Thread 55 - Covid GCSE Cohort - Autumn 25 - Yr 4 Uni and Graduates

[Oblomov25]

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 54:
Thread 54

Just had a bit of a catch up!

Sorry for your loss @AnneOfCleavage . This time of year always makes these things so much harder.

DS grad job is permanent and London based. Required his specific degree, in which he got a first. Start salary of £30k plus £3k car allowance (not that he has a car!). As his job relates to the rail network he also gets free rail tickets to and from work, including the office or site visits in southern England. Basically another £2-3k a year!

No real attempt a Christmas here yet either. I've got lots of singing with my choir at various nursing homes etc as well as two main concerts. DD is driving home on Wednesday, but has 2 assignments to do over the break.

Christmas basically involves the 2 grannies coming for the day - late 80s now, but still really active, although medical appointments etc becoming more frequent. DH is an only child, and my sister lives about 2.5 hours away and we rarely get together.

Thanks everyone am hoping DS will get an answer soon from Army.

Good to hear of a DB who isn't hopeless @Aslockton ! We got on well when we were young but his life choices since have been shocking inc a child outside his now broken down marriage and secret bankruptcy. The list s endless.

I'm v sorry to hear about your FIL @AnneOfCleavage . This time of year makes loss so hard as well.

It's 30 years this Xmas since my DM died and 15 years for my DF. We were extremely close and I've never felt the same about Xmas since - except perhaps when DS was small. I'm depressing myself now so off to finish my Christmas jigsaw!!

Sorry for your loss @AnneOfCleavage . I hope dd can get some support/mitigations at uni if she needs it. It’s a hard time to lose a loved one.

Dd is keen for us to meet her bf over Christmas so looks like we will be! Not so sure about Ds’ gf; he’s doing nights at Tesco from when he gets back til Christmas Eve so will be on a different time and then the next week he’s away with friends.

@craggyrat thats great that the GP were able to confirm the rash is a non issue- fingers crossed ! Although it sounds like teaching might also be appealing?

I am sorry for your loss @AnneOfCleavage. It is never easy losing a loved one, but at Christmas it is doubly hard.

Thank you so much you lovely lot 🥰

That Grad job sounds fab @Seelineand good luck with the choir singing. I went to one Saturday evening and it was part choir and orchestra and part audience participation so that was nice - the pitch was set too high for us though so we all struggled.

Love a Christmas jigsaw too @craggyratand often have one on the go all year round and whoever is visiting helps us out with a piece or two.

Good luck with the meeting of the new bf @crazycrofterWe gave DD a Christmas card to give to her boyf parents (she had a roast at theirs last night) with a note inside with our number and that it would be great to meet up and perhaps have a drink - ball is in their court now.

That's brave @AnneOfCleavage but a good idea! Hope it goes well when you do meet...

@craggyrat fingers crossed that the GP letter will sway the army recruiters!

@AnneOfCleavage I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your FIL.

I'm also not doing great with Christmas stuff. Normally I would have done the tree and decs at the beginning of the month but just haven't got the energy or inclination. Finally got the tree out yesterday and put lights on it and that was enough. Might do the baubles at some point. We have my Dsis and her family for Christmas day and then everyone to my DB on boxing day this year (we rotate things between families) DS2's girlfriend is coming on boxing Day too, she came to ours last Boxing Day when we hosted the entire family (26 in all) and loved the madness so wanted to come again! DS1 has no GF but I think he would like one, he just wont say so.

DS2's uni app is finally live, I'm hoping he gets a least one offer before Christmas. DS1 had two within a week I think but he applied in October not December, I imagine the unis are heaving with applications now. He has also started his new job and is enjoying it but hardly wants to sign up for any shifts because he might have something better to do. 😂

So sorry for your loss A of Cleavage.

We had our family Christmas party yesterday - 30 of us. I got our tree and outside lights, and decs out last weekend. First time in years I've managed to do it early. Last year I just couldn't seem to get my act together and everything was very late.
I'm not picking ds1 up till the 19th.

@AnneOfCleavage Sorry to hear of the passing of your FIL.

I'm very impressed with all the trees going up. A bit early for here as we tend to keep them up after Christmas until DH's birthday.

Tomorrow I'm going to a carol concert put on by the local NHS choir which was lovely last year. Christmas jigsaw will come out soon!

