GCSE Summer 2020 - Thread 11 Carry on Corona Cohort - Starting New Terms and Settings

[OrangeCinnamon1]

Welcome all to the 11th Thread for this year's GCSE cohort - The Corona Cohort!

This is a thread for supporting all young people post GCSEs regardless of the institute they attend 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 don't within this thread.

Similarly it should be recognised that the grades our children need/deserve/want will vary across the board. One same grade outcome can simultaneously cause Joy and Despair for different posters. Please be sensitive when responding to threads about grades.

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 any new threads should have 'GCSE Summer 2020 Thread # : Carry on Corona Cohort' in title just to make it easier to find. Not fussy about who starts those !

From now on our DS/DD may go down various paths such as employment, apprenticeships, higher ed, so we decided not to be exclusionary and stay right here in Secondary - at least until Mumsnet HQ chuck us out .

At this precise moment in time we have had GCSE results . It has been decided that the higher of Centre Assesd Grades and Calculated Grades will be awarded - the algorithim seems to have been applied a schol level to the detriment of some students. Lots of our young people have already started on the next stage of their journey with some still to start.

We are all STILL trying to protect our young people's mental health, which the government claimed was their priority...when they talk about wanting students back in schools/college in September...now we have their physical health to consider too as the mingling at various settings starts up again. Hopefully a positive experience this term!

First Thread

previous thread

Congrats for getting the grade changed andthe 4th Alevel dropped- that is very good news!

Seems the dyslexic kids are being allowed to drop now, all others til half term.

Justherewithpopcorn Brilliant and fair outcome. Congratulations!

Well DS managed 8 days of school before the email of doom aka year 12 and 13 can’t come back to school until Monday 28th. And he was about to go to his girlfriends house.

They’ll be having zoom lessons and he said he’s going to work out a lot

The confirmed case is in his maths class but I am going to try and remain optimistic that DS will be all right.

It is frustrating as he’s really been enjoying 6th form so far. But it is what it is

Just dropping by, I haven't posted for a couple of weeks. Sorry about the email of doom Miranda - I think that's going to be happening to a lot of us. My year 10 DD has been doing a refresher on Teams at school this week to be prepared, just in case.

DS seems to have hit the ground running in 6th form (stayed at the same school). However transport is proving to be more of a challenge, he had transport in his EHCP till year 11 but you don't automatically get it for 6th form so we are doing a mixture of public transport and lifts but it's time consuming, tricky and sometimes stressful (all trains home were cancelled on the first day back so I had a long round trip to fetch him). Still, it's the weekend now.

Hi everyone. Haven’t been around much this week but great to read up on how the DC are getting on. Good news on the dropping of 4th subjects for those who wanted to, and on the revised grade for DS @JustHereWithMyPopcorn! Hope you manage to sort maths for DD, @pasanda - that sounds tough. @MirandaWest what a nightmare re the email of doom. I would love to get to half term at least with none of mine sent home but I fear that’s a forlorn hope....

Mixed bag to report here. Academically I think DS is fine and keeping on top of stuff, and he likes all his classmates and teachers bar one teacher he’s not as keen on.

On a less positive note he’s been under the weather all week - a heavy cold (though no covid symptoms thankfully) and then woke up this morning doubled over with stomach cramps and quite distressed, suspect it was anxiety related as this has happened on starting new schools before. He also had a nerve wracking experience at the station this week - stopped by police because they thought he looked dodgy It was a super hot afternoon and DS was flustered and overheated and probably quite wild eyed as he was very stressed and had run to the station - and one of his slightly bizarre ASD traits is that he won’t take jackets or jumpers off unless actively told to, even if sweating buckets - so I can totally imagine that, at over 6ft with wild eyes and dripping sweaty hair, he would have looked quite unnerving pacing around the platform. Thankfully all was fine once they spoke to him and realised he was just a stressed out student - thank God too that he is the kind of teen who would be polite and respectful to those in authority rather than cocky or rude! But it was a sobering reminder that tall teenaged boys (especially stressed and sweaty ones with awkward social skills!) will be seen by those in authority as “up to no good” even when they’re just waiting for the train.

