Thread 49 - Covid GCSE Cohort - The nights are drawing in...

[OrangeSpicedBun]

Autumn 🍂 well and truly underway, has been chilly this week !

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 :

www.mumsnet.com/talk/parents_of_adult_children/4880640-thread-48-covid-gcse-cohort-summer-before-year-2-uni?latest=1

DS2 is in his currently in physics mock, a lovely Monday morning for the boys of this household!

@JustHereWithMyNewYear yes, they only have to answer one. DS seems happy enough with it, considering his revision started at about 10pm yesterday.

I'm not sure DS did any actual revision for this but have to assume I'm wrong. I have just seen sight of question 1 😮😂 - DS is answering that one!

Good luck to your lads on their mocks @mummyinbeds and @JustHereWithMyPumpkin 🤞🤞

Sorry to hear about the car accident @Monkey2001 - is it your car that you share if your no claims are affected?

Congratulations to your DS @icanbewhatiwant 👏👏

Took DD back yesterday afternoon- was hard as being at home a month made the return to uni feel like she was starting anew! To make matters worse she forgot her coat - was sunny when we left so she just got in the car without it - and realised once we arrived at Uni that she'd left her suitcase in her bedroom (had brought down several bags and thought that was it). It has all her hoodies in there.
Fortunately for her she knows a girl who lives in the next town to us who hadn't left yet so we've handed it to her and she'll give it to DD tonight so just 1.5 days without warm hoodies or coat. Phew! Her uni room was freezing so not a good start - needs to pick up electric cards from accommodation staff today!

Oh no @AnneOfCleavage thats annoying! Dd has just driven back (first exam tomorrow) and I’ve noticed she’s left behind her favourite hoody, one that was her boyfriend’s. She’s back at the end of next week for a funeral though so can get it then.

A level mocks are over here. Ds 2 managed to increase his Bio predicted to an A from a B, but his Uni application has already been sent off. Plus a couple of his places require 3-A's. So it's been sent off over a week ago & he hasn't heard from any yet. UCAS lead has said she will email the unis to update his results, but I'm not sure how successful that will be. This was my ds who missed a term of work through ill health in 6.1. Plus I'm really not sure what his personal statement was like, as he didn't show it to me . It all feels a bit haphazard 😳
Anyone else applying for next year?
I know some are taking a Gap year, which is what DS2 will do if it all goes pear shaped. He's applying for Psychology which seems incredibly popular at the moment.

Well done to your ds2 @cantonet! Dd is doing Psychology and the offers seem to be really high don't they, due to its popularity.

Ds has his mocks next week. He's not applying for uni though - a year or two working and travelling is as far as he's 'planned' so far. Ultimately he wants to own a gym! His attendance at school hasn't been great (sleeping issues) added to which he's had no teacher for I'd guess at least half of all his lessons over the last two years. Terrible staffing issues which are still ongoing - they're one social sciences teacher down anyway and all his other teachers seem to be off sick about 50% of the time. I don't think ds has done any practice exam papers apart from the actual AS Levels he sat in the summer. He got CCD in the summer and thinks he will just magically improve to at least BBB this summer, as he 'will work when the time comes'. Obviously that time hasn't come yet! I'm trying not to stress about it, knowing that ds has lots of other qualities which will hopefully help him succeed in the world of work. He's very committed to his part time Tesco job and is never late, despite apparently finding it impossible to get to school on time....

@crazycrofter my DS would happily chat to him for many hours about planning a gym, best equipment etc. He is currently designing a garage gym and wants to talk about it more than we do. Has been buying weights on ebay all around the country - apparently the 25kg weights in Bradford were a fantastic deal - 8 plates for around £250! On a more serious note, he seems to be a young man who likes to pull it out of the bag.

@AnneOfCleavage yes, DS was driving a car which all of us use and is in DH's name. Whilst we know it was his fault, it is so frustrating, we are pretty sure there was no damage, a nudge of a bump, nothing visible, but lots of consequences for us.

A level mocks for DS too here. Expecting disappointing results as he was busy prepping for auditions right up until the end of last term, and then away on an orchestral residential from 28th December until a day before going back to school.
He's been to an offer holders day today at RCM and is feeling pretty poorly with some kind of winter virus that is doing the rounds at school.

We took DD back to Birmingham on Sunday. She was really tearful in the run up to going, saying she didn't want to leave me, which was hard.
She has lovely friends and what sounds like a very caring BF, so I hope she'll be ok.

Aw @Alsoplayspiccolo that's hard but I’m sure she’ll settle back in. Dd was also feeling mixed about going back, she doesn’t like the house she’s in although loves her housemates. She’s also struggling a bit mentally and finds it hard being around friends 24/7 at the moment. She’s worried about money too as ds is hassling her to pay him off for the car she’s taken back so that he can buy his own. She’s thinks she’s got a carer job subject to completing training but they’re taking ages to get back to her.

@Monkey2001 the garage gym sounds like a great project! Ds could talk about gym equipment all day I’m sure! I think he thinks he’s going to somehow pull it out the bag for A Ievels. He can’t seem to manage more than an hour of revision per day at most .. so he really needs to start in earnest soon!

No mocks for my DD (y13) till March, which seems strange but whatever. She hasn’t applied to uni this year because of the switch of subject in Sept, so will be at college for a third year. Which works quite well because she won’t be going till DS has finished, I think it’s likely he’ll move home again. I’m secretly quite pleased, I’m not ready for an empty nest yet. She is struggling with biology, but flying with English and History, she says she can cope far better with a few long questions than many short ones which just jumbles her brain up. Parents eve next week so we will discuss it with the teachers then.

