Year 11 GCSE exam support thread 3 - the exam weeks

[HSMMaCM]

New thread for those of us starting the exams.

Keep calm everyone.

Found you all...

All good here. DD has her first free period today as she did iGCSE English last week. Miraculously, she is finding the study leave and working out her timetable more stressful than revising!

I had a little teary moment yesterday when we went for a prom dress fitting and she looked so lovely. It is the first time we have seen the dress in the colour she chose and luckily it is perfect.

A colleague and I were discussing GCSEs earlier and realised we have fallen in to the habit of saying "we've got French and Biology tomorrow" as if it's us who are sitting exams!

U2 - good luck to your DS - he sounds amazing.

He only needs two Ds to get into college.

He has one C already as his school did exams last year as well. He started his options is year 9 and did one exam in year 10 in home ec, but they have stopped doing this now I believe. He will have no problem getting into college, but he still wants all Bs. Well he wants As but he knows that that won't happen, at least not in every exam.

He truly is amazing and he inspires me! I don't know where I got him from For his 16th birthday he asked if he could cook for 12 people. So he will spend his birthday looking after others. I have no idea what the meal will cost me as he mentioned buying truffles and not chocolate ones!

Good luck to everyone else here as well. It is a stressful time for both parents and the children. It will all be over soon and then hopefully we can celebrate! Lots of hot chocolate with squirty cream is a good idea (for us parents too).

Oh crap! I forgot about the prom.

I have three June birthdays and now the prom. I need to find a decent but not too expensive suit.

Adds squirty cream to exam shopping list ... And marshmallows.

u2 and bluebell

For your children

Although maybe u2s boy would prefer

Or maybe bluebells daughter would prefer as well

Dammit! I've confused myself

If anyone finds a decent not too ££ prom suit can they shout? DS is a 28 waist and a 34 leg and I am too scared to look. He is showing zero interest, we do have til July 3rd though.

Gloria, don't worry, she didn't call me to tell me about the exam, she wanted me to pick her up

U2 your ds sounds brilliant!

seems a good idea to get us through the next 5 weeks, but I have to lose a stone to fit into my summer clothes from last year. I'll try to go cycling when I feel the need for cake.

My DD doesn't want to go to her prom. I don't know what it is really, being forrin.

We just managed to get dd a ticket for her prom last Friday (just in time) and I guess it might be fun and a good idea - and nice distraction - to find her a prom dress ...

She looks great in bright colours I think - she had two gorgeous costumes for some Irish dancing she did - one bright blue, the other green.
These really suit her colouring I think (kind of a summer colour palette I guess ?!) - and with some blue eye make-up the blue one especially looked stunning. She sometimes likes to experiment with some face painting at sleep-overs with friends - and I'm always amazed how glamorous and grown-up she looks at pick-up time

Anyway she looks great in so many things and loves a good charity shop find - young people can wear anything and look good can't they!

If you're sorted for post exam proms where did you find your dresses/outfits?
Any suggestions for dd?

sparkling

Ds1 bought a very nice suit from next it was £99 but they have equally nice ones for £79

Depends what they want really, tux hire isn't too bad but I couldn't get ds1 interested in a tux at all!!

This is my first experience of a child doing GCSEs. My DD had the ethics exam today too. She texted to say it wasn't too bad. I hope everyone else has had a good day x

Sparkling with those measurements I'd look in primark. Very cheap and cheerful but good for slim boys. DS had is first DJ from there at 13 ( and about the same size :) ) at it managed a couple of years ( he needed it for concerts)

Thanks Rufus and Theas, I will put those on my list. Cheap and cheerful sounds good, I am not sure if he will wear it again.

He has to wear a suit for 6th form but not sure whether depending on what he chooses it will be suitable.

Ethics today here too and Biology tomorrow for DS1. He thinks ethics went OK but said there was a couple of oddly worded questions. God knows what that means!

I don't usually see him in the morning due to work but I was around just before he left and looked aghast at the fact his tie is held together with staples. He cheerfully informed me it had been like this for a month ( bunsen burner incident) and he hadn't felt the need to tell me. He does have a spare tie but apparantly has lent this to a mate who lost his

He's claiming not to be stressed but yet said last night he couldn't sleep as he was too aware of his own breathing and felt that he was making himself breathe rather than it being automatic...sounds like anxiety to me?

DD has an AS resit on Thursday so its all starting for her too. My nerves will be shredded come results day(s)

Ooh good tip about Primark, we need a 30 waist and a 36 leg. I gave birth to a giraffe clearly.

DS has his first GCSE on Wednesday. So proud of him already

I was going to suggest Primark - I got DSs school trousers from Primark men's department this year and they have been really good.

DD has RS and algebra today. Pretty confident about the RS and doesn't give a monkeys about the algebra. This time last year she was having panic attacks and refusing to go to her ISAs so we have come a long way.

We are trying to keep things low key, as we would rather she drops a few grades than has a melt down and refuses to do them. She is predicted all As and A*s though, which of course brings pressure in itself.

I always laugh when I hear 'RS' as when I was at school it was 'Rural Science'

AmazingD - 36" leg!

DD hasn't text me or replied to my text since the exam. Hope it's just that she's revising.

Rural Science?!!! Never heard of it!

Tinkly, that sounds so similar to DD. I think she is being more realistic about grades now - the predicted A's and A*'s are a really big stretch.

yup 36" leg bigTillyMint! He's only (!) 6'1" but is all leg

Whoever it was who said they'd had to spell it out to their dh ... I was all smug and thought - he knows. There's a spreadsheet on the fridge and a list of exams on the kitchen door. I was wrong. He just said, "I can't wait for this week to be over".

Rural Science was looking after the ducks and rabbits and growing stuff IIRC. Bit like biology but not biology.

Juggling my dd got her prom dress online from Motel Rocks. It cost 38, so not shockingly expensive. Although now, of course, she wants shoes