GCSE Results thread and starting 6th form

[WitchofScots]

Follow on thread from the GCSE exams and proms thread. For hand holding and recommendations of wine/chocolate/biscuits to get through the post results stuff.

Oh Idefix, how stressful of you all. Hope you have a lovely time tonight and get to chill a bit this weekend.

Moss, good plan !

We've ended week on positive note thank goodness, despite DD's announcement about probable course change. I feel I've aged about 20 years since start of the month and very glad it's the weekend.

How is it going with DD BTM?

Will DD still be doing media when she comes home today or will she have swapped (again) to photography is the question of the day here .

Are they all getting into the weekends and homework swing of things?

Thanks for asking SugarPlum but I don't know! I have been away for the weekend and am at DMs till tomorrow - hopefully she is getting on with it, and maybe someone from the sixth form will call me, but I'm not holding my breath!

Idefix, that doesn't sound good - quite right to report it and for your DD to know she doesn't have to put up with that kind of crap.

I think that sounds really quite sweet Idefix.She's showing a high level of maturity and understanding in not dobbing the boy in.Whether its wise or not is another matter.
Commiserations to all the students considering changing subjects and thrir parents.We might be doing a bit of that ourselves.We have just discovered that 4 A levels appear to be required by nearly 2/3 of Medical schools.Dd's school has told them all to do 3.Further Maths is also often not considered as a suitable 4th.The school are also not doing the decoupled As1's so the ones applying for competitive courses ( like medicine/vet.) may well be disadvantaged.They seem to have taken a bit of a punt into how things will pan out in the future.The next nearest private school to us ( very successful) is doing the exact opposite to dd's Gdst school.To say i'm peed off is an understatement.Oh well admissions officers here i come.

Getoff, we are the opposite, I was worried as dd is doing 4 plus critical thinking which is too much. They are spit 50/50 old and new style. The only blessing is she's doing PE so st least one lesson a week is practical and fun. She should be doing further maths ( wannabe engineer), so another worry there.
Do you want to share some

Just popping back after dropping DS1 (PFB) at Uni this weekend!

DS2 seems to be keeping up with the homeworks etc and hasn't said anything about changing any subjects, so fingers crossed it's a smoother ride with this one!

Oh Horse I do hope it all went well - I shall be in bits if/when the time comes. My next door neighbour's son went off to Southampton this weekend and she said it was a lovely campus.

DS developed a fever on Friday after school and I suddenly remembered that he ought to be checked for malaria following the Tanzania trip. We spent all day yesterday at the hospital and while they don't think it is malaria, he has some sort of bacterial infection that requires IV antibiotics and he was dehydrated so needed fluids. They wanted to admit him but I persuaded them to let me take him home so I am just about to take him back for another dose. Let's hope he has recovered for DofE at the weekend!

Getoff I meant to say that most medical schools will accept 3 A levels (or no AS levels) if the application is accompanied by confirmation from the school that there is a '3 A level' or 'no AS' policy. Personally I think the universities (as providers in a free market) should be the ones to change their entry requirements rather than the schools especially as they are charging us so much for the privilege (and I say this as someone who works in HE!).

We have just discovered that 4 A levels appear to be required by nearly 2/3 of Medical schools.

Getoff are you sure about this? My daughter is going to apply for medicine, and her school is very, very experienced in medical school applications. She is doing four subjects at the moment, but will drop one for Y13. Each of the possibly to-be-dropped subjects is an unreformed subject, so she will sit the AS levels for them both and then drop one.

Then proceed with three A levels to A2/terminal: Chemistry and Biology and probably Maths.

Nobody has suggested this is at all a problem.

ono40, my DS is at Soton too!! It is a nice campus, strangely, it was the one I liked least when he looked around Anyway, he's there now and all well.

Hope your DS is soon feeling better. My DS went to S Africa this summer and didn't take his anti malarials, grrrr. So, I'm hoping if/when he gets Fresher's Flu that it really IS flu...

Cross-posted!

Ono40 i've spoken to two medical schools today.Neither would confirm that.Both required As1's in 4 subjects as a minimum with one considering an Epq as a possible alternative As1.One - Liverpool did say things may possibly change in the future if they have a no. of applicants with 3 A levels but at the moment the advice was 3 plus an As1.

Abraid2 the problem is dd was encouraged to drop her 4th totally.It was Further Maths which isn't counted as an extra A level by some Medical schools.This is something else she wasn't advised by her school.Dd's school is also supposedly very experienced at getting its pupils into medical school.

Sorry, cross posted. How very annoying for you. What were the school thinking!

Ime the parents DO need to be on the ball, as some schools don't always appear to have their student's interests at heart. Scary but true. I feel sorry for DC whose parents don't understand the system, as it's tricky to guide them for the best chances

DD has gone against all advice and not chosen subjects which will leave her options open unfortunately. I could have insisted she took a sensible range of subjects, rather than at least 2 that she'll never need and is doing for fun, but this year her emotional wellbeing is my priority. I have had several chats about whether she'd like to change options, add one as a correspondence course, or whatever. We've also discussed the possibility of spending an extra year getting A levels in any additional subjects she might need. I'm sure it will all work out in the end, but I'd hate to see her deciding next year that she wants to take a course, or do a job which she can't do with the options she's chosen.

I just have to keep repeating to myself that for at least the next year it's better for her to be happy than sensible.

She was originally planning 4 A levels for medical college, but that has definitely gone by the wayside for at least the foreseeable future. I got a really good list a year or so back with a list of all the medical schools and their entry requirements, but I can't find it now.

The Student Room has a good medical school requirement list if anyone needs to have a look.

Getoff - your post is a little misleading. You say they seem to require 4 x A Levels. They don't. They require 3 x A Levels, and the current expectation is an additional AS, not an additional A Level.

Don't forget that UCAS has just opened for 2016 entrants. These applicants will all be operating under the current, old style A Levels. Admissions folk will NOT be thinking a year hence, so please do be aware that the advice you're currently getting will be from folk still entrenched in the current system, who will probably not have given a great deal of though to the new, decoupled, some do 3, some do 4, system.

Titchy my post is not misleading in the slightest.Yes,changes are happening and no one really knows how to respond yet.But at the same time i am responsible for my dd ultimately,not the school.So i can only go by my perception of the best decision possible.That means starting 4.

I was just pointing out you said they needed 4 A Levels, I assume you meant to say 3 A levels and 1 AS...

DS has been discharged from the ambulatory care unit at last but with a 10 day course of antibiotics - diagnosis was sepsis following strep throat which could have been very serious if not caught in time. It has rattled me a bit as I'm normally a 'take 2 paracetamol and you'll be fine' person and only took him to out of hours so we could rule out malaria. Now feeling slightly guilty for making him go into school for two lessons yesterday with an IV cannula in his arm

Gosh ono, no wonder you are rattled! Just keep reminding yourself that you did a great job in taking him to get medical attention. I'm another mother of the "stop over-reacting, it'll be fine" variety and your post has reminded me that DS also went to a malaria area over the summer, so I should remember that if he becomes ill over the next few months....

But you did take him, so no need to beat yourself up!

I'm the same re 'take two paracetamol' so get where you're coming from.

Your poor ds Ono. Did you see doc martin last night? Perhaps best if you didn't!

Ono, you did the right thing taking him to A&E and I bet he got plenty of attention at school with the IV thing in his arm

I am on my way home with tubigrip as my physio friend says DSs ankle (he sent a video!) looks bad after twisting it again at the match on Sunday.