I’m glad it’s Friday...

Great news for everyone needing to get their fourth grades dropped: this year with all the challenges that the winter is likely to throw at us, it really seems like a pragmatic decision. And great news on the grade change too, @JustHereWithMyPopcorn

Ds is happy as he had a test to confirm whether they could stay in maths A level and he passed with flying colours - it's given him a real boost :-) I do love his 'gang' too: one of them has introduced him to an online revision flashcard tool which medical student used, and he's apparently added over 50 flashcards for psychology already :-) You can add in sentences with gaps or questions etc. DS says its lucky in terms of the look and interface but he likes the functionality and all the stats it throws out: Anki is anyone is interested :-)

@FlyingPandas: ds is the same in terms of heat regulation (also ASD) - I hadn't realised it was an ASD thing until I learn about it a few years ago, that 'loopback' to tell him he is hot/cold/hungry/needs the loo just doesn't work brilliantly. I hope your ds wasn't too shook up - that's the sort of thing that mine would be utterly thrown by :-(

Aww no sorry to hear about emails of doom ! Great to hear about 4th A level dropping though.

How do we think the current situation will change our young ones. I remember this age being so formative in terms of just maturing...having more freedom...getting a job etc.

Dd doesn't like change. I'm hoping that she will be more accepting and agile once this Covid stuff is over.
She does seem a bit nicer to me too...that could have been six months without school stress. We are all total homebodies now aswell much closer as a family.

She is quite protective and worried about her Nan, absolute love, it is so sweet.

All the kids are doing so well really . I couldn't imagine how I'd cope with all this uncertainty at their age.

My goodness @FlyingPandas that’s worrying about the police stop, so he was just waiting for a train looking a bit sweaty and stressed? I think we’ve all been there quite frankly and I wouldn’t like the police having a chat with me about it!

Sorry to hear about poorly DCs, my eldest (a level) one is fine so far and quite enjoying his courses, only one slightly not great teacher so far, which he can cope with. His younger brother has come down with a sore throat and a snotty nose over the past couple of days, temperature is up but not at worrying levels, hopefully a nice quiet weekend will set him right.

Hope everyone has a nice restful weekend - who knows what next week is going to throw at us!

FlyingPandas aw your poor DS. How terrifying for him. Had the station staff called the police or did they just happen to be there for another reason? Your height as a teenager can really affect how people perceive you. My DD's friend isn't quite 5ft and gets mistaken for much younger whereas your DS being so tall had a different experience and mistaken for an adult in this situation esp out of uniform now in 6th form.

That's really worrying for your DS Flying - hope he wasn't too shaken up by the encounter.

I agree totally that teenage boys are so often treated with suspicion, just for being really.

We had an incident in lockdown where DH was relocating the cable that goes through the wall to the outside broadband box. DS was stood outside our front window looking at his phone, in bare feet, in broad daylight in the middle of the afternoon whilst waiting for DH to thread the cable through. A passerby stopped and demanded to know what he was doing and then insisted on knocking on the door and getting DH to corroborate his story on the basis that you couldn't be too careful. As DS said at the time, it's highly unlikely that I (middle aged woman) or DD (petite 14 year old girl) would have been similarly cross examined if we'd been doing the same thing. (DS also pointed out that if he'd been a housebreaker he'd be a pretty useless one to have been standing aimlessly outside in the middle of the day without any shoes on)

Thanks everyone. Yep, just sweaty and waiting for the train. Police were already at the station when he got there - not sure if it was a random check, or whether they’d been called earlier for some reason. Definitely think teen boys are a general target @RedskyAtnight your story is another classic case in point! DS was quite agitated when he got home but it sounds as if they dealt with him quite kindly and luckily he had karate that night which really helped him calm down.

