Corona Cohort - Year 12 - 2021 - NO 'Self isolating' please.

[Oblomov20]

We just want our kids in school. Please. If at all possible.

And driving lessons. And good Mental Health. And happiness.

In-and-amongst all this Covid nightmare and lockdown debacle.

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I think looking at prospectuses are a great way of getting a feel for a uni. Obviously the details of a specific course can change from year to year, but much will be the same. My DD did several online open days last summer after having looked at a variety of prospectuses - they helped her rule several out.

It's fun getting them in the post too!!

I'm very jealous of those of you who have had parent's evenings, still no mention of them here. My DS2 hasn't had one at all since he started secondary, he's year 8 now, and still no mention of that either.

Yes no parents evening here either or predicted grades which makes it tricky - I am hoping for ABB but will have to recalibrate if they say CCC!

No predicted grades for DD as yet, only ‘attainment’ grades.
I think she’ll receive a ‘full written’ report in Feb so they may appear then.
We have another parents evening in June after end of year exams so it may well be at that point the ‘predicted’ grades appear.

I really didn't like ds's online parents evening. I can pick up far more information by seeing each teacher in real life. I can gauge the the body language & relationship better . I can tell whether they're warm towards him & they like/dislike him. 5 mins just doesn't give me enough time to ask questions or interact. Its enough time to give a very factual brusque report on the state of play. But not when there's grey area involved. Especially when you have kids with dyslexia & other issues.
For the straight forward hard working A student ( which many are on here I suspect !) Or the very poor students it's fine but for the ones inbetween no.

Dd's school have decided to postpone theirs until summer, in the hope they can do a live one instead. That sounds better to me.

I think you’re right @teta. DD’s was fine as she’s one of those able, generally hard working students. I don’t think 5 minutes will suffice when it comes to Ds.

I have to do Google Meet Parents’ Eve for my Year 6 next week. I fear that most of them will just spend the whole 5 mins moaning about Home Learning...

No grades or parents evening here yet either - I think possibly Feb as DS has done timed assessments in all subjects.

I agree with that @teta although at this point I’d be grateful for any kind of comms with the teachers.

We only ever get 5 min appointments when F2F. They always make it clear that if you have more detailed queries or concerns to contact the teacher direct for an appointment outside of the parent's evening set up.

Can I join. Son ye 12 at sixth form but just failed his gcse retake :(

Having said I liked DS’s I don’t think it would have worked with DD and we did get 10mins with one subject. But am grateful we have had something, I think there is another in March.

After being set on going to university for the past year or so ds has decided he doesn't want to go now. He says there's no point doing a history degree as it doesn't lead to any good jobs. He wants to do a degree apprenticeship instead. I have tried explaining there may not be many apprenticeships and there will be lots of applicants for those there are. But he's not listening. I suggested going to a university open day as soon as they are having them. I suggested looking round UEA as it's our nearest one, just to get the feel of it. No point apparently. I'm not going to say anymore. Perhaps when they eventually get back to school it will be discussed.

I think 5 minutes F2F per teacher at GCSE level parents evenings is standard?
Along with joining queues in order to speak to your next subject teacher and then finding you’ve actually been there for a couple of hours, if you’re not good at ignoring the ‘unwritten rules’ of queues
We had 5 minutes per teacher at DDs but she has more than one teacher per subject.
I felt like a ‘fly in the wall’ as the conversations were between DD and her teachers but on reflection given she’s now 17, I feel that was correct.
@icanbewhatiwant
My DDs chosen degree doesn’t ‘scream an obvious career’! Lots of History grads go into lots of professions!

I agree teta 5 mins is not long enough and the timer counting down making you rush through too was a bit nerve jangly. We barely covered what we wanted to say or to find out so emailed them afterwards. I loved the fact we didn't have to queue and I knew we'd get seen on time and it was great to touch base F2F online rather than phone call but agree if you needed to discuss a sensitive subject it wouldn't work well. I feel lucky knowing these teachers from GCSE and so didn't have to introduce myself at all but DD primed me not to waste time on pre-chat and to get straight down to it - she knows I love to know about their babies/ wedding plans etc but parents Eve is not the place. She was at an online dance class the whole time so missed it. DH made notes too so we could remember all that was said.

Was a filthy night last night too so was glad not to be chasing around the school finding the right classrooms and hoping for a parking spot not too far away and spending c2 hours + queuing and seeing a 3rd of who I'd like to see all on an empty stomach

Yes. Events always seemed to be in cold rainy nights. I don't drive so if no DH around i'd get the train brrrrrr.

Welcome @Nonamesavail my nephew had two shots at his resit at sixth form. Got there in the end! What course/s is your son doing ?

Noname sorry to read that. I guess he will have another go if it’s vital? Was the mark close...so not a massive leap?

We had a very early parents evening and no idea if another due. No predicted grades at this stage.

Hi Noname and sorry to read that about the resit. Assume it was Maths or English?

I am sure history grads often come really near the top of employability/in employment tables.

I think they may not be the highest in terms of pay but the potential is there eg law.

Quite a lot of boys do tend to see degrees in absolute material terms , it has to be said.

I know 2 boys who had a gap year and worked in a supermarket which was what they needed to just grow up a bit before deciding what to do and it turned out really well for them. Try to feel positive about a gap year if they don't know what they want to do.

Hello @Nonamesavail, hope he managed to get close enough to feel that a positive outcome is possible.

I remember, from older Dd, how civilised year 12 parents evenings were - just 3 five minute appointments (rather than the scrum of 10 for GCSE). They ran like clockwork. I don’t think I have been back in the school hall since older Dd left in 2019!

We had DDs parents evening last night. First time online for us and we got 8 mins a teacher. Worked really well and so much easier than face to face. Had a list of questions ready and progress report in front of me and took notes. All positive feedback. Target grades were based on her averaged GCSE grades and her teachers all admitted as she is already working at the target grades they are not her predicted grades which she will get in year 13.

Did another online open day today in between working and DDs lessons. We missed a few sessions but they are recorded so can catch up later.

Hi all

We are all feeling meh here at the moment. DD is struggling with the workload at the moment. She is finding the live lessons exhausting. She says she is just about keeping up just but feels she is at full capacity. Hasn't got time to write any revisions notes as she goes along. School has now asked her to think about uni and what she could do to go on her personal statement.

I have a question for you - if it says on the uni website course Entry Requirements - typical offer
A levels
AAB including Biology and a second science

We accept the following subjects as a second science: Chemistry, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics, Geography, Geology, Environmental Science, Psychology, Statistics or Computer Science. Human Biology is acceptable in place of Biology.

Does this mean DD would need to be predicted an A grade in Biology to be able to apply? or as it doesn't actually mentioned an A grade in Biology is needed (as some uni do) does that mean she might be accepted with a B in Biology?

I've been assuming that unless specified it doesn't matter which A level is an A or a B. I'd assume someone with an A would be higher up their list than someone with a B in Biology though.

@heifer I would say the A could be in any of her subjects.

Agree that online school seems to be as exhausting as going to school, whereas I thought it would be easier, with no travel.