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

Hi not quite yr12 going into yr13, but DD2 is in yr11 going into year 12 and wants to go to Uni after A'levels. Maybe there's a thread for that year? I'm not sure. Hope all your DC are doing ok and hope they get the results they want in August.
Hopefully we get to see some open days in person again in September fingers crossed. DD2 is planning to do a couple of visits in year 12 if we can get (she wants to do zoology).

@EverythingDelegated

Part of me does wish I had taken the opportunity to live in a totally different part of the country though, I moved about 100 miles away for 10 years after graduating but would have liked to have tried further north or Scotland or Wales.

Haven't seen Six but we have got a couple of shows lined up in August for Kids week - have you seen they have extended the age limit to 17 this year?

Oh good ! Thank you Dd will be pleased.

DD1 (1st year uni) moved 2 and a half hours drive away (140 miles) to Lancaster from Nottingham. Living away from us parents has really made her mature and more responsible. She even cooks better than me now lol. There has still been the odd prompt from mum (ie to make a dentist appointment), but washing, cleaning cooking and doing studies, paying her bills and making new friends has been really helped her into the lady she is today :)

@Orangecinnamon21 I think it would be brilliant to have a performing student close by so you can still attend performances. When I thought DS2 could apply to Cardiff I liked the idea of going to concerts an hour away. The only reason we could hear DS1 performing as a choral scholar this year was because services were broadcast on YouTube. We could not have gone to much at St Andrews, even without Covid.

@sammyjoanne

DD1 (1st year uni) moved 2 and a half hours drive away (140 miles) to Lancaster from Nottingham. Living away from us parents has really made her mature and more responsible. She even cooks better than me now lol. There has still been the odd prompt from mum (ie to make a dentist appointment), but washing, cleaning cooking and doing studies, paying her bills and making new friends has been really helped her into the lady she is today :)

Nice to hear ..nephew off to Lancs in Autumn fingers crossed, seems great.

Hi everyone only just found this thread. My daughter has just finished yr12. Time to start thinking about uni. She is a fully qualified football referee doing very well at it and on a pathway to make a career from it. She's studying btec sports and sports injuries at a football college. We've been told she can get a good bursary at Gloucester uni. Has anyone looked at going there or knows much about it.

Gloucester is fairly well known for sports stuff but -completely anecdotally - a bit rugby rugby rugby. It's the nature of the town as much as anything!

Just going to look at the ucas clearing thing, but I always thought clearing started after a level results day?

Thanks for your replies re Clearing, it does make sense. Am I right in thinking that when DD makes her 5 picks, but lets say she doesn't get accepted to 1 (hopefully not more), if that course shows on clearing later and she gets the grades she can phone on results day and ask even though she got rejected earlier?

Can someone please explain this comment? Does that mean if you submitted and didn't make it 1st/2nd or does it mean if you applied and got rejected too? can someone tell me about Track please :-)

This course is available in Clearing. If you have submitted an application, you can add this course in Track. If you haven’t sent us an application yet, you can do this until 20th September 2021.

@EwwSprouts sorry to hear about DS - crap timing :-(

DD has ruled out Loughborough. She really really likes the idea of it but the Biology course just isn't right for her. She even watched the live talk about Sports Science instead of Biology in the hope she would change her mind about that course , but she realised it isn't for her. Despite predicted A in PE and A* in pyschology she knows she doesn't want to study either at Uni.

Re staying local, she said that if she lived elsewhere she would love the idea of going to uni in Livepool (we live on the Wirral) but it's just too close and I've always told her she should go away just to play for a different hockey team if nothing else.

I do like the idea of her being within 1 hr away so I can go and watch her play hockey at the weekend but there isn't anywhere - the closest I think she will go is 2.5 hrs away and it could easily be double that if she does go down South.

She has always said she didn't want Manchester or Sheffield as too many people go there from the Wirral and she would like to go somewhere where there are a few people she knows but not loads.

Does anyone have any experience of Swansea? It looks like it could be a decent back up as the course looks great but my memories of Swansea are not good (hockey tours). DH tells me it's improved since 1990s/2000s..

I love Cardiff but it's asking for the same grades as unis much higher up on the ratings so not a back up.

When choicing backups how much lower grade should you go? Top pick would be AAA/AAB, predictions probably will be A*AB what grades should the back up options be? it's hard to know but Im guessing you should consider BBC? or lower?

sorry for so many questions this morning. I hope those isolating are ok, and you all get to go on the trips planned etc.

@twitchypalm lots of sports departments have a gifted athlete programme. The monetary amount varies but the support package is good, physio , psych masterclasses, gym membership etc. There are a few Unis that research /support Women in Football worth looking around.

