Corona Cohort Y12 into Y13, braving the storm of the third wave

[Monkey2001]

Supportive thread for parents of Y12 students going into Y13.

Previous thread - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/4240252-Thread-16-Corona-Cohort-Year-12-2021-Zooming-through-Summer-Term

Thanks Everso, that's reassuring. I will shut up about university and wait / hope for that moment to come as poor DS is getting it from all sides. He's had the same group of friends since reception so I guess it's not surprising that he's sad about the end of school.

Kicking myself tbh for not realising earlier, he doesn't find it easy to talk about stuff like that and I just thought he couldn't be bothered 🤦‍♀️

It's so easy to get it wrong. I would spend a bit of time quietly doing some research yourself, how to write a personal statement, how to apply etc so that if he does start showing an interest then you are prepared and ready to support him. Also look into alternatives to uni.

@Bovrilly

Are everyone's DC fully engaged with the whole uni thing? I finally persuaded DS to look at some courses today as they have some UCAS sessions coming up at school, but he just doesn't want to talk about it and was uncharacteristically snappy this evening. He did apologise and said he doesn't like thinking about university because he doesn't want everything to change 😢

Aww bless him , DS isn't particularly open to talk about it. He's very excited about the prospect of going to Uni, but doesn't want to do the pre planning. It wouldn't be so bad, but he doesn't even want to talk about which subject he'd like to follow - at least we could narrow it down that way! We recently did a campus tour and he really enjoyed that, so I'm hoping as more and more do open days in person etc that he might decide it's time to start properly researching..

FINALLY managed to get a driving test for DS2 in Bristol. It is in December, but at least it means I can book him some lessons in the right place with a "real" instructor and attempt to book an earlier date when he is ready.

Dreading DS1 failing in 2 weeks and having to go through all this again!

@EversoDelighted

It's so easy to get it wrong. I would spend a bit of time quietly doing some research yourself, how to write a personal statement, how to apply etc so that if he does start showing an interest then you are prepared and ready to support him. Also look into alternatives to uni.

Thanks, yes I will do this.

Thanks Blah, yes he only decided on a subject about a week ago! I think he has no idea what uni might be like, so can't see the positives, and is fearful of the big change. We're going to visit some uni cities in the summer and I might see if I can get his older cousins to chat to him when we see them in the summer, they all had a great uni experience which set them up for good careers. He has another year to get used to the idea and could also defer if he doesn't feel ready so I'm sure he'll be fine, but it's just getting through the next few weeks / months of sorting out a UCAS application with a kid who doesn't want to think about it!

I’ve managed to book DS a driving test in York for 30th November - am hoping we will get something sooner but good to know we have got something booked in!

Did a drive through pcr test this morning with Dd. Hopefully we’ll get the result back ASAP. She’s never had hayfever before but is so bunged up/headachy/dizzy, just like hayfever. She’s started really coughing now but no high temp nor loss of taste (can’t smell well due to being bunged up). LFT negative. Sent a very apologetic email to the school for any disruption. I need to identify what it is and I know if I say she’s coughing pretty much continuously to drs or school the first port of call would be getting a pcr done. It’s a pain.

Oh Zanda - what a pain. Apparently the Delta variant is appearing more like a cold/hayfever in youngsters so definitely right to get her tested. Fingers crossed for a quick result.

Seeline yep I know that from Dd1’s flatmates symptoms! I would be extremely surprised if she has it but the back of her throat is a spectacular mess and I need to try and eliminate covid as a suspect. I would love a GP to look at her throat like the good old days - what’s the chances of that now?!

@Zandathepanda fingers crossed for a quick result! I took DS2 yesterday morning after his positive lateral flow on Saturday and we had the result within 12 hours (also positive 😞)
Also has cold-like/hay fever symptoms

Oh no Fiddlers hope everyone is ok. Dd just slept for 5 hours solid but coughing again now. Dh not impressed at working from home til the result.

Someone at work showed me a photo of their friend's positive LFT (confirmed by PCR). The line was so faint it would have been at home on one of those MN "can you see a line" pregnancy threads. I'm going to be scrutinising ours more closely from now on.

Fingers crossed Fiddlers

Sorry to hear about the positive test @Fiddlersgreen, hope it’s a mild case and no one else gets it. Fingers crossed dd just has a cold @Zandathepanda!

I’m just about to pick Dd up from doing her first session of 11plus tutoring. I’m hoping she survives and will want to keep on with it.

For anyone interested in Southampton, we just came across the ‘access to Southampton’ scheme. Dd happens to qualify due to us living in an area of deprivation and low progression to higher education. She’s mostly interested in the £1k scholarship, but all the sessions offered look like they could be helpful.

Sorry, meant fingers crossed for Zanda for a negative test, hope for a speedy recovery for Fiddler's DS.

Zanda
My DD went to Portugal in between the green/amber and came back PCRs (cost £££s) all negative. Went back to Bristol (uni town) for work and to see people and so similar symptoms to your DD - I made her do LFT and was postive PCR then positive too. Result was back 1:05am after an 8 am test so really quick but this delta variant is a real problem. . Symptoms very different. T&T told me she shouldn''t have got a test as no cough/temp/taste symptoms - this was AFTER a postive PCR. No wonder its spreading so quickly. On investigation Bristol does seem a hotspot. However, I will say DD thinks she's been dramatically ill, but not really - slept a lot and is now fine after coming home and wiping us all into self isolation. Deep breath .............

Thank you for well wishes. She’s not coughing as much. After trying to get through to GP for 30mins, finally got a double miracle: a telephone appointment and antibiotics! As predicted the Dr said to do a pcr but also said hayfever round here has been horrendous and lots of people have it for the first time. Also lots of other bugs are surfacing with a vengeance now masks etc are off, particularly in children.
Doesn’t bode well for schools does it?

You know when Dominic Cummings said he wanted weirdos and eccentrics to help him with ideas in that advert? What he needed was us lot (I think we are normal but we would be weird to him I expect). A lot of what has happened was and is entirely predictable. It was obvious schools were going to get hit by the delta variant. Even more when the Uni students (who are all partying at the end of exams) are now going back to their families in the next couple of weeks because they have to get out of their accommodation. The government should put in pcr testing for students before they move back home and tell landlords they aren’t allowed to evict if someone is positive. Ironically poor negative Uni Dd may be hit from a school instead! The rates in the big Northern universities are all horrendous too.

Apologies for the rant. Just sad for all children of the posters on here and in the higher Ed threads that are ill/having to isolate at the end of a rough academic year.

@Zandathepanda

You know when Dominic Cummings said he wanted weirdos and eccentrics to help him with ideas in that advert? What he needed was us lot (I think we are normal but we would be weird to him I expect). A lot of what has happened was and is entirely predictable. It was obvious schools were going to get hit by the delta variant. Even more when the Uni students (who are all partying at the end of exams) are now going back to their families in the next couple of weeks because they have to get out of their accommodation. The government should put in pcr testing for students before they move back home and tell landlords they aren’t allowed to evict if someone is positive. Ironically poor negative Uni Dd may be hit from a school instead! The rates in the big Northern universities are all horrendous too.

I was only telling DH today how we were all worried about lack of symptoms in young people last year !

@AnneOfCleavage did you get the slot booking email from Winchester yesterday? We have booked 11-2.

Dd is negative! So it’s tonsillitis with maybe hayfever/mystery allergy of viral or bacterial origin. Narrows it down?! She’ll be popular when she gets back to school if she still has the cough.

Yay!

Good news zanda!