GCSE summer 2020 thread 6 - Carry on Corona Cohort, Further adventures aboard the Corona Charabanc.

[FoolsAssassin]

The summer of discovidtent for the Corona Cohort trudging on towards results day.
Ofqual have done them a little video to explain their results:

Please feel free to join us to see what twists the next bit has in store for us all.

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That sounds like a good school @northumberlandlass. Good that he's staying there for sixth form!

We're hoping to go to Northumberland in August - any recommendations for things to do?

Dd finally finished her bridging work! I can already tell that her Psychology teacher will be a nightmare. Reams of work to do and all had to be hand written! What decade are we in? And in covid - I thought schools were discouraging work being handed in?!

We feel very fortunate @crazycrofter
Where are you staying in Northumberland? What do you like doing?
Coast (obviously) - Bamburgh / Seahouses & bot trips - but also Tynemouth & in particular Riley’s Fish Shack on the beach.
Alnwick Castle & Barter Books
Kielder & if you’re staying near there, the observatory to take advantage of Dark Skies!
Hadrian’s Wall - good for walks, plus Vindolanda & Army museum...
National Trust properties... Wallington, Cragside & Seaton Delaval Hall.

It’s a big county & I’d really recommend that you don’t just limit yourself to the coast!

That’s brilliant, thank you! We’ll be staying near Bamburgh. We’re not massively into beaches anyway, so good to have other suggestions!

....... and of course you can go via Barnard Castle to test your eyesight!

Now, now Monkey Barney is stowed out with folk seeking an eye test

Just received news by email, DS' results will be available online from 8am. Shame really, the tradition is usually all students come to school and meet in the hall, school gives them all breakfast of pastries and tea. Not this time .

That's a shame @Shimy maybe they can get together in some form anyhow.

Glad everyone getting updates about results day. Dd school is determined still to have a prom, the latest idea is combining with an awards eve in the autumn. I can't see it happening tbh.

I need to get her off her phone, she is just so aimless atm. I.saw a tiktok where she claimed to be on it for over 10 hours a day and now she is claiming she doesn't like people and only likes her own company .
She did meet a friend in the next village yesterday and then went and surprised her Nan (our bubble nana).

I had a GCSE results dream last night! They're only five weeks away! It was a stressful dream, as dd went missing in the course of picking the results up and I couldn't find her, so it took ages to find out what her results actually were!

@orangecinnamon1 that's a bit of a worry for you, although at least she is still getting out a little. It's easy to get used to the lockdown situation isn't it though, if you're the more introverted type, and actually enjoy it. I know personally I felt a bit sad when things started to open up! Although of course, I want things back to normal really.

Is she going to a new sixth form, I can't remember? Hopefully she'll adjust to a bit more socialising when school starts again.

Dd went to town with a couple of friends yesterday on the train - her first experience wearing a mask. She's going to have to get used to it as she'll have a 40 min train ride to school come September.

@OrangeCinnamon1hopefully in September when they resume they'll be able to do something if not before then. Re DD they're all glued to social media now. Even DS who had always managed his social media intake because ds1 is a "gamer" has partly succumbed to hours of it, in spite of various projects he has started, essay competitions, community projects etc there's just nothing else for them to do. I think they're really missing 'sports'.

Thank you @shimy @crazycrofter. Yes I rather think Dd feels a bit in limbo...and unusually for someone who.loves the stage and singing she is an introvert. She loves home. Told me she has been walking past her new college everyday so I know she wants to move on to her new life.

I worry about stamina...coping with deadlines and academic work again. Hopefully they will consider that at early stages of college.

Just had the post and have a letter regarding the info on GCSEs at DD's school. They are divided up alphabetically so from 8.30am the A-DS go in and 9am the E-Hs etc so every half hour the next lot go in to the hall. No parents allowed in the school and no group photos inside so SD is adhered to. Guess once outside it's up to you.

DD thinks she'll have to open them in school and speak to any teachers immediately if she needs to as 1/2 hr isn't long so no chance of her leaving school and meeting us in car park to open together but hey ho. She has two friends with same letter bracket surname so will have some familiar faces to share news with.

