GCSEs 2018 (14): the aftermath

[mmzz]

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

DD also wants to be a primary teacher @aragog. She only finished on Thursday so having g a much needed break this week, and starts ncs on Monday so no chance for work experience now. As where we are has completely different easter hols to much of the country she is intending to do at least a week, if not a fortnight of w/e in a school then. We are also hoping she gets a clear morning or afternoon without classes in y12, as she has offers of regular volunteering in school.

Yes, it's mid Oct for Oxbridge rather than mid Jan. DS3 wants to study maths so I think we can already rule Cambridge out. STEP2 and 3 are just so difficult. They make FM seem easy.

I am impressed that so many DC have at least a bit of a plan

Managed to get DD 2 weeks work experience in an It Dept of a multinational (bit of nepotism I am afraid) ..... it will give her an opportunity to see the different types of IT jobs because she is spending time in support, networks, cyber and programming but I suspect that it will probably put her off. It's certainly no google - no sandpits, space hoppers, table football and fun fun fun.
But it will give her a touch of realism.

She is adamant that she doesn't want be an engineer even though it would suit her down to the ground. I think she will probably join the forces

Medicine is a no-no .....she is sooooo clumsy!!!

No A Levels chosen let alone a Uni course.......

CBlue
DS2 wants to be a physicist, ideally he would like to be able to do a four-year course leading to an MSc in Physics.

Then a PhD in particle physics or biophysics, but I'm trying to encourage him not to plan too far ahead.

I feel that after DS1 and his chronic uncertainty, I probably deserve a DC who has some idea about what he wants to do next.

DD is going into the Police, but there appears to be a number of different policing courses at various Universities. It's a minefield.
She loved first day induction at furst choice Sixth Form, apparently the Psychology teacher is hilarious. She got homework from Sociology which she has done tonight!

Homework? Wow. Glad she enjoyed induction.

Induction day today for dgd. She was actually excited about going back to school!
I wish dgd would make a firm decision about her future but there again making a decision is a slow process for her. I remember her very young trying to decide what chocolate bar she wanted! She ponders so much but I suppose that's a good thing.
Bad night for me I shall probably sleep through treatment today. I have a male nurse looking after me mostly. He's very funny and handsome! He could put his boots under my bed anytime!

Sost you go gentle with that nurse, we know what you're like

Jufus I never knew Uni's ran policing courses is it an actual degree or relevant modules as part of a degree?

DS is in full holiday mode enjoying the sunshine and football in equal measures......

Sostenueto glad to hear they sent you a handsome nurse! Sorry to hear you had a bad night, though. All the best for today.
DS also has an induction day today. He's likely to wilt in the heat, though! He is a bit dithery, too, except to be fair he seems very decided on psychology.
Farang loved the photos - very glamorous!

PandaG : yes, dd is hoping to use some school time for additional work experience, and in holidays when we are not away she plans to do extra sessions volunteering with the holiday clubs at her drama group. She's planning on basing her EPQ on education too, though not quite sure on her focus yet. She's lucky as she has been able to have a lot of school based WE already through my work and we will try and up that next year too.

Good luck to those having Inductions today and glad to hear dd had a good day Jufus - she deserves it!

Sost hope things go ok today - I don't think it's anything to worry about dgd being slow making decisions -after all they are big important ones. My ds has been set on some sort of Maths since a small boy and the more he does the more he wants to do, so it's a bit of a 'done deal' for him.

BlueBell no they do actual Policing degrees, loads of them!!

sost I feel like we need a photo of your nurse!!

Thanks for the compliments for DD at Prom (I'll pass them on to her). Wish I could take credit for the hair!

Very impressed at how organised so many of you are in regard to university visits. DD has some friends who are starting at Oxford and Cambridge in the new academic year, and they've invited her up for a 'personal tour' (which may involve more of an insight into student recreation than perhaps a young 16-year old is prepared for!) and I'm just crossing fingers her GCSE grades are enough to get her into her 6th Form of choice. Had confirmation that special consideration has been given for one of the exams she had to sit when her glasses broke in half and she couldn't use them, so that's a relief. Not sure about the other as it's with a different board,

She is loving being back in the UK and has an NCS meeting tonight (following a sleepover with her best friends since birth - not great with jet lag, but needs must). Her dad is even more delighted she is home again - we've had 18 months with him in the UK and me finishing my contract abroad. It's been tough catching in school holidays and via electronic devices...

