Thread 45 GCSE Covid Cohort - Bunnies bouncing into Spring

[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

We don't have Uber Eats, Deliveroo or any of them here, no McDs, KFC, BK either and we're in a reasonable sized town. We do have a Spoons though.

I’ve got a while to decide yet but I’m veering towards a supermarket card as a starting Uni present. Then it can be used for day to day needs. I’ll save the Greggs/Spoons for Xmas.

I’d go with a supermarket card- after checking the nearest one to where the student’s halls will be-which would free up money for them to go to Spoons, Costa, Greggs et al with friends.
How recent is the ‘move in’ of the new partner?
I’m asking as I think 2023 entrants’ student loans will be based on their family’s household income for the tax year ending April 2022?

That's horrifying @EasterlyDirection ! At our old house we could walk to McDonald's, KFC, Subway and loads of takeaways - not that dd did, as she used UberEats!

DS was off to Uni very shortly after his birthday and I got him some gift cards, I did Tesco, Uber eats, H&M and primark. I was thinking, staples, treats, clothes. The Uber eats one turned out to be really good value as the first time he used it, he got an offer which meant he had 5 meals for some ridiculous discount but had to use them all in 5 days. It was a very lazy week for him, cookery wise.

It is probably just as well for my waistline! We do have three Chinese, three Indian, three pizza and a Thai so its not a complete takeaway wasteland. It is a shame in the sense that those are great places for teens to get casual work, but it is 10 miles / 45 mins on the bus to the nearest KFC, McD, BK.

Thank you for tagging me in this new thread, I’d completely dropped off the radar!

Less than three weeks until my ds is home. It’s such a long journey that we haven’t managed a visit either last term or this one, thank goodness his terms are so short.

It’s been lovely to read through and see how all of your dc are coping with their journeys into adulthood. I really couldn’t be prouder of my son.

He passed his driving test the day before he went back to uni after Christmas…best get him added onto my insurance and say goodbye to my car for the Easter hols! I’m a nervous wreck when I think of him driving round by himself though 😩

Good to see him thriving Scarlet.

How did your DD get on with her D test BlueMarigold, hoping she was successful 🤞

Lots of admin related problems for DS over here and we are waiting for exam results, well I am, they may already be out for all I know.

Train booked for Easter though and house for September almost sorted.

Hopefully DD will get to uni this year - still waiting for replies following 4 interviews.
Her birthday is next week and she needs a new bag - she is mentoring A level students at present- so carries her computer and books in her previous rucsac.
So my question to you lot - what bag would you/ your kids recommend for uni?
( if it helps she will hopefully be doing Medicine). If she isn't successful this year she will reapply next year so will need a decent bag at some point!

My DD has a plain black Superdry backpack. She had similar for secondary which lasted the whole 7 years. Backpack works well as she can fit a laptop in as well as water bottle etc. She also uses it for grocery shopping. Has a fair amount of walking around an exposed campus so keeps things dry if raining.

I think bags are very personal, particularly for women I think. Some people love a well designed comfy backpack, some (like me) have never been able to get on with a backpack - my whole life really - and like some sort of tote they can tick under their arm, or a cross-body/messenger type bag. Sone like open access and some feel insecure without a fully zippered up bag. Some take the kitchen sink and some travel light. I really think you need to ask her to maybe send you a few links of the sort of thing she likes, or alternatively go out shopping together and make an afternoon of it.

My DS just took his rucksack that he used for school to uni.

Dd refuses to use a sensible bag like a rucksack and is still using the large shoulder bag which she had in sixth form. It fits her laptop in. It doesn't seem very secure to me as it doesn't zip up, but she's not lost her laptop in nearly 3 years of carrying it around that way!

@coffeeandbiscuittime it should not be much longer to wait now, it feels like an eternity, but most decisions will be out by the end of March. Which ones are you waiting for?

Re bags, I think most people just need to transport laptop and maybe lab coat stethoscope these days unless she is a pen and paper note taker (I don't think many still are). But agree with others that you need a fashion spec from DD.

My Dd the same. She did actually buy herself a black pleather rucksack with gold trim from New Lookfor uni. No idea if she uses it but she does for overnight trips as it has a laptop sleeve integrated.

I have a Roka backpack with laptop compartment. I think it is v smart and trendy. I'm not sure what Dd would think about it though. You can get loads of colours.

@coffeeandbiscuittime One thing to remember is that DD says most medics have 2 laptops to cart around - one surface pro sort of thing to annotate diagrams with a Special Pen and one normal lap top to type on/review lectures etc. Plus the lab coat. Plus the stethoscope in its Special Box. Plus packed lunch.

It’s occurred to me I don’t know what DD carries stuff around in at uni - I’d suspect the kind of non-sensible bag @crazycrofter mentions, only her laptop is big and I’m not sure it would fit! Anyway she came home for reading week with the rucksack I insisted she take, the drawstring Adidas bag she used for PE at school, and an Aldi carrier bag. On the train. We took her back in the car, at which point another Aldi bag had appeared, and the laptop went in that. I’ve offered to buy her a wheelie holdall or similar but she’s just not bothered 🤷‍♀️

@DontCallMeBaby dd came home for reading week via three trains, with two weeks of washing stuffed into her old Adidas PE bag and another travel bag her uncle bought her. And her non sensible bag with laptop in 😂

😂 I was also surprised by the amount of washing DD managed to cram in her eclectic set of luggage

Glad mine's not the only one with eclectic luggage. DS uses a sports direct rucksack for everyday laptop etc and shopping. His old school PE holdall for clothes coming home (it is quite big but I am still AMAZED how much dirty laundry he can cram into it. Then a selection of my bags for life that he has acquired when we do a Tesco shop before dropping him back.

I bought Ds one of those cheap, large laundry bags to use taking laundry from his flat to the laundrette. He decided to fill it and bring home on the train. The zip broke on his way back to uni.

I hadn't heard from Ds for a few days. He text this morn to say he'd had a phone call late at night from one of the girls who was stuck on the beach with 2 others who'd had their drinks spiked. Apparently a policeman found them while on the phone call and called paramedics. Everyone was fine in the end. The lad who was the worst can't remember any of it, the girl who found him thought he could have gone in the sea. Scary stuff.

Oh that is chilling ican, thank goodness they were all found safe.

That really is scary

Spiking is a frightening thing and prevalent everywhere. DS1 had a spiked drink when he was out with a group of girls and ended up in A&E with a hand injury he could not remember getting. Adding water to the mix gives more scope for tragic outcomes.