Thread 52 - Covid GCSE Cohort - Autumn 24 - Start of Uni Yr 3

[Oblomov24]

2024 Autumn, start of year 3 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.

51 Previous thread - 51.

DS17 asked the other day about driving lessons. I said, "Sure, when would you do them?" He took the point. He's busy after school every day, before school most days, and most weekends. It might well be a gap-year thing.

DD started lessons but then her (lovely) instructor went on maternity leave and DD gave up. But I didn't learn until after uni, so I tend to think there's no rush.

I think it all depends on where you live. You really really are stuck without a car where I live now. As a teenager in Glasgow and then a student in proper cities, I never needed to drive. It's totally the norm now. I'm always surprised by how many Birmingham students bring cars.

Yes, agreed. I grew up on Jersey which is not only tiny but also has an amazing bus service, and taxis are never going to be expensive. Where we live now (Newcastle) also has good public transport, as does Cambridge for DD's uni; she even takes buses out to the countryside for walks, confident there will be regular return services! (The "Cambridgeshire Guided Busway" is a thing of wonder, a cross between a bus and a tram.)

You really don’t need a car in Birmingham. But you probably don’t really in Nottingham either but dd has taken hers - this is partly to use to drive to her caring appointments though.

Many of her old Birmingham school friends are now at uni in London and haven’t bothered learning to drive yet. I’m glad she has though as it’s been her way if keeping in touch with old friends after we moved - there are trains but they don’t continue that late into the evening.

When I lived in the USA for a few years, the state law was that you could use a foreign licence for a year after arrival, but then had to get a US one. Every state is different about things like that. We lived in one of the few US cities with decent public transport, so I only ever rented a car for trips/holidays or moving large items.

Just before the year was up, I rented a car on my UK licence, drove it to the test centre, failed the driving test (parallel parking on the 'wrong' side threw me!!), and then drove home by myself in the rented car, perfectly legally. Got through on the second go.😀

We live rurally and driving instructors are in short supply... Already starting to think about getting on a waiting list for DD2 who will be 17 late next year!

Ds’s lack of urgency and numerous lapsed driving instructors is frustrating. If he doesn’t sort something soon I’m selling his car.

You think a keyboard player would jump at the chance of learning to drive. His drummer mate was desperate to pass & Ds often gets lifts from him which usher really fair.

It's very necessary here, public transport is limited both route-wise and time-wise. DH didn't learn till he was 30 but he was at uni in cities till then (did a PhD then post-docs). I passed at the third time before I turned 18.

Yes no car here is a pain. DS needed to pass his test to make getting to college easier so as much as he didn't have much spare time, it has made things more straightforward now.

@handmademitlove honestly, you could do it yourself. We saved so much money and after the first couple of weeks it wasn’t too stressful! Ds also watched loads of YouTube videos. He took three goes to pass, but we realised that he didn’t know which errors would be major faults so he ‘gave up’ once he thought he’d failed (when in fact they were just minors) and then did actually do some majors because he’d given up! With a bit more research he would have passed first time I think.

Just catching up with the thread. Hope your recovery is swift @Piggywaspushed and you don't return to work too quickly. A colleague at my school had same surgery on Friday and was back in school today 😲

Aarghhhh to driving instructors and tests. DD went through 2 awful ones before her fab one but her confidence was shot by then so took a few attempts to pass. Our area has a shocking pass rate - I say our area it's actually the next town over so DD never got to practice the test area outside of lessons. So glad it's done and she is on my insurance so drives my car when home and loves it now.

In other news:
DD has water leaking through the kitchen ceiling and they think it's from the shower so the big bathroom is out of use so 6 of them using the other small shower room. Landlord is coming Friday at 8am to reseal shower tray . DD had a weird smell in her room and her sink is slow draining she said so she's bought some sink cleaning stuff and it's draining great now so she hopes the smell will be gone tomorrow. She quipped that she hates this adulting malarkey hahaha.
They have a list of stuff for the landlord to sort so if he continues to come up trumps I bet they'll stay there for a 2nd year.

Oh no, goodness. I have no intention of going back before next Wednesday!

@Piggywaspushed haha glad to hear it 😃 No housework though . Feet up and enjoy a well deserved rest.

We struck very lucky with a driving instructor. Her DD and my DS met at nursery so we were mum friends. She retrained as an instructor and I think every taught every child in Harrogate the year her DD turned 17! She has an amazing pass rate.

What is this thing you call housework??

@crazycrofter thank you. We may end up that way - ds is fed up with the teacher, so will see how the next lesson goes!

@Piggywaspushed hope you're feeling better soon.

I have started teaching DS2 to drive since his birthday while we wait for his proper lessons start in mid October. We have bought him a tiny old car and I've done the usual car park routine for first lessons and we have now progressed to driving on local roads 😬. I did the same for DS1 mainly because it was mid Covid and there literally were no instructors. It does save money on lessons at least, they are £42 now!

We live somewhere you can get around but it takes hours on public transport to get somewhere that takes me 10mins to drive as the routes are all to a central hub and back out again. DS2's GF lives a 40 minute drive away so him learning to drive will mean I don't have to do that route any more! I'm praying for a first time pass! 😂

DD2’s uni application got sent off yesterday. The school suggested they all do early entry even though she didn’t need to. It just gets it out of the way.

@BlueMarigold What does she plan to study? Another scientist?

@EwwSprouts she wants to do maths

@BlueMarigold I'm always in awe of those who study maths. It's like another language. Had an interesting chat with an old friend last week, her DD is looking at a masters in Maths and AI.

Good luck for your DD2, @BlueMarigold! My DS also put his form in yesterday!

So exciting all these new uni applications! Good luck to them all. @Piggywaspushed i hope you are recovering well and are being well looked after by your family.

Yes o the first thing. Ermmmmmm , hmmmmm, to the second!

@PhotoDad good luck to your DS! What does he want to study?