Y11 2023/24 thread 5 - results!

[Techno56]

New thread as no 4 is nearly full

DS gets £20 a week plus his phone (sim only)
He does go out a fair bit, uses it for snacks and drinks, public transport, lunch if he's out, random bits of clothing.

If he goes to the cinema, gym, swimming or Goals, etc, he pays himself.

He does have a savings account, too, and is expected to save something every month.

We pay for regular clothes and food at school and usual living expenses.
His gran often slips him £5/10 in the holidays, too.

He was 16 on Sunday, so I'm banging on about a job!

I was sad when he told me last week he was worried about results day already. It's only 3 weeks now 🫣

DS doesn’t have any bridging work which is fortunate as he’s far too busy enjoying his long summer of fun!

DS only gets £10 a week which goes straight to his savings account he then transfers what he needs. For that he has to wash dishes once a week, hoover downstairs once a week and keep his room tidy. He can make more by doing other jobs round the house. We pay for gym and phone. He has no interest in clothes except for trainers!

Luckily my DD16 got a job which started as soon as her exams finished and she is loving it and the money she is earning. As she doesn't have siblings her own age she would be very bored by now if she wasn't working.

DD's new 6th form is business wear too, but not suits. I am taking her shopping next week for hers, which will probably be stressful as she is so picky about clothes!

Is anyone else counting the days down to results yet? I have already been through both GCSEs and A levels with my oldest DD but don't remember feeling so preoccupied with it then, as I do now. I think I am trying to prepare myself for the avalanche of emotion DD16 will have on the day as there will be little I can do to make her feel/react any more calmly if her predictions for certain subjects are realised. I am busy working etc but still have this little ball of worry in my head constantly.

Happy belated birthday to your DS @gingercat02 I hope he enjoyed it!

All the schools in my area set bridging work @Muchtoomuchtodo Although my friend is a chemistry teacher and says that in her experience only about a third of students actually do it.

We have agreed terms with DS. He will get £75 per month and from that he pays for his sports kit, socialising and non-school clothes. He will also be expected to contribute toward the cost of any sports tours he goes on. We continue to pay for his phone, all school stuff, tennis lessons and memberships. He needs new rugby boots so there goes the first month's allowance immediately!

We have built a "keep room tidy" clause into the agreement @Tebheag and he does stack and unstack the dishwasher (mainly because he eats three times more than anyone else so uses more crockery).

Good on your DD for getting a job @bluefineliner and good luck for the shopping trip!

Ds has never been much of a spender, we give him £30 a month for sundries but he’s happy to wear his older brother’s cast offs - they’re usually sports tops, and also likes a charity shop haul. His suits are all already bought - prom and work experience necessity and we had to buy his bus pass at the end of last term. His only weekly expenses are lunches and we top that up as needed.

He worked for a good six weeks at the start of the Summer, rubbish hourly rate but still managed to make about a grand and somehow got paid £350 for his week of work experience 😱.

He’s stuck most of it in a savings account, don’t think I’ll need to sub him for a while!

DD gets £75 per month. She has fund her social life, makeup, presents for friends and her own clothes with this. It seems to work ok. She has a very part time job that pays very little but I think once she turns 16 she'll look for something a bit better.

I know she'll be extremely nervous for her results. She wants to go and get them on her own but she's still very much undecided on A-level choices as two important exams didn't go well at all so I am hoping I will be able to go and help her. She's staying on at her current school.

Ok who’s idea was it to put gcse results at the end of the summer 😜🥹🤭 It feels like a very long wait now.

Hello folks hope all's well? I've not been back since last exam so hope your young people (and you!) have had time to wind down after that slog of a summer?

I see some are talking about bank accounts etc ... DD currently has a HyperJar card attached to my account which has worked well as it's a deposit account I send £ to and she spends. Think she needs a proper current account now tho as while she obviously isn't spending it on alcohol etc it blocks any transaction in say, a coffee shop that also sells booze so not helpful.

