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

@Oblomov20 he sounds very mature in his attitude. And he’s right, his results are good enough, very good in fact. Having five at the old A/A* grades is excellent and he won’t be held back from anything (except maybe medicine but I assume that wasn’t on the cards?!). I know injustice is hard to take but it really is best to move on in this case. He will hopefully have a better attitude to work in the sixth form.

We’re having a shoe nightmare too. Sent one pair back already, ordered some from Next last week which were supposed to arrive on Monday but didn’t and we went on holiday on Tuesday. They’re still showing as not dispatched, I sent an email which will be looked at in four working days so it’s not looking like they’ll arrive in time. So now we have to go shopping on our way back from holiday. I hate school shoe shopping. Dd has wide feet and particular fashion taste. At her old school she got away with wearing leather converse and then last year and pair of black Puma platform trainers! But she’s going to a new school with uniform and doesn’t know how strict they will be!

@Oblomov20 I feel your frustration too. It’s awful the way they worked out results. My dd was marked down whilst others were marked up. As @NotAKaren has said it’s infuriating hearing others laughing about being up graded.

I too raised my concerns with form tutor and English teacher to be told if not happy can re-sit. DD has passed and is all ready for the next stage in education. She won’t be resitting anything. She disappointed but is determined to do well in a-levels to prove to herself she can do really well.

Regarding shoes we’re not allowed trainer type shoes. Fingers crossed we did something today. DD had brouges style in yr 10, but not keen on those again.

I think Oblomov that looking back you may decide that the whole fiasco was a turning point for DS and that a lot of good came out if it. He sounds really mature about it which is great. I hate unfairness and totally get how you feel, I have issues about DS’s history but am trying my best not to go there. He is cracking news with his bridging work before term. A few threads ago he was t doing much so that’s quite a big win?

Once term has started it may feel easier to leave it behind as the GCSE results start feeling really irrelevant extremely quickly which is very annoying given how much angst we all expend over them.

I am laughing a lot at Proggy and DD’s bits 😂

Some more light hearted humour I have just seen on another thread :

The Wearing of Face masks in a school setting... thoughts from a teacher who has survived the Bottle Flip, The Dab, Skirt Rolling,Fidget Spinners, Yawn Raping, Tie Peanuts..

1. Someone's mother, probably Flossie's, will pimp the mask. It will be a sea of rhinestones and sequins and every girl under 10 will want one and refuse to wear a 'boring' one and teachers and parents will cry. Then they all won't wear them.
2. Someone will have a designer posh mask with a Hype label or some nonsense. They will all then want one and will drive their parents mental saying they can't possibly go to school with a homemade mask or even a proper clinical mask. These overpriced, clinically useless masks will sell out but few will get them and then there will be tantrums and they won't wear them.
3. Girls aged 13 and above will notice they give you spots and then they won't wear them.

4 The same girls will also need a new mask every 10 mins as it gets caked in their foundation and this is a faff so they won't wear them.

1. The same girls will take 1000 selfies wearing the mask, hate it, hate themselves, roll it down a bit like their skirts so it becomes totally ineffective and then they won't wear them
2. Twanging the Mask (the new peanutting) will be great fun. Mostly for the boys who will twang the mask and shout CORONA at the top of their voices. They will do this to Flossie and rhinestones and sequins will be all over the classroom. She will cry, they will all get twanging friction burns and then they won't wear them.
3. They wll draw penises on them. Anatomically quite accurate but hugely inappropriate and then we will have to confiscate them and tell them not to wear them.
4. They will own a mask which they will wear on arrival at school and when reminded 1 million times by their teachers - that same mask will be left screwed up in their bags the minute the school day is over because they won't be seen dead outside the school wearing them.
5. They will wear the mask at school when reminded 1 million times by their teachers, but once they start getting changed for PE, that mask and where it ends up is anyone's guess. And the chances of the same mask returning to its original owner after is 0%. So they won't wear them.

10. They will wear their masks at break and lunch time when reminded 1 million times by their teachers, canteen staff and Mid-Day assistants. Someone will try to eat whilst still wearing the mask and end up with bolognese sauce all down the mask whereupon the other kids will take the micky forever more. So no one will wear the masks at break or lunch time

I feel your pain about the wide feet (full disclosure : I was born with six toes...). I have wide stupid feet. DS 1 has inherited this (not the 6 toes!). His hands and feet are literally like shovels. He used to play football and only Adidas and Puma were wide enough. DS2 has narrow bony feet. They are very different in shape, my two boys!

We have more information about how Y12 is going to work - 50% in school, 50% on Teams. Not sure how that will work, but our internet connection is OK, so should be alright.

Like others, concerned about the discouragement to socialise, which is difficult when changing school. They do not want people using the common room, only stay in for lunch time if you have lessons both before and after, don't hang around before or after lessons. All a bit difficult in a new place.

