Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

Starting Year 13 - September 2015

999 replies

hellsbells99 · 05/09/2015 08:01

Welcome to Year 13!
Their final year of school;
Applying for university/college/work/apprenticeships;
A year of 18th birthday parties;
Going to their first nightclub (unless they already have fake ID!);
The year they turn into adults!

DD2 has been back at school for 3 days and has lots of work already.

OP posts:
TalkinPeece · 15/10/2015 18:04

Rhoda
How do you mean?
I've read the PS and it hangs together. Her College tutor has checked it, and we have the added bonus that her old school tutor now works at the college so has checked it too.
Luckily none of the courses she's aiming at want extra tests.
Predicted grades : well the college issue nearly 2,000 sets a year so I'm not going to interfere Grin

TalkinPeece · 15/10/2015 18:06

Gloria
Fun, isn't it!... The one which other people would add to that list that we cannot is Southampton - hence the blank!

GloriaHotcakes · 15/10/2015 18:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
hellsbells99 · 15/10/2015 18:26

DD2 wasn't keen on Durham or Warwick either Gloria.
Her favourite is Leeds and she has just received an email inviting her to an applicant/interview day! She has only put 3 universities down at the moment as DD1 wasted a lot of time going to 5 interviews last year when she had made her mind up quite early on which two were her favourite.
DD2 may add 2 more depending on the outcome from the 3 she has put down.

OP posts:
SecretSquirrels · 15/10/2015 19:12

It's Warwick, Nottingham, York and Sheffield. No clue for a fifth.
DS also disliked Durham. He likes Warwick best overall but the course at York is better. He wasn't keen on York campus, and nor was I in comparison with Nottingham and Warwick. It's an elongated stretch on wasteland on the very outskirts of the city.

He never considered Bristol / Exeter because of distance or London because of cost.

GloriaHotcakes · 15/10/2015 20:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TalkinPeece · 15/10/2015 20:23

Gloria
I'll be checking those two out this weekend Smile

If only I could get each of them to answer DDs email message about courses .... she used their admissions@ emails which I suspect are rather inundated at the moment!

Brioche201 · 16/10/2015 00:37

My DS1 goes to Leeds and although he likes the University and loves his course he HATES the city with every fibre of his being!! He has been quite ill with what the gP thinks (but not yer confirmed) is Addisons, so I think that has made him feel worse about it!

Original poster
hellsbells99 · 16/10/2015 07:39

Brioche - what does he hate about the city? I hope your DS is feeling better soon.

OP posts:
Needmoresleep · 16/10/2015 10:13

Brioche, that must be very worrying. I hope you get an answer soon, and that whatever it is is fully treatable.

Its a bit like schools. Before joining people focus on things like entry standards, results and in the case of Universities, employability, but when there, softer things like good welfare support can prove the most important.

homebythesea · 16/10/2015 19:03

Very exciting news here- barely 24 hrs after the form went in we have an offer- and not even from Warwick! It's his 5th choice but as he said at least he knows he's (probably!) going SOMEWHERE Grin

The rapidity of the thing does make me a bit Hmm about how closely anyone actually read the wretched PS to which so many hours and grey hairs were devoted

TalkinPeece · 16/10/2015 19:09

((((( Brioche )))))
One of my siblings went to Leeds and loved the course and the uni and their friends but stayed in the University buildings as much as they could as they did not like the city : they were ill too ...
then again my best man was there and loved the city with every fibre of his being

Homeby
Nice to have that tucked under the belt.

I'm off on my 3 Uni / 8 hours driving road trip early in the morning ....
should I be looking out for MN scarves at Brum tomorrow Grin

Needmoresleep · 16/10/2015 19:37

TIP. Enjoy. DD has applied to Birmingham sight unseen. However we plan to do a campus tour next week.

(After her parents were slightly shocked that she could not place any of her choices on a map.....)

If you hear anything about dyslexia support do report back. I don't think DD has a clear preference so this might be the deal breaker.

TalkinPeece · 16/10/2015 20:22

Needmore
You've just made my day : DD is so ferkin targeted about what she wants to see, I'll divert to look up dyslexia and that might make us both explore.
Challenge accepted.
PS I have a geography degree and am map obsessed : any child of mine who could not find cities on a map would go hungry

Any requests for Bath and Exeter?

and any feedback on York?

