Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Secondary education

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

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Flip

1 2 ··· 22 23 24 ··· 39 40

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:

MrsUltra · 04/11/2015 09:05

Phew!!!!!
Had a call from DS @8.23 asking me if I could bring his passport to school -urgently required... tremor in his voice, I think he may have been worried I had gone for a swim or been on my way to a meeting in John O' Groats ...
Lucky I am working at home, and actually answered the phone.
The school is 10 min away out of rush hour and when not raining...
Toady massive congestion around a '4x4' school I have to pass - I was anxious.
Anyway, got there @ 8.37, frantically waving the passport at the porter begging to let me through the gate round to the back of the school, which he did.
And... breathe....

Original poster

hellsbells99 · 04/11/2015 09:08

DD has an Oxford test today but is very chilled out about as she has already had an offer from another uni that I think she will firm. She is spending far too much time partying and socialising - year 13 is not compatible with doing A levels and university choices/interviews!

OP posts:

TalkinPease · 04/11/2015 09:08

Brioche
and Hammering into my Y11s head that he has to do Maths Challenge if he wants to apply to do Further Maths at 6th form was like pulling teeth

MrsUltra
I'm like that, I just picked up a call to be met with "Oh, you're actually there"

Original poster

hellsbells99 · 04/11/2015 09:10

MrsUltra - why was passport needed? I don't think DD took hers and I haven't had any texts requesting it.

OP posts:

Cherryburn · 04/11/2015 09:15

DD was told they had to have photographic ID with them Hells. But if your DD wasn't told maybe her school don't enforce it?

Am sitting here willing DD good luck vibes. Because clearly that will make all the difference...

Needmoresleep · 04/11/2015 09:17

In theory DD has interviews, but a quick read of Student Room (why is it that only genius' post - if anyone thought MN was bad should stay well away) has convinced me that the approach of treating this year as a trial run and seeing a gap year as a positive is the right one.

It looks like Bristol, DDs preferred option, will have 30 applicants for every place.....

From observation, quite a lot seem to take gap years. Either they get better grades, so decide to have another crack at their preferred University, or don't get the grade, or simply change their minds about what they want to study, or where. London, particuarly, seems to appeal more after a gap year.

So chilled here as well. The work seems fine and interestingly physics, which is pretty dull at AS, seems to have got better. Indeed mutterings that if she really cannot get a medical school place she might consider engineering.

Original poster

hellsbells99 · 04/11/2015 09:33

Needmore - Engineering would be a lot less stressful! Good luck with her application.
Cherry - thanks. DD probably has her driving license in her purse so hopefully that will suffice.

OP posts:

RhodaBull · 04/11/2015 09:43

The student room is horrendous. I've never seen such terrible bragging. Endless posts of "Are my grades good enough for Oxbridge?" And then the person reveals that they've got 12A*s taken when they were ten years old.

Ds won't go near it after a brief foray. He swears that half the posters are mums, anyway. There is some good information in the articles, but the posters ruin the site!

Needmoresleep · 04/11/2015 09:59

Rhoda, I agree. It was useful when DS was kept hanging on till late March by three of his choices for us to follow what movement there was on admissions, and indeed that there was still movement. But DS stayed well away, and DD wont read it either. Mean but I was not unhappy when one ultra-bragging omni present poster failed to get the grades. Medical threads are worse in that you keep thinking that though your child may not have the same genius like qualifications, they would make a far better doctor than some of those awful people. Interestingly people who have got the early interviews at Bristol don't have starry grades, but come across as perfectly normal.

Very very sad if parents are the posters....is stealth boasting on MN not enough?

AtiaoftheJulii · 04/11/2015 10:18

Good luck to everyone doing Oxford Admission tests this week! Can't believe it's a year since dd1 did hers!

Somehow I lost this thread, but have been on the UCAS form ones in Higher Ed. Nice to have caught up with everyone's news though - lovely to hear about offers and interview/audition dates coming through :)

DD2's UCAS form finally went in yesterday. She has gone for universities with city campuses - decided she hated the greenfield campuses and was quite offended by the sight of a duck at Bath There are two which do the exact course/course structure that she wants (3xMFL), so fingers crossed for offers from them. (The other three would be compromises, but her list of needs and wants really narrowed things down!)

