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.

previous thread

Great subject interests Delphi (I may be biased ;) good luck to her with the course whittling and open days, even if just as a back up.

Oh that’s an interesting thing @Delphigirl when the local uni is one of the Oxbridges! DD had little choice of uni given her niche subject choice (and iffy grades tbh) but if she hadn’t she said she wouldn’t have considered Bristol as it’s ‘somewhere we go to shop or a night out’. I was about to say ‘oh but Bristol is lovely …’ before realising that’s exactly how I felt about Portsmouth as a teenager (that’s aside from it still being a poly back then, and 18yo me being a massive snob).

I knew one lad at Oxford who came from the town (in fact I think that at least one of his parents was an academic, although at a different college) and he seemed to spend most of his time at home despite having to have a room in college for Reasons. I can also understand wanting to get away from that whole atmosphere!

Growing up in the Channel Islands, I had to move away for university.

DD wouldn’t entertain Durham ( my alma mater) as she wanted a moving away experience nor St Andrews as she ‘didn’t want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with nowt to do’ !

Morning all. Have had a busy week so just catching up on the thread. Jealous of many of you seeing your DC. DH left this morning on 3 hour drive down to Swansea to drop off DS's mountain bike for him. He's then going onto the Gower for a couple of days walking. bit of a last minute decision and I have younger DS2 at home who isn't into walking..... Plus DS1 said his flatmates all have coughs/colds etc so I sent a pack of covid tests down with DH. He said one of his flatmates was struggling to breathe so he took him to A&E and they gave him antibiotics. Very proud of DS for doing that. Am now tackling cleaning and decorating DS's bedroom that has hardly seen the light of day for the last 18 months whilst he was 'studying' and barely came out!!

About contact frequency; now that DD has been there over five weeks, we're down to maybe one message per day (and phone calls maybe once a week or less). We're seeing that as a good sign and a healthy balance.

DD is, if anything, even happier as time goes on. Today she finished her assignments in the morning, and is now sitting in a sunny park with a sandwich, a pastry, and a book. Later she'll catch up on TV and do a jigsaw (!) either alone or with some of her friends. For her, this is very much "living her best life." Thank goodness all our DC are different, from each other and from us, eh?

Ha, I went the other way, Portsmouth Poly was my local and I did end up there. Lived away from home though. In fact apart from Commercial Road for shopping there was no real overlap between the places I went to at night as a student (South Parade Pier, SU, pubs and curry houses in Albert Rd and surrounds) and those I went to in the holidays with my home friends (Port Solent, Ritzys, SPECS, restaurants in the Osborne Rd area).

I asked DS about his personal tutor today - he hasn't met her yet. Apparently, she has sent a couple of emails telling her tutees they can make appointments 'but only if they have any questions'. This isn't really on,and I have told him to make an appointment anyway. She is being a bit lazy there!

DD is also living her best life! Although I really miss her, I'm delighted she's settled and happy. Messages here average at one per day.

Just got back from visiting DS1, I’m so tired, the drive home was horrific down the M1. 😩

We all went in the end, apparently everyone went home this weekend so no one was around for us to embarrass him. Brought him up some clean bed linen and took his home to wash (too expensive in the Uni!) and brought him up some extra clothes. After that we took him for a nice lunch and cocktail at The Alchemist and then, when I thought we were heading home, I got mugged by DS2 and ended up at the giant Warhammer store.

DS seemed very tired but OK. Nice to see his face again.

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn It is reassuring to see their face isn't it? I'm sure he felt the same though wouldn't tell you that.

Have had a quick call with DS as he wanted some info. He's happy with a hockey draw yesterday and a win today. We reviewed the final episode of SheHulk. Things you watch as a parent 😂

@Heifer His old team and new team are in the same league as uni 4s (have 6 teams).

Well done on the hockey wins.

I couldn’t get into She Hulk at all, first Marvel series that I haven’t watched.

I asked Ds for a FaceTime call today. But he said he was going into Brighton this morn and then watching football in someone's flat this afternoon, so no time. So not heard his voice for almost 5 weeks 😞 he has no idea I'd like to hear him and see him. He told me that he can't see that I miss him because I have ds1 and ds3 here.

Glad to hear that all the DC are settling in well. DD asked to come home again for the weekend. She is finding her hall very noisy and doesn't cope well on minimal sleep - she's definitely not a party animal!