We so need to get on with the ADHD assessment thing, but what with DS’s PIP re-evaluation, DH’s health concerns (his appointment about the possible diagnosis is on Thursday, I am trying to keep busy and distract myself from this), her birthday last week and DS’s next week I haven’t got the headspace right this minute. Got my tax return done at least. Will hopefully be able to make a start on the ADHD thing next week, I intend to do the bulk of the PIP paperwork on my day off on Friday.

@Monkey2001 so sorry about the car accident, similar happened to me recently (I was rear-ended at v low speed) but when I took it to a bodyshop there was no damage whatsoever so I let it drop.

@Alsoplayspiccolo I hope your DD will be OK with her friends and BF and that DS feels better soon. Hope you’re OK too.

@Cantonet well done to your DS on the improved grades, hope the message to unis can make a difference to his offers.

@AnneOfCleavage I have had to post several things back to DS after he went back on Sunday without them but not that much stuff! I’m always forgetting my own coats because I don’t wear them to drive so get in the car without them then realise at the other end all I’ve got is the emergency one I keep in the boot. I remember going to an open day with DS and getting absolutely drenched by rain for this reason.

Question for DSA parents please!

So DS has now had approval for DSA and needs to book his study needs assessment.

Does anyone with experience of this (particularly mental health) have any recommendations for companies that were good or for those to avoid?

Thank you! Sorry for the lack of other interaction, a hell of a lot going on here.

Ds wanted his to be in person not online so we just went with the one closest to us.

Great news on DS's grades @Cantonet

I really hope you get similar news to Monkey when the car gets seen @EerilyDecorated.
I added DD to my insurance for a week then she'll have another week in Feb then I guess Easter and summer hols too - is it up to 6 times a year? When she was on her own insurance last year but for my car they said it would still count as a claim for me if she had an accident and vice versa.

@crazycrofter and @Alsoplayspiccolo DD was not looking forward to going back either and also struggles with having enough alone time to recharge. Doesn't help that it's January and not much to look forward to but at least it's lighter for a bit longer in the afternoons.

Sorry to hear you have a lot going on @286NeuerNahhhhhhhhmen but lovely to hear from you. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable on DSA will come along soon.

@286NeuerNahhhhhhhhmen we used a2b at our local uni as they did face to face. They were great, and fought for her to have some stuff that the assessor said was a bit borderline as to whether they would accept the recommendation due to not having the specific issues mentioned within the paperwork.

@286NeuerNahhhhhhhhmen we asked the uni disability team and they said to use one close to the uni and recommended one (which we did remotely) as they were familiar with the set-up there. Really not sure how much difference it made.

Does anyone know what's the company you can use to deliver stuff to uni?
Ds wants to return to uni on the 20th but dh is in China until the 24th. I can't leave the dog & ds2 by themselves. As he's unreliable. And it's too far to do a there & back in one day.

@EerilyDecorated you're juggling a lot of balls in the air at the moment.
@Crazycrofter I love your descriptions of your ds. Boys definitely think they can pull things out of the bag last minute. There's a touch of that going on here too.
Sorry about the car accidents, but I'm glad they're just inconvenient & not too serious.
Best of luck with all the returnees & that they settle down quickly. I'm not sure how ds is going to fare having missed the first term & being catapulted back into a new year half way through. Also I'm confused about his dsa. How did yours work the second year around?

DSA - we had no issues with the assessment part, but STILL have ongoing issues with actually getting the recommended support in place! DD still hasn't had equipment/software training and doesn't have mentors in place.
In our experience, the companies DSA use to provide equipment are mostly awful once their tender has been acceted; DD is on her third.

DSA - we chose the nearest assessment centre - literally 5 minute drive, but they still would only do virtual assessment. It was very good though, can't remember who it was.
DDs software training from the supplier was basically some video links on how to work it, but I think that may have been because she chose to keep her existing perfectly good laptop rather than get a new one via DSA.
The supplier has been quite slow and there have been difficulties getting deliveries set up etc. But again, not sure how much of that has been down to DD - she likes things done her way.....

I think we were quite lucky with DSA, the equipment and software turned up promptly and as he was still at home I was able to help with the basic set-up and then he had some zoom sessions with a trainer, it was a bit of a faff organising those around his timetable. A few teething troubles around his mentoring, I had to help with the initial organising, he was willing to let me and that makes a big difference, it will be different with DD if she gets it as she is Little Miss Independent. He does it all himself now, he has two online sessions a week, with different mentors, one academic one more for organising and they have been very good. I would say that initially he thought he'd prefer face to face for the mentoring but remote has worked out really well as he doesn't have to find a room to use and can dial in whether he's at uni or at home (he had some over the Christmas holidays).

Thanks all. I'm pretty sure DS won't need laptop or software, I think DS's will just be mentoring. Uni have agreed some interim funding while DSA is sorted. He still hasn't heard from that provider though.

@Cantonet I used Parcel2go to ship stuff to St Andrews, they will take a big box for under £10 - try the price calculator for something you want to send.

Frustrating update on DS's little accident. In spite of the collision being at under 5 MPH and neither car being damaged (still waiting for confirmation on theirs), both driver and passenger are claiming injuries. Grrrrr! The insurance company don't believe them.

Oh dear @Monkey2001 that’s really frustrating.

Thinking of you and your DH today, EerilyDecorated. I hope the appointment goes as well as can be hoped.