@EwwSprouts hope your son is feeling a bit better at least.

@Monkey2001 yes I have barely seen any performance over last year.

@heifer I think Cardiff change to ABB but not sure if that applies when you firm for conditional?

Orange Snap, we're also going to see SIX but in August. Got a couple of other musicals lined up to see this summer too as have so missed the theatre and it's DD's passion. Want to support as many theatres as possible as they've had a raw deal this last 18mths and also orchestral concerts too if we can. Have missed lunchtime concert recitals. Our local theatre looks well and truly closed
Have a nephew who has Lancaster as his top choice Uni and due to start this Autumn too. Roll on Aug 10th...

Thanks everyone DS does seem bit better. Of course doing a Zoom lesson is an outrageous suggestion

Heifer Is Nottingham on your DD's list? Beeston plus I know a biology first year and they have actually managed a decent amount of lab time this year as they used the labs of the medical school/hosp.

This course is available in Clearing. If you have submitted an application, you can add this course in Track. If you haven’t sent us an application yet, you can do this until 20th September 2021.

@Heifer it means that if you have already made a UCAS application, and are in the system, you log in to the UCAS use interface, which is called Track and add the choice and it will go to the university. If you need to start the whole UCAS process late, you have until 20th September to get the application in.

We have several friends at Swansea, need to go for dog walk now, but will post about it later.

DS received his UCAS grades yesterday, BBC. He is disappointed as they are the same as the grades he got in his most recent exams.
For the subject he got a C for, he’s been getting a B all year and this was the first time he’s dropped below that.
At lease it’s meant he was willing to sit down and look at Uni’s properly yesterday for the first time as he now realises that some of the ones we had planned to go to open days for, are now probably out of reach.

*least

www.gov.uk/guidance/dvla-coronavirus-covid-19-update

For those still waiting for a driving licence this page is useful, looks like they are now processing provisional licences submitted 21 May and it’s taking up 10 weeks. This is about the date they would have got DDs form back so fingers crossed it will be soon...

@Fiddlersgreen BBC are good grades but, if he believes he can do better, it is worth having a conversation with the school. Also worth checking how courses he likes with higher offers use predictions. I posted before that Newcastle Biomed make a AAB offer to all applicants with at least CCC predicted without even glancing at the PS, so it may not always work as you would expect. If you email Admissions at any uni and ask whether your application for a specific ABB course would be considered with BBC predictions they will tell you. Birmingham has an offer calculator.

@Heifer we have 5 friends with DC at Swansea. First 4 very happy, most recent had a terrible flat, but he is a quirky character who did not really want to leave home and was always going to find it tough and then Covid hit. The 2 older ones went 5 years ago, both loved it and stayed for masters. One did History and discovered after he got there that Swansea had an international reputation for modern history and developed from an average student - bright but lacking in motivation, to get a first, has already given talks at conferences, one of his teachers had got him research jobs, now been accepted for a PhD at Bristol, just needs to sort funding.

They all love that you spill out onto the beach after lectures and exams. No idea what the sports are like. I mentioned before that when DS1 was looking they came to give a talk at his school and said they give £1k pa to students with AAA at A level.

@Monkey2001 thanks so much, helpful as ever. I really appreciate everyone on this thread, we would be lost without all the info I’ve gained on here!

@Fiddlersgreen those UCAS grades sound low given what you say; I thought they were supposed to be aspirational? What subject is he looking at for uni?

Dd is worried about her UCAS grade for history as this was the exam she cried in and missed out loads. She’s also totally inconsistent (mainly due to lack of revision I think) and has managed to get every grade from A* to E over the year.

@crazycrofter I thought so too but I daren’t say that to him.

We are still self isolating so he hasn’t been able to go and speak to the teachers about it, they have meetings set up next week to discuss their progress and what their next plans are. He is currently looking at psychology or journalism

Tip for those looking for apprenticeships...don't forget to look on Uni / College job pages. Local ones are advertising for Marketing apprenticeships and have seen some Accounting ones in the past too.

Psychology entry grades tend to be high don’t they? I would ask if there’s going to be a chance to up his UCAS grades in Sept/Oct. Surely they would expect him to improve anyway by this time next year so if he’s generally getting Bs now he might be up to As by then? At least, that’s how I thought it worked and it’s also DD’s impression.

She’s just had her disastrous history mock back and scraped a C which isn’t too bad in the scheme of things. Her teacher said she’ll be predicted at least a B.

@PaddingtonPaddington thanks for that info. I’m still nervous that they’ve lost our documents but hopefully not!