Thread 14? Corona Cohort Yr 12 2021 - 'Vaccinations and Eliminations'

[orangecinnamon]

Just place marking for the New Thread!

That's great news @Zandathepanda and getting the Pfizer one means hopefully no nasty side effects/covid symptoms.

I agree @Piggywaspushed , there seems to be so much snobbery around A Level subjects among lawyers on here, but I wonder if it reflects reality now or are they thinking back to when they were recruited? I'm sure I've said it on here before, but the big 4 accountancy firms wouldn't care about your A Level subjects. The ACA training contract recruitment does seem to be aimed at the RG universities, but there's plenty of roles in big 4 firms for non-RG graduates too - and graduates with accountancy degrees, or sport science etc etc.

Ds is in year 10 and I can't think of a single 'facilitating' subject he'd want to do at A Level, except possibly History! There's no way I'm forcing him to do subjects he doesn't enjoy, when the school he will probably go to offers PE, Food Tech, Music, Business, Politics, Sociology - all subjects I can imagine him getting into and doing well at. I'm pretty sure three As/Bs in these subjects would open more doors than 3 Cs/Ds in academic ones.

That's great news zanda!

Great to see those families at risk getting their jabs on or ahead of schedule. A little more peace of mind at least.

Nothing for us yet . Trying to be patient.

Another one vaccinated here! DH got his on Wednesday. He has a condition which makes him prone to blood clots so they classed him as Group 6. A nice surprise as we really weren't expecting it. He was a bit bemused and wondered whether to decline and wait for his age group (47).

Very efficient but he did feel a bit crap yesterday. It was the Oxford/AZ one.

Not much happening here. DD claims to be working hard on IB coursework for Higher Maths but has just gone out for a long walk with her BF.

I seem to recall with his Oxford application
DS1 was asked by school to get his first draft of PS ready at the start of the Autumn term. I think he had a few sessions talking about applications at the end of the summer term when they got provisional predicted grades. I know DD has already had a talk at school about narrowing down choices.

I wish they’d vaccinate teachers this week Piggy. It would make so much sense for at least a couple of weeks before many pupils go back. What was interesting was they are running groups together. On the app I could get an appointment if I was 65+ today and vulnerable 16-17 slots whereas the rest of Group 6 were booked up until next week. I think they realised about schools reopening and half term. But this would have been perfect for teachers too - goodwill for their risk taking etc and also enable teachers to not have to take time off. It was a 3 hr round trip today.

That's great news Zanda, you must feel very relieved. Piggy hopefully you will hear soon.

@Zandathepanda

I wish they’d vaccinate teachers this week Piggy. It would make so much sense for at least a couple of weeks before many pupils go back. What was interesting was they are running groups together. On the app I could get an appointment if I was 65+ today and vulnerable 16-17 slots whereas the rest of Group 6 were booked up until next week. I think they realised about schools reopening and half term. But this would have been perfect for teachers too - goodwill for their risk taking etc and also enable teachers to not have to take time off. It was a 3 hr round trip today.

I wish they would too!

Great news about vacs all...this is exciting!

Dd has a 'trial' with Subway tomorrow. It may go terribly wrong as I have heard they are not great employers of young people. I'm not going to say anything and will step back. I think this is one of those times when they might have to find out for themselves that things can go wrong. At the least she can get some work experience there.
DH is very bemused by how excited she is

Good to luck to her Orange. It IS very exciting though, even if it ends up being totally different to what she was expecting. I LOVED earning for the first time from my PT job at 14. DD still laughs at my "saturday job' skills (it was in a very busy men's hairdressers) but I remind her of how much I raked in in tips money, obviously in relative terms that were the 80's. never too early to develop customer facing or general service skills!

I can get the excitement of something new! DH is a big fan of subway but after six months of low-carbing the thought of being in the vicinity of that much bread fills me with terror 😂

Another LCarber here Sandy. 12 months in, though do lapse badly from time to time!

