Starting Year 13 - September 2015

[hellsbells99]

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.

Cool!

and FWIW a friend's son is applying during his gap year and has been offered an interview with Manchester via Skype as he cannot get there ....

worth bearing in mind if you are applying to places a long way from home

Brioche Wow! Well done to your DD.

Tense moment today when DS said he had email from Camb but was just a data protection form to send back by 15th. College he's applying to must work to a longer timescale.

dd1 hasn't sent al her stuff off yet! Data protection and finance went at the weekend, disability one will go first thing tomorrow (had to be signed by school) ad hopefully the examples of marked work will go by Thursday (work being marked now). Deadline is 15th. She doesn't have any real expectations but I wish the ruddy stuff could just get sent.

Brioche well done to your DC! Brilliant news. :)

Great news Brioche!

Its great that they give so much notice - I have seen people fretting ion TSR re having to make extensive travel arrangements, and the fares get more expensive the closer you get...

thanks for all your kind words. I think they interview virtually everyone so it is no spectacular achievement but nevertheless very exciting .travel arrangement s are a headache as there is not an early enough train to avoid an overnight. If the college can't accommodate her then one of is will need to go as I don't think you can book a hotel room if you are under 18

bethankate my DC has applied to a small college. Classmates who have applied to the big name colleges in the same subject haven t heard yet

Dd had no problem staying in a hotel on her own in Oxford a year ago. A family run place found on trip advisor within walking distance of where she needed to be. I assume the chains have policies to discourage lads weekends etc.

Well done and good luck to your dd Brioche and to others with interview dates coming in.

Don't the Oxbridge colleges automatically put students up for interviews I had a 2 day interview process at an Oxford college 30+ years ago and it included the college board. Just curious really.....maybe they interviewed less then.

Sorry meant college board and lodging.

Come to think of it, we had all done Oxbridge exams and been invited based on our marks, so that must have cut down the interview numbers - sorry, as you were!

As I understand it at oxford you get interviewed for more than one college.At Cambridge only one unless you are pooled in which case it would mean travelling down again for another interview.

When DS1 had his Cambridge interview a couple of years ago they put him up in college. There was an exam the day before the interview though.

If DS is called for interview to Oxford for his subject, it will be for 48 hours and at least 2 colleges. They provide board and lodging.

The potential dates are available online.

He has his Oxford tedt tomorrow! Good luck to all DC sitting them.

Raspberry Good luck to your DC, and any others doing the Oxford tests tomorrow.
DS is doing the PAT...

Good Luck to the dcs doing Oxford exams tomorrow.

Ditto. I have a DS doing MAT and it will be a relief to have tomorrow over.

Ford indeed. I am freelance, but have taken tomorrow off so that I can ( unheralded - he doesn't know I did that, and I am sometime genuinely free, so not unusual) take DS and his bro' to school so he can get up half and hour later and get there is no stress.
Tonight we have had turkey and plantain (L-tryptophan) as a natural sleeping aid
I am not normally a helicopter parent, but just want DS to sleep easy, get up un-stressed, and then its all up to him...

DD has the ELAT tomorrow. I've agreed to drive her to school so she's not relying on public transport!

Good luck to all DC doing Oxford tests.

Good luck to those sitting tests tomorrow.

good luck for all today's tests

So glad we don't have anything more to do on the University front. Half term was fairly quiet, not least because the rest of Private School London seems to see a two week break as yet another chance to jet off somewhere exotic.

DD is really enjoying being at the top of the school, and seems involved in everything. I am not sure how work is being fitted in, but assume the purpose of mocks is to provide any needed scare. Quite a lot of her friends are applying to Oxbridge, so a bit like this thread, she knows it is going on, but is doing her best to ignore it! That said best wishes to everyone whose DC are taking tests.

I must admit I'm feeling pretty chilled as none of DDs choices have any extra exams and friends have told her that several of them do not bother with interviews
so its just waiting and working for us.

It's maths challenge day tomorrow too , so a double whammy for mathematicians this week!