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Secondary education

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

Original poster

Continuing Year 13: January 2016

943 replies

Needmoresleep · 06/01/2016 13:25

Only two more terms at school. Let's support each other support our DC in getting through to the end.

OP posts:
hellsbells99 · 03/06/2016 07:33

Atia - forget to say 2 of DD's papers are retakes hence the high number of exams.

AtiaoftheJulii · 03/06/2016 08:02

your DD has a good offer!
She does indeed! MFL so nowhere (apart from Cambridge) ask for particularly high offers. She's very hard on herself anyway, so it's nice to have the external pressure removed.

Coconutty · 03/06/2016 08:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Needmoresleep · 03/06/2016 09:06

Nine left here. The timetable on the board in the kitchen is slowly being crossed off. And she does not need any A*s so, unlike many of her friends, she just needs to take it steadily.

None next week. Instead DD has an interview for a gap year job. A bit like Bake Off she has to make a selection of canapes and take them in. She is threatening us with a weekend of canape sampling.

OP posts:
BethanKate · 03/06/2016 21:14

Yes Cambridge was part of the plan originally. They ask them to do STEP 1 & 2 if they're just doing Maths but if they're doing FM as well they have to do STEP 2 & 3. He had already applied to do 2 & 3 before the Cambridge hopes died. 3 isn't actually any harder than 2 it just covers the FM syllabus but 2 & 3 are harder than 1. I did actually suggest he could see if he could switch to 1 instead but he said 'It'll be fine Mum'.

Ellen we all really liked Bristol both as a uni & as a city. He felt Warwick had a slight edge but I'm sure he'll be absolutely fine if he ends up at Bristol.

I know what you mean about being a big fish, I think DS might get a bit of a shock at uni.

BethanKate · 03/06/2016 21:16

Warwick now saying accommodation application will open next week & they'll email applicants when forms are available.

MorvahRising · 03/06/2016 22:59

Eight to go here. Can't wait to finish but the last one (physics) isn't until 28th June!

hellsbells99 · 04/06/2016 07:09

DD also not finishing until 28th! They are already planning the night out but I think she will be exhausted by then....and the Leavers Ball is only 3 days later.

Dunlurking · 04/06/2016 08:00

Thanks for the heads up on Warwick accommodation Bethan DS changes his mind everyday now on which order to put those halls he's interested in. Displacement activity I think, instead of those Maths papers! I keep hoping it will work to motivate him more - you know, all that stuff about visualising success and how it will look!

raspberryrippleicecream · 04/06/2016 09:03

We are also in it for the long haul til the 28th.

DS will actually be in school all week that week helping with the Primary schools music week. He will be back in uniform for the final concert! He went to the music week from Primary in Y5 and Y6, nice to go full circle.

He booked accommodation at his firm last week so all set.

hellsbells99 · 04/06/2016 11:11

Still not booked accommodation at Leeds - DD won't discuss it!
I have just woke her up to revise. But we are going to a family BBQ this afternoon so not much revision will get done okay.

eatyourveg · 04/06/2016 16:40

Just back from a week up north in the uni city where ds is going (or so I thought) he has started talking about possibly taking a gap year and if the uni would let him defer at such a late stage. I think the reality of having to be independent and so far away from home has kicked in, he is summer born so still 17 - says he wants to work for a year to get some money behind him.

Not a bad idea though I worry how much being away from the books for a year may disadvantage him but being one year older would allow him as he says "time to become more of a man" which is no bad thing at all I suppose

Original poster
Needmoresleep · 04/06/2016 18:27

Veg, DD decided about a month ago to defer, and luckily her University has allowed her to do so. (She just emailed and they replied straight away.) It would be easier if she went straight there but I think a year of fending for herself will be good. However I am keen she has some structure. It would be awful if she just drifted.

Anyway the current thinking is a working a ski season (note applications need to be in soon) and then an American summer camp, perhaps a specialist one for the disabled.

She has also heard rumour of post A level students landing well paid tutoring jobs. (We are in Central London.) Does anyone have any ideas who she could approach. It's something she might be good at.

