Thread 47- Covid GCSE Cohort - Summer's running away from us!

[OrangeCinnamonLatte]

...it will be Christmas before we know it.

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). 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 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/parents_of_adult_children/4792342-thread-46-gcse-covid-cohort-searching-for-summer-solstice

Mind you I have written from scratch and published 20k words in 3 days so I can do it when I have to.

Morning 🥺 DS submitted his gibberish exam response at 6.30am. Still no response to his query about why he didn't get the promised extension. I stayed up with him but may have dozed off a couple of times. I'm now two work meetings into my day while DS sleeps. Thank you for the support yesterday/this morning. I can now turn my full attention to A level results panic.

oh mummy ignore my gibberish comment, I'm sure he's done a fantastic job. Poor lad, if they'd given him his extra time he could have had a proper break and finished it refreshed this morning. Well done you for staying up with him and especially when you've had work meetings to do.

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn oh, it was definitely gibberish in parts 🤣 I read somewhere in the Nottingham rule book that 24 hour exams should still only take 3 hours to complete. The law papers actually estimate 9 hours on the front page. The advice from Professor (insert expletive of DS's choice) mentions 14 hours. It's ridiculous.

3hours?? 😂😂😂

You are an A1 Great Mum 😎🏅

Belated good luck to all the resitters! it sounds really stressful. I'm on holiday, so Mning from the lap of luxury and pleasure, too much pleasure if I m right add.

More strength to the all nighters!

Well done Mummy & Popcorn. Extra brownie points for brilliant mum support. Those extended 24 hour exams would not be for me. I can sleep for England.

Good luck from sometimes sunny Cornwall. No internet connection and really poor 3G means I'm inly just catching up as it seems to be working really early in the morning.
@crazycrofter that is such bad luck, so easy to forget, have you heard anything yet? Fingers crossed there isn't a penalty as someone else mentioned it wasn't out of the pocket.
When is her next exam?

@mummyinbeds & @JustHereWithMyPopcorn well dine to your Dss and you, sounds horrific. Is that them finished now or any more to do?

@Alsoplayspiccolo - does sound a tricky situation.
I still do a lot for DD but have put my foot down and said i will only do her laundry if she brings it down to the utility room and she needs to change her own bedding now. We let her come and go as she wants and her boyfriend can stay whenever.
He has come away with us to Cornwall so thats strange but ok. Feels odd as we are used to having an only child so when they go and play bat and ball on the beach I'm redundant, said to DH is this what it would have been like if we had 2 children. She doesn't ignore us though and asks if ask if we are coming into the sea with them. We have a rule when in holiday that we have to go
Into the sea every day at some point what ever the weather. She loves that rule so wants to keep it going.

Hi@Heifer yep DS is all done (although French is still unmarked so who knows) We are both feeling jetlagged today - up at 5am to take DS to work for 6am so I carried on to my office and had finished my first coffee by 6.30 🥱
Enjoy your holiday - the sea around the UK is far too cold for me.

DD still does not have all the marks back from yr1. Needs at least 80 of the 120 credits marked to continue and so far only has 70. I am assuming they will mark one of the modules just to get them through but it is rather sad that they have said nothing other than 'we are working on it' effectively....

Catching up after a few days away in the Cotswolds. Had a nice break with DS, plus DD1 (25) + boyfriend. Bit soggy in parts but we managed plenty of outdoor time and nice to have a break together (though we missed DD2 who is travelling). DS is now house/dog sitting for a friend so we won't see him much for a couple of weeks. His girlfriend is coming to join him which is another reason we won't see him much!

Well done to the resit mums @mummyinbeds @JustHereWithMyPopcorn ! Give yourselves a (a star, since icon is not showing in my post!). I would not enjoy that situation as either participant or supporter. You did great!

@Alsoplayspiccolo sounds a challenging situation with your DD. Would it help to explain that it's BECAUSE she's a member of the family that there are these house rules - if she were a guest you would probably not be insisting she make up her own bed, load the dishwasher etc? But that while your house is her house, there are house rules and everyone has to abide by them and that's how we have a civilised society. It sounds like you give her plenty of freedom, it's not like she's in a gulag! Good luck with it, I feel for you.

