Thread 51 - Covid GCSE Cohort - Summer 24 - End of Uni Yr 2

[Oblomov24]

2024 Summer, end of year 2 for those at Uni.

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.

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Thanks @Oblomov24 glad party went well. Enjoy the break

It's been a crazy few weeks for ds again. He has submitted his resit assignment today so fingers crossed on that one. Meanwhile last week was crazy. He was flitting between Leeds & Manchester rehearsing with a brass band for a festival which happened last weekend but you may remember he ended up going to do some work on a new UK theatre tour. The show opened and his work was done and it then went to another venue.

Last week he got a call at lunchtime asking how soon he could be in London, it was opening night and they needed someone to be on hand. He got on a train at 1.45pm and arrived in London at 4.30pm. The show opened at 7.30pm. He then travelled back to Macnhester, was there for a day, travelled to the festival, camped overnight, performed, coach back to manchester, 3 hours sleep then got a train home as we were going to London that day to watch a theatre show as a family. Then back up to Leeds to get his assignment done and submitted.

I had to lend him £200 for his hotel in London. He will get it back but he has to invoice. The company booked it but because it was a last minute rush they didn't realise their card was only on hold and ds had to pay on arrival! (By contrast our hotel was a Premier costing £70-£80 per night!

And breathe!

Sounds exhausting @Comefromaway!

DS has got through latest RAF interview so waiting for next step. Looong process!

Well done to ds @craggyrat , is this to start after year 3? Sounds like your ds is in demand @Comefromaway and I guess you need to be able to cope with that sort of schedule in the music business!

Ds and dd are off to a Christian event today until next Saturday so we'll have a quiet week. And I'll be able to pick ds' A Level results up on my own schedule on Thursday. For some reason, on GCSE results day, he and a friend decided to stay up all night and then get a really really early bus into the city centre. So I got up at 7.30 expecting to take him to school and he was gone! He was in town for 6am. And then they got the bus out to school for 8am and the headmaster was cross with them and wouldn't let them in until 8.30, as that's when they were supposed to open. We drove to the school for about 9 and he was nowhere to be seen, it was all really annoying! When we found him we had to drive an hour to his new sixth form (we were moving areas) and he was so tired when we got there that he couldn't be bothered to think about which subjects to choose..(he left decision making until results day!).

Oooof @Comefromaway that sounds like quite a week, well done to DS for juggling it all.

Well done to your DS too @craggyrat

Hope the DCs have a good week @crazycrofter . My DD has A level results this week too and is nervous.

Well, it's been a good week here. DS has settled into his new job (crazy golf attendant). DD has finally found a part time job and started last night (behind the counter at a takeaway, she enjoyed the first evening). And best of all DS finally passed his theory test. Woohoo!

Good luck with the A level results this week to everyone involved. Well done to DS on the theory test @EasilyDefined !

Good luck with all results.

Dh ended up in A&E pre his birthday with an infection. Fortunately back home now.

I'm dropping ds1 back to Notts next Saturday, for his resit exams 19th and 22nd.

All those awaiting A'levels Good luck with it all. I know it sounds silly but I'm rather sad i have no more results to look forward to .

@Oblomov24 Hope your DH makes a good recovery. @craggyrat I can imagine the wait - Nail biting! wishing him all the best.

@crazycrofter Your dc have been to quite a few Christian events haven't they? mine have never been on any. Is it 'New Day' by any chance, i know that runs in summer for youths. How do they find it? sometimes these event s can be a bit meh! but my DN came back raving about it all a few months ago.

Shimy, my ds1 has been to a few and he likes them a lot. I've practically been to them all I think, shepton mallet and the wales ones were the best back in the day. They are all well advertised online. Does her church not discuss it and encourage her to go?

Hi everyone. Golly your DS is energetic, @Comefromaway …@craggyrat that’s great news re raf. Sorry to hear about your DH @Oblomov24 , hope he is feeling better.

