Finishing year 13 in 2017

[HSMMaCM]

Hi all. Keep in touch with uni offers, new jobs, gap years, exams, etc. We can get through his

Same here teta, morning and afternoon. No particular confidence being exuded here as DS went off - that first Biology was dire.

teta same here, DS has Biology and Maths. Next door woke him up at 3.30, noise till 5 he says, which was coming out of their patio doors. He had options to (a) sleep in spare room, or (b) shut his bloody window to keep noise out and turn his cooling tower fan thingy on that I bought him yesterday. But no. He's now knackered for two key exams. Ffs.

And I think there's trouble with the train tracks in the heat.

That's massively bad luck Liney - what kind of noise at that time of night, did he say?

Thankfully a little cooler here this morning. DD will be in her Biology now. She's learnt so much for it, I hope she gets some good questions and some of it comes out
X fingers crossed!

goodbye, just my neighbours eating an iftar meal, nothing out of the ordinary. With his window closed, he wouldn't have heard it at all! Hence the planning ahead ...

Anyway, it's done now, and they're an hour into Biology. He says the first paper was quite odd.

Good luck to all doing exams today in this heat. Politics here today, then History 3 tomorrow (500 pages of content). DS' friend has the same but with the addition of maths this afternoon which is tough.

A bit cooler here too, but DD has for the first time in 6th form gone in a dress rather than black skinnies.

Her exam isn't till the afternoon (C3) but DH is taking her now - there's another problem on the main road.

Mentioning iftar meals and Ramadan I was thinking it must be hard for muslim students to have Ramadan falling in June this year.

Sorry to hear your DS got woken though Liney, that is annoying whatever the reason.

I thought DD seemed tired when I went in to see her already up just after six but she did seem more awake and with it by the time I dropped her off at school. Also a little frustrating that I couldn't get her to have any breakfast. Ah well, never mind.

Ds has maths this afternoon too.
After offering him sympathy for having to do exams in the heat he revealed last night that he is doing his exams in the sports hall which is air conditioned. He has also been in the same seat for exams on Monday and Tuesday which is right where the cool air blows out.
I am now feeling less sympathetic!
Hope your Ds gets through the day ok LineyWimey.
Good luck to those with exams today.

Maths C3 (OCR) this afternoon too.

This hot weather is such a pain.

I don't think children have to observe the Ramadan fast, but I'm not sure what ages that covers.

I don't think there is a set rule - I found an interesting document containing advice for schools www.ascl.org.uk/download.B28773D7-A5D7-4B07-99E67827D2850F79.html ... I've not read it all as it's quite long but it's evidently very much open to interpretation and individual needs.

It's true, there isn't a set rule. There are various different interpretations and schools of thought. It's up to each person to decide how they observe their fast.

One of my dd's friends has become nocturnal in order to manage exams during Ramadan. He revises during the night after eating and sleeps during the day. With this heat, it must be a bonus to be revising during the night when it's cooler.

My understanding, after living in a hot Muslim country, was that children were not meant to fast, and that there were a number of other exceptions including travellers, women who are pregnant or people who are unwell. However the spread of a Wahhabi interpretation of Islam means things have tightened up and it is now not unusual for children to fast.

(In the past there was also a general understanding that young men doing manual work outside in the tropics could drink water during the day, but an expectation that older people were more observant. This has changed. More frightening was a Muslim pilot friend describing landing a plane in the late afternoon with an elderly Captain who had chosen to ignore the travel exemption and whose hands were shaking on the controls.)

Its difficult here in summer, not least because of our long summer days. But things like wearing full burka in the tropics, including very young girls, are also causing problems. (And indeed vitamin D deficiency problems in the UK.) What is culture and what is religion, or can the two ever be separated? And then what accommodation should be made.

I suspect there are no right answers.

Counting down the last few days now. DS1 had music yesterday and has C3 this afternoon. C4 on Friday then that's it!

They are doing exams in the sports hall which is nice and cool so that's good.

Best of luck to everyone!

Has anyone heard how Aqa Biology was?
Rather strangely I haven't heard from Dd this lunchtime.
That all sounds rather worrying Needmoresleep.Especially as dh travels a lot in Asia.

Teta, according to DS' gf it was quite hard, lots of applied questions (no idea what that means but it may mean something to you). I expect everyone will have found it hard if that's the case.

Politics was pronounced 'decent' although DS said the gym was stifling by 8.45. Bearing in mind his room is 28 degrees now and he isn't complaining, I wonder how hot it was in the gym and hot it will be this afternoon?

According to a current thread, we shouldn't be worrying about our dc, a levels and the heat

Yes dingit, I saw that. I declined to get involved as I was very cross at all the 'so what' comments from people who clearly don't have children doing A levels!

We are safer over here in Education than in the open waters of AIBU

DS has finished.

He's elated ( to be done) and sitting in the kitchen reading a novel and sucking on a Magnum!

I feel odd. My son has finished his school days. It feels like the end of an era and all too soon he'll be leaving.

DD still has four exams to go and is holed up in her room cramming for history tomorrow. We are not allowed to celebrate in any way shape or form apparently. And if DS wishes to do so he must Leave The Flat.

Dd is stuck in a very hot hall,no air conditioning so the doors are open directly onto the car park where there is always a car alarm going off ( her friend warned her yesterday about this).She also chose to go to school in thick black tights and head to toe polyester ( why?)
I'm anticipating picking up a erupting Volcano at 4💥☄️🔥.

That sounds grim teta. I hope she doesn't melt before you collect her.

My boys are back from biology and C3. They said C3 OCR was hard, reminded them of C1 last year.
It's very demoralising really - when you get As on your practice papers but the real thing is so much harder.

Biology was hard but in a more normal, expected way.
Children don't have to fast - but at 18 they aren't children!

Dd wore shorts and a vest top in today, to see if she'd be pulled up for not covering her knees and shoulders. She took a hoodie to carry so she could pretend to comply. She plans to do the same on Thursday and Friday for her exams, to keep cool.

She is currently revising sitting in a cold bath.