Thread 15 - Corona Cohort Year 12, 2021 Lateral Flow & Driving Tests

[orangecinnamon]

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Oh dear, I'd forgotten the stress of last term, with constant letters from both schools about covid cases! I haven't heard of any in our schools yet though; I was wondering if the majority of them had it last term though. For those who are seeing lots of cases, did you also have lots last term?

I'm glad to hear year 12s are a bit apathetic. Dd is the same, she had a test today, didn't really revise, said she didn't care how it went.... She's usually reasonably conscientious. Her 'UCAS' exams aren't until the last week of June, so I think (hope!) she's saving her effort for then.

We don't really know in all honesty as the kids were asymptomatic/not the classic symptoms so not getting tested. Our area was hit by the Kent variant and DH's school had to close so it has definitely already swept through. And here it is again! Hello old chum!

One of our local secondary schools had it rip through last autumn, despite being in a semi-rural, previously low incidence area. They closed the whole school.

crazy I replied on your other thread about OT.

Wondered is she had also considered speech thearpy?

Scuse typos!

Thanks, Speech Therapy occurred to me earlier today actually! At the moment she’s not considering very much at all and it’s all me doing the research! But she’s definitely destined for a caring profession, so that narrows it down.

I just got my vaccine. As a newcomer to the UK, am so very grateful. If any of you work in the NHS, am in your debt! I hope you all gets yours soon. Am 49 so was not expecting it.

@Frequentflier did you just get a message from your gp? I'm 49 and would happily have one. But the government have said they aren't doing under 50's (apart from people in one of the other 1-9 groups) My friend had hers at the weekend (she's going to be a voluntary vaccinator) she had a phone call saying so many had not turned up that day and that she could take her husband with her for a vaccine. (He's 47 she's 48) they were trying to find people to vaccinate.

@icanbewhatiwant Yes, I got a text from my GP. Really seems to be a post code lottery. Am in SE London and perhaps there was low uptake.

@Frequentflier that's good. I'm hoping ours does the same.

Oh dear Piggy. Oh purlease I can't stand it, all the 'here comes another variant' shit!
I think I've got serious covid fatigue. I'm just fed up now.

Just moved this from a separate thread.

Our family has had a difficult 5 months due to severe illness and hospitalisation of a parent.

DS's college rang yesterday to say he is behind. Can you advise what your DCs are doing on a daily basis the addition study required for ALevels (all humanities). I think will the family issues we haven't been as present or as helpful as we could have been. Any advice would be helpful

@littlebillie

Just moved this from a separate thread.

Our family has had a difficult 5 months due to severe illness and hospitalisation of a parent.

DS's college rang yesterday to say he is behind. Can you advise what your DCs are doing on a daily basis the addition study required for ALevels (all humanities). I think will the family issues we haven't been as present or as helpful as we could have been. Any advice would be helpful

Sorry to hear that. Dd college asks for five hours a week homework on top of lessons (per subject). They are free to do what they like in free periods so Dd organises her own schedule and I don't get involved. They also have two assessments per half term to prep for. Has DS missed lessons or assessments? When they say 'behind' what does that translate too...I.e they are worried that he won't get As or he won't pass?

@littlebillie DD’s school said a good rule of thumb was that whatever class time they had in a subject, they should be using the same amount of time for homework, preparation, reading + revision. So, 6 hours in class for English, 6 hours independent work.

@littlebillie see if the school have an app like ‘Show my Homework’ that they put the homework on. As a parent you should be able to access it and it will show work that is overdue. Ask what his ‘attendance’ is as they should have logged zoom lessons as well. You could ask each of his subject teachers what he has missed/ needs to do too. If they are doing 4 A Levels or an EPQ it might be worth seeing if they can scrap the 4th A Level or EPQ so that they are not so overwhelmed if they are so behind.
It might be worth speaking to the exam officer to see if there will be any leniency (they can ask for an extra small % but this is usually to incidents happening closer to exam time). Make sure all the teachers know what has happened to your family. And where your son can get resources - hopefully these can be accessed easily due to previous online lessons.
I have to say my eldest Dd didn’t do an extra hour per subject she had in Year 12 until around Easter but ramped it up in the third term and then a lot in Year 13. She got really good grades. Can’t really tell with Year 12 Dd - she does a lot of sleeping!

[quote KingscoteStaff]@littlebillie DD’s school said a good rule of thumb was that whatever class time they had in a subject, they should be using the same amount of time for homework, preparation, reading + revision. So, 6 hours in class for English, 6 hours independent work.[/quote]
Thanks Kings and @orangecinnamon that's a useful start to find out what he has been doing.

@Zandathepanda thank you, I think we are not too far down the road to pull it together. There are a few missed assignments he needs to catch up on or have been completed but not submitted.

I think just understanding that he needs to really work from now is important

@littlebillie sounds positive! Yes not too late just needs to keep the motivation (which I think most Year 12s seem to be struggling with, including mine).

@littlebillie can I add that the amount of work they ACTUALLY do is very variable! My DSs certainly have never done 5 hours a week per subject - not even sure they did 5 hours/week total. They would not want to let me see their homework schedule as their school sees sixth form as a preparation for independent learning at university. Obviously any support your DC takes from you is great, but don't worry that everybody is working 15 hours a week outside school - some will be but most won't.

15 hours a week? Hmmm. Me thinks not here.....I'm waiting to see what ds's latest topic tests are....

DS is meant to do 20-25 hrs per week outside lessons according to school (4 A levels) . There just aren’t enough hours in the day. He also has a job two evenings a week plus travel to school.

We found a few months ago that he wasn’t doing enough to achieve what he wanted so compromised and agreed on 15hrs per week which he does do most weeks. Most of that is homework as he gets loads of it. We told him to timetable when he was going to do the work and we do remind him to get started sometimes but usually he is on it himself.

I do worry about him being shattered though. The Easter holidays will be very welcome.

Mine is doing two BTECs and one A level so hard to compare. I suspect he's not doing 15 hours a week outside of class but maybe I'm wrong.

Years ago, when talking with friends about age gaps between siblings (ours are 23 months apart) a friend with older children two years apart nodded sagely and said it's a great gap till the year you have them doing GCSEs and A levels at the same time. So that will be next year. It's not just that they will both have their exams, it's sorting out where they will go next. Both are thinking about it a lot, neither really knows. I am feeling quite daunted by the prospect of them both having big transitions in the same year and finding the right places for both (they both have SENs, DS's quite severe, DD moderate dyslexia). Gulp.

billie, did the school offer any constructive help? It sounds a bit harsh otherwise!

I'd say get him to draw up a timetable and stick to it. Allocate actual tasks to his study periods and stick to this. Find somewhere quiet to work (not always easy at school). Tell him to tell his mates he's in a bit of a situation and that he needs to get his head down to catch up. Good mates will support this.

These things worked a bit with DS1. The main thing that worked was allocating times for subjects and him having to show me/discuss what he had done or achieved. I have also never let mine have devices in rooms at night so that did help to get proper sleep at least.

The large outbreak at my school, so large it shut the whole sixth form down, apparently started with a house party. It is genuinely unbelievable.

Oh no Piggy. You must want to weep.