Year 12 / 6th form support thread

[minesawine]

The term is about to start and I though it would be good to have a support group to help us on our 6th form journey.

May the year be drama-free and our DC's study hard and without complaint

Hello - can I join in? Ds is studying Politics; English; History and Drama. We kicked off our university tour yesterday at the Sussex open day which was interesting. We are heading to Nottingham and Loughborough in a few weeks time.

Ds is very frustrating as he just does not do enough work. He worked for about 2 weeks solidly before GCSEs and that was it. As a result he got lower grades than he gets in class. I thought he would have learned his lesson and we have been talking to him about how he works all the way through Y12 but he has just sat his predictor exams and I really don't see any difference. Dd who is in her 3rd year at university sat down with him before these exams and gave him hints and tips for revision. He seems to have taken them on board but I feel it is too little too late for these exams

Hi,
DD and I are also heading to Nottingham and Loughborough at the end of the month. What are you looking at? Politics and International Rels for us.
I'm going to enjoy trying to match us all up to usernames at these open days!😂

DS was at Uni of Sussex - not sure what he felt about it as I've yet to see him since he came back. Geography is his subject of main focus.

MrsBartlet I feel your pain. We have a a DS like that (he definitely under-performed in his GCSEs) although appears to have pulled his boots up in Year 12 - so far. However, I'm still worried. His predicted GCSEs were much higher than the grades he obtained, so rather worried the same pattern may repeat itself in Year 12.

He is looking at RG unis (which he is quite capable of) but wondering whether he's pitching too high.

He is also quite unenthusiastic about the whole application to universities process... Although after a very full-on Year 12, I'm wondering if this is a natural reaction, before galvanising for the final push in Year 13.

He is looking at Politics with American Studies at Nottingham and Politics and History at Loughborough. He started out wanting to apply for American Studies and do a year in the US but he seems to have gone off that idea and politics has come to the fore. I am quite pleased about that as I don't think my bank balance could cope as we are unexpectedly having to pay for a fourth year for dd!

NewModelArmyMayhem18 - your ds sounds just like mine. So frustrating! My ds does apply himself very well to the things he is interested in so I have no doubt once he is out at work he will do fine but he just needs to jump through these academic hoops for now. I think this may be part of the reason for dropping the American Studies idea as he is less keen on a four year degree.

Hello MrsB - we suffered through the Oxbridge threads back in 2014/15 (!!!!!) together, nice to see you again!

Hello Atia - lovely to see you again! How is your dd doing? My dd is not graduating this year as she has had to drop out of the third year due to illness. We are very much hoping she will be restarting her third year in October. (Apologies to everyone else for the hijack!)

MrsBartlet those sound like interesting potential degree choices. DS is similar in having a focus once he's found something he has an interest in. He is deciding on whether to do a BSc or BA in Geography. Then there's the issue of undergraduate straight to MA or MSc rolled into one. Choosing a course with time spent abroad vs time in industry...

Seem to be many more things to factor into decision making than in our day.

Yes lots of different factors to take into consideration. I remember my youngest sister having to choose between a BA or BSc in Economics. I am a straight up arts person so that was never an issue for me! Which universities is your ds looking at?

Yes, the same here (in terms of being straight arts!).

Newcastle, Exeter, Lancaster, Sussex, UEA, Cardiff...although by no means the definitive list yet. It's a work in progress. He also needs to find a good, lower offer 'fall back' option just in case...

Ds has the same problem that everywhere we are looking at gives similar offers. We had the same problem when dd applied. A couple of her offers came back at the same level as her firm and one was higher. Two were lower offers but only by one grade (ie AAA rather than A*AA). It gave her very little room for manoeuvre in terms of an insurance place. It is such a difficult call to make as you don't want them to undersell themselves. With ds I would like to know his predictor grades as we may be aiming too high currently!

dd got her results - AAB !!!! She did well enough in the hard chem paper (the one she was sure she totally messed up) to get a B overall (by 2 marks). That was her personal target for the year so she's happy despite still being on mentoring. They have another set of AS exams starting on the 27th, then a third set in September & they will get their UCAS grades after that.

Yes, MrsBartlet, quite! I've been surprised that there seems to be so little difference in offers between the universities that DS has been looking at. I did suggest to DS that he might consider Oxford Brookes as his insurance choice, but there's been so much (seemingly successful) anti-Oxbridge propaganda within our immediate family that even mention of studying in Oxford has met with some very terse comments!

Eating we are also looking at politics and international relations and will be at Nottingham at the end of the month. We have to miss Loughborough due to DofE so may go later and trying to fit Aston in also on a school day but school isn't keen.

