Thread 16 - Corona Cohort Year 12, 2021 Zooming through Summer Term

[orangecinnamon]

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Eek Monkey that is indeed very eye watering. Our instructor is £35 p/h but he only does doubles. Haven't downloaded any apps yet but going to get that 4 in 1 one that everyone recommends. I had many more than 40 back in the day as was paying myself and could only afford 1 per week and it took ages to make me confident enough to book a test - think my instructor booked it. They've closed that examination centre now so DD will have to do a test in an area she's not familiar with but once we know where we'll pop up and do a few circuits round that particular area.

@AndwhenyougetthereFoffsomemore 7.25hours?? Blimey, that is harsh and in this weather too. Good luck to him, I hope he manages to keep his focus - tell him to have a chocolate bar inbetween each test!

@Piggywaspushed good luck with the surge testing. I think there should be a bit more of it to be honest. I also think once we got to under 40s schools and unis should have been the target for vaccines seeing as we have constantly been told it’s these ages spreading the virus.

@crazycrofter

Ds is back at school after another false positive LFT in his year. Rumour has it that boys are faking positive LFTs to get themselves and their friends a day or two off school!

Really?! Hope that is not true, so thoughtless! Frustrating enough to miss normal things (school, choir, job picking up child from school) . DS should have missed his piano exam if we had seen the text in time. Nobody knows what impact self isolation might have on others.

I signed up to Testi and got two cancellation dates offered which made me very excited until I saw they were both the same week as his original test.

DS has had seven proper lessons (@£34/hour) and his instructor wants him to start doing 1.5hr lessons after his exams. I must have done at least 25hours driving with him. I can only imagine how many hours it will be by late November!!

We are paying £27 per hour. (It is reduced if I pay for a block down to £50 for the 2 hours) It's the same with the learner instructor as it is with the Norwich one. Ds has had 24 hours of lessons so far. 26 hours still booked. I can always cancel some if he's ready for his test earlier. But I can't add them if he's not ready. I'll see what happens nearer the time.

Dh had 5 one hour driving lessons. So he can't understand why it's taking so long. He had driven a tractor from age 14 though, back in the day when tractors had a clutch and were similar to a car to drive. Ds1 took about 40 hours. I had one hour a week for 4 months. So I would have learnt much quicker too. But I guess the roads are much busier now, plus dh and I both lived nearer a city to learn in.

I had 17 lessons and no outside driving. Dh had 10 lessons and his Dad took him to the local airfield for practice.

£60 for a 2hr lesson here (central London).

£700 for 25 driving hours, theory and practical test costs. Lessons are 90 mins long.

Yes our lessons are expensive, thankfully DS is paying for them himself from his Christmas/birthday money and work.

Ds is back home again! Another lateral flow positive. This had better not be another fake!

crazycrofter what a pain. I have a feeling this is going to happen before Dds exams!

@crazycrofter

Ds is back home again! Another lateral flow positive. This had better not be another fake!

Oh no @crazycrofter. Faking would be easy to do I guess with a red/pink pen or something. They are selfish if so.

I know. I think there are also kids who deal with all the school correspondence/have access to their parents’ login details because mum doesn’t speak English. Of course, ds isn’t bothered as he loves being at home!

Ughh, feel your frustration Crazy!

If genuine, it looks like lateral flow tests are very accurate www.gov.uk/government/news/new-analysis-of-lateral-flow-tests-shows-specificity-of-at-least-999

I don't think I know anybody who had had a positive LFT.

There’s been several apparently false positives in ds’ year in the last few weeks - so many before half term that the whole of year 10 were sent home! Seems highly suspicious!

I thought they were so inaccurate they were almost not worth doing until the last week. But I know they have picked up loads of cases of asymptomatic students in the North East, which turn out to be positive with PCR.

Faced with getting out of one of my A Level subject papers I am sure I would be tempted to fake it. But what would stop me is the repercussions on others. There was a group of boys discussing it in one of Dds classes though. I doubt they ever do routine lft tests normally so it would be suspicious because they are supposed to enter them on the school system.

I can really see the temptation of a red pen and a lateral flow test when faced with an exam you don't want to take: not condoning it obviously, but I can imagine there would be a few who would be tempted (& would think everyone else would be grateful!)

@icanbewhatiwant: that driving instructor experience sounds rubbish, definitely worth raising at franchise level I'd say. I've got a mental block on how much ds's lessons are costing (probably sensible) but I must say his instructor is fab, and has coped brilliantly with ds's nervousness and caution: I've not been out with him for ages but he seems quite confident that he's becoming an excellent driver ;-)

I’ve tried to book two cancellation dates on Testi today but they are gone before I can open the app! 🤬

When there are high casenumbrts most LFTs will be correct. The percentage of false positives is actually quite low. We have had loads of positives, most confirmed.

I paid for the more expensive app ( recommended here) rather than Testi. You can run the auto booking feature within your selected parameters and it worked well for us. 2hr lesson here costs £60 so technically £30ph. Don’t have to block book but we have the Sat morning slot with an independent local driving instructor (from word of mouth recommendation). No discounts - too busy plus waiting lists so they don’t need to give any. He told DS a few weeks ago that he would be ready to take the practical from late July and I guess that he should know from experience. 20 hrs driving (10 lessons) and another 16hrs (8 lessons) to go before the test. Zero driving practice outside the lessons as of yet.

I vaguely recall taking my test about after about 25 hourly lessons back in the day. I failed the first time on reversing round the corner, the second on passing too close to a parked vehicle (bitter about this one!) and passed on my third attempt in the summer between finishing my A levels and starting uni.

Yes I paid for the app that auto books too.

The driving lesson I moved to today was booked for 3.30pm. Then he messaged Ds to say it would be 4pm then he messaged again to say 4.15pm. But went off in the end.

That's annoying those of you getting dc's sent home. Thank goodness it's not long until they finish. Goodness know what next school year will bring though.

Ds1 is 20 and at university. He's just booked his first vaccine. So they are getting through the vaccines. I don't think ours at 17 will be offered one though.

Dd (2nd year Uni) will be getting vaccine ASAP out of isolation as long as she stays negative!

I think 16-18 will be offered at least one before September because they want exams to go ahead.

@Zandathepanda I was reading that only 16 and 17 year olds with health problems will be offered a vaccine. It said a decision will be made whether to vaccinate 12 to 17 year olds.