@OrangeCinnamon1 oh gosh I’m not sure what the long term effect of all this on dc will be. I am hoping the positives might be increased resilience, tolerance for change and consideration for others. I do worry about their normal human and emotional development in the light of having to maintain social distance - for this entire generation of kids, not just the teens. For example I’m watching tv programmes recorded before covid and find myself wincing when people hug or shake hands - instinctive reaction is already “eek no, don’t touch, keep 2m apart!” We’re becoming so conditioned that being close to people is “wrong” in some way because of the need to social distance - and if I’m reacting like that what’s it going to do to impressionable youngsters who will swiftly forget what was once normal and healthy? Especially if, like many of our DC on here, they are on the autistic spectrum and struggle with “normal” anyway? I do wonder how it’s going to impact young people’s ability to develop normal, healthy relationships (by which I mean any human relationship-not just romantic).

Strange times we are living in for sure.

All quite on the Western Front here since our email of doom. seems to have been an isolated case, although DS says a lot of his sociology class were off this week awaiting tests...

Must admit we swerved the indoor football match this week! Seemed a risk too far!! Not sure his team knew they were only allowed for the first time on Thursday!

Uh oh. Positive staff case in my school.

My department...

The Facebook group WIWiKAU (what I wish I knew about university) now has a website with forums on specific universities and pre- university questions /
www.wiwikau.co.uk

Oh Piggy, that’s not good. Are you totally recovered from March? I am pretty much permanently wheezing still from whatever I had.

Week 4 for DS, can’t believe 3 done already.

Thanks for the link Minstrel, that will be handy for a lot of us pretty soon.

I think so. I feel out of breath every so often but still don't know if I had it of course.

Sorry to hear that Piggy, hope your distancing methods were effective.

I hope so too! At the moment the decision is two teachers to SI, both senior members of the English department.

Oh @Piggywaspushed fingers crossed it’s only the two. My lungs still not back to normal after being ill in March. I wonder how many are the same. Its not bad enough to talk to dr about (again) but disturbing.

Dropped out for a bit as both DC having a few problems. Oldest (yr13) has had the period from hell for a week and a half and still ongoing. Is struggling to get to lessons due to flooding - not great when you're only 18 - I didn't get that sort of issue until 48. Has lots of support from house staff though so hopefully OK

New boarder DD has been calling me and being up beat and calling sibling saying she hates it. Eventually had to tell her that her cover was blown and it appears that she was overwhelmed by her IB timetable on top of all the CV19 restrictions meaning that she can't do the extra curricular things she was looking forward to. Also having been told she'd have her own room being put in a junior girls dorm of 4 as they are keeping each corridor one year group hasn't been great as she needs peace and quiet to work. She's now swapped to A levels and is finding it all more relaxed. We took her out for lunch today and bought her her GCSE present so she is more upbeat and looking forward to exeat at the weekend.

Fools so sorry to hear that DS is struggling a bit too - I think it takes some time to settle in and weeks 2-3 are often bad for homesickness. Hope he was a bit happier this weekend.

Sorry some of you are having problems with dropping subjects/getting subject taught/bubbles bursting. Hope it all resolves itself soonest.

Sorry to hear about your DDs @Londonmummy66 I hope your eldest gets things sorted if that continues to be a problem for her, periods are enough of a pain for 5 days let alone 10 heavy days, poor thing.

It seems from speaking to other friends that a lot of DCs are finding it hard at the moment away from home, whether that’s boarding schools or uni. All the usual things that make it exciting aren’t happening and they are finding themselves stuck in a room with little socialising and no nice things to look forward to. Such a horrible time for kids in so many ways.

Thank you @JustHereWithMyPopcorn DD1's housemistress is now on the case so I can't imagine the GP will know what has hit them if they don't sort her out. A tricky week as she was supposed to be recording stuff and having consultation lessons with conservatoire HoDs this week. DD2 is really in the adjustment phase from being the sole focus of attention at home to being one of 100 or so girls in house and one of the oldest so less likely to get attention. Will no doubt do her good in the long run but having corners rubbed off is never a pain free experience.

At least next weekend is exeat so they'll both some TLC and home cooking...