Can I ask for recommendations please? Won't be a salary of any sort or regular wages going in so needs to have no minimum funding

Thanks x

Halifax current account for 11-17 year olds. Doesn’t allow the account to go overdrawn, if the money isn’t there the payment won’t go through. Can use Google or Apple Pay on their mobile phone which is really convenient ( who goes anywhere without their phone these days ). When they are out somewhere and need money sent, you can just send instantly via online banking. Made our lives so much simpler. I imagine all high street banks will have similar.

I feel like I’m wishing his holidays away waiting for these results. This is the first ‘proper’ wait for us, with the eldest ds being tags due to Covid.

@tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz
DS has a normal current account (happens to be Santander because mine is, and it was easy).He has had it since he was 11. I get a weekly text statement and a message if he spends more than £50.
Now he is 16, I could turn all of that off, but I haven't.
He also has a Halifax savings account, which I also have oversight of, but he could have full control of that, too.
If he asks, we will talk about it, but I won't be raising it 🤣

Thanks that's helpful

I really recommend Monzo. Both of mine got it once they turned 16. It has a good app where they can set up saving pots. Plus it is very good for using abroad on holidays.

Hi all! Hope everybody's summers are going well. Two weeks to go... like others have mentioned, have tried to put results day out of my mind but it keeps bubbling up! Good luck to those who have older siblings collecting A-level results a week today - hope they all get what they need for their next steps.

Is it scotland where they have already had results?

www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/articles/c0qee39q83ko.amp

@Panic71 can you imagine opening the email to see no results?! 😮

How we’re the Scottish results overall?

Dd refusing to talk about results... She's put a lot of pressure on herself. Her school sixth form place isn't dependent on grades but still.

I find MN a strange place when it comes to GCSE results. "They got 7s and 8s in 10 subjects so good results, but not stellar" and "With those results A-Levels are a bad idea" when the op's dc got 8s and 9s but a 5 in something they have no intention of studying any further".

Hopefully we are all a bit more realistic and sane on this thread 😁

Thanks to all of you who shared info about your DC's allowances.

Good on your son @Pharos - getting paid for work experience is very impressive!

DS is doing voluntary work this week and his manager has said that he's very happy to offer him paid work from next term, which is good news on the finances front. He has a Lloyds under 19's account which is a full current account as for as I remember and he can open as many savings accounts on it as he wants. He just has one atm. He keeps about £50 in the current and puts any surplus into the savings. Banking these days is just so easy.

We've not spoken about results here - except to say that we'll be getting them early doors and DH and I will be going to the school with him albeit waiting in the car park. DS is AGAIN [sigh] talking about changing his third subject. His offers are subject tied so this isn't a given but we've said he can obviously ask but he needs to research thoroughly before deciding.

On another thread earlier this week someone mentioned level 3 Core Maths in year 12. Is this something any of your DC are considering? DS is doing essay subjects for A level so this might be an alternative to EPQ for him. He'd have to do it as an online course though as nowhere offers it locally.

We’re ignoring results day in our house. A friend mentioned 22aug to me yesterday and I looked blank until she clarified… we are away 20-21 distracting dd so will probably mention it on the evening of 21 and I’m wfh on 22. She’s bright and able but struggled with the gcse style answers so 3 sets of mocks with no consistency on results mean we’re totally unsure how she’ll do and it could not go to plan. Honestly dreading the day and a hoping we can just celebrate and move on. Something tells me it won’t be so straightforward.

Anything below a 9 is a fail on those threads. My mum’s response to my cousins set of As with one B for language was “oh, that’s a shame about the B”. I’m dreading telling her dd1’s results.

I think on results people should be encouraged to say 'met predicted' or 'really delighted, beat predictions' or 'a bit disappointed, 4 subjects were lower than predictions' with 'able to go to first choice / need to entirely rethink' comments rather than 'disappointed only got 998777777' or whatever.

It enables those delighted with 554444444 to join the thread on an even footing with everyone else.

(Unlikely to happen.)

This is an excellent idea @TeenToTwenties I will be doing that here.