GCSEs 2018 (14): the aftermath

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Following on from www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3275972-GCSEs-2018-13-Untwisting-our-knickers-lucky-for-some

DD surprised me by ringing from prom to ask if she could go to small after party, just her quirky peer group, at a friend’s house.

She popped home to change back into jeans first
Took one bottle of cider (did try larger afterwards but “too bitter”)
Rang for a lift home at 2.15 AM
Is asleep in own bed now

All good after lots of stress about whether to go

Just catching up on the Prom news! Ours is next Friday so I will post pics.

Love the Rubik's cube suit! Regardless of nerdiness, that takes a LOT of self confidence to wear! I would call that a parenting win. Same for the rock chick outfit - a feminist win for sure. And she'll be remembered for that, unlike all the identical dresses. Do love that fish-tail dress photo however - so jealous of girls without huge thighs and bums! My leavers ball was a proper ball dress affair with no food or alcohol and we were 18!

DS has a couple of chill weeks now, inc Oxford and Cambridge Uni open days, a sixth form taster day, Prom, and then a few days in Toronto with DH. Then it's a lifeguarding course, and a week of talking English to Spanish teens by a pool in Spain

DS2 has had enough of school now and just wants to play cricket and FIFA. He's done Y9 exams and can't understand why he has to carry on doing any French history or geography when he won't be doing them next year! I'm inclined to agree with him. He's acquired a girlfriend at school and I'm dying for her to be invited for tea...but strangely he isn't so keen

Terf An excellant thing at local school is "year nen". After May half term the year 9s are taught in GCSE option classes. It avoids your DS's agony of studying stuff you've finished with and also gives a taster and a chance to rethink if you suddenly hate something.

I offered DS3 a small bottle of Smirnoff Ice before prom but he wasn't bothered. No after party here, I'm slightly jealous, but the Monopoly was a hit. He's very determinedly uncool but not at all self conscious, unlike myself at his age.

It feels very much like holiday mode at my school, all year groups have done their end of year exams but there are still 3 weeks to go!

Peggy Year Nen sounds inspired!

Dd has a fantastic time which considering she normally hates parties I was very relieved. The teachers had wine on their table & the maths teacher got tiddly & when Dd went to the loo she was zipped back into her dress by the head!

Oh & she cadged a lift in someone’s grandad’s classic vehicle ambulance from school to the hotel. (Dh joked they knew he was there).

@PeggySchuylar
That's absolutely fab news, so glad she enjoyed it

DD apparently went down a storm and got lots of fist bumps - including from one of the teachers who was there.

She has come home full of beans (literally because she's eating them on toast) and in a healthy condition.

Apparently some of her friends aren't quite so healthy!!

Her (male) MA training partner who went to his own prom has just texted her to say that he won't be training today/tomorrow/rest of his life because he feels so sick hahaha

She's decided to come to a lunch time cheese and wine party with us instead
One proud mama

@AlexanderHamilton - great news for your DD too!

Year Nen does sound brilliant! Unfortunately our school is a bit slow at doing Options so although they made the decisions in March, they won't be confirmed until beginning of July. They dont do it in 'blocks' as they like to try to give every child the chance to do whatever combinations they like (sometimes that means they have to have their 4th or 5th choice of subject). I might suggest Year Nen to a teacher when I see one

There are some major parenting wins on this thread as far as proms are concerned! I love that the dcs were all doing their own thing. Brilliant photos, too.
DS is very upbeat about his sixth form taster days next week. DS2 seems to have almost all his Y8 exams crammed into this week, poor thing. He doesn’t seem unduly fussed, though. I can’t get worked up about Y8 exams after GCSEs. I’ll be on his case in Y9!

@TerfTerf
DD has work experience for the next 2 weeks although she has been invited to a 'maths master class' right in middle of it and wants to go.

Then she has her official last week of Y11 which is mainly concerts (she doesn't play or sing), sports day, a 6th form induction day and prize giving.

A week after, the 2 of us are off to the USA to look at 6 universities and visit family ......she's nothing if not ambitious!!

Does anyone else's DC want to study abroad/know anyone else that have done this?

Year Nen is not too difficult for school because year 11 have finished. There is such a lot of GCSE content that it makes sense to get a half term start really.

I’ve just realised the significance of where Dds prom was held 101 years ago (was the centenary last year) the founder of her school held her first classes in the ballroom at the hotel.