No news from Army yet but DS has all day PGCE interview in person next Monday. You'd think theyd realise candidates probably working in schools and do them once term had finished but at least he has an interview. Needs to ask for day off now so hopefully school will be fine.

Jigsaw finished so now ready for Xmas. Well ready for a few days off anyway...

Where is he hoping to do a pgce? Locally? Would he consider a local SCITT course?

Good news about the interview @craggyrat - hope it goes well! Is that back in Cambridge?

Just need to share some good news about Ds - anyone who has been here for a while will know we’ve had lots of fun and games over the years, as he’s a non-conformist and quite a character! Suspensions in years 10 and 11, non attendance at school during year 13 (and limited attendance in year 12), but he somehow pulled BBC out of the bag for ALevel after about 8 weeks of self-study! He got into Nottingham via clearing and has just had his first two coursework results - 75 and 77! 😮

That's fantastic @crazycrofter! Well done him!

I have no idea what a SCITT course is @Aslockton , I'm ashamed to say!

Well done to your DS @crazycrofter .

SCITT is school centred initial teacher training. My husband trained this way after his degree. You do all your teacher training in local schools with an A and B school. 3 days in the classroom and 2 days of learning about teaching with all the other scitt trainees in the area. You get a pgce at the end and often a job from one of the schools. Being local means no accommodation costs. My Dd looked at one as part of her scatter gun approach to career choices! With both parents as teachers it was inevitable; but good on her for choosing a different path. She has recently mentioned submarines. Eeek . I draw the line there!

@crazycrofter that's such good news. I share your pride in your ds's results. He must be pretty bloody bright!

Thanks! It’s the first time he’s been assessed by coursework and not exams - which just don’t work well with his ADHD and slow processing. I’m so proud of him!

Thanks @Aslockton I'm not sure if he's looked at that. He's another scattergun approach I think! There's a lot of prep work for the interview and the various presentations he has to do. Rather him than me... !

That is so bloody fantastic @crazycrofter👏👏Remind me is he doing PPE? This is obviously his preferred way of working and to get those grades on his first two assignments - comfortable firsts too - is brilliant.
Going back to the subject of gf/bf, DD’s bf came over for dinner yesterday and brought with him a beautifully wrapped Christmas present for me and DH with a card - so thoughtful. DD has also bought Xmas presents for his parents this year. No contact from his parents re our parent meet up but plenty of time and maybe they’re waiting until after DH’s DF funeral to make contact.

brilliant results Crazy

@crazycrofter that is absolutely fantastic news, well done that boy!! 👏

Well remembered @AnneOfCleavage ,that was what he originally applied for but he’s actually doing Politics and International Relations, with Quantitative Methods (really enjoying that bit too!).

Your DD’s bf sounds very sweet and thoughtful- hope you get some sort of response from his parents soon! Etiquette around this sort of thing is really unclear isn’t it - I mean even when a couple is married some in-laws have nothing to do with each other, and some behave like one big family.

@crazycrofter Well done DS!

Well done Crazy Ds!

He’s doing so well @crazycrofter! isn’t it great when they finally click with something?

DD had her Christmas lunch at work today. Sounds like she really enjoyed it. She now has a master key to the office as she tends to be in early. This morning she ended up letting the company founder in as he’d managed to leave his key at home!

DS is home at the weekend. He has exams in January. It sounds like I might be doing a crash revision course in structural chemistry over Christmas as he’s having a bit of a wobble about NMR and splitting. Hopefully it will come back to me - although it’s 30 years ago since I did my chemistry degree!

That takes me back @OublietteBravo I haven’t encountered NMR in donkey’s years but in my first job we had a big NMR lab, it was a huge analytical chemistry department full of instruments of every type. Sadly now flattened and a housing estate in its place. I think I might have an NMR textbook in my car boot, it got into a charity shop pile and I thought maybe too specialised. I will look tomorrow when I get my car back, DS has gone back in it for a few days for the CHristmas ball. If it’s still there I’d be happy to send it to him, but it is very old.

@crazycrofter DS - well done to him! My DS strongly prefers coursework, his degree only had one module exam in the whole three years and he did BTECs at 6th form plus history which has a coursework element. DD always used to say she preferred exams, having gone to a very traditional school but actually did brilliantly in her A level History and English courseworks and EPQ. She is not telling me anything about her course and marks so far but is now into the dithering about year 2 accommodation malarkey.

@AnneOfCleavage I’m sorry about your FIL it’s nice to hear about your DD’s lovely BF.