Corona Cohort’s Year 12 adventures

[FoolsAssassin]

We’ve made it into year 12 and rapidly approaching the end of the first half term .

Lots of challenges we could never imagined as we started the year but we’re all keeping on keeping on and this thread is for anyone who would like to jump on board to share the rather unusual journey this is turning out to be.

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It really seems like the south is catching up! There’s a case in ds (year 10) Maths set today but they’ve only sent home boys who sat close to him. There have been a few cases in DD’s year 12 as well but again, she’s not yet been a close contact.

I grew up in London/Surrey suburbia - ill check with my sisters !

Not a hint about a parents evening or even a report here.

No cases reported in our school since the one before half term - it was a teacher apparently but that was it.

DD did her re-test today and thinks she got 100% as she studied and studied and remembered the questions so knew what to revise. She's now worried her teacher will think she cheated as she was left alone to do it. Her friend says the same as they studied together but she was in another room for her test. Not sure when she finds out but DH and I did laugh about her being worried about 100%

So sorry college are being crap with your DD Pasanda. A dyslexic dx would really help and will give her more time or even a scribe for exams. Not what you need on top of everything else.

No sign of a parents evening here but should get a report in the week before Christmas.

DS said two teachers returned to school today having had negative tests. No whole years out at the moment. We as a city are depressingly at the top of the COVID league.

I've just booked our parents eve next week. All very easy. Just put in ds's details and his teachers came up, I ticked the box for any time appointments and it put me 3 together. The only thing that is annoying is the fact one subject teacher wasn't available weds
and another not available thurs. so we had to have 3 appointments weds and one thurs.

I don't think we've had any cases at our school yet (Norfolk/Suffolk area) I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

We've had two 10 minute zoom chats with DD's form tutor and a set of grades at HT. we'll get another set of grades at the end of term and a parents evening in February (5 mins with each teacher online).

We've also just been told that weekly group sessions start next week to support with med, vet and dentistry applications. It will soon be time to start a medics thread for 2022 starters 😊

DS told me last night that his form teacher has told them we can't ask questions about their subjects as he won't be able to answer. I'm a bit confused as to what this five minute talk is actually for?

Parents eve in Feb for us and grade sheet in Jan. No idea when we get a proper report!

@sandybayley I am pleased for your DD that school is supporting med/vet/dentistry applications, but this thread is an eye opener for the different provision by different schools. DS1 had no support from school other than information in the newsletter and an opportunity to have a mock interview which ended up being the same day as a real interview, so he could not do it. Even good grammar schools can be useless as some give advice without actually knowing the latest admissions policies and systems. I don't know whether DS would have navigated his way successfully through the system without my support (and the support I got from mumsnet and TSR), makes me sad that it is all so unequal, particularly for the bright students whose parents do not have the ability or desire to hold their hands through the process.

@Monkey2001 - I agree, DD is very fortunate to have access to the support she is getting. It's a well resourced independent school but. Think you already know that.

DD's school does open up some of the support to local state schools which is a positive thing. Many independent schools are doing a lot of outreach with local state schools to share resources. Her school ran catch up classes to local a year 10s over the summer as an example and offers practice interviews for Year 13s.

It varies hugely doesn’t it. Was really surprised when friend was telling me her DD’s nursing application had to be in mid October. I did ask if she was absolutely sure as thought it was medicine but not nursing and the other allied health professions and she said yes it definitely was at the time, that’s what her DD’s tutor had said.

Then recently she said she thinks that was wrong. The good news is that her DD has had an interview and offer from preferred place so actually great that its done but might not have been the case. Hope they are better with the medics next year as DS’s friend there and applying.

@FoolsAssassin nursing applications don't need to be in early, but it is one of the subjects which interviews before making offers so I am sure it is helpful for them to have longer, and it could be that some universities request rather than require an early application.

It is different from usual for medics this year as they do not have the same volunteering and work experience opportunities they are expected to have in a normal year. @sandybayley has your DD managed to find any volunteering?

See what you are saying Monkey but she had been told the 15th or whatever it was was the cut off after which it would be a late application and hadn’t had much warning of this in advance,

I emailed school and suggested on line learning for last week of term to save teachers and kids isolating over Xmas. I think it would be sensible. Hoping rules change to 7 days and a negative test.