It's been lovely having her home so much but I do worry about her making friends if she's only there in the week. I gently suggested making enquiries about changing halls but she says 'better the devil you know.'

She's enjoying the course at least, and says she's made a few friends there, but they all sound as introverted as she is!

@icanbewhatiwant I'm so sorry, I can't imagine how hard you must be finding that. x

@icanbewhatiwant Sorry that he's absorbed in his new life. At least he is making friends.

DD has successfully darkened the door of the laundry room, aided and abetted by a friend ! 😂
They’ve done a dark and light wash ( huge washers apparently) and split the cost.
Tackling the ‘rinsing of cash’ on printer credits’ is next on the agenda…

Thanks. Yes I know his happiness is the most important. I'm assuming he's happy, but as I've not spoken to him I don't know for sure. He's a very laid back character. So he will take everything in his stride. He's always been very popular, unlike ds1 and ds3. So I'm sure he's friends and enjoying himself. He says he's coming home as he has theatre tickets for beginning of nov. I hope he does. The only reason he wouldn't come back would be the train journey as he's not done a long train journey.

Dd rang at lunchtime. She’d been to church in the morning but struggled to stay awake as she unfortunately ‘had to’ go clubbing last night (I think it was someone’s birthday). She was planning to try another church this evening so I suggested she maybe have a nap first. Unfortunately she was meeting some old school friends for lunch and food shopping so wouldn’t have time for that! I feel like she ought to be collapsing with exhaustion at some point soon!

Sorry ds won’t talk to you @icanbewhatiwant 😢 I know my ds would be exactly the same. They just don’t empathise with how we might be feeling.

Monkey that red of Westonbirt looks amazing. Autumnal red is my fave.

icanbe sorry to hear of maths teacher, ds1 had similar with his early secondary maths teacher.

Piggy, I'm missing all the open days. Kind of wish I could go again!

Heifer my kickstart October hasn't happened at all.

Re visiting : Before he even decided on which Uni to go to (remember that he only decided on Notts late because he only got the confirmation from PwC late) I had planned to visit ds1. But he's shown no interest.

A text some days. Mainly can you order me an eBay textbook, Amazon order me something. So sympathy icanbe!

Ah yes @Monkey2001 I see your DS deferred too - does he know where he's going or is he applying fresh this year? Seems there's a few of us on here with 2023 starters.
@crazycrofter just reading about your DD's social life makes me exhausted so she should be flagging but that's the beauty of being 18 I guess. I used to do 12hour nursing shifts after clubbing and think nothing of it.

November isn't that far away and you'll see your DS very soon @icanbewhatiwant but wow 5 weeks is such a long time not to hear his voice.

I love the collaboration of using the washing machines @ProggyMat, genius idea!

It's been lovely catching up on this thread and hearing all your news and that some of you have seen your DC either by visiting or them coming home.

@kiwiandcherries how is your DD getting on at Winchester? Is she enjoying the Primary Ed course so far? DD often thinks about the girls she met there at her interview and whether they started there this year!

@AnneOfCleavage no, we don't know where he is going, but UCAS form is in, interviews will start in December. He is loving his gap year though, and it sounds like your DD is too.🙂

Evening all, got back from taking Ds back about an hour ago, 3.5 hours driving in the dark and rain, just as well I like driving. I popped in with him to try and sort a couple of things (dratted DSA printer, I bought a cable for it but because its on Instant Ink it still needs to be connected to the wifi, looked at a leaflet DS had on his noticboard and he'll have to take it to the IT department to be connected). I wonder how many DSA printers are lying unused in student bedrooms round the country.

He had a hockey match at home yesterday and they won, it was a good game. His uni team aren't in the same league but will play at some familiar venues this season (unis closer to us).

@icanbewhatiwant sorry DS is being uncommunicative also sorry about the awful teacher revelations. Something similar happened to us, not affecting our DCs but a friend of DH's who was a primary school teacher was convicted of similar and we found out through the national press about 10 years ago, it was extremely shocking.

@Monkey2001 fabulous photo!

Thanks to all who replied about being governors, I am going to proceed to the application I think. Gulp. But I need to stretch myself a bit and would like to pay something back to the community here.

Go for it on the governor thing @EerilyDevilled. You can always resign if you hate it.

DS is coming home on Friday for a couple of days which I’m looking forward to. We may arrange a trip to see him in late November then it’ll be Christmas.