One of her favourites is Newcastle, and she knows people who have already got offers for MFL courses, so hopefully she will hear from them quite soon. But the other is Bristol, and I have a feeling that I've gathered from here that Bristol can take quite a while to make offers - any experiences?

TiP - is getting accepted for FM really that competitive down your way? That's impressive :)

Zetetic · 04/11/2015 11:13

I have a dc at Bristol doing MFL. Offer came before Christmas.

Happy to answer any questions.

MyVisionsComeFromSoup · 04/11/2015 11:14

LOL at ducks at Bath - at DD1s visit there for a department open day, the maths introduction talk was all about what wildlife could be found on campus . The particular lecturer turned out be just as bonkers during actual lectures too. DD1 wouldn't apply to York as "all that duck poo will ruin my shoes", so perhaps a duck filter is quite reasonable?

MrsUltra · 04/11/2015 12:13

Re Bristol, oneof DC's friends has an offer for English, so some depts. seem to be swift.

Needmoresleep · 04/11/2015 12:17

Soup..perhaps an avian index. I don't know how seagulls (Sussex, Bournemouth) might rate against pigeons (London), and I'm sure those things at York were geese not ducks. Or perhaps scope for a more general wildlife index. Top marks for anyone who can offer wild boar, but negative points when the wildlife is in the student accomodation.

Dunlurking · 04/11/2015 12:26

for an avian index Needmore. Love the wild boar challenge....don't Durham have a little animal park next door? Or am I thinking of some botanical gardens

AtiaoftheJulii · 04/11/2015 12:41

Aha, good to know Bristol not too slow, thanks

Zetetic I guess the only question would be does your dc like it there? In theory it ticks all of dd's boxes and seems like a lovely department.

MrsUltra · 04/11/2015 12:49

I'm sure those things at York were geese not ducks
loving this light relief today!
For those doing the tests - will we hear the result? ( I know I could find out on TSR but can't face going over there today ...)

MyVisionsComeFromSoup · 04/11/2015 12:56

geese, ducks, all shoe destroying evil flappy pecky things according to DD1. She's always been a bit "unusual" .

AtiaoftheJulii · 04/11/2015 13:09

You can request the result later, but no, you don't get to hear before the interview offers go out.

SecretSquirr3ls · 04/11/2015 13:16

Avian Index Warwick.
DS1 had to re-route his daily run on campus earlier this year as he was was constantly harassed by the mother geese protecting their newly hatched young .

Original poster

hellsbells99 · 04/11/2015 13:19

My DD has chosen almost all city universities I think. I used to worry about her antisocial ways but she has changed dramatically in the 6th form! She also wants to be where the music scene is good, as in lots of gigs etc.

OP posts:

Zetetic · 04/11/2015 13:20

My dc loves it at Bristol. Everyone is very friendly. Lots of facilities (large multi media centre) where different language students meet up. Lovely teachers.

Some of the language societies go on trips abroad at Easter (in addition to the year abroad).

raspberryrippleicecream · 04/11/2015 13:21

DS would have had his driving licence if required. He was really chilled, but he really wants Lancaster

TalkinPease · 04/11/2015 15:12

Atia
DS plans to go to Symonds and they only allow FM A level to those with A or A* in the GCSE and they read the personal statements.
As DS has stuff all extra curricular in his Minecraft and Halo do not count sadly he needs a decent showing in Maths challenge to prove that he's up to the mark
and he wants to do engineering afterwards so his backside needs kicking into gear

TalkinPease · 04/11/2015 15:14

Top marks for anyone who can offer wild boar, but negative points when the wildlife is in the student accomodation.

In my 2nd year there was a juvenile magpie who moved into the Student Union building. It would hop from chair to chair in the coffee bar scrounging food and then waddle along the corridors among the feet.
The security guards made it up a photo ID badge.

It died of obesity after nearly two terms

Flip

1 2 ··· 22 23 24 ··· 39 40