GCSE Summer 2020 Thread 10: Carry on Corona Cohort ‘The Next Step''

[OrangeCinnamon1]

Welcome all to the 10th Thread for this year's GCSE cohort - the Corona Cohort!

This is a thread for supporting all young people ( and their parents) who were examined for GCSEs 2020 regardless of the institute they attended or the grades they needed. It is respectfully requested that we are all supportive and helpful to each other.
If you want to start a debate e.g state vs private - please do not within this thread.
Similarly it should be recognised that the grades our children needed/deserved/wanted will vary across the board- we wish to celebrate and comiserate with all. One same grade outcome can simultaneously cause joy and despair for different posters and their families. Please be sensitive when responding to threads about grade outcomes.

Some of us have been here since I started first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. It is hoped this will continue. Going forward we intend to stay on the Secondary Education Board (at least until Mumsnet HQ chuck us out grin ) as from now on our DS/DD may go down various paths such employment, apprenticeships, higher ed etc so we decided not to be exclusionary.

Any new threads should have 'GCSE Summer 2020 Thread # : Carry on Corona Cohort' in title just to make it easier to find. There is no preciousness about who starts new threads!

At this precise moment in time it us 'results day ' most have GCSE results and some awaiting BTEC results .

We are all ALWAYS trying to protect our young people's mental health, which the government claims is their priority...when they talk about wanting students back in schools/college in September popping this here.

previous thread

No T-shirt’s just seems cruel. I used to wear them for work in a profession that took me into very formal settings. No slogan tees would surely be fairer?

I suspect the girls could get away with a smartish T shirt, particularly if worn under a jacket or cardigan. For boys (based on checking out the sixth form prospectus) it looks like their top very much has to have a collar. Incidentally this sort-of matches the staff dress code, where men are expected to wear a suit or a shirt and tie with tailored trousers, whereas women are not required to wear a suit but must have an outfit that is a similar level of smartness.

TBH having now been shopping with DS, it was more or less like buying school uniform with a slightly wider range of colours. Suspect it would be more complicated for a girl (Year 10 DD has already huffed at the sixth form dress rules when DS read them out).

Ds needs to wear suits in his 6th form. Of course he has one that he wore once last year for a thing and it’s now too small

I was hoping to just get away with one but he is insistent on having two. But overall probably cheaper than buying multiple new casual outfits.

Lovely comms from new school today explaining the first day and what would happen. Yay!

I have 35 pages to work through that just arrived ! Need more clothes so can have fresh each day then bring home to wash at weekend as think getting used to washing own clothes bit much with everything else to get to grips with. Need ziplock bags, tissues, hand gel , water bottles. Bag big enough to lug it all home on Friday now the washing coming home and not sure have quite enough masks. Feeling a touch stressed so leaving it for tonight and starting afresh tomorrow,

DD's school has specified all pupils need their own hand gel to be carried at all times and it must not contain any alcohol (fire risk in labs). After a search of all retail outlets I can confirm that Wilko is the place to go.

Our guidance is that hand-gel must be over 60% alcohol to be effective which backs up what I had previously read. Is this incorrect then?

The 6th form suit for girls is a nightmare if they are a non standard size. School says jacket must be of the same fabric as the skirt/trousers/dress worn with it and the shirt must have a collar. Subsequent to buying some mandarin collared shirts and a suit with a long edge to edge jacket it turns out that the jacket must be a blazer and the shirts must have a men's shirt style collar (none of which was specified in the uniform policy) also the shirts must be pastel - again not specified - so the bright red and black ones that suit DD need to be relegated to weekend wear (ie waste of money/charity shop).

I used to be a partner in a City firm and the dress code was not only less formal but also much more clearly drawn up......

@Londonmummy66 - I agree. In most work places the business wear required is less formal than what the sixth forms require. It is very restrictive and very hard to comply with if you want your child to have clothes that fit properly.
I am currently struggling to find a shirt for a 16-year old that is not a school uniform shirt, does not have any logo, is not an oxford collar with buttons, fits, costs less than £30 for one shirt...

[quote Jamdemic]@Londonmummy66 - I agree. In most work places the business wear required is less formal than what the sixth forms require. It is very restrictive and very hard to comply with if you want your child to have clothes that fit properly.
I am currently struggling to find a shirt for a 16-year old that is not a school uniform shirt, does not have any logo, is not an oxford collar with buttons, fits, costs less than £30 for one shirt...[/quote]
@londonmummy66. Charles Tyrwitt still have quite a lot of short sun their clearance section for £19. My son wears these for school shirts. Lovely cotton and the non iron really work - just hang them up damp having taken them straight out of the machine (or do a quick rinse if you have forgotten to take them out for a whole afternoon. Ahem. As never happens to me. Honestly )

Sorry / meant to add

www.ctshirts.com/uk/clearance-mens-shirts/

@Revengeofthepangolins - thanks for the tip, I'll take a look.

