Thread 43 - GCSE Covid Cohort ..November 22 Remember Remember

[OrangeCinnamonLatte]

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

Dunkirk is next to the uni. I lived there when I did my PGCE!

Going out for a drink sounds good Seeline.

I can't seem to get through to ds, at all, about the enormity/expense of sorting a year 2 house. I actually think I've done him no favours re mollycoddling him with providing him with your Rutland suggestion. In catered everything is done for him, year 2 might come as a shock.

Plus his is more complicated because he's on placement for the autumn term, at a PwC office in ?? assuming he'll choose London. So he really only needs a Notts house end of Jan to June. (5 mths).

Thanks Mummy.
I've just spoken to him. He's so relaxed, so casual, he's practically horizontal I swear, nothing bothers him. He sounds like he's stoned on weed, hey man, chill mum, it's all good, everything is good.

Whereas I'm chomping at the bit. Get on with it, you twat. 🤣

I'm dreading curious to see what DS's housing plans are for next year, given that he and his friends initially picked halls for this year that were a) on the wrong campus and b) £8k per year.

Same here @Oblomov22 also Nottingham - I think I'm annoying DS with it now but I'm so frustrated at the lack of engagement.

We should put them all in a house together.

Personally I think it’s too early. The longer they can wait, the more sure they’ll be about friendships. I’ve been encouraging dd not to rush in.

I agree it is too early… In an ideal world.

But unfortunately it’s not an ideal world and in some cities the housing stock goes quickly. It’s a real risk picking people now it also a big risk to leave it too late.

DS hasn’t done anything about housing yet but I have told him to start having conversations with people or he could find out everyone else is sorted and he has no one to live with.

He’s on his way home now and we are going to pick him and his gf up and go to my parents for the evening. Looking forward to seeing him 😊

DS is now torn between house groups - one is all girls and him, the other is all boys and one girl. An equal mix of both would be nice! They haven't found anywhere yet obvs, because it's enough of an effort to just think about groups!

@mummyinbeds did your DS do the formative for today? Not sure if it was for all the law courses or just the plain old law course.

DD the most organised of her friendship group (which makes a big change); she has bought her train ticket home for the vacation as an Offpeak Open Return (with railcard) as the others don't yet know how long before the start of term they'll be heading back. A year ago she was dubious about catching trains by herself, so fingers crossed.

I am hoping that the advice from ARU to wait until Feb to look at housing is sound; but they are the major market for student accommodation in town, as most Cambridge University colleges offer accommodation for all of their students. So I would hope that landlords dance to their tune...?

(PS no artwork update as she's been doing animations this week. Next week they'll be making Christmas Cards for friends and family... in addition to being a nice thing to do, greetings-cards are apparently a good gig for illustrators, which I'd never really considered!)

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn he was in the middle of it when I was there yesterday. Hopefully he's finished it today. He has two more to do for the 25th so I assume your DS has those two and maybe a third one for 'plain old law'

Inspired by another thread: we're paying for DD's travel home/back for vacations in addition to our monthly "top up to full loan." After all, we wouldn't expect her to pay for our petrol if we went to collect her (at similar cost). Is that reasonable?

Same here @PhotoDad, I don't mind paying for trains home and I don't mind picking him up either.

I wouldn't want him miserable for whatever reason and wishing he could afford to come home, iyswim. If he wants to go anywhere else he can pay for that himself and tough luck if he's skint. But trips home are always available.

@PhotoDad DS is paying for his train home at Christmas, tbf it is below £18 though.

Yes we fund the train fare for trips home too. Probably wouldn’t see him otherwise!

@Monkey2001 he seems to be going really well and is happy, thank you.
His halls are in the student village and there is a shuttle bus to the campus which he says works really well.

I think he has three to do, one for each topic?
he sent it to me today and then rang to discuss it! 😀

@Fiddlersgreen I lived there too in my first year at Leicester, it’s a lovely area, with the botanical gardens next door. I used to cycle to save on bus fare! So pleased to hear he’s happy there.

@crazycrofter the shuttle bus in Leicester is free now - I think the city campus accom may have been too popular so they were encouraging students to live in the village. DS liked the residential feel and did not even want to look at the city accom.

@Fiddlersgreen glad to hear that at least one of our two Clearing experiences on this thread worked out well!

GWR have a 20% off Black Friday deal if you sign up by 15th. I don't know whether that is only for travel on GWR, but they sell tickets for all routes.

cloud.e.gwr.com/BlackFriday2022?source=social_display#/

@PhotoDad public transport isn't possible for DS (well, it would mean a bus to the station 3 miles away or an hour walk, wait for a train as they don't connect well, two trains taking 2 hours then a 45 min bus ride this end, in total about 4 hours, on Sundays there are no buses his end). Or we can fetch him (3 hours round trip by car). We're not charging him for petrol.

Ah that’s good @Monkey2001 . We both really wanted dd to go to Leicester! Partly because she’d get £3k as a result of our postcode! Plus it’s generally so cheap. But she made her own decision of course. Where does it sit in your ds’ list of unis?

@crazycrofter it is second choice. First Sheffield, second Leicester, third UEA, fourth Newcastle. Based on courses, friends and wanting to be near GF in Nottingham. Expecting to get interviews in next couple of weeks.

We also pay for travel home. The train fare is about £50 which is half of his weekly money, that would be a lot for him to find.

@crazycrofter it does look like a lovely area. I don’t think DS has visited the botanical gardens but I’d like to go in the spring.
As @Monkey2001 said, the shuttle bus is now free for all students living in the village which makes a big difference. DS was going to take his bike back on the train when he visited but he then decided he probably wouldn’t use it much after all.
Very relieved that he is so happy especially as we had never even visited Leicester before or even considered it when first looking at universities.
Clearing is very tough to get your head around (both student and parent!) as you’re not in the place you ever expected to be