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

I know what you mean - ds is doing a 3 day course in the holidays which is £££. However, he is also lucky that we can afford to give him this opportunity & also have the contacts to get him some really good, relevant work experience.

I work in a school where a lot of parents would not have the ability to support their children in the same way & I would love if they would all take advantage of any free opportunities.

While I don’t disagree that there’s some financial help available for those who need it most.
But, by contrast to you, we live in a rural county.Public transport is poor.

To access head start courses (which both my DS did despite not being first generation at university etc) involved paying for the courses and accomodation, and paying for them to travel over 100 miles to the relevant universities.
We have had to tell DD who would like to follow an acting career that we simply cannot afford for her to attend any of the London residential courses offered by the top drama schools as they are very expensive and then we would still need to pay for accommodation
When DS was at school a mumsnetter very, very kindly put us in touch with a contact at Heathrow who was able to include DS in a work exoerience programme they run for would be engineers. While the experience was free, travel to London and staying in a hotel for the week was a huge commitment to enable them to take up a fabulous opportunity.

Too many opportunities in training, courses, internships, are still London-centric.

This is so true error. there is sweet FA round here and we are only 60 miles from London! You would need to be a very driven and determined child (or parent!) to really carve out opportunities here.

Yes, my DD had a dance scholarship awarded by her dance body. This meant massively reduced tuition for a monthly afternoon of dance with an incredible dance teacher, in London.
After a year DD gave up her scholarship as she found the travel too tiring in addition to keeping up with schoolwork. We had to allow 3 hours travel each way for a 3.5 hour class.

I think the London thing is particularly true but it's also a metropolitan elite thing. I grew up in a a big city and had so much cultural capital and opportunity compared to my own DCs.

That’s so true Noneofyou.

I have no experience of living rurally - it certainly does sound much more difficult to arrange experiences for your children. We are very lucky where we live. I also think we are lucky that my DS1 has chosen a STEM career path. The government are putting endless money into this so we have found that many of the opportunities that he has been able to access have been free.

By contrast, DS2 is a talented musician. Living in London has been great for opportunity for him, but it has been insanely expensive. There is certainly no government funding going into that area.

DS3 is still quite young (10) so who knows what direction he will end up, but I hope it is one that is well funded!

Can I just put this out there again for anyone who has not seen it already and has kids interested in Cyber Security - there are FREE residential courses available this summer. Mostly full up but I am sure I saw there are a few places left especially up north (The london ones filled within hours!).

www.smallpeicetrust.org.uk/course-category/cyberfirst/

These look great, the Smallpeice courses are fantastic.
The nearest to us is 2 hours travel time each way, that’s to Cardiff. So if it’s held at the university then you would need to add in travel time once arriving in the city, so 2.5hrs each way, 5 hours a day travel 😟

They are residential courses so you drop off on day one and pick up on day 5.

I think it depends on the course, I only flicked through quickly as they are not relevant to my DC. The ones I saw where non residential.
As I said earlier I think the Smallpeice courses are fantastic. My DS went to one and really enjoyed it, that was residential & aimed at 6th formers. Some are for younger students.

Freebies - Newcastle gave us red bags and Newcastle pens. Medical dept gave students syringe pens with nice blue fluid - better than guinea-pig love opportunities for DS1, although DS2 might prefer the animals.

Gosh DS hasn't managed to pick up any freebies yet. Where do you get them - Students Union?

Pen and fridge magnet from York but no guinea pigs or puppies
DD very envious of Med and chemistry applicants...They were getting different bags!

Does the spending of £50k really get swayed by freebies.

Or gym membership and sinks in rooms for that matter.

On a different theme, I find it quite worrying that universities can decide themselves what class of degree to award.

For example, how does a a first in maths from Sheffield Hallam compare to a 2.2 from Imperial?

Dd got a bag and pen from Brookes. She was really pleased with the bag a d had been using it for school!

We couldn't get a map from Loughborough without accepting the cloth bag that I didn't want or need

TheFrendo I often wonder the same thing. It's all a bit abstract for my tastes. Maybe a degree is not always going to be the same status, depending on where it came from

Yes I wonder how the degree classifications from different unis work. Particularly as I hear that graduate recruiters are looking more at your class of degree not where you studied.

I think a first is excellent wherever you've studied

I was musing earlier that I hadn't heard of a single one of dd's contemporaries who hasn't got a first (she is only halfway through her degree but many of her non-medic friends have finished this year). Firsts were rare in my day - maybe the current generation work harder!

Last year around 120,000 first class degrees were awarded. In the early 1980s, fewer than 70,000 students went to university.

So, are students now much, much brighter or have the standards required to gain a first come down?

But is it easier to get a First from UniX compared to UniY? And is it fair to say a First in Maths from (say) Imperial is the same standard as a First from (say) UWE?

Sticking with maths, some institutions require AAA, with A*s in maths and further maths AND a good performance in a higher maths paper such as (STEP, MAT etc). Others require only a B in maths and ~96 UCAS points in total. Plenty of firsts are awarded by both ends of the spectrum.

Those degrees will not be the same standard. The exams will not be the same standard.

But is it easier to get a First from UniX compared to UniY? And is it fair to say a First in Maths from (say) Imperial is the same standard as a First from (say) UWE?

I'm sure most employers will be impressed with a first and won't really consider where it is from, unless perhaps in large financial and law firms. Tbh I've never known an employer ask what class of degree I got! They just wanted a degree.

Personally I think there's enough ridiculous parental pressure on kids without angsting over whether Johnnies 1st from Imperial is actually 'worth more' than Joanna's first from Sheffield Hallam!!

To anyone heading to Lancaster next weekend for their Open Day. Get your kids to check any emails from them. DD got one earlier in the week offering a complimentary room the night before. Have to pay for breakfast but that's fine. We've booked. We've stayed there before for the campus tour and the rooms are fine and clean.

As freebies go...this probably tops guinea pig petting, pens and fridge magnets!!