Gcses 2019 support thread 5

[Iambuffy]

Hi :)
Hope this is ok as we are at 1000 posts on thread 4!

@ArthursSlave yes it’s funny they all seem to love caterpillar cakes!!
@CarrieErbag wishing you luck🤞🏻this is such a stressful time. Bullying is the worst
Bimkom, theatre is a great idea!
Have decided Dd needs to go into school to collect hers instead of dashing off to Reading as we have been told queries re results need to be made that morning to the teacher, so we are realistically looking at an in car breakfast celebration zipping down the motorway!
Really rooting for all of the dc requiring sixth form places.

Am now fascinated about what caterpillar cakes are....

Arthurseat - I very much get the geography point. DS 1 is not very far along on the university research stakes but from the grunting doesn't want London because we live here and doesn't want Scotland or the north for highly mature climate and grimness reasons (we have Scottish family to make that dafter). Have been trying to point out that he has nearly knocked out Durham, UCL, Kings, Edinburgh etc etc so what exactly is his plan - Oxford and Exeter is not a strategy - but it definitely isn't going in yet. And I do feel that if they aren't feeling driven at this point that Oxford isn't realistic. So.

Teenagers. Boys. Harumph

Tbf, perhaps he thinks it a waste of time until he has his results as a guideline.

Michaelapurple Yes, DD2 also already knocked out UCL and Kings, shame, I had visions of her sharing a flat with DD1 who is already in London, although hadn't yet broached that one with DD1 .

She would like to do History and/or Ancient History. I think the main problem at the moment is the huge amount of variations within the courses. Each university has a slightly different choice of modules, and finding the right course for her slightly eccentric requirements seem to be hard. She has just looked up the universities her history teachers went to, and as they are all pretty young, she is going to grill them when she gets back to school. Mostly in the South/South East so that is good .

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_the_Caterpillar

Harking back to childhood. But OMG..... they now do a wedding Colin cake too!!!!!

10 days to results now! DS is sitting on two sixth form college offers and still hasn't decided which one he wants to go to. Enrolment is 27th so he is going to need to make a decision, at the latest, once results are out/on the bank holiday weekend. And he doesn't know which A levels but results may clarify that.

As for university, I hope he's a bit more decisive. He will probably want to do history/languages. But he also does a fairly niche athletics discipline and there aren't that many university cities where he would be able to carry on with it - Leeds, Cardiff, Leicester and Warwick would be the key ones outside London and Loughborough is a good all round sports choice. York could also work as being close to Leeds and I suppose Bradford too. In terms of distance from home, Warwick would be perfect - far enough away to be away but only 2 hours drive on a good day. Anyway we will see - need to sort out sixth form college first!

Omg a colin wedding cake sounds hilarious!

Tbh in my view as long as they get the 5 or 7 passes they need to move onto A level its fine

This is also where we got to, from DD originally saying she was aiming all for 7s or more. The GCSEs were a bit of a disaster for her emotionally, and I think are clouding how she feels about A levels, she still can't decide what to do, nothing is enthusing her much. Sixth form registration on the 27th when she can also go around and chat to different subject teachers and make a final decision.

We were very zen about the situation until re read the entry criteria for 6th form...we knew her maths might be risky for a 7, so if she got a 6 she would drop maths A Level and do physics instead. Now in transpires that she needs a 7 in maths to do the sciences! (She wants to do chem/biology/maths or physics)

So now we're very nervous.

I have booked a holiday for the 23rd, because we'll either be celebrating or needing to get away

On a positive note, the wait hasn't been too hard, time has gone so fast.

Sorry for stupid typos, fingers moving faster than my brain.

Results day nerves starting to rear their head here. DS2 starting to worry about whether he has chosen the exact right A level combination he wants to do, grades depending, but he does have time to change, assuming timetabling works. Just starting some A level prep so gearing back up again. As for university, he knows what subject but has done no research on where or what areas exactly he wants to study. Trying not to wind him up by suggesting he 'might' like to consider that sometime soon.

Ds1 assures me he is starting his a level "homework" tomorrow....

I've booked him his 1st hpv vaccine tomorrow which he's thrilled about :)

He hasn't really mentioned results day. At his school the kids have to go in on their own (no parents allowed) from 9.30am.

Enrollment at 6th form is same day - he should get his time slot this week.

I think this week will drag tbh as dh is away and we have no plans.

Seems hard to believe that exams ended 2 months ago!!

Ds has just come down to tell me that AQA have just tweeted that all grade boundaries have now been set [eeeeek]

Although...that's probably A-levels isn't it? D'oh.

Arthur - I suspect the cake is one of three things one has to loved as a child to love now, I'd you see what I mean :-)

Another likely historian here too. He is going to have to be careful about course details too - I suspect for instance that Bristol would be too woke for him. Still lots of time for all that I hope

This is A levels, not gcse, but did anyone else see the article in the Times about a level maths boundaries for "a pass" being 20% this or last year. Article really annoyed me as it didn't seem to say what they meant by a pass - at 20% surely an E. But in what sense other than the very most technical is that really a pass?

All the talk of specific unis making me nervous- dd knows what she wants to study but isn’t researching universities yet (I didn’t know most did at this point )
Very limited time for celebration(/consolation) as dd also rushing off to get the train to reading after having collected results- really hoping she’ll be celebrating and not drowning her sorrows

hoooo dd seems to have told me countless times that she will start on that maths homework booklet tomorrow

No real work starting here either other than a couple of copies of the economist read! 24 hours for our first results I confess to going back to look at last years grade boundaries —too many times—

Strike through failure

We’re away at the moment - 6 hours behind the UK so we’ll be up at 3am as one of her friends has been given permission to collect AS Sociology (A level choice) and the dreaded FSMQ maths (another A level choice)........hoping it doesn’t put a dampener on the holiday.......then back on the Wednesday ready for decision Thursday!!!

All the talk of specific unis making me nervous- dd knows what she wants to study but isn’t researching universities yet

My DD doesn't know what she wants to study, or that she even wants to go to uni. I think there's lots of time this year to work that out based on how she gets on with A levels, and advice from staff who have experience in supporting kids through this. In fact she still doesn't know which A levels she wants to do!

Ds is a history fan too.

His 6th form is on the same campus as a well regarded uni...needs very high grades though.

Interesting that there are so many possible historians on here :)

Dd was asked at her 6th form interview what uni’s she was thinking of, luckily she had a couple in mind she could mention but she certainly hasn’t researched it that much (although her fathers idea was ‘X uni is always advertising, why not apply there as it must be easy to get in to - and no he never went to uni...)

Ds got his slot today...4pm!

Yay congrats hoo, it’s starting to feel very much like the start of a new chapter!
Only 2 hours left for the first lot of results here, Dd now feeling angsty. I’m feeling surprisingly calm