We will get reports at end of term I presume but have had nothing so far.

seeline that’s a lot of cases. gulp

First of all DD wanted to read Medicine. The Medicine or Vet Med. Then Medicine or Vet Med or BioMed Sciences. Today it’s Chemistry. Not instead of all the others, as well as. Make up your mind, girl...

@Monkey2001 - DD had a week shadowing a consultant (geriatrics) at our local hospital lined up in the summer but that's been postponed. Her godfather is a Psychiatrist so we're hoping to get a couple of days with him as well.

DD is quite musical and has performed at our local neurodisability hospital regularly and spent a lot of time with residents. Plus she's done brownie volunteering for a couple of years. She did do the online Brighton course over the summer as well.

@KingscoteStaff - I can tell you a lot about Chemistry applications if you need it

Report is in and all ok. Think the boarding has been a pain this week but home now and next week's a new week .

We received tracker from school on Thursday with a box showing grade for effort, predicted grade and estimated grade. A further box explaining said grades. There is not one personal comment and no mention of parents evenings.

All our report had was an effort level of either outstanding/very good/good and then two below that. No comments or any grades etc

We had predicted A level grade based on GCSE grades, predicted A level based on October assessment and target grade.

Breakdown of October assessment grades and comment from tutor who is also teacher of one of the subjects.

Dd has predicted grades from GCSEs all Bs exactly as her GCSEs we're predicted. There must be something in the system somewhere that calculates her as a solid B student. Except she got majority 7+ for GCSE. Even for Music she is predicted a B, they had assessed her composition and coursework which was already submitted before lockdown at GCSE level 9 and her last three mocks were great/so she ended up with a 9...just don't understand it.
Saying that a B grade leaves room for error and improvement. We have access to her assessment grades throughout the term and it calculates her predicted grade based on those. Sociology was an A now been downgraded to a B after an average of two assessments. Ideally she is looking for ABB with A in music. She is quite dow hearted at the moment after one music assessment where the whole class got a C/D. I hope she can find it within herself to recognise that all these predictions etc can be overturned.

In my school in my subjects virtually very child is indicated A*s and As (sometimes Bs) based on GCSE results and statistical modelling... this includes students who got majority 4s at GCSE. It drives me mad. There is aspirational and there is deluded!

It seems there is no consistency from school to school on this one.

DS hasn't had any target grades or predicted grades yet. What I do know is he is more able than anyone I teach sociology to. I bet he gets a target grade of a B! At least I'll know it's all a bit arbitrary.

He has started his dropping economics mantra again. Apparently the current Spanish stand in is staying.

No predictions or reports or parents evenings here! To be honest, it feels a little early to be predicting grades? At GCSE, until the end of year 10 exams we really had no idea what grades dd was looking at - and then these improved a lot by the Nov of year 11 mocks. So I would take grades now with a pinch of salt?

Definitely. This became the big problem with CAGs.

Unfortunately the school I work in is obsessed with data, as if that is actually the thing which is correct and any straying from it is some kind of teaching aberration!

Sigh.

I miss the Dep head who used to explain a target grade meant actually 30% of past students-nationally- with the same average profile got that grade...30% got one grade more, 30% one grade less and the rest were outliers in both directions! It is all the product of a target and accountability culture.

DS’s college is specialist and selective and I think they feel ok about setting target grades at this point as know from past data that their students do achieve what they predict.

The CAGs are obviously an issue but they always set entrance test and interview so have their entrance data which they can use on this cohort along with October assessments so I am taking more notice than I would if he were elsewhere if makes sense.

Our reports show target grades based on GCSEs. They were spot on for ds1. But ds2 says he will do better. We will have to wait and see.

It's Ds2's 17th birthday today. He's not got much to open as he was meant to have driving lessons. Obviously they've been cancelled. Possibly until next year. Ds1 has bought the car back from university and we've insured it today for ds2. Though we can't really go far as we are meant to be doing essential journeys only. We will probably just go up and down the drive and our quiet road a few times. But apparently ds's priority is to sleep most of the day today.