@Monkey2001is that a school or college? It seems really hard on students trying to settle into a new place to be actively discouraged from socialising. We haven’t had any Covid-related information from DD’s new school at all yet. But as it’s a school where they have supervised study for half their frees and quite strict rules about the other half, i think they’d be reluctant to let them loose when they’ve not got lessons.

...Stops pimping Flossie’s mask...
@FoolsAssassin That’s hilarious and so accurate!
I’ve showed DD and she was nodding and laughing at each point

Proggy, how very 2020 of you.

I have my moments Fools

DD has a nice suit from Dorothy Perkins - you can buy it as separates, if your DD is different size top and bottom.
She's also chosen burgundy patent chunky loafers from M&S £30.

DD has these black brogues from Clarks

www.clarks.co.uk/c/Hamble-Oak/p/20346713

She had a very similar pair from John Lewis last year but the Clarks ones are cheaper.

And this trouser suit from Mango

shop.mango.com/gb/women/jackets-blazers/structured-suit-blazer_77040108.html?c=99

Been reading through all the email letters that DD's 6th form have sent through. They don't have to wear masks but can if they like in communal areas but they have to be a solid colour, no patterns. DD's are all floral or with birds on etc so yet again dictating what they should wear.
Re read the clothes rules and it's fitted trousers so no smart culottes which DD has and dresses and skirts that re knee length. DD is tall so her dresses are above the knee but still smart and elegant so think she'll try them with tights a few weeks in. Hair tied back and earrings 3mm stud sized only and only one. So strict and not conducive to a teenager being autonomous with their own look.

Honestly, I find these dress restrictions bizarre. What is it preparation for? Not university, nor many jobs these days.

It's a bit annoying but once organised it's a lot more straightforward to have a clear dress code than having to worry about what to wear everyday. I also think that looking smart for school / work helps with focus.

I know in the dark days of lockdown when I slobbed in tracksuit trousers my productivity dropped. Obviously I don't t wear a suit to work at home but I do work better when I've smartened up a bit.

I agree - when did sixth form become like this?
Did it start in the private sector and aspirational state schools copied? The private schools I knew when I was a teenager all had 'wear your clothes within reason', as did my high-achieving state school.
In 2 years time they will spending 3 years in the most casual of clothes (or more if they are doing a long degree).
With the government starting to get us ready for the likelihood of another national lockdown, and the DC being at home for 2 weeks at a time if just 1 or 2 people get a positive test, I am worried I have spent several hundred pounds for nothing.
Surely this would be the year to let the DC wear what they want.

DH is currently conducting the 5 x jeans, t shirt, hoodies, pants and sock evaluation with DS. He tried to cheat and say he thought we should order new t shirts but I sent him back to try again as was pretty sure DS has loads.

Door just fine, hopefully it is jeans order just arrived.

3. Girls aged 13 and above will notice they give you spots and then they won't wear them.

On the contrary, DD is quite keen to wear a mask as it will cover her acne (she doesn't have acne, she has 2 tiny spots that you can hardly see ...)

at the face mask wearing thoughts. No.9 will be the issue with DS and his various sports. Been extensively trialled with water bottles.

DD warming back up to the idea of sixth form now she’s settled on her subjects and wants to go shopping next week. It’s her birthday on Wednesday so I’ll wait until after that as hopefully she’ll have birthday money of her own to spend rather than mine 😂

Her sixth form has no dress code, even in lower school although there was a uniform you could wear black jeans and trainers with it, no problems with the nose piercing and dip dye pink hair she sported prior to lockdown 🤦🏼‍♀️.

I had to spend a fortune in the hairdressers getting DDs hair colour sorted. The semi-permanent, lasts up to 20 washes, blue dye that went in at the early stages of lockdown had gone a very definite green and really wouldn't have gone down well at her new 6th form!!

She has induction on Wednesday, and starts properly on Thursday. Sounds as though the L6 and U6 are going to be kept separate from each other, but within the groups they can mix freely in common rooms etc. Masks need to be worn in corridors, toilets etc. Only request that masks have no offensive language or images on them

@Seeline - sounds very similar to DD's new school. We had a very clear communication this week about expectations for hair and that lockdown experiments should be corrected.

DS2 (at the same school) got sent home after getting a peaky blinders haircut. It was a pain to get it to an acceptable cut. It looked rubbish

DD has settled on 6th form college, and has been ordering text books and getting stuck into the transition tasks.
Timetable will be alternating weeks online with live teaching and on site, which means less travelling. Just waiting for the timetable to see when she needs to be in.

And, you may recall me asking about history - she can study her preferred era at college, and, bonus, her personal tutor is also the head of history!