Congrats Laniaeka. I do envy you all with DC's who know what they want to do and have a plan for the next few years. I am taking it one day at a time with my DS. Trying to get through the Year 12 exams and I pray that he does well. He wont even entertain discussing uni's or anything post exams and I am not pushing him. I have stepped back a bit and trying not to nag about revision, although there are times when he says he is studying and I can hear (from the shouts of joy and glee) that he is on his PlayStation. This is so out of my comfort zone and parenting style, but other methods have not worked, so giving this a try. It will be what it will be. sigh

Nice to see some familiar names from when dd was going through the process! Ds knows which subject he wants to study but not which university.

Resigning myself to travelling many miles over the next few months.

Has anyone got views on the usefulness of UCAS Conventions? His school are running a trip to one but it is optional.

Another one with a younger child in this year. ds knows which subject he wants to study and has several choices in mind. Luckily he went to the Open Days with his sister last year so he only needs to visit one more.

Last one through the system. Hurrah.

DD & I went to UCAS convention over the Easter break, and DD did find it really helpful. Once she had the list of which unis were attending, she hilighted the ones she wanted to talk to and got a lot of really good information.
We came across a few of her friends at another school who were there on a school trip, tbh they were treating it more as a jolly, and were in a pretty big group so I’m not sure how much they targeted particular unis.

Another one with a younger child in this year.

I think I remember saying to you at one point that we'd be back here again together with our boys! I still have one more to go, quite envious of you reaching the beginning of the end

Dd1 is happy at uni - 4 year course so she has a year to go, which I'm very relieved about, this all seems to have gone far too quickly.

Ds knows what he wants to do, but is struggling along the way. He's been sliding back down into a depressed slump for the last couple of weeks, and is really low atm, didn't make it to college yesterday. Have almost managed to get him to agree to see a counsellor or similar as he clearly needs something. They have a decent support service at college but he doesn't want to go that route.

Sometimes I feel like I'm playing a horrendous game of Whack A Mole - get one problem sorted for one of them and then one of the other three pops up!

It is nice to meet up again on these threads for moral support.

I think many families have one child that struggles more than the others. Ours was number 1 but she is getting there with a bit of support.

Wishing your ds the best of luck.

Ds just finished his second year at uni and we are now embarking on the Ucas process with dd. Does anyone else's school use Unifrog? Dd school have just introduced it but we are struggling to see the benefits to her of inputting information which she will later need to rekey on Ucas. Also it seems not all unis subscribe to their course listings and she was well ahead on shortlisting potential ones, some of which are not on there.

Laniakea, well done to your daughter!

I've another one here, all the courses she's really interested are require similar grades AAA. Currently she's predicted A*, A, B so doing a retake this week in hope B gets increased.

She's interested in global sustainability, Liberal Arts and Geography Degrees. If the B doesn't get increased, would it be worth her contacting unis to see if they'd consider her if predictions stay at A*AB (most want AAA) as her strongest prediction (geography) is relevant to the course?

DD has done University of Glos (it's our closest and I badgered her to go, she doesn't to go there but may consider it if we have to review uni choices) and LSE which she liked. She's at a school with lots of foreign students, so she's not concerned about LSE for that reason. Warwick next here - two good courses for her and fairly close, good transport links, family nearby.

So lovely to see lots of old names here. Atia I remember you saying one day we would be here with our boys - how time flies! Sorry to hear your ds is struggling. We have had mental and physical health issues with dd so I completely relate to your game of whack-a-mole (although I don't have as many children as you to deal with!)

I only have two dc so ds is my last to go through this and I am counting down until we no longer need to go on holiday during the school holidays

Well dd is having another shite week. After a series of increasingly terse emails (me) school have agreed to put her on a medical plan which means they should back off about attendance.

She’s come to the conclusion that they don’t really give a toss about her. I’ve said that we’re all really unhappy with the (lack of) pastoral care & their obvious disinterest - she’s worked so hard to do well after a terrible start & has had zero encouragement. The head of 6th has said he’ll have a meeting with student support, her tutor & subject teachers but I’m not holding my breath. Apparently the teachers don’t have time to give individual feedback. I’m trying to figure out how I should respond to that.

She also got turned down for a job & locked herself out of her bank account. Glum doesn’t cover it.

I feel ridiculously upset for her.

Oh, I do not understand her school! They seem to make everything so bloody difficult, why can't they just be pleased to have her and pleased that she's doing well??? So sorry you're still having this shite.