Thread 44 GCSE Covid Cohort - Countdown to Christmas & New Year

[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

Well done to your DD @Heifer We have DS added to DH's policy even though he's hardly driven since starting uni as it was cheaper than just having DD added on. Still an eye watering price though.

@Heifer Congratulations!

@PhotoDad Shame about the weather but great photos.

Thanks all. It was a no brainer re insurance in the end. Cheapest quote for DDs own insurance was £800pa, but adding her to DHs insurance was an extra £17pm! I know she won't be working towards her own no claims but in my view as we are paying for it that is good enough for now. She doesn't care either way but DH wants her to have her own insurance ASAP...

She has finally sorted out some work -1 day swimming coach/assist per week until the end Jan when she goes back to uni. It's a start and hopefully more work will come from this. As she only has 1 exam on 24th Jan she isn't planning on going back full time until lectures start 30th Jan.

PS - when I say 1 day a week, I actually mean 2.5 hrs! as I said it's a start....

Great pics @PhotoDad

Well done to your dd @Heifer yes it makes sense to insure as second driver. My friends son passed his test at 17 then didn't drive again until he was 21 when he bought a car. His insurance wasn't a lot different to ds1 who is the same age but with full no claims.

Well done to mini @Heifer!

Well done @Heifer DD!

Congrats to @Heifer DD!

The Robin looks furious @PhotoDad great pics!

Beep beep well done @Heifer Dd!

@Benjispruce4 I had noticed the same recently. I was most ticked of for an OP recently who posted on the 30day only thread complaining about her MIL. HQ had splashed the thread over Facebook! It was on 30 day only for a reason!

@icanbewhatiwant glad to hear Danny D is still in good nick but I'm wondering how you Stepdaughter (was it) travelled back with him ...I'm imagining him sitting in the back of a car now 😳 lol!

@Heifer DD WELL DONE!!! We have discovered that insurance goes down a lot a year after you passed whether you drive or not, so should be fine if she gets her own policy later, best if she doesn't need one before she is 21, but maybe DH can't wait that long! We have a car which both DSs drive and insurance for the first year was £350/year with black box. They have scored over 90%, so that bodes well.

DD has got a years no claim on her insurance now yet prices have gone up this year!

Thanks all. DD has already got 2 years of no claims given to her by her insurance company (Collingwood) as a learner up to May 2023 (they upped to 2 years even though it isn;'t that long) , - will she keep that later?

@OrangeCinnamonLatte they have a Ford camper van type thing. So he stood in the back 🤣

@NCTDN ds2's insurance did go down second year, but not by a huge amount, whereas ds1's halved a year later, but that was back in 2019 we were expecting it to be much less second year.

Congratulations @Heifer DD, great start to the new year!

I recently renewed DS's car insurance. We ended up using Churchill's main insurance with no black box (haven't told DS the black box is gone though so no-one tell him) for £615. That's with zero voluntary excess. Because he's away all term I put the mileage right down and it does make a difference to price.

@Heifer well done to your DD, the insurance is so expensive. DS2 will be starting lessons soon but can’t wait for him to drive with all these train strikes (he goes to 6th form by train).

@Piggywaspushed i was shocked at the black mould in DS en-suite bathroom and complained. I was told to butt out due to GDPR despite copying in DS. As soon as the terrible story about the young child dying due to mould they moved DS out and have sorted his bathroom and room out. There isn’t a window or extractor fan in the bathroom so not sure how long the mould will be gone for.

DD2 started the day well with an offer from Birmingham - keeping an eye on the black mould situ...

Great news on the Brum offer @ZittiEBuoni.

Great news @ZittiEBuoni well done to your DD2. Where else is she waiting to hear back from? or had offers from?

I got the GDPR thing from history department but interestingly never from accommodation.

Thanks Heifer, she's got offers in hand from Birmingham and Cardiff, interview next month at Manchester, nothing yet from Bristol and Sussex.

Congrats to @ZittiEBuoni DD2!

Still thinking about accommodation with DD. Privately-run HMOs where each room is charged separately, and bills are included, look like the way ahead. Priced between private rentals and private halls, but not so bad with costs being what they are. She and her friends just need to sort out which groups they want to be in!

Great news @ZittiEBuoni !!

Well done to DDs @Heifer and @ZittiEBuoni

DS has started polishing up his CV today, he has to find a 6 week work placement for the summer which I am a bit nervous about. He is starting driving lessons next week but unlikely to pass in time, but we just couldn't find any instructors with availability this time last year and when we did it was too close to him going away, I'm pleased he has taken the initiative and done it now (he has sorted it all himself). Because of the course he's on locations are likely to be rural and hard to access by public transport and we are not well connected to our nearest cities for consultancies etc either.

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn I didn't tell ds1 that for his third year the black box had gone. He drove for 6 months without knowing. Ds1's is 21 his insurance it is down to £350 we didn't think that was too bad. Ds2's second year was £500 we put the yearly mileage down to 3000 as he's not here, but they wouldn't reduce the quote. We did a couple of price comparison websites but nothing was cheaper. So went with that. Seems silly paying it, we renewed mid November. He's driven the car 4 times and only gone a few miles each time. He won't be back until Easter. But will need it for his summer job. Perhaps there's an easier way to do it.

Ds1 has gone. His flight took off at 4pm. He's stopping in LA for 3 hours, then onto San Francisco for 24 hours, then onto New Zealand. Apparently it was cheaper to fly with the stops. Now we will see how long he stays in New Zealand. Dh thinks only a few months.

Good luck to your DS @icanbewhatiwant , look forward to hearing about his adventures! (That's if YOU hear, of course).

Congrats on driving successes @Heifer , reminds me I must try to rebook DS a test. He chose to cancel the test he had in hand as it was only a couple of weeks into uni and he was worried about taking the time out. This may have been a bad decision as tests seem unbookable for the foreseeable...