Thread 46 - GCSE Covid Cohort , Searching for Summer Solstice

[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

Ooh and 'on The Gower'

On ‘the Kings Road’ 🤣

There was a thread a few years ago about why some roads are known as "the Kings Road" and some just as "Kings Road". There is a Kings Rd here and it is always just Kings Rd. I notice "the" a lot in Birmingham, the Stratford Rd, the Coventry Rd etc.

All the main roads in Birmingham are ‘the’ - the Bristol Rd, the Pershore Rd, the Hagley Rd etc, but isn’t that the same everywhere for roads named after places?

Great news on the job @PhotoDad . All DS holiday job plans are falling through. The two with schools both didn't come off for different reasons. He has lifeguarding until August when certification expires. Is hoping for Yorkshire Show work as well and is registered with agency hoping to get something at Taylors (Yorkshire Tea) which is just down the road.

My dad used to have a pond with koi carp and bought a plastic heron as a deterent as the real heron kept taking the fish. Next day real heron was standing next to plastic heron. I think he thought he had found a mate.

No, round here it tends to be London Road, Portsmouth Road etc

We get herons occasionally, we have a large pond in town full of water birds that has an island where they nest and we sometimes see them around the river too.

DS is home at the moment, going back tomorrow for a driving lesson and the May Ball on Friday, then coming home for the summer at the weekend (has to be out by Sunday). All his assignments are back bar one, he has passed all his modules, so onwards to year 2. He's got next week off but might do a bit of volunteering in an old role where he is still on the books, his full time placement starts the week after but that is voluntary too so he is applying for a Saturday job running a children's sport camp. DD has just been offered a job in a pub but has mocks straight after half term so is likely to be revising most of next week.

Well done to ds @ExtremelyDetermined ! Year one done…

Dd texted me in a slight panic on Sunday when she realised how underprepared she is for her exams! Fairly predictable… She finishes them next Tuesday and now says she’s staying around till 11th June, when we will collect her. She’s off to Spain on the 13th and then Croatia, so we won’t see much of her til early July. Ds has AS level Sociology today… he couldn’t be less bothered 😩 He also managed to drop a 40kg weight on his finger yesterday and it looks very bruised. Fortunately his non writing hand!

And ds has submitted his last assignment for the year (unless he has to re-sit his previous essay but we are hoping that as long as he gets over 35 it will be averaged with his other assignments for that module). A pass (40) would be nice but it is what it is and he has found this last assignment a lot easier.

Good to hear about the DC here approaching end of first year, enjoying their time out of ed and siblings hot on their heels with possibly different outcomes ahead.

All good here, don’t see much of DD as she is busy in her room getting her Spanish studying students over the line with their exams. Has managed to also pick up coaching and baby sitting shifts on top of a 60 hour paid internship. What a turnaround from a year ago. The first week was stressful, addressing her continuing weight gain, going through the cycle of denial before agreeing a plan to support her. I know as parents this is often a no-go area, but she hasn’t been happy but has had no motivation to address, mainly due to how busy she is, and being of south Asian mix she has hereditary risks that will not reduce without some effort on her part.

Good luck to all those sitting end of 1st yr exams. DS is halfway through his.

As August draws near, it's dawned on me again that we will no longer have any 'Results day' to look forward to. No more staying up late nail-biting about GCSEs or A'levels or Clearing no more 'hand holding'. No more waking up at the crack of dawn to log onto MN to post nervously if anyone else is 'awake?' or turn the TV on later to see kids proudly reading out their results or saying where they're off to. No more screams of joy and whizzing off to Nandos for free chicken or plan a celebratory dinner at the weekend. No more relatives to share the good news with; Grandma, aunts and younger cousins all going, 'Ooooooh!' It just all feels a bit flat. University just isn't quite the same. I know, I know.... this all sounds rather silly but does anyone else feel this way?

I feel that wag about no more Open Days !

Well, we're not there yet @Shimy as DD is in y12, but it does feel a bit weird sometimes, like last year, they both left school at the same time (different schools, one y13 and one y11) and that was a whole, still fairly large, part of my life over. All of a sudden they are both in settings where I don't know any of their friends or their friends parents (I knew lots in both their secondary schools). Our exam results days have been very low-key so far, neither DC has wanted any fuss AT ALL it has been as much as I can do to get them to text their grandparents.

@Piggywaspushed Open days too, although this lot didn't get to go to as many because of Covid so many applications were done blind. I do remember the open day Birmingham though and it was so exciting especially since ds had an offer from there already. I'm sure I was grinning like a loon as we walked towards the faculty together.

Only got 2 so for us it's over! 😭😭They loved all the fuss.

I have another one sitting GCSEs and one leaving primary school - I think I could be here for quite a while 🙂

Can we all come to the Open Days with you? I can be mad Aunty Piggy.

@shimy you can live vicariously through me and ED. A level results not until next year, but we are PEAK uni visits.

So DD’s school got a phone call from uni Birmingham saying “just to let you know 34 of your Y12s have registered interest in attending a Birmingham open day”. That is almost half of them. So yesterday the school put the whole year group in buses and took them up there and gave them a tour. They also had good talks from the uni about personal statements, choosing a course etc. Beautiful sunny day, Old Joe looking good, whole thing went down very well, DD (who has been to Edinburgh, St Andrews, Glasgow, LSE, Kings and McGill so is an Old Hand at uni visits) came back saying “If they did my course I would apply!” Pity they don’t!

Next uni visit is Exeter on 3 June. Currently DDs no 1 choice on paper, as the course is so good. Let’s see what she thinks of everything else…

Dd is actually finishing her year at Cardiff...busy prepping for her final year recital. No exams just coursework. I feel for all your exam bods.

She got a rejection from Southampton for the Education degree today. She has ACC in hand but they want ABB I've told her to concentrate on finding as much as possible about her other choices (she also applied to Sociology at Southampton but I doubt that will come through). She has chosen to restrict herself geographically and needs to deal with that. Clearing and getting far out accommodation is not an option after her disaster this year.

Yet to hear from Winchester or Sussex.

Oh bless her ! At least she had a day out!

Well I’m glad she is finishing this year @orange, that’s good. Keeps her options open. Disappointing for her about Southampton. Keep us posted.

She had a great day! Better than double economics 🤣

Nottingham people - does anyone know good reliable, non pricey storage options? I have googled some but they all look a bit suspect. DS' dad has now said that he cant pick him up so we need a new idea!

@NCTDN DS thought the chem GCSE was "fine." Mind you, that's his response about every exam so far... (he does triple science).

@ProggyMat Ah, don't have the car this weekend (DW and DS are... guess what? Yes, windsurfing!)

@OrangeCinnamonLatte That's a shame. Geographic restrictions certainly can't help, but what can you do except advise?

And, OK, "on the Wirral" it is, thank you!

@Piggywaspushed I had a 72 hour exam too, and several 12 hour ones. I think from a previous thread we went to the same uni in roughly the same era :)

Oh, yes, we did!!