It might sound feeble of me to be stressing about shirts, but I think the endless orders and returns of the actual suit jackets and trousers to and from Next has tipped me over the edge.

@FoolsAssassin - DD's school is asking for pupils to have their own non-alcohol bases sanitiser for personal use in addition to what the school will provide (soap and water and hand sanitiser stations). They don't want alcohol based sanitiser near the labs.

I guess it's H&S assessment of fire risk. DS1 (aspiring Chemist) says it's unlikely an alcohol based sanitizer would burn but if you look on the label it does carry a flammable warning.

@Jamdemic - I hear you on the endless Next returns of suits. We gave up in the end and got a trouser suit from Mango. I think DD got one of her shirts from there or maybe it was H&M?

The business attire has been a faff but DD looks gorgeous in it and is very pleased we have she looks.

Having just taken six pairs of men's shoes back to M&S, I can relate to the returns horror of teenage boys.

I think it will take weeks for the Next returns to be sorted, if they make it back at all. Huge bags and teeny tiny returns labels.

And still DS has a suit jacket that is too tight across the shoulders but too long in the arms... And I will still have to take up the trousers by hand because the short trousers are too short and the regular trousers too long.

Normal school uniform was far easier and at least I knew it would wash well and be sturdy. Wouldn't just a special sixth form tie with normal uniform have sufficed?

Both the secondary schools I attended (private and state) had no uniform in the sixth form. It was nice, we looked fine.

I am very glad there is no dress code at all for DS in the 6th form (or indeed for any state schools at least round here). Much easier

Two of the state school sixth forms I know of in my own not-huge town have this ultra-restricted business wear (but no checked shirt, no striped shirts etc like in real life business)

I am really surprised about all the sixth form clothing shenanigans- all the school sixth forms near us have uniforms! I grumbled about the cost for DD (everything has logos so you can’t buy generic stuff) but at least it was straightforward!

Uniform here too, which surprised me but it’s definitely easier than business wear, specially for girls. I think my preference would be normal clothes but uniform has been relatively easy to get, apart from skirt of a suitably short length!

Supermarkets are good for shirts, got some from Asda and Sainsbury's when DS1 was working in office for gap year.

Non alcohol hand sanitizer is pointless imo. All the bulk hand sanitizer we have ordered at school is 70% alcohol. But I think science practicals will be much restricted this year.

@FoolsAssassin I would go with whatever the school tells you to do re hand sanitisers.

Before lockdown the government advice was to use ones with at least 60% alcohol in line with WHO recommendations. The government changed this advice (definitetly in England, not sure about the devolved nations) although the change wasn't widely advertised. I think the alcohol based ones are effective with only about 20-30 seconds of rubbing while the non alcohol ones take quite a bit longer. But the alcohol based ones have possible safety issues (eg more flammable) and some insurers stipulated only soap and water or non-alcohol sanitisers in some settings. If you trust the school I'd just do whatever they say. If my children get told to go back in full hamzat gear that is what they'll be doing. And they have strict instructions to do whatever the teacher tells them to do no matter how annoying they find it. I need them to go back. And stay back.

PS: Just to clarify - I am actually not in hand sanitisers but the alcohol v non-alcohol issue came up at work a couple of months ago.

My DD is opting to wear business casual (the school allows most except jeans, trainers and crop tops now, She has just bought this jacket
www.zalando.co.uk/vero-moda-vmkhloe-jacket-faux-leather-jacket-black-ve121g0od-q11.html?wmc=CRM44_TMS_EN.ONL_MIX_NMT_TM010_010_200826.&psp=M-900-017-20000-1&cd084=img_item&cd085=a2b1d5df-095c-4788-b0c2-446666adbf83&wt_cd=3fee1bd5deac96f94bb9e7ef574c248b&wt_t=1598403166&tm_hem=b77d17cdc597ae50b1094dd0ef9ac2b3&tm_label=sub-uuid%3Da2b1d5df-095c-4788-b0c2-446666adbf83%26t-uuid%3D9a1cee64-e309-4574-b2c3-0c118add9e71
and it looks great with a shirt skirt, tights and a jumper or blouse. She has
www.missselfridge.com/en/msuk/product/clothing-299047/coats-jackets-299068/pink-boucle-military-blazer-9527853
this one for formal occassions at school.
Managed to get both in the sales (which are everyone online) :-)

That’s really interesting Horace, thanks. I could see how Sandy’s school would say they are a potential fire hazard but was wondering what use the non alcohol ones would be as hadn’t heard any update on the 60% alcohol advice from the start. I’m definitely doing what college are saying as do trust them and like you want DS back, with the best chances of staying that way for as long as possible.

We have draft timetables for full time, one and two days a week and they have been adding cameras to rooms to help those who may have to self isolate. Given previous school pretty much totally cut year 11 adrift I find it very reassuring. Job of the day is make sure he has 5 pairs of jeans, t shirts and hoodies so no washing during the week is needed and a big bag to bring it all back to wash at weekends.

@Zebracat pink blazer was from H&M x