Hope all DC are enjoying their Summer plans and eagerly await updates after results day regarding their (undoubted) successes!

Well I'm shattered after our train home was stranded for 3 hours & was so busy that we didn't dare have a drink in case we needed the loo. It should take 90 minutes, not 4 1/2 hours.

Jufus my niece became a Special last year when she was only 19. She has spent this weekend policing the Isle of Wight festival. She tends to do 2-3 shifts each week as a volunteer, but with the same responsibilities as the paid cops. She is hoping to apply for a paid role as soon as a vacancy crops up.

Stickerrocks I had something similar today. I arrived at the station at 2:40 four a train journey that was supposed to take her 30 mins but four cancelled trains later plus a 3 hour journey with lots of waiting at red lights and waiting to be allocated a platform, I finally got home just after 7pm. There was a fire on a train further down the line plus a points failure. It was chaos at the station.
I've got to do the same trip on Friday, so I'm hoping that the heat wave will have abated by then!

Fire at Surbiton by any chance? We got on & sat down. After an hour we were told that another train could take us and we wouldn't need to change, so we got up and ran. The guard on the new train closed the doors as around 200 passengers arrived, so we had to scramble back to the first train & find seats again. Then I remembered I had left a key purchase in our original carriage which, luckily, was still there. I was shattered by the time we eventually got home.

That's the one. I arrived just after the fire had started, before it was announced. I jumped on the first train due out. 15 minutes later, when it was already late, the guard announced that it was cancelled and everyone h as to go back to the platform.
Then I got on another train, found a seat, the carriage filled up to overcrowding levels, the doors kept making that beeping noise and the driver kept starting up the engine, but 40 mins later the guard announced that this train was also cancelled.
Same thing on a third train, except the driver suggested we go via Reading and change.
Then I started to find trains that went anywhere within a 20 mile radius and managed to miss 2.
Then I finally got on a train that was being rerouted. It stopped everywhere, lots of places I didn't know existed! When it moved, it was so slow that we were overtaken by a man on a bike at one point but mostly it sat stationary allowing us to take in the scenery at great length.
I finally got home several hours late.
For the first time ever, I'm going to put in a claim for my money back from the train company. The fire isn't their fault but the complete lack of information about what trains were running definitely was!

Apparently the fire started between the tracks and the rails. Something to do with the heat from the sun and the way the trains don't make contact with the rails 100% of the time. An engineer from the train company who was in our carriage, also trying to get home, explained it to us around 5ish. It broke the monotony and made that 30 mins more interesting, but tbh i didn't fully understand the talk he gave!

It was one of those rites of passage days clotheswise today for DS. It is probably the male equivalent of all the girls looking grown up for the first time in their prom dresses.

I went shopping for a new wardrobe for DS now that I've cleared away all the things he has outgrown and the school uniform. I bought some student clothes, smart casual stuff, and a prom suit. He looked suddenly more grown up in them, more like he might be closer to 18 than 13.

Glad that stickerocks and mmzz got home safely ( eventually)!
Induction day went very well indeed for dgd and she didn't get homework but lots of booklets to read through on subject content and exam paper structures. They were allowed to do an experiment in biology using g extremely powerful microscopes stimulating the heart of a water flea with alcohol and caffeine and observing heart rate. I told dgd A levels much more interesting than GCSE!

Sostenueto that sounds a lot fun! DS seemed to enjoy his induction day yesterday although it was a lot of getting to know you rather than lessons. He seemed to be texting a lot on his phone last night. Today he's off for taster lessons at a sixth form college. This is a bit more of a train expedition. Hopefully nothing like what mmzz and Stickerrocks had to deal with!

@mmzz and @Stickerrocks - I saw the pictures at Waterloo, madness! I'm utterly fed up of the Thameslink. It feels like all the trains in London have given up for the summer.

DS1 off with DH today for first open day. Both are in foul moods so I predict a massive falling out. They're particularly cross that DS1 cricket match has been cancelled tomorrow because of a clash with the football. V glad I'm not in the car with them.

sandy ouch! That sounds a bit tense and I don't imagine the heat will improve the mood much! Hopefully though the open day will be so interesting they forget the other stuff!
Ok, so no text from DS is good news - must have caught the right train.
He's slightly worried they will make him do a physics taster lesson. I'm pretty sure he swapped it for biology at the open day but he can't remember! He's allowed to change his mind at the end of the day, though.