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.

Previous thread 50:

50

She's fucking persistent isn't she?! Because there has been a clear 'course of conduct' surely it's harassment. Let's issue her a MN restraining order!

She's a nightmare.
She is no longer at the school ( though technically wasn't expelled, just removed from boarding), so has presumably decided that the boundaries put in place no longer apply; she started messaging one of DS's old school friends and then moved onto DS ( from a new number, as he's blocked her on everything).

I'm just so mentally tired by everything. If DS makes it through this term with his MH in tact, I will be relieved - I really don't care what results he gets.

@Alwaysplayspicc The ex GF is surely a stalker. at this point? I hope your DS is coping as well as can be hoped for. I hope you start to feel better in both senses now you are over the radiotherapy hurdle.

@Delphigirl Fingers crossed the holiday gives you a real boost.

@ealingwestmum So glad your trip was fabulous...despite the luggage sagas.

I’m so sorry this shit of a girl is still preying on your DS @Alwaysplayspicc

So sorry to hear that the situation with ds' ex is still ongoing @Alwaysplayspicc - what a nightmare. And alongside your own health struggles. Things can only get better! I hope your ds can get through his exams and have a fresh start.

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn how's the law exam going today? DS is still on the first question 😨 He seems to know what he's writing about for once but gets hung up on every word he writes. It's painful to watch. It's going to be a long night....

All the best with the 24 hour exams - what a nightmare! Dd seems to have started revising (she's still at home!) but is very behind.

Ds had the last of his 4 A Level exams pre-half term today - he has another 4 after the holiday. Today's was a bit of a disaster. We went to see Take That last night (didn't think about A Levels when I booked it) and let ds drive us in his car, as it's more comfortable than ours (and he's obsessed with driving!). We parked near Birmingham uni, spent a bit of time wandering round, getting food etc and took the train in - except ds didn't get to the station on time as he was hanging out with old friends at the uni library. So he decided to take them in to town in his car instead, making sure to park just outside the ULEZ zone. He got to us just in time for Take That (via Nando's!). When we came out at 10.35, he couldn't remember where he'd parked his car - well, he claimed he remembered and walked confidently but then couldn't find it.. and his phone was dead so he couldn't ask his friends! We walked around for nearly an hour looking for it; eventually we found a hotel with an iphone charger and waited for his phone to come alive so he could look on his life 360 tracker to trace his steps. So it was a really late night back and he hadn't done any revision yesterday... he just about made it to the exam (the head of sixth form rang me up looking for him - the second day in a row!) Life with ds is so stressful!

DD1 has finished year 2 of uni! She’s going on a few short trips with friends over the next few weeks and then she’s home for her placement year.

DD2 has just received her year 12 mock grades and we are doing lots of uni open days.

I finally finished sorting and putting away DS’s stuff yesterday, this is so much better than last year when the house was in disarray due to renovations and all the spare storage space was being used for our own stuff. DS washed all his bedding and towels and put his kitchen stuff through the dishwasher and I packed everything up and made spaces for it, most of it is in the garden shed but quite a lot is under and behind a sofa in the living room which is pushed up against a wall but also very small and light to move if we need to put in anything else that has found its way round the house. He is going to apply for a job today as well as meeting a friend who is also back from uni for the summer.

Wow @crazycrofter ! Maybe a power bank for his next birthday, I leave a small "lipstick" one in my handbag, which can be useful. But great that the tracker worked. I don't know if it would have worked for you, but when DS1's phone was stolen in 2017 at end of Y11 party, we were able to log into his google account on my laptop and see where it had been. That was quite a thing, it said it had been walked to a bus stop, travelled in a bus, then a car and gave us the address where it was - and I got it back!

@EasilyDefined I have forgotten what it feels like to live in a tidy house - still have 3,000 books in dining room from moving DH's stepmother 2 years ago. Since then we have also emptied my parents' flat in Bristol for it to be let out and I have stuff ready for DS2's house in Norwich, so we are bursting at the seams!

@mummyinbeds & @JustHereWithMyPopcorn
How did the 24hr exams go? i hope it went well and they feel like they've done a good job. Good luck tot hem.

@crazycrofter Your DS certainly knows how to keep you on your toes!

@BlueMarigold Congratulations to DD for the end of 2nd yr, just one more to go. Enjoy the open days with DD2. I feel a bit sad I will no longer do these, I really enjoyed them with both DS's and we had some nice bonding moments. DS2 was so excited when he visited Brum! probably says a lot about my social life ho hum!.

I can't be bothered to tidy anything up at the moment as we are about to start a new bathroom installation in a few weeks (that's my excuse), so just bare minimum.

@Shimy DD1 is doing a placement for a year near us so we have her home for a bonus year! She’s going to be doing bat surveys. She will go back to uni in 2025 for her final year. Just waiting on her results now. Hopefully she’s passed Year 2!

