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

Proggy

You’d love my Covid-repelling classroom - all windows open, door wedged open to playground, children in hoodies and furry Womble gilets and me toasty warm in my t shirt!

See I thought I didn't like Spa Days but it turns out I just dislike beauty treatments and massages etc. I do love floating around in big warm bath like affairs and lovely warm steam rooms

@ealingwestmum ‘Tis the only way

All those in favour say aye....
Raise your hands like good students aka ChristopherTracy.

Aye!
6th form all sent home for isolation. Only 1 student positive but seems PHE instructed.

I cannot be seen anywhere in a swimsuit, dressing gown or with no make up on...

@Piggywaspushed

I cannot be seen anywhere in a swimsuit, dressing gown or with no make up on...

The joy of just appearing on mumsnet!

I always maintained I didn't like spas. Then my lovely mate won a free day for two at a very, very naice spa and invited me along. Turns out that I DO like super-premium spas with swanky lunches, wallowing in multiple hydro-pools in lovely settings and lots of freebies ;-)

Andwhenyougetthere aren't things always more enjoyable when they are free too!!

nope sorry, none of you have convinced me to like spas. As my name suggests I am not petit and likely to be seen swagging around in a swimsuit near you anytime soon (and no one looks good in a dressing gown).
I love the idea of a head massage though, so perhaps that would do with a nice lunch thrown in (also not keen on bubbles).
I'm basically an old fashion tomboy, who likes hockey, Peroni, and a good old chuckle with friends.
Wouldn't been seen outiside the house without lippy and mascara on though.

Yep, that sounds like my kind of social ideal too Heifer

I thought I didnt like them as I had only been to UK ones and felt slightly judged. Then I started travelling for work and the ones abroad in posh hotels are nothing like that.

The older I get the more I like being treated like a queen, even if it is just for an hour.

Poor DD is having to isolate - I started coughing on Friday, managed to get a test on Saturday and despite being told results would take 48hrs nothing yet.

So whole family locked down - and if it is covid, I really don't see how I've caught it. The only place I go is the supermarket - and I'm in and out of there really quickly!!

DD is able to join some lessons on Teams, but it's not the same as the whole class being online. For a start, the laptop mike doesn't pick up any class discussion and she can only hear the teacher when they remember not to move around. She is supposed to be going on a geog field trip on Saturday...

DS is supposed to be moving into uni accommodation next Monday, so if I don't get my result, or it does turn out to be positive, that will be out the window too...

@Seeline did you post your test? Ds's took almost a week via post. If you went somewhere should be quicker.

It was a drive through. I even opted to have a staff member do it, rather than trying myself as I didn't want to risk a void test. It's so frustrating - we've all kept to the rules and beyond since this whole thing started...

Hoping it’s negative Seeline, and that you also feel better soon. You being conscious of the domino effect on the wider family can’t help either

Sorry to hear that @Seeline. I had to take a test a couple of weeks back as I developed a cough. I did the test Thursday evening, we all isolated Friday, then I got a negative result on Saturday morning. I still have the cough though! Fingers crossed for you!

Thanks all - I feel fine. Annoying cough, but that's it. Which makes everything seem even worse

Catching up...again - life seems to have taken over recently, so apologies for not being around as much as I’d like.

Glad to hear things are looking more positive, Fools. I hope coming home for half term doesn’t set him back. 🤞🏻

Sorry to hear about test stresses, Seeline. Hopefully, you’ll get the results soon and everything will be fine. How will you get the result?

Not really enjoying home life with DD at the moment.
Following her “sesh” the other weekend, she seems to be involved with a boy in her year. I say “involved” because she refuses to say they’re seeing each other, but she’s got a photo of him as her phone home screen and she came home wearing his hoodie yesterday.
The issue isn’t that she’s seeing him, but the fact that he’s seemingly had quite a few girlfriends and is very...forward, while DD hasn’t had a boyfriend and is really quite naive and definitely not street smart.
Ever since she got involved with him, DD has been vile at home, refusing to do anything she’s asked, shutting herself in her bedroom for hours on end, glued to her phone and screaming at us if we try to talk to her.
We had virtual parents evening last week and it was surprisingly positive - head of 6th form said what a pleasure it was to have DD at the school and how well she’d settled in, her subject teachers seem happy with how things are going, and she’s made nice friends.
DD was noticeably more confident when talking to them online (during lockdown, she hated the live online lessons).

