Y11 2023-24 thread 4

[Techno56]

New thread for GCSE survival 🙂

@WinkyTinky regarding what to do next - there are still some UCAS Discovery exhibitions around the country this summer. Might something like that be helpful for your DS?

@JessyCarr those look like a good idea! Although I can only see ones for Autumn term. I'll look again when fully awake!

DD came along to Birmingham Uni open day when we went we DS and we looked around a different dept to him and she loved it. She had a fab chat with lots of students and lecturers- they were very happy to speak to her and she is actually thinking of it as a possible future uni course. It's helped guide her Alevel choices

@ouch44 the remaining summer ones in England & Wales that I am seeing on the UCAS website are:

Birmingham, 24-25 June
Aberystwyth, 26 June
Hull, 27 June
Carlisle, 2 July
Nottingham, 3-4 July

(Then there are several in Scotland, but I am assuming our GCSE group are not in Scotland).

They are free to attend and are aimed at showcasing and advising on the full range of 16-18 choices, as well as post-18 choices.

@jessycarr
Thanks v much! Nottingham might be doable!

It's the first day since mid-April we've had no exams. Alevels finished yesterday. Whoop! So bloody proud of DS. He's worked really hard

No rest though we're off to see family that DC haven't seen since Xmas!

Prom is next week for us. I got Ds’ entire outfit (minus shoes) off Vinted for about £10. DD bought her dress herself and plans to sell it once prom is over.

It’s a good job we didn’t have much planned for the first few days, DS has succumbed to post exam illness. Told him it was inevitable really! Thankfully prom was pre illness, they had a brilliant night by all accounts.

Yes dd has a vintage dress she got for £40. It’s so lovely. I’m paying for her to have a professional blow dry but that’s been it. It was just all the drama about transport etc and who goes with who that was driving me insane . But now she’s very sweetly decided to bow out of all of that and has asked me to drive her in our ancient tiny dented car !!

These sound good, but when DS had a look it seems you need a UCAS account to book onto one. Is there a way around that?

@munchbunch12 It’s straightforward (and free) to set up a UCAS account and he doesn’t have to specify much as to interests at this stage - just select ‘skip’ or ‘unsure’ in the sign-up process. They can customise it later if need be.

Thanks, I'll tell him that 🙂

Hope those with proms last Friday enjoyed them!

Those UCAS discovery days are interesting. I didn't know about these. They are all too far from us, and I'm at work all week ahead of holiday next week, so DS wouldn't have been able to go. I'll look out for future ones though.

DS's prom clashes with our holiday so he isn't able to go. He does have a transition day at college choice 2 on Thursday, and choice 1 next Monday.

We have had tons of bumf from school 1 about bridging work through the summer. I did "click and collect" from Waterstones for a lot of the new books and the rest I will order when we are home as they weren't available for collection. DS is going to take a few on holiday - I have a mental image of him lying on the beach reading "The Great Gatsby" Other bridging work incudes reading lots of online articles and writing a report about one of them, doing one of the free OU courses on Homer, and listening to podcast series about the history of Rome. These last two sound interesting and I might do them myself!

He is having his friends over for a BBQ and to watch the football tomorrow night. I may need emergency midweek wine to get over this!

I hope your DC are enjoying the lovely weather and their freedom

Hope everyone enjoyed their proms? None here for us until yr13.

DS has his 6th form taster day tomorrow where he will be doing maths, chem and physics. I suspect he will come out slightly shell shocked! 😂 Then Weds he’s off with school mates on (UK) holiday, the weather looks amazing so hopefully that will be fun.

No prom here, but DD has two induction/taster days this week. Hoping she doesn’t decide she hates her A level choices!

Prom next week for us. However DD got an e mail at the end of last week saying they are not running one of her A level options so major stress here. She's going to school tomorrow to discuss options..

Taster day tomorrow. DD looked up her holiday homework today on the school intranet and seemed genuinely excited to do it. It’s going to make such a difference to only study the things she loves. She’s pretty passionate about her choices.

@hels71 - oh no! Is that for lack of take up? Are there other schools or colleges she could consider?

Same here @JessyCarr - we have continually stressed to DS that he should chose subjects he loves for A Levels as they are such a lot of work. He is worried that because he has no real idea of what he would like to do for a career he risks limiting options if he choses the wrong A Levels.

Good luck for your daughter's taster day today @Tiredalwaystired

I was reading the thread on University open days earlier; this will be our children next year! Everything happens so quickly for the next few years.

Apparently although enough signed up, school can only run drama OR music so they decided on music.

mine has had his favourite A Level, in arts, also dropped form his favourite 6th form. I suspect lack of takeup or teacher loss without replacement.

Morning 😀

It is prom day for DD today, so I have taken the day off work, as her two friends are getting ready here and my house/garden is a tip! DD went away last weekend so has been fully busy and subsequently grumpy and tired with me when back home.

She went to her sixth form transition day (new school) on Tues and we went to a parents evening later which was really useful. I like to school ethos and leadership team so hoping a new start for her will be the right one. Looks like quite a bit of work for her over the summer in preparation but we are not talking about that until August.

DD also started her new job which (thankfully!) she is loving. It is in a pub and she is getting to see real work and lots of different people, which can only be a good thing. The first pay packet was also a positive! This job is hopefully going to distract from the weeks leading up to results day, the day which no one is acknowledging for some time in this house 😂

We still have prom then college intro day to come. Feels like it’s still quite busy!

It was supposed to be a leavers ceremony and prom for DD yesterday, she was always sure she didn't want to go though. She's got a good group of friends and never had bullying issues so it's not that but I'm still sad that she missed out on an experience and worried she didn't want to go for some negative reason, like low self-esteem, she doesn't seem to have confidence issues but I don't know why she was so against it. Also kinda sad for myself as she's my only DD and would have loved to help her choose a dress and see her happy and excited in it at prom.

ah, that's a little sad - but we never know what's going on, do we. My DD came back from prom and refuses to talk about it. Nothing terrible but also just I think a bit of a let down after the build up.

My DS collected his prom suit yesterday and tried it on last night. It was so strange reaching up to help him with his tie as we are not very touchy feely and the last time I helped him get dressed was many years ago as a little boy, now a 6'3" man! He looks fantastic in it 😍But! He's not at all keen on going, and I'm worried that it won't be a good experience for him as he isn't particularly going with anyone and says he thinks he will just be sitting there all night..... Argh! I so want it to be lovely for him, and for all of our kids coming to the end of this stage of their lives 😥

@bluefineliner hope DD has a great time.
@WinkyTinky hope it goes better than expected for your DS and he is sat at a good table where they chat so does not feel left out.
DS came back from holiday tired so chilling and catching up on gym work outs. No taster days for him. No looked for a job yet so just one long break for him!!