Brioche201 · 16/10/2015 20:22

Thanks for the kind replies about Ds1. He is feeling much better by living within his energy levels and has heard from the hospital now Smile
I don't know why he dislikes Leeds so much.He says he feels too hemmed in and finds it a bit ugly and depressing .At home his bedroom window has 30 mile views across the Yorkshire Dales, we live in a hamlet and I think city life is just a bit of a culture shock!
DS1 applied to Southampton for engineering but when we went to the post offer open day they made absolutely zero effort and that put him off
Homeby congrats to your DC on the offer.
secretsquirrel DD spent a week at York university earlier in the year and my goodness I found the the campus really bleak and cold in winter!! She must not have minded though as she has applied there ( but heard nothing yet apart from acknowledgment)
Email today from Durham to say DD will probably not hear anything til January.

TalkinPeece · 16/10/2015 20:26

Brioche
I'm sorry Soton were entitled arses - he's not the first to say so
and I have personally taken the piss out of a prof about it
now you know why my kids will never come to soton

Interesting point about York.
When I was at Soton, some of the halls were in the arse end of nowhere, but the city has grown
York will be the same

dotdotdotmustdash · 16/10/2015 20:37

Brioche My 16yr old Dd is also being tested for Addison's by the hospital Endocrinologist, just waiting to hear when the next test is. She's been poorly since early summer and it's put a different perspective on what she plans to do next year when school is over. Let's hope it's not Addison's for both our DC.

GloriaHotcakes · 16/10/2015 20:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TalkinPeece · 16/10/2015 21:24

Gloria
If I did not have square academic DD in tow ... Grin

We are in Bath overnight and will be arriving in Exeter during Sunday morning walk of shame time
so I'll have my "don't do what I did" radar on full field ;-)

Needmoresleep · 16/10/2015 22:36

Tip, she is good with a tube map, just a problem beyond Zone 2. Brioche's post suggests rural children don't always travel well. The same seems to be true of some London ones, though I think mine will be OK as long as the campus is big enough and busy enough.

We definitely need feedback on nightlife. Birmingham as well. Mainly for our amusement, rather than for DC. (I can see DC rolling eyes in embarrassment should parents try out student clubs and bars.) If your timing is right you may hit the evening when any respectable student is watching the League of Legends World Final. I can see some London kids breathing a sigh of relief if you can report that Exeter really is the Fulham Beach - West.

raspberryrippleicecream · 17/10/2015 00:21

DS has been invited for interview by Lancaster, he is very pleased. It is his top choice after Oxford, and he's not actually sure its not top overall.

One classmate has an unconditional offer from East Anglia this week.

Talkin DS and I both loved York, its on his five. However it was a beautiful, warm September day. I was impressed they guaranteed accommodation even to insurance choices, but I don't know how common this is.

UhtredOfBebbanburg · 17/10/2015 03:30

Need - Exeter nightlife is pathetic by London standards. Sorry. However the city is awash on a sea of alcohol so if it's just opportunities to drink your DC are looking for they should be ok.

MrsUltracrepidarian · 17/10/2015 08:09

When we used to visit DSD at Cardiff Uni we always went on a sunday, and the streets stank (ie the next day) of vomit.

Needmoresleep · 17/10/2015 08:21

Uhtred, Fulham Beach was a bad pun. (The name for a buzzy bit of West London with lots of bars and restaurants.) Like all schools, London private schools have tribes and to some extent this influences their choice of Universities. Mine are not "safe" ("cool" in our day), and nightlife is not part of the decision process.

Depending on the DC, I suppose they want to strike a balance of different but not too different. DS was all about course. He would have gone to Highlands and Islands if the course was right. DD thinks she wants a balance of course and campus. I think she is right, so hope she will like what she sees next week. Lets hope the sun shines.

RhodaBull · 17/10/2015 10:40

I suppose ds is a bit spoilt in that we live in quite a naice place with good transport links and reasonably easy (though pricey) access to London. He is a leafy comp person and geeky - no alcohol (yet!) so a bit scared of public school food fights and drinking binges and not sure about more edgy places either. We were at a concert at the local university and witnessed some fresher behaviour. Ds was appalled. I was there (ahem 30) years ago and there was a good deal of (binge) drinking but the girls wore more clothes in the 80s!

Dh and I were agreeing that back in our day kids seemed anxious to leave home for a bit of freedom/wildness, but now ds's friends seem very concerned with their creature comforts.