GCSEs 2018 (12) Are we nearly there yet?!

[mmzz]

Devilish DD has a conditional offer to do a BTEC diploma. She’s really excited about the course which is right up her street. Interesting what you say about being snobby about college as she said she is worried there won’t be any geeky people there. I think she is making some assumptions that there won’t be kids like her at the college. She’s worried they’ll be into partying rather than D&D.

She needs 6 GCSEs at A*-B so at least 6Bs which is pretty high really. Fingers crossed she gets them as I can’t face her doing Linear A levels!

CBlue It's great your dd found a sport she loves. 7 hours a week - she is dedicated, but even a couple of hours a week would be good for ds. It would be great for him, after the GCSEs I will work on suggesting things. Something like that would be great for confidence.

My dd is a gymnast, enters competitions, she constantly practices. She is in a competition tomorrow, and if she does well I think the club will promote her to a more advanced group. She is also constantly on the trampoline in the garden. I can't believe how I have managed to produce 2 completely different children....

Oratory1 there has always been one or two others that have made it to the Kangaroo rounds, but in years 9 and 10, Ds was the only one to get a merit. DS's teacher didn't tell anyone, as far as i know. He even gave DS his certificate last year several months late when he he was clearing out his desk for summer and when he "presented it", it was more like he handed it to DS when he saw him in the corridor.
This year, DS made the Olympiad but the teacher didn't even tell him how he got on until a couple of weeks ago when i emailed and suggested that since the results had been out for weeks, it might be nice if he told DS the result.
I don't know why. Its not as if they have a policy of not recognising achievement. They have a maths effort prize for each year, and a maths attainment prize but although the attainment goes to someone in the top set, its always someone else.

Mr Persistent was asked for a reference for DS by the selective sixth form that he now holds an offer for. There was also a tough entrance exam. Mr Persistent gave the reference and it must have been ok. However, he's never once asked DS if he's coming back next year or how he got on.

DS is so quiet. He always does whatever work he is given. He never backchats. The teacher is just determined not to acknowledge that DS finds the work easy.

Anyway, I am just hoping that DS2 doesn't get Mr Persistent next year and I can leave MR P to get on with whatever it is that makes him happy.

@mmzz - sounds like Mr P is resentful of your DSs natural ability. Some teachers like to have total control (my way or the highway) but thankfully they are few and far between!

Just imagine the satisfaction of showing him up as wrong.....going to be hard not to gloat on results day though.

non gcse question for you all
Does your teen get a clothing allowance and if so how much and what are the rules?

Don’t spend a lot on DD on clothes, she lives in tracksuit and t-shirts however as next week is her last week at school so uniform purchasing no longer required and she is now 16 time to hand over clothes buying to her. (Realise I probably should have done this when she was younger but as we don’t spend a lot of money on her for clothes didn’t see as a big issue).

mmzz I agree with CBlue it sounds as if Mr P is threatened by your ds? Very strange to another teacher your ds would be an absolute gift - clever and well behaved.

@PeggySchuyler (great name) - I think that may be ds2’s concern. It’s also right next to his old school and I think he worries about ‘getting ripped to shreds’ every day (as all his mates want to stay on at 6th form).

The college is the next city is far larger and offers a huge range of subjects - takes students from miles away so it might be the right decision to move anyway.

I still have a feeling he’ll play safe and go for A levels, unless he is disappointed by GCSE results. I would love him to decide to really go for it and go for the diploma (at either college - either the BTEC or the UAL (they’re very similar), but he’s quite conventional in many ways.....

I’m pleased for your daughter - - exciting to find something just right at 16. There seems to be a wider range of options than in our day.

That's all very odd mmzz and definitely sounds as though the teacher has an issue. DD had to ask for a reference from her school early in the autumn term as I'd been intending to move area. It was to a top independent and had an entrance exam, interviews etc and at every step of the way her Y11 tutor and the Deputy Head were asking her directly how it was going, had she been selected, did she like the school, was she going to take her place etc etc. Your school sounds really quite impersonal.

They don't make a big thing of maths achievement at DS3's school either. It's a shame because he won't excel at anything else. He's not sporty or particularly good at music etc. He's not as far ahead as your DS1, mmzz, but he did get a merit on the kangaroo, and only 2 in his year of 245 got to the kangaroo. He got his Gold certificate, Kangaroo Merit, best in year and best in school certificates handed to him in a lesson. It didn't make the newsletter. Perfectly nice teachers and he has enjoyed maths there but it's just not celebrated.

He should be moving schools for sixth form. I'm glad he is happy to do so as it turns out that only 3 have applied to take FM at his current school next year, including him. And they have all FM and maths lessons together. So at least half of lessons with only the same two other people. That's not a sixth form experience IMO.

