Parents of Year 11s - the end has been and gone

[BitOutOfPractice]

The thread that got us all through the exams is now full so here's a new one to get us through the nervous wait for results

Well done to all our brave Y11s and wish every last one of them all the best

Link to the last thread

Thank you Chocolate, thats really kind. I shall share them, cos I suspect that a few of us could do with some with this wait!

Checking back into this thread, having had a nice break from thinnking about GCSEs over the summer!

DSD now has 4 of her results back - A*, A, B, B - which I was really pleased with but she was disapointed in (really not clear how she ever thought she would get an A in physics - she got a low C in the mock, so I thought a B was great!) but she's got to wait til Thursday for the others. DS has to wait til Thursday for all of his - but is getting quite anxious which is unlike him. Said he had a panicy dream of having got a U in maths - of all the subjects, maths is the one I have no worries at all about him doing fine in! - funny how worry is irrational isn't it?

second - Elder DSD is off to Reading on Thursday - in my car, assuming it's fixed by then. She's currently grumpy at me because my car is at the garage. As if I did it to spite her Neither of our GCSE-ers have any interest in festivals though, so they can be around to finalise sixth form places hopefully.

Is it me or is this week going by really slowly?
dd has read the guide to GCSE results on the Student Room and is trying to make arrangements with her friendship group that they will be there to open results at the same time.
Parent's aren't allowed in school so we will probably hover around outside guarding the bikes (parking is a big problem).
dd has applied for several courses from A levels to BTEC depending on results. Unfortunately the order the courses have arranged the enrolment days isn't the same as dds preferences, so hopefully she will get the grades needed for first choice college and subjects.

Hello all

Kitten I'm sorry to hear things are tough for you right now

I am feeling very jittery. Haven't seen the DC for a fortnight as they've been away with their dad. Dd has been whatsapping a lot and I know she's very jittery too.

Not long to go now. I am most nervous about how she will react if she's not got the grades. She's so hard on herself.

We have to go to the sixth form we've chosen and register on the day.

this week is going very slowly. dd had a panic, as she loved her 6th form place so much and the grades seemed achievable. Now she's panicking in case something went terribly wrong and she didn't get them. She's only applied to this one place.

DD is having a grump about leaving her current school as most of her friends are staying. It's mainly to do with not seeing the boyfriend every day. Things could get worse before they get better.

She has tried on all her outfits for Leeds festival. If it stops raining she should be ok.

Hi everyone!
I can't believe we're nearly there. This week felt like a lifetime away for so long and now here it is!
DD has a full week of dance so at least she's busy. I've resorted to spring cleaning to keep my mind off it - Must be bad!

Congratulations Cloudy's dsd- a fantastic start.

Sorry to hear things aren't good there Kitten, shall we try to find some happy songs for you?

EllenJane that's great news, it takes the pressure off. You must have been over the moon to find that out.

Kitten I'm sorry that you have more to worry about than exam results, have to go with that chocolate. DS is adopting the same approach as your DD, realistically he's fine but he's playing the "what if.." game. His predictions were all B and above (apart from German but we don't talk about German) and he needs 5 C's with B's in the subjects he wants to study. He will be fine but he's not feeling fine at the moment.

I've suggested that they have a team meet up for some morale support but he's going for the individual scuttle in and run away approach. I think on the day it will be scuttle in, open envelope and chat to people, or at least I hope that's what will happen. I'm clearly not as calm as I thought I was because I'm starting to have nightmares relating to DS.

yes, happy songs please!

Ok, here's a cheat start while I have a think!
www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/the-10-happiest-songs-on-earth-as-decided-by-a-neuroscientist

Hi, time to re-join the thread and say 'hi' to all.

Ds seems fine, but in think is nervous as everyso often he mentions Thursday.

Happy song - zipperdy doo day, zipperdy day (I believe Johnny Ball once said that this was his favourite song, as it makes him feel,happy)

OYBBK sorry to hear you've got real life problems at the moment. Thursday could be bittersweet for me. I found out my DDad has got cancer whilst we were on holiday and he has an appointment with the oncologist on Thursday to find out how far advanced it is. The boys don't know and I'm trying not to think too much about it. I really don't want to take any happiness away from DS1 on Thursday

thanks Lobster.

I'm really sorry about your dad 2gorgeous. That is very hard. We are in a very similar position.

Girls just want to have fun is one of dhs favourites!

Today was strange. We did the uniform shop for the younger dc and bought stationery etc. We had to take an educated guess for ds1. I'm hoping we'll have more information on Thursday.
I am so nervous for ds1. He seems calm at the moment and is being nice to his siblings- he usually makes smart arse comments when he's anxious but so far there haven't been any. I keep waiting for it to change.

