agree that it is madness how early on in the academic year, it seems like the most pressing issue! Especially as it ties up their deposit monies for months and have to pay it out of Spring term, year 1's finances.

OK yes please, I'll give it a go. 🙂

I have just been looking at student rentals in Sussex out of curiosity. I know all places won't be advertising yet and there will be dedicated university sites for lettings that may be cheaper. The ones I can see are around £220 week. That's over £11k for 50 weeks. Ds1 was in executive accommodation which was expensive for Norwich and paid £105 weekly. Sussex is going to be at least double. Ouch!

My DD's uni arranges an "accommodation fair" for first years next February, attended by the local letting agencies. It also runs its own "properties available" website with landlords vetted by the uni which opens at the same time. I am hoping that this means that DD and her friends won't have to do anything before then! Rents look to be about the same price as halls, but mostly with bills on top and for a longer term.

OK @JustHereWithMyPopcorn

Melt together 250g butter, 150g sugar (soft brown if you have it), 110g golden syrup (4 tbsp if you prefer) and a pinch of salt in a medium saucepan.

If you want a caramel taste let it simmer for 2-3 minutes, stirring. For me that is what makes it really different from bakery flapjacks)

Mix in 250-300g of oats/seeds/dried fruit (at least 2/3 should be oats, and all oats is fine)

Spread on a baking tin lined with greaseproof paper

Cook for 25 mins at 160 degrees C

Leave to cool in tin.

Report back on whether it was a success!

Thank you @Monkey2001

@Oblomov22 @Heifer I had a little snigger in a meeting at work today when someone took the credit for something I first suggested in 2019. She poo pooed the idea at the time and said it wasn't worth it. It was a different story today when everyone was saying how great the change had been.

I'll be thinking of you @JustHereWithMyPopcorn in December when I'm lugging DS's stuff down from the top floor. But then I'll remember we saved £2k😝

On the notion of ‘lugging stuff’ downstairs, or from the ground floor for the lucky ones 😂- DD is at the top of her staircase, and Lord I felt it dragging it up when I dropped her off 😩
That said, I had ‘lots of bants’ with other parents feeling the strain and DD made a lot of friends during the process 😊
In regard to ‘clearing it all out’ at the end of term, I’m looking at ways for DD to send things back ‘oop North’ which will mean she’ll only have to ‘lug’ a suitcase back home on the east coast line!