We’re in local lockdown, so no chance of her seeing this boy outside of school, but he’s in all but one of her classes and her youth theatre group at the weekend, and she’s spending every minute at home messaging him.

We’ve had to insist on taking her phone away while she’s doing school work, but I’m wondering if that’s too controlling? I keep reminding myself that’s she’s 17 in a few weeks.
It feels like we’ve hit the terrible teens, just as I’m battling with my own diminishing hormones!

Hang in there Piccolo. The good news is that her school work is going well, she’s made the transition to new school successfully and it’s showing in her newfound confidence!

It’s her first boy interest; it’s going to be novel. I have no idea what is with the trophy hoodie (we went through that in summer) but pick your battles. I know it can be upsetting to hear if the other party seems more, ahem, advanced, but it’s often what the attraction is, and doesn’t always correlate to them being all bad. And these new interests can fizzle out just as quickly!

Cant advise on the phone, it’s very much a personal thing. I take DD’s phone during week at night, but mainly now because it’s relentless in its pings and she needs to sleep. If it’s hindering her work, then possibly, but as you say they are getting older so asking her to perhaps leave it for 45 mins and check in her study break (or whatever her work patterns are) may be a be a more compromising outcome? We are all tested for sure; you are not alone

I've not taken dd's phone off her since she was about 12, maybe 13. She's learned herself that it's distracting and she's developed the ability to get on with work and manage the phone use alongside it. That seems to mean for her, one night she might work solidly for four hours and just check her messages at 10pm and another night she'll have a 'night off' and spend all evening messing around on it. That's the work approach that seems to suit her.

I think that's the best approach, especially now that they're nearing adulthood. Having said that @Alsoplayspiccolo I know your dd has particular difficulties which may need a different approach.

But it's early days in sixth form, if she starts to get distracted by phone/boy and her grades take a dive, she's old enough to put two and two together and hopefully learn from it. I think that's better than increasing the tension at home!

Sorry to hear she's unpleasant at home though... Hopefully it will be a temporary phase. I wonder if the 'relationship' is all that healthy/good for her if it's having that result? Or is it just that she can't bear to tear herself away to speak to the rest of the family? Fingers crossed it passes soon!

crazy, your comment about whether the relationship is good for her is exactly what’s worrying me. You’d think DD would be walking on air, high on endorphins/oxytocin, but she’s not...at least, not at home.
This boy is smart, confident (read:cocky) and seems fully in control of the situation, whereas DD is very trusting, not emotionally mature and easily led.

Regarding the phone, she has no mind’s eye (typical ADHD), so no ability to imagine what might happen as a consequence of actions/non-actions, and school work will never be as stimulating or gratifying as her phone. Because it has such a high cache, it’s become the negotiating tool on our side, for better or worse.

Ealing, you make a good point about the positives of the current situation - DD is really pleased she changed schools, and has slotted in well. I am worried that studying is very much secondary to her social life; she’s definitely not doing 2 hours work a night, and no extra curricular stuff, other than drama...with the boy.
Because her cohort never got to go through the stress of sitting exams in the summer, I’m conscious that DD in particular has no idea how much work she needs to be doing throughout the next 2 years - she and her peers were very much looked after/spoon fed at her old school, and of course A levels are a whole other ball game to GCSEs.

We’re trying to find some kind of compromise between her and us, so that her free time really is hers to do what she pleases with, once she’s done anything she needs to do, but she’s resisting so far.

@Alsoplayspiccolo maybe the current restrictions are a good thing for her, in the circumstances. If it’s an unhealthy relationship, there’s less scope for damage to be done? Hopefully the school will be giving them lots of assessments etc to check progress so she should begin to see if she’s slipping behind? Even if she can’t foresee the consequences now, you’d hope she might be able to work out what’s going on if her grades do plummet? I know dd has suddenly been set lots of tests and essays and the scale of the task at hand is sinking in. In Psychology, most of the class got Ds and Es in their first assessment!

I understand your concerns about lack of exam experience. They’ll do tests and exams throughout the year though.

If you want her to open up about the boy, maybe a car journey would help?

Negative! Text just arrived.

DD is not happy about returning to school tomorrow as it's PE day

We can now get back to our lives.

@Alsoplayspiccolo Has your DD had any assessments yet? My DD is having half term tests ATM ahead of their half term grade reports. I think she is a bit taken aback by how much stuff there is to learn already after only 5 weeks. That may focus your DD a little.