Good luck to everyone from me.

DD is really, really nervous about her results. Parents don't go into school and I will probably drop her off and go to Tesco for some shopping.

Started a thread in SN and now realised so many of you who were with me 5 years ago as we started the terrifying 'big school' journey are on this thread instead! Waves as LostInWales in case anyone remembers

DS1 has had a pretty rough two years as the SN provision in school went into a bit of a meltdown for year 10 and he went from doing really well to, well, not really very well at all. He has his heart set on a degree that allows him to do his favourite sports but I don't think he is likely to do well enough to get the right grades to go on and do the A levels required. Was doing a big tidy up of the 'study' and found his predictions which he had forgotten to give to me which were mostly Ds, couple that with an English exam where they didn't tell them that it wouldn't be until the afternoon due to numbers (not that it would have made a difference to him as he sat all his exams in a separate room with computer) so by the time it got to taking the exam he was totally flipped out with not knowing (ASD) and just totalled the paper. So, who knows where we will end up, he is hoping to do biology A level and I am panicking he won't even have the grades to get into 6th form in his school.

It's all going to be FINE!

I just want him to be happy, no chance of A*/A grades but I would be over the moon with 'ok grades and he gets to do sixth form'.

Is it Thursday yet?

Well I blame school for everything going wrong but also his parents got divorced and I keep trying to kid myself that makes no difference really.

I'm totally going to blame myself if he fails everything.

MrSlant please don't blame yourself. You sound like a lovely supportive parent. Everything crossed for ds. It sounds like the school has let him down

Hey, we're back! I can't believe we're nearly at results day - where is the time going?!
DS has been quite chilled throughout the summer, having managed to block all thoughts of GCSEs from his mind! However, yesterday we happened to drive past his school and he said he started to feel panicky and nervous at the thought of Thursday morning.

They can go in to school from 9:15 to collect their results so it'll be an early night tomorrow for once, no sitting up watching box sets till 3am as he usually does!
To get into sixth form, he needs a minimum of 5 B's including Maths and English. He's been having a wobble as he doesn't think he did very well in English Lit, but surely when they say English they mean English Language??

,sockgap Yes you're right. When they said a grade is needed in English they mean English language, not literature. Or they may accept it in either English,. but I've never heard of a grade being required in English literature, except possibly if they wanted to do English literature itself at Alevel. It's language that's the key one, and often resat if they don't get a C

Can I join this thread 15 pages in?

DS is getting results on Thurs also. Did all of his exams, but did no revision whatsoever (I wish I was exaggerating there).

In previous years when I had tried to nag/persuade/cajole revision for exams he would get extremely anxious/runaway and we had found out last Sept that he has ASD - so we had backed right off and tried to be supportive and leave him to it.

On the upside, he's been working full time in a summer job he has really enjoyed. He wants to do A levels but like others on this thread, he needs Bs in the subjects he wants and at least 5 A to Cs.

At the moment, I can't envisage how he will do A levels as he has always seemed to hate schoolwork so much!

Good luck to all and thanks for this thread as it helps to keep things in perspective.

Another returning parent wondering what Thursday will bring. It is a very odd situation for us in not being able to offer support to both DC at the same time. DS is away on a course all week and we are away with other DC starting university overseas so not too sure if/when on Thursday DS will reveal his results - assuming the promised e-mail from school is sent. May not be until late in the day as no phones allowed on the course. Could be as late as Monday when we all get home to the post.

I hope that grades will be OK as we will not be home until Monday and don't want DS to feel unsupported. He should be busy at present so that should be a good distraction as he is unsure what his results might be, just wants the grades to do his chosen A levels.

Hello everybody.

Do you mind if I join you? DS finished his NCS at the end of last week so now all we have is a big gap before Thursday. Eek. The tension is getting high. Big fear is getting worse results than mocks.

His room has been cleaned; notes from subjects he's dropping have been ceremonially burned (sorry neighbours!!).

I think he's planning on meeting friends first then going in together. Then hopefully he'll remember to let us know. The photo of results letter is a great idea. Then I can decide what we do to celebrate. Whatever the outcome!

"English" is either language or literature so if they have a nightmare on the English paper but come up trumps on the literature paper then all is not lost. I think this is a change from this summer, it's come down from on high rather than being a local determination so it applies England wide in the state sector.

I'm so sorry 2boys" and kitten*, it really adds some perspective to this week's event. It's one of the things I find hard as a parent, the part where you have to keep carrying on for the good of the family when what you really want to do is throw every plate you own at the wall.