And now the greatest part. They will accept you at the 6th form even if you didn't get the grade but as long as the teacher gave it when they submitted their CAGs. So DD now feels confident she'll be accepted in as if they go on mocks and teacher assessment she'll have done fine despite the school having disastrous grades last year which may pull down the students given grade this year. Are all schools doing this do you think?

We still have a back up school just in case but it's public transport distance away rather than a 1/2 hr walk to current school.

@AnneOfCleavage I have read something similar from other sixth forms. Fingers crossed you may not have to worry much.

I think they'll definitely build up that stamina again, once they start normal lessons, homework and deadlines etc.

We've heard nothing about acceptance into 6th form, they've all chosen their subjects and done A'leve bridging work so I can only assume everyone's in. My worry is actually more whether ds will now get the grades he needs to apply to some universities he's set his heart on asking for mainly A's at GCSE.

Can’t believe results day is only 5 weeks away, thankfully DS doesn’t have the stress of getting particular grades & my heart goes out to those who are. So much uncertainty.

I’ll be interested to read the A-Level thread of their results day.

@Shimy which universities have gcse grade requirements? I didn't know about that, I was quite relaxed about results day until now!

@singingstones I think in the past it has only been UCL for languages, but even that can be worked around by taking a language course in first year. I know some for medicine also recommend not applying with less than x amount of As (sometimes 8 or 9!) and for Oxford my DD was told % of A GCSEs was important, but no exact requirement for either.

I fell off this thread a bit but I think it's hit DD2 today that her time at her year 7-11 school is over! It's been a really lovely school and her sixth form is sort of attached so not exactly a change, but she has a few close friends going off to colleges, and it is a sixth form that merges with a handful of other schools. Her year 7-11 school was brand new when her older sister started but has developed into one of the best state schools in a short time so she's been very lucky.

Bath, Earwick

Sorry Warwick.

@Shimy I didn't know about Warwick's? And I thought Bath's was just along the lines of 5 or 6 A*-B GCSEs, which if you're on track for the appropriate grades at A level should probably be anticipated?

Bath is definitely asking for manly A’s, DS was being really ambitious that he might just ace the GCSE requirements and then work on A’levels and he was predicted highgrades, but he’s not a natural A student and not in high sets so he might just have had that snatched away from him.

Well I don't know if it's got stricter but I do know one of my DNieces got into Bath for maths with just 1 A* at GCSE (in maths) and then 4/5 Bs (and 3/4 As) because she went on to ace her maths and further maths A levels. I imagine with the uncertainty of this year they might also be more lenient with GCSE results. Hopefully it won't totally close the door for your DS.

@OrangeCinnamon1 I think a lot of performers are shy - DS1 is, but happy to play exposed roles and sing solos on stage because he is not being himself.

I think all universities will be careful about reading too much into GCSEs for this lot, although I had not heard that Bath and Warwick focussed on GCSEs. For medicine some places use GCSEs very heavily, but you just have to be strategic about your choices if you don't have all 8/9 grades, some contextualize for your school and others have very minimal requirements - e.g. Bristol 7 for Maths, 5 for English and don't look at the rest.

Thank you @RoiseCap and @Shimy

Just had a look at Bath and for example the entry requirements for engineering say

GCSE grades are an important part of selection for this course and we typically expect students to have a good number of GCSEs at grade 7-9 or A-A*.

A bit nervous now, even though DS doesn't want to do engineering, or indeed go to Bath. The only course he has shown an interest in so far is at UCL so has the language requirement but nothing else at gcse apart from maths/English grade C.

Thing is, by the time it gets to their turn to apply to uni (2022), Unis will have forgotten about them being “Corona” year, so I don’t think the same leniency will apply to them.

They'll be applying next year though shimy for 2022 start so you'd hope it will still be fresh in their minds.

It's just hit DD that Uni is 2 years away (I suggested a gap year as she's a summer born and at 1st she was up for it but last night said she thinks she ought to be with her age group) and that she'll be an adult and have to do washing, shopping, cooking etc whilst studying and this realisation shocked her.