Did had a glass of fizz before she went but nothing at prom. They were very strict at the venue. Dd says the teachers were enjoying a few G&Ts though

No after party though she brought three friends back to ours to sleep over. Dh picked them up after prom around 11;30 as it was mikes away. They did share a bottle of champagne which dd had won at a casino night the other week. There was other stuff in the house but they weren't interested. And there was a lot of chocolate etc eaten too. But they'd all collapsed asleep by about 2:30ish possibly earlier.

Dd also has work experience fir the next two weeks. School does it in year 11 when they're mainly all 16y as it can be easier to get medical places to accept them. Dd is going to a primary school for children with a range of SEND and is really looking forward to it. Two of the days are INSET days there which she's opted to go too (given option not to) as the training sounded interesting. She wants to teach eventually so is really keen.

Mind she's supposed to be at another party tonight but is currently half asleep on sofa outside clearly not feeling well at all.

Post Prom fatigue here...
DS went off quite happily to a "Pre" where the parents had arranged food and soft drinks, but no alcohol apparently, which was a bit of a surprise as I think we'd all assumed that there would be a few beers / some weak Pimms at least!
Then off to the Prom itself which DS said was actually a bit dull as he doesn't like dancing and it was "mostly just the popular crowd asking the photographer to take loads of photos of them"
I'm not even sure if there will be many photos of DS as he had a short haircut last week and was a bit self conscious.
DH picked him and 3 friends up at 12.30 and they came back here for beers, snacks and Netflix.
Then, much to my disappointment, the dreaded "going to the park plan" materialised with various groups agreeing to meet, so DH, bless him, drove them there ( at 2am!) with strict instructions to stay in contact and phone us if they wanted to come back or if there were problems etc.
I woke up when DH came home and then couldn't get back to sleep for fretting about all the things that could go wrong.
Eventually at 4.30 am I texted DS to check he was OK and find out when they were coming back. He replied saying they were on their way and they got back about 5 am and everyone went to sleep, me included!
I then got up at 9.30 and found DS already up ( but not his friends). Sounds like he was one of the more sensible/sober ones and he'd been a bit shocked/ surprised to see how 'drunk and silly' some of his peers were. Also told me some of them were 'being very stupid' and had brought loads of those nitrous oxide capsules which were being passed around .
When his friends got up I cooked them all bacon & eggs with muffins. I think they were definitely the worse for wear, and DS seemed relieved when they all left!
I think it's been a bit of an eye opener for him really as he doesn't go to many parties. He came and gave me a big hug, said thanks for breakfast etc, and said he didn't understand why everyone had got so excited about Prom as he thought it was a bit dull and he much preferred going out with a smaller group of friends.
Now he's gone back to bed for a few more hours sleep!
I predict a bit of a slump later. He's definitely trying to work out where he fits into his peer group. He's wanted to become more sociable recently, but now I think he's realising that the 'popular/ party crowd' isnt as cool as he thought! Aargh - teenage angst!

Wonderwine it sounds to me as if your DS has his head screwed on right. If he's dipped his toe into that sort of party, avoided taking any substances that are bad for him, and decided it's all a bit stupid, that sounds like a good result to me!

There will have been others that felt the same way and didn't join in with stupid stuff. Maybe this is a good opportunity for him to try and remember who they were and seek them out.

^^ yes to that.
It's so hard but they do have to work out the sex and drugs and rock and roll themselves but if you are not really confident it can be hard taking a different stance.
Well done to your DS and your DH and you for brilliant navigation.

We have older DCs and we are always saying we will pick you up anytime, any place, any situation. We will always come if needed.

Are year 11 pupils already going to university open days? Seems a bit soon to me?

Larlarland - not here; none of DD's friends are either. Seems to be summer y12 going. Though I guess if children are considering universities abroad they may need to look a little sooner, especially if there are other factors to take into consideration.

@Wonderwine

And the thing that you should be most proud about, is that he told you about the Nitrous Oxide.

If that doesn't put your mind at rest I don't know what would!!!

If he thought it was cool or he was tempted the last thing he would do is tell you about it.......

We may go to Uni Open day in September. Many of the Open Days are the exact same dates, they don't each offer lots of dates, so the dates of potential destinations clash,but application needs to be in by end October 2019 (medicine applicant).

DS2 has asked us to take him to three open days this year. He then has a list of another three he wants to go to next year.

We don't want to fit all of the open days into the summer/autumn of Y12:

• some of the dates clash
• DS2 will need us to go with him (SEN) and I don't want to spend every weekend in September & October 2019 going to university open days.

I meant the summer/autumn at the end of Y12 / beginning of Y13.