His current school require an 8 to take FM. The school he's moving to only require a 7. While an 8 might be preferable it certainly seems to have put off DC from considering it at his current school. There are 22 in Y12 at the new school doing FM. I don't know how many in Sept but more than 3 I'd guess.

aragog many congratulations on finishing! And whoever else I have missed.
kingscote agree on our amazing DCs! Unfortunately I have failed in instilling a love of sport in DS the way some of your DC's have, but he did get up at 7am to go to jd and will finish the long day at 7pm. After the Maths exam he was flat out on the sofa. Yet this morning up he goes.

mmzz and all those early risers. Truly, how do you do it? How many hours do you sleep everyday? Do you take a nap mid-day? I want to be like you when I grow up. Here is someone who needs 9 hours to perform at my job

@Oddsocks15 - really embarrassed about this but DD doesn't have pocket money or an allowance. She has access to my amazon account and can get what she wants from there (she does tell/ask me first). We go clothes shopping maybe 3 times a year where she has the choice of a few hundred quid or "fill the basket with anything you want" in Primark. She always picks Primark. She doesn't go out much (too busy training) but when she goes for a coffee or with friends etc I give her £10-20 and let her keep the change. I pay for clubs and top up her food account at school. She gets money as a present at Xmas/Easter/Birthday from most of the family which she can do what she wants with.
I know that I am not teaching her the meaning of money/budgeting and I really need to sort it out

Devilish it's nice to see you on a thread about your DS2 who's the same age as my DS3. I've seen you lots over the years in SN.

oddsocks it may be different with a DD, but DS gets no allowance, when he needs something we buy it. He doesn't care for clothes or brands but knows very well what he likes or dislikes so he now has to come along. We need to buy suit and new clothes for sixth form and we will go with him and pay for it. He hardly gets any pocket money but earns some teaching.

I have to say that the Kangaroo Merit in this house for DS4 was handed over with little ceremony too, although I think a few got them - certainly not just two. But that was fine with both of us. At that stage I needed to look at what a Kangaroo was - I'd never come across Kangaroo before!

Cblue DS3 gets £10 a week pocket money from which he buys presents, sweets, drinks, phone top ups, goes to see films and occasionally goes out with his mates. I still pay for his clothes as he'd never buy any otherwise. He has a bank card. He's never run out of money so far.

brainmelt - its a very simple formula for getting up at 3:30 / 4/ 5 - buy yourself an expensive hypnos mattress that's you can't afford to replace so soon, get a DH who can't bear a memory foam layer and then wake up with a pain where one or several of the buttons presses into you. After a while, your body starts to think that 4am means wake time. Unfortunately it also means 10pm, time to get very tired.

I wouldn't recommend it though.

I must admit, I can't see what the teacher would be jealous about. He didn't do a degree in maths so obviously wasn't that interested in it, but even without the relevant degree, now at only 30, he is HoD in an important subject at a large, very successful school.

It would be a bit weird to take offence at a student who does all your work and never requires your time but who you can take credit for in the league tables.

Saying that, I honestly do not know what motivates this teacher. I find it odd, but chacun ses gouts. I'm just hoping to be rid of him by Tuesday afternoon.

mmzz I do wake up during the night and sometimes 4ish. But if I started my day then I would be a babbling idiot till sunset not to mention the migraines! So I stay in bed and eventually go back to dream land. I usually feel my brain start clearing in the afternoon and at 10pm I'm just getting ready to party!

mmzz by the way I love the way you shut the Head up on the phone.

Phew - I thought I was the only one. I did discuss with her a while back and she said she would rather continue 'as-is' (think she quickly worked out the benefit of getting what she wants/needs rather than having a budget). It's very hard trying to work out what you spend but I don't think she's too expensive to run (not into clothes, downloads a bit of music but OH buys lots and she downloads it from him, house parties are free and she doesn't drink, friends seem to come to my house)

We seem to be getting off topic- should we start a chat thread in readiness for gcse end?

Hi @EllenJanethickerknickers :) Fond memories of the early SN board days :) Things have gone very tits up for ds1 (he is in hospital 8 hours from home) - which at least helps keep some perspective with the GCSE’s! I was worried about how I would juggle both, but Ds2 has been fabulously self sufficient and doesn’t like a lot of fuss about exams so it’s been fine.

The maths stuff is double Dutch to me (Ds2 will be delighted if he manages a 6 in maths - not his forte) but a kangaroo sounds good!!

Oddsocks - dd gets £35 per month clothes allowance. This excludes - underwear, socks, a good winter coat, waterproofs and a pair of winter shoes / boots which I pay for separately or any sports stuff which I also pay for separately (if I didn't buy a winter coat for example, she wouldn't choose to get one from her clothing allowance)

She claims it is not enough and a good pair of jeans costs £50 - to which I counter you don't need to buy a new pair of jeans every month. She currently has about £200 saved (clothing allowance and leftover Christmas money etc) and is complaining she has nothing to wear

Oh no - whats up with ds1 Devilish?

Oh dear Devilish. Very sorry to hear that. I had a DC in hospital four hours drive away during DD1's A levels and DD3's GCSEs and it was an incredibly difficult time - double that would be a nightmare. I think one becomes almost a machine and moves into a different reality but it was very tough for them on reflection. It does affect how I think of DD4's GCSEs because there's none of that happening, so very straightforward in comparison.