Zanda - that's great news about the jabs. I decided to ask our GP practice if DS could go on their adults with learning difficulties register this morning and they agreed, not sure if it will help with jab offers (he doesn't have any physical conditions) but it is another reassurance that he is in the system as needing extra help - he is vulnerable because if he became ill he can't advocate for himself or deal with medical professionals without an adult.

I answered a job advert when I was 16 to provide 'company' for the elderly in a nursing home. Two months later I was looking after a whole floor of elderly ladies , getting them ready for bed , taking them on and off commodes , all sorts ! It was only after a month I thought to ask about wages. It wouldn't be allowed nowadays. I do agree @ealingwestmum never too early!

I re-read my post and can assure everyone that my skills lay purely in hair washing, perm roller removal and high lights washing (oh yes, those were the days), and lots of floor sweeping. Speckled with engaging conversation
Yours sounded like a much tougher gig Orange!

Just catching up here, are teachers definitely going to be vaccinated? I’ve stopped listening to the news due to Information overload.

Nope. Definitely not.

Why ever not? That is so frustrating & depressing.

DS has already said he’s not going back to school if it’s going to lessons in ‘isolation’ again and I can see he’s starting to flag. Spending a lot of time sleeping and looking at his phone.

They are just working their way through the vulnerabilities and then by age in the UK, I guess...

Just wanted to emphasise I am not after some special entitlement. It's DH my concern is for. If he could WFH or work in a safe employment space, all would be fine really.

That must be very worrying for you Piggy. Hope he gets the call soon. Call up times seems to vary by area.

Piggy even if you were the most entitled person ever, it makes logical sense to get teachers vaccinated. It would prevent pupils having supply/no teachers which to the exam years would be a deal-breaker. To be honest, anyone living with teachers who is in a vulnerable group should be vaccinated at the same time so the teachers aren’t off in a caring capacity too.

Dd won’t be ‘fully protected’ until the end of May so we are just going to have to weigh up pros and cons before then.

Thanks both

I’m really, really surprised teachers aren’t being prioritised. Does anyone know if there are actually any plans to vaccinate them as a group? Over on another thread, everyone aged 16-64 is being called to be vaccinated at the OP’s surgery. I’m happy for them but why do they have so many vaccines when in other areas, they’re still trying to get through the clinically vulnerable?

@Globaliser and @Piggywaspushed When I started work in the city as a solicitor, A level choices, university attended etc were really very important to your chances of securing a training contract. I have recently stopped doing transactional work and moved to a different part of the firm and I have a lot to do with the juniors now. I can't believe how much things have changed - there are now more routes in to the legal profession than ever before (for example by doing apprenticeships) and this is something the Solicitors Regulation Authority is determined to improve. And most of the more senior practicing lawyers don't actually realise how much has changed in terms of recruitment since they started so although there is still a snobbishness at the top, I think that is decreasing (if you talked to some of our senior partners I think they'd tell you to do 4 "hard" A levels, try for Oxbridge etc without even realising that that is not what our HR department is looking for). I think subject choices are less relevant now (for jobs - obviously they may be important in terms on university entry requirements) although I agree that law at A level will not give you an advantage.

All firms are also under lots of pressure to increase social mobility and not only recruit from private schools, RG universities etc. On the one hand I think this is very commendable. On the other it is a very crude way to try and improve things - the children getting the advantage are those that went to very good state schools in fairly affluent areas. It certainly isn't helping the kids who went to failing schools in deprived areas.

My advice to those kids wanting to go into law is to be able to demonstrate an interest in the subject (whether that is by doing summer placements, volunteering at the citizen's advice bureau, doing any holiday jobs etc). When I read CVs it seems every applicant has amazing results, saved a whale, loves skiing (which always makes me think maybe we shouldn't hire them because they'll constantly want holidays and will probably keep breaking legs and needing time off work - I have to remind myself not to be so grumpy and that I was young once). Being able to show a commitment and interest is what I tend to look for.