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

The personal tutor has not met with any of them. I told him to insist...

DD hasn't complained about friends. She just doesn't seem to have made any yet and I think it might if she had some support. I'm hoping she'll feel well enough to go to some dance sessions this week. She hasn't managed any clubs yet.

Sorry others are finding things hard too.

It's hard because they're supposedly adults, but I'd be desperate to intervene.

Didn’t the tutor say to only contact them if you’ve got a question to ask? And he does…

@Seeline has your dd joined the dance society?

They didcrazy and, yes, he does...

@Seeline my dd is admittedly super sociable and has already made loads of friends - but just to reassure you that she’s not settled in one group yet. Pretty much every day she tells me about a new friend she’s made, so your dd should still have plenty of scope for making friends. It’s still very early days.

Sorry to hear some DC are not enjoying their courses. @Piggywaspushed the better next year than now is just bonkers!

@Seeline Agree with PP they are all to a greater of lesser extent social butterflies at the moment. They haven't had time to really get to know anyone. I don't think DS would refer to anyone as a friend yet and he is putting himself out there with sport.

DS still struggling with the social side I think but work seems to be OK. You would think I would be used to the ups and downs after a levels.

So sorry to hear these issue. One of th3 reasons I loved the Liberal Arts course at Warwick is because i5 is a small and dedicated departmen5 , and not an afterthought. Our# has also had som3 issues with Flexibl3 combined honours, ha£ to drop somethin she wanted, clash on something else , and harder to make course friends, bu5 she loves bits o& the 2 remainin subjects. Honestly @piggy and @Seeline , I know i5 sound drastic, but maybe they could transfer to Warwick, i5 trul6 is a fantastic course.

Sorry for the typos, tired!

It's reassuring to hear that not everyone has settled into friendship groups yet.

I think if DD can get herself fully recovered it would help. She's barely making lectures, let alone having the energy to be sociable or get to her clubs. She hasn't been dancing yet @NCTDN as they had taster sessions the week after Freshers, then a week of auditions for the competition squads (which she didn't want to do) and she's been ill ever since.

Apparently quite a few people go home at the weekend too, so even when she has a bit more time to be social there are fewer people about.

@Seeline I am surprised that a lot of people go home at weekends from UEA, it is such a long way from most of the country in journey time! Maybe it is a settling in thing, or just a few more locals in her flat.

@Monkey2001 UEA emptying at weekends was a thing back in my day too. Lots of Londoners chose it for proximity.

Yes - lots of students from Suffolk, Essex and Kent that seem to go home at weekends. Not every weekend, but there are definitely less people around at the weekend.

We're South London, and with her time table, it's just that bit too far for regular weekend trips.

Central London looks like 2 hours on the train plus however long it takes to get home from central London, which sounds like quite a long journey to me! Maybe it is partly because more students start university with a BF/GF from home than they did in my day, there can't be many who want to see their family every weekend!

@Seeline Ds1 was at UEA. He didn't come home weekends and never says anything about others returning home either. He was only 45 mins away too. He did say a lot of people were from Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. They didn't seem to come from much further away in the Uk. There were international students though. One in his first year flat was from India.

DS graduated from UEA in the summer. People leaving Norwich/campus at weekends was not a thing amongst his first year flat or course mates, even if they were local. He was a hockey player with fixtures on Saturdays from Sept to March so his friendship group were always around at weekends. I guess it must be luck of the draw in who you get to know.

Hope she settles soon Seeline. Maybe students leaving at weekends re going to see girlfriends they are missing badly, or home because very homesick initially, will ease off?

Notts parents, all. Popcorn and Mummy.

I had my zoom call with accommodation re them changing form 19 meals to 17. Made little progress. She suggested emailing their complaints dept :
[email protected]
Which I have done. I used Popcorns photo.

She also said they stopped brunch being included because not many students came so there was wastage. Surely that just requires a reduction in catering. Still to be included in the deal.

She admitted the pricing structure was changed in Feb 22. But when was the website changed? and for us as parents budgeting, when changed? We budgeted based on it being stated it was 19. I ended by asking for refund of the difference. 31 weeks @ £10 = £310.

Nice one @Oblomov22 . Let us know whether they agree to your refund! I'm sure the website said 19 meals whenever we applied for accommodation - which was April wasn't it?

@Oblomov22 a video open day tour of campus popped up on my phone on Sunday, apparently filmed on Saturday. The student ambassador talked about brunch at the weekends without mentioning it wasn't included in the deal.
DS hasn't made it to breakfast since week 1 so they'll be cutting weekday breakfast soon due to his wastage.

Don't worry Mummy. No reduction in catering required. My ds eats your ds's breakfast share. 🤣

That kid eats for England. Apparently He's lost a little weight though which is not good. (Maybe he's finally appreciating my cooking and the copious amount of our budget we as a family spend on food?) He was a lovely weight when I dropped him off, solid, not too slim. Whereas when he finished boxing he was a bit too slim for my liking.

@Oblomov22 my ds panics if he starts losing weight, as it's not good for lifting apparently? He was really ill a few weeks back and lost about 4kg, so for the next week he was eating me out of house and home to put it back on! A tub of cookie dough ice cream in one sitting etc... But dd definitely isn't getting her money's worth from Rutland catering.

@Oblomov22 DS sent me a text last night saying he was really hungry. Dinner is too early for his late nights and he had run out of milk, pot noodles,bread etc. He's also a boy who could eat my cupboards bare within an hour of shopping. I think they'll be a new appreciation of the magic refilling fridge when he gets home for Christmas.