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

Talking of Rutland food, DS said last night's was delicious, the best yet.

Mummy I too am hoping for a bit of appreciation on the self-refilling fridge, at Christmas!

@Oblomov22 I think DS is reading Mumsnet. He just sent a text saying he doesn't think he's eating enough cos he's only having dinner.

😂😂 @mummyinbeds one meal a day isn’t going to be enough is it?!

Dd sent me pictures of her restocked shelves and fridge (after wheedling some more money out of me!)----

I’m not sure why she’s keeping butter on her shelf?!

@crazycrofter I was going to ask why the butter was on the shelf 🤣 DS would approve of the Pot Noodles, cereal, chocolate and ice-cream. I'm not sure he'd recognise the fruit.

Sorry to hear of wobbles. It is bound to take a while in many cases, there are massive changes for them all.

I sent DS some weighing scales yesterday as people in halls have decided they will make everyone a birthday cake. One girl whose birthday it is this weekend has requested DS’s brownies. (I had previously sent him pre-weighed ingredients as a surprise).

I thought it was really sweet that they decided to do it. He isn’t even going to be there this weekend but is making them on Friday and leaving for her birthday.

I love the birthday cake idea!

That’s lovely about the cakes.

DS has messed up with his DSA sessions AGAIN today - he just completely forgot to turn up. If he does it again he’ll get charged for the lost time. He’s always had a photographic memory for calendar events so never bothered actually using a calendar but clearly everything is just too complicated at the moment and he’s not coping. I have set up a shared calendar with my phone and his and I think I will have to go over his appointments with him every weekend. He was gutted, he doesn’t like letting people down. It’s so frustrating because this sort of problem is exactly why he needs the mentoring.

DS has now emailed history department twice and not heard back to the second email. His current department have not replied at all. He seems to be getting more entrenched in his view that he has to swap.

@Piggywaspushed that is terrible "customer" service - for which he is paying £9,250. Can he go an physically knock on a door or are people still remote? It may be time for an adult to wade in.

@Piggywaspushed i think he needs to actually speak to someone. Can he go to student services as a first port of call?

He has just received an email from yet another historian saying no, albeit very nicely. Once more, they are saying he can transfer into second year. Something to do with a census.

Not convinced they'd say anything different to me.

The 9250 is more an issue with his current department . The fact that history have emailed him 3 times and his department 0 speaks volumes.

Would he be willing to wait until second year? I guess it’s to do with the funding allocated to each course?

So sorry to hear about your son not enjoying his course @Piggywaspushed
My own DD has missed most of her lectures because she’s still not better but she’s enjoying the work. Some of it is hard for her but she’s managing somehow (or at least that’s what she says). She’s able to watch lectures online and is catching up.

I haven’t spoken to her that much about it as our conversations are mostly around me trying to convince her to go to a doctor. I am worried in I will end up having to bring her home.

Yes crazy, looks like he will have to. It is to do with the cut off for a census, yes. Nothing really to do with missed work or spaces on the course.

Hope your DD starts feeling better soon marigold.

Poor dd @BlueMarigold , she seems to have been unwell for ages ?

She was ok for the first week and been ill since then. We have brought her home once already and been over to visit.

I have emailed the history people at Birmingham. Poor them , having to sit and read all about the shitshow of another department!

marigold, this sounds like some nasty post viral ting - has she had covid recently? I teach some students with long Covid, and it is pretty debilitating.

Really sorry your dd isn't feeling better yet BlueMarigold, hope she will be on the mend soon.

It just seems weird that your ds can get no joy changing subjects so early in the year Piggywaspushed. In my day (Hovis brass band plays) I knew some lads who were kicked out of Birmingham at the end of term 1 for doing no work and just easy as pie signed up for a different course at Manchester and started straight away in term 2. Different times...

We have a hell of a day ahead - interview for dd at the job centre followed by travel to a distant funeral being held tomorrow.

Good luck Piggy. It is outrageous if a department avoids people transferring by just not answering emails! I hope your DS has a trail of the unanswered emails - course transfer sounds like a catch 22 situation if you can only transfer in the first 2 weeks, when you have not got a feel for the course and then nobody answers emails so you miss the deadline. Universities are so big and impersonal these days.

DS told us at the weekend the the food is actually alright now. I don't know if it has improved or they've just got used to it!

@BlueMarigold Has your DD been to see the GP? She must feel awful being ill for so long, I'm rubbish on vitamins stuff but maybe she needs to take some supplements to boost her immune system?

Agree, and it's another advantage of unis that are more pick and mix in the first year, so the USP of Scottish unis but also, I think, Lancaster? No poor choice is terminal.

You can definitely change at Lincoln throughout the first year so i think you are right that the bigger unis have more layers of bureaucracy . DS's course is very small though (only 20) and we thought that meant he would get more attention and more of a community - but the opposite seems true. He says they are treated as an inconvenience.

Does he think he could stick it out for the year @Piggywaspushed? Is he otherwise settled/happy in Birmingham?

I didn't particularly enjoy the other subjects I did in first year, but I don't remember being unhappy. I definitely enjoyed the academic side more in years 2 and 3 once I'd switched to history. I can't remember now whether I enquired about switching earlier in year 1 or not, but it didn't matter in the end.

Typically for her, dd hasn't told me anything about her course or even mentioned it at all! I know who her Psychology friends are and where they're from but nothing about the course itself!