DD2 is picking unis really far away so we will be having lots of Travelodge stays.

Has anyone seen the new UCAS search tool where it shows you the chances of you actually getting an offer based on grades?

Exciting stuff @BlueMarigold ! Ds isn't going to uni, so no visits for us!

Wow @Monkey2001 that's amazing that you got it back! I can track ds' iphone, but I'm not sure how/if I can get tracking history? Might have to look into that. We definitely need some powerbanks as three out of four of our phones had died (surprise surprise, it was the android that hadn't!).

Dd has gone back today for her exams. She's not done a huge amount for them yet. On Saturday she said to me 'I need to start revising.. (and I mentally thought, yes you do!) ... Take That lyrics!' Hopefully now that's over, she can concentrate on revising some Psychology.

@mummyinbeds he went to bed about 1am after starting at 9am, his friend didn't finish apparently. I think he was happy enough but he's still not entirely sure what they are looking for in the answers as the tutors he's tried to speak to aren't interested in helping. How did your DS find it?

Thank you @Shimy

@Alwaysplayspicc I can't believe that girl is still going, she needs help before she gets herself in some very serious trouble (although I can't believe she isn't already in it). Hope your DS is coping. x

@BlueMarigold I have looked at that UCAS page (looking for DS2), it's quite interesting.

@BlueMarigold Bat survey! that sounds really interesting, I imagine her being like a mini David Attenborough . DS too will starting a placement from September, he'll be moving to Reading though which is a shame as like you we had hoped we'd have him at home for another yr.

Funny you should mention Travel lodge, I stayed in a travel lodge with DS1 a couple of times as he went to Cardiff. We visited Swansea too it was so nice.

@Monkey2001 All this talk about tracking is making me wonder whether its something we too should get. I've often read on MN about parents tracking their dc and felt it was a bit much but from your recent account now I'm thinking it has many benefits and DS's could possibly find it useful.

@Shimy to be clear, we have never attempted to track the boys - they were too old to agree to it by the time it was a "thing", I just discovered that if you are logged into your google account you can see exactly where your phone has been, whether you were with it or not! So DS had to log into his google account on my laptop for us to track where his phone had been.

@Alwaysplayspicc I'm astonished that your ds is surviving relatively ok after the year he's had. I hope his exams go ok & things start going right for him🤞🏼 I do hope your recovery goes well & you start to recoup your energy soon.

@crazycrofter life is never boring for you. I bet you were feeling pretty murderous that night though!
Snap in the lack of revision for my ds, but I'm not getting involved this time.
All I know is Ds asked his sister's for a decent picture of himself for a dating app the other day. So I suspect his primary focus is on that.

The bat survey sounds fascinating.
Especially for a whole year. Time to really get into it.

@Monkey2001 To be fair it has it's benefits - They're out late, lost their friends and in unfamiliar surroundings, especially in their first yr, so it's not a totally ridiculous idea but the dc has to want it as well and mine like yours would NEVER agree.

Is it an app that you download and it's connected to your google account? how does it work exactly?

We only started tracking ds when he spent a night in a PureGym in another town when he was supposed to be at a friend's house in year 11! I've retained it because he's absolutely useless at communicating and it means I can quickly see where he is without having to ring him. I'm fully expecting him to block me at some point though..... Yes @Cantonet we were all so cross with him and a lot of shouting occurred 😫He always gets defensive and says he can't go back in time, rather than apologising, which makes us all crosser!

Oh dear re the revision and dating app. Dd will focus on literally anything else but revision. Ds has been really good so far, but I sense a slump in motivation and he appears to be trying to organise a trip up Ben Nevis next week! 😱

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn @Shimy DS is still going as he has extra time, meaning he went to bed overnight. He hasn't finished either question and has until 2pm. He's really not in a good place with this and through the tears he is cross that what he's typing isn't a reflection of his ability. And it starts again in the morning. I'm really thinking he needs a year out but that's a discussion for another day.

That absolutely sounds horrific for your poor ds @mummyinbeds. What is the point of these 24 hour exams? To test their tenacity?

@Crazycrofter I'm banned from shouting at DS2 as he hates it/it upsets him. Which means he does exactly as he wants ( youngest !). Fortunately he's on study leave but he's still going into school a bit late & then staying until 8.15pm. But his exams haven't started yet. So the motivation is still very much there.

Oh your poor ds @mummyinbeds , that sounds horrific. He really hasn’t had a great time with his course has he - or generally.

Wow, those 24 hour exams sound brutal.

@Shimy what we used is not an app, just google. If you google "where have I been today" you can see where you have been any day for years! It gives addresses for places where you stopped.

Oh your poor ds! @mummyinbeds . That must be heart breaking to watch and he's still going at it.

@Monkey2001 Sorry if I'm being a bit thick here, but you just go to google and type that in and it tells you where you've been without downloading any app?? how does it know who you are & where you've been?