OP posts:
AtiaoftheJulii · 04/06/2016 19:07

When I was tutoring I got a lot of work through First Tutors - as a tutor you have to pay to put your profile up (and jump through some other hoops too), but it was a more reliable source of customers than sites where the client had to pay to access my details.

Word of mouth - just let it be known that she's available (I was often surprised by the extended links through which people had got my contact details), make a FB profile as a tutor and befriend people.

Other than that, I'm sure there are local agencies - ask around if any of her peers had tutoring?

Original poster
Needmoresleep · 04/06/2016 19:28

Attia, many thanks. She is a good mathematician/scientist and would have no problem with CE/11+ material, and gets on with younger children. Plus has been through the sort of schools that people tutor for, so is used to the territory. Obviously she won't be as good as a real teacher, but might be a lot better than some of the people I have come across who have started second careers as tutors. (The demand is such that some very unlikely people seem to have taken up tutoring as a second career.)

There are so many London agencies. Perhaps a general write round. I thought we were finally close to the end with a University offer, so this gap year thing threw the spanner into the works. But it is a great chance for her to broaden her horizons and to pick up non-academic and coping skills that will be useful in the future.

She has gone off to an 18th, with her trial-run canapes. More or less OK though some lessons learned for the real thing. Now all we have to do is clear up the kitchen.

OP posts:
EllenJanethickerknickers · 05/06/2016 00:19

On the subject of gap years, my thinking is that they are fine and great to earn a bit of a cushion of cash and to grow up a bit before university.

The problems might be for some, that once you have a taste of a pay packet and an easier life you might not see the point of getting into lots of debt and having to study and revise etc. Not such of a problem if you have a real desire to continue with your subject or a true vocation.

I think for maths in particular, taking a year out of the habit of practising the higher level stuff can make it difficult to get your brain back into the swing of things.

eatyourveg · 05/06/2016 10:57

ds3 has said he would either spend the year doing his coaching full-time which he currently does part time or he would get an apprenticeship which is much less money but could potentially be with a company who would take him as a summer intern once at uni. its the being away from the books which I worry about most -and the fact that its one more year of a full house as ds1 will be living at home while doing his masters-

EllenJanethickerknickers · 05/06/2016 12:06

I took an enforced gap 6 months, eatyourveg, due to being ill during A levels and taking the resits in January (30 odd years ago.) I took a temporary low level admin job in the civil service and saved most of the money. For me, the monotony of the job made me more determined to go to university but I had a brilliant social life! Better than once I got to uni!

I did struggle a bit with getting back to high level thinking etc, but I did physics rather than maths. The 'maths for scientists' course was the hardest to get back into as maths is a lot about keeping up with the practice, I think.

When I got my second job at 25 it was in manufacturing engineering. The ex-apprentices who were a bit younger than me were on the same money but much better at their jobs! It gave me first hand knowledge that there is more than one way to skin a cat!

eatyourveg · 05/06/2016 20:43

I think if he is definitely going to opt for a deferment then I will suggest when he rings to ask if it is possible, he also asks the course tutor for the reading list.

AtiaoftheJulii · 06/06/2016 07:14

Does anyone have exams today? Good luck if so!

hellsbells99 · 06/06/2016 09:00

Yes, good luck for those with exams today.
DD's next one is M1 on Wednesday

raspberryrippleicecream · 06/06/2016 12:20

DS has Geology this afternoon and on Friday. Think he will be glad to get it out of the way and he can concentrate onaths and Physics.

EllenJanethickerknickers · 06/06/2016 20:22

Good luck all. No exams here until next Tuesday, 3 hour long STEP 1. DS1 is the only one doing it in his 200 strong Y13, and it's in the gym. Confused I guess there must be some other exams going on at the same time.

Leeds2 · 06/06/2016 22:36

DD's first exam is this Thursday. I think it is geography.

raspberryrippleicecream · 07/06/2016 08:39

EllenJane DS and DD are in the same hall a couple of times next week. DD has a change of exam during that time, which doesn't seem fair disturbance wise on DS!