Add us to the list of those waiting for A level results please! Dd is sanguine and we aren’t expecting any bad surprises and anyway her degree is in clearing at BCC despite her offer being ABB so that takes the pressure off - but it is still a big day! And my last ever of four sob.

dd has got a job in the pub. She’s finally planned her gap year and first stop is going to Bolivia and Peru in mid sept until Christmas. Wants to come back fluent in Spanish. Exciting! I’ll miss her.

My old church used to annouce 'New Day' which is 1 week away but our current church doesn't partake in that. I don't know of any other youth events and ds's have sort of lost interest but if i knew of a youth event going on for their age group 20 & 23yrs i'd have liked to encourage them to go.

Where do you go online to see the adverts, is there a particular site? I've never seen any advertised except 'Spring week' not specifically for youth by Premier radio.

@Delphigirl Good luck for results day which sounds like she's in already. I've always said the best way to learn a new language is to go to the language's country and immerse oneself amongst the locals for 1yr. You'll come back more than fluent. Wish her all the best on the her travels.

Thank you @shimy 😘

Good luck @Delphi & all others for next Thursday. Ds has managed to book his theory test on the same day as the results 🤔 I've been looking at clearing & the courses appear to be accepting much lower grades. Psychology in Bath has gone from all A's to a high chance of accepting all B's. Also the same with ds's first choice - Loughborough.
I've just spoken to him & his original preference was Bath. But there's no accommodation left. How does that work then?

Good luck to all waiting for A level results and those doing summer resits. I read there are many more places available in clearing this year though hoping everyone gets the grades they need.

Good luck to anyone who needs it for results day.

and congrats & good luck for the next stage of the RAF craggy.

Hope he’s recovering Oblonov!

msnchesrer last night for Ds, playing at a cafe bar with his band. It was very quiet last night.

Then all trains out of Manchester were cancelled so he ended up sleeping on his friends halls of residence floor!

to top his off he got a jobs worthy member of station staff who told him his last nights ticket wasn’t valid today despite it being all over Twitter last night to travel today if possible. The train guard was fine though.

@Cantonet Psychology at Bath with Bs, that’s crazy! I thought that was one of the hardest courses to get into. Dd never got an offer with predictions of Astar,A,A so she gave up in about April. I hope this doesn’t mean our kids’ results are all going to be low though 😢

@shimy my kids used to do camps until they were 18 - they tried a few but their favourites were run by EMW, a Welsh organisation, and so is the conference they’re at this week in Aberystwyth, but it’s for all ages with a specific stream for older youth/early 20s. I’ve heard really good things about Newday though, I think my kids would like it.

@crazycrofter i'm not sure the whatuni.com website is actually accurate , as this is where I'm getting the information from. The Bath website has said to check in on the day of results.
I'm just trying to do a bit of pre-emtive planning but it might not be possible this early.

I'm taking DD and her stuff back to Aberystwyth on Wednesday @crazycrofter . Are your two staying up at the uni?

@mummyinbeds yes they are - I think they're in the cheapest accommodation, which is set aside as 'youth flats.' Is your dd in private accommodation this year?

They are saying grades might be lower because (can't remember the exact explanation) this is the first year when there has been no allowance in the grade boundaries for covid, which this group did get for their GCSEs. But more courses in clearing because fewer have applied.

@crazycrofter yes, she's got a house half way between the beach and Spoons. All the campus accommodation I've seen is fine. DD was in Pentre Jane Morgan - a huge student housing estate with townhouses for 6. Much cheaper than Nottingham 😁

@mummyinbeds you must have appreciated her choosing Aber, especially with having two at uni at the same time! How much is the private accommodation compared to Notts?

@crazycrofter she's paying £90 per week, including bills. 50% over summer. That seems a pretty standard price in town. I'm yet to see what the house is like but it can't be worse than DS's Notts house. Seagulls instead of rats maybe.

@crazycrofter having two at uni is definitely expensive but next year DS is paying £225 a month in French halls (tiny but with ensuite and kitchenette), gets a bigger loan, Turing funding and can apply for French housing benefit. It will probably be the easiest year on my pocket 😁