Thanks all, I'm just grateful all I had to do was food and drink and general support and not sit the exam! DS all done now @Heifer just praying he gets at least 40% (I think that might be all they can get on a resit). He's going up to his new house on Monday to take some general stuff up and sort out his new room so I hope we don't have to bring it back again. 😬

@handmademitlove do you still have no confirmation if they are marking or not? That's terrible! I also saw on the news yesterday that the lecturers are planning to continue strikes into September including marking boycotts (what does that mean for those still waiting and for resitters?)

I hope the holidayers are enjoying their down time in spite of any soggy weather, hopefully the sun will come out for you all today.

Anyone watching the world cup this morning?

I saw an article the other day about one uni (Birmingham I think) where admin / support staff were planning to strike tomorrow, sounds like an absolute nightmare for all concerned.

Yes I work at Bham uni and admin staff are striking tomorrow. I'm not sure how that affects clearing. There's always a general call for help with clearing from anyone who is able - so that's not just the admin staff, who are on the lower pay bands, but others like people in my team in finance. I'd hope that people wouldn't volunteer to help and then decide to strike but who knows?

Well done to @JustHereWithMyPopcorn and @mummyinbeds ds's and the mums too at getting through it! No news from uni about dd's phone offence, but she says there will be an interview in due course. Her next exam is tomorrow, but as per usual her focus has been on other things... She decided to cut her hair last night but it didn't end up very straight so I was enlisted to tidy it up - except I've made it worse! She's now going to the hairdressers in half an hour. We're also going out for ds' birthday later (birthday tomorrow but he's working), so her revision time will be limited!

I hadn’t heard about the admin strike at Birmingham, on A level results day?! 😱 While I support people’s right to strike I’m praying that the poor kids dealing with lower grades than needed are not put under more stress because of it. I too would hope that those who have volunteered do not now strike.

@crazycrofter I’m hoping no news is good news for your DD and wish her luck at the hairdressers today (😄) and I’m her exam tomorrow. When are her next ones? Did I remember rightly that they are all really close?
Happy birthday to your DS for tomorrow too. 🎉

Thanks @JustHereWithMyPopcorn she has three exams next week Tue/Wed/Thur - which means she can still go to Leeds festival, which is the important thing. It's ds' 17th so we will be venturing out in the car tomorrow 😫

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn I watched the second half, good game.

@Alsoplayspiccolo my DD doesn't push back in the same way but she does shut us down a lot which is infuriating and conveniently "forgets" things you have asked her to do on a regular basis. I am reading a book called How to Talk to Teenagers by Faber and Mazlish, the children version of it made a huge difference when they were younger so I am hoping to re-train myself to get better results when talking to her, it all makes a lot of sense.

@crazycrofter I remember cutting my fringe shorter and shorter to try and get it straight when I was an early teen and ending up having to have a much thicker one cut in to disguise the tufts I was left with. Hope the phone incident is resolved without too much consequence.

We're all off on holiday tomorrow, the DCs have been pretty co-operative about getting ready, there always seems to be more to do than I remember from the previous time (we don't travel abroad every year). Looking forward to it. @mummyinbeds I might not get to post tomorrow with travelling but wishing you all the best on results day, and same for anyone else with an A level results day tomorrow.

@EversoDetermined I was so tense watching that, everyone wanted and expected Australia to win so I was not feeling very confident in the outcome!

Have a lovely holiday 🙂.

Yes, good luck to the A level DCs tomorrow, will be keeping everything crossed for them.

Good luck to all DC getting A-level results tomorrow!

Will this strike at Birmingham affect people being able to register and sort accommodation? Last year my DD got an email from Birmingham saying she had got a place and instructions on how to register and then she had to choose her accommodation.

Fingers crossed for those waking up to A level results tomorrow.

BBC says Leeds Uni also has a strike this week.

@crazycrofter good luck to your DD with the rest of her exams. I feel for her having to do so many.
DD has just headed off to the pub. Her friendship group have decided to celebrate/get very drunk this evening in case any of them are not in the mood tomorrow. DD's insurance uni is in clearing with very very low points so she's feeling confident of having sonewhere to go even if it's not her first choice.
I was reading our rambling thread from results day last year. It seems like a lifetime ago. This group feels so much more friendly than this year's waiting for results thread (of course, the few of you who are on both are all lovely 🥰)

Good luck to all those involved in Results Day in any capacity! I've set my alarm for my traditional one-hour walk to school to clear my head.

DD's summer travelling plans fell through for various reasons, but DW (an academic) is teaching for a week at a postgrad summer school in a pretty university-town in Germany. DD has accompanied her to explore the city, do some sketching, and brush up her GCSE German. They left early this morning.