Year 11 - 2024/2025: And relax! Support Thread for the summer holidays.

[QueenMabby]

New thread to carry us all through the summer as we transition from dealing with stressed teens to dealing with bored teens!

He's never having his hair cut that short again!
He's said this before, it is a bit short and not what he wanted exactly to the photo he showed, one photo on a phone, poor barber, think he needs more of a salon to get what he wants, which would be a shame because we have been going to the traditional barber since their first haircut!
Honestly in two weeks it will be fine, nice even, as his little brother said "it's not as bad as you think it is bro"

He also had muesli for breakfast............

So not sure what's going on, seems to be 'for the better' I am sure he will go back to his midday rises, white carb and meat preferences very shortly, but we shall see. Let's just enjoy this whilst it lasts.

And I don't think education is linear or ever really stops, for wonderful young people thinking if they don't score 8s/9s on a handful of days one summer when they are 16, with hormones, and friendships, and romance, and whatever else is going on that they are not good enough or a failure, seems harsh.

Like the invention of Graphene, it was almost pure chance, and just 6 years later they got a Noble prize for it, being quite young for noble in physics. It's a modern day crazy story, all from the University of Manchester.

What our teens go on to achieve, love, get paid for, is not set in stone and is not going to be determined with the results flying their way in just over two weeks.

I mean it's good there is a bit of pressure in their lives, nothing Ratty has ever really done before has had real world consequences for him. He needs a set of grades to get into the college he wants to go to. But he knew this in January.

So let's see.
(yes we will pick up the pieces if they fall)
Might have fucking helped if he was keen on eating muesli during his exams but ho hum you live and learn, or you don't!

I wonder if there’s a TikTok or YouTuber promoting muesli as DS2 (15) is also eating it in significant quantities

No, I don't think he'll get 7s, a bunch of 5s and 6s and maybe a few 7s. I think if he gets 6s in his A level subjects he can still get high grades at A level.
He is not doing STEM subjects though.

I don’t know what results Ds2 is going to get, thus am a bit worried. He is borderline, a 6/7 for most I think. But needs 7's for A 'level choices, to stay on at his school 6th form., which is an exceptional one in the county and is thus oversubscribed.

I did insist on applying for a place at the 2 local colleges just in case, as a back up, so if the worst comes to the worst, he will get into those with 4 & 5 passes.
He is playing loads of football, out with mates, x boxing till silly times in the early hours of the morning.

Dh still hasn't found him a car because the choice is poor atm, whereas for ds1 there were loads of nice cheap run arounds as a first car, to choose from.
He's enjoying the driving theory app 4 in 1.

He's done minimal bridging work ( but there was tonnes, eg 3 or 4 mock A' level papers per subject - which I thought was a ridiculous amount) , but I've put my foot down this week and told him to step it up - I expect him to log into all 3 school choices and make sure they are all ready for results day, complete all bridging work and get the app theory finished by his birthday. I live in hope!

No idea re: dds results. She should do very well in her arts subjects and only needs 4s for English Language and Maths for her btec so 🤞

DS needs 4s in both English and Maths for his level 3 BTEC. Maths should be fine. English is the big worry. He got a 4 in the mocks but he thinks he will be 3/4 borderline. I’m trying not to worry as I guess the worst case scenario is that he does a level 2 BTEC and a resit. While frustrating given how hard he worked, it won’t be the end of the world.

That's my view.
Dd should be ok but you never know.
Resists are irritating but not the end of the world

Would have to be a YouTuber ours don't do TikTok thank god!

With Ratty it's partially because he was recently tested at Addenbrookes for his suspected nut allergies, and whilst peanuts are still a no-go, the rest of the nuts seem fine.

So he is hazelnuts are me!

I get this. And nuts do make muesli more interesting, we tried just the fruit ones, no interest. And it's not quite the super healthy stuff, it's Alpen No Sugar, which does have a bit of skimmed milk powder in it, but you have to start somewhere.

And I think he's in, won't say love, crush, so there is a big health kick going on at the moment to lose some of the lazy Ratty, playing computer games tummy.

I’m going to sound super thick.. but, going back to my previous post, DS wants to be handling everything college application related, and DH took him to his interview back in April.. so, all I know is the BTec subject. Unaware if Level. 2 or 3. And DS said he needs 4 x Grade 4’s, but “ but can retake English”… Would he start the same course, but take longer to do it? Or, Level 2 and 3 in the same subject ?

I ended up not being able to call the college today, so I’ll have to man up and call, as I need to know myself what Plan B is…. 🙄🤞🙏🤞 not…… but….🤷‍♀️

@Sisublondie
Dd is doing a L3 2 year btec.
There is also a 1 year btec and - confusingly - there's an option to do a foundation year btec (which might be a good shout for dd as it'll be funded, unlike a foundation year at university).

...and dd needs5 x 4s, too

@GCSEnerves and @Whoooo… hey, sorry! ( I’m tired and waiting up to pick up DS18 🤯!).. my reply was to you both… ( I’m working backwards playing catch up ).

@GCSEnerves, my DS is in an identical position.. ( except I’m not overly sure maths will be fine)…. As I just posted, I’m kept out of the loop as DS feels any queries from me means I’m not believing he is capable of sorting his application out. He is ND and I think is probably more capable than I think. His big brother was volunteering in Argentina at his age, and I’m trying to stay hands off, to avoid winding him up. The flip side is, I simply don’t know the Plan B.. 🤷‍♀️🙄…

@Whoooo…Oh, I totally agree. Not ideal, but doable…. the only positive is with DS16 regarding resits is that he knows I absolutely flunked my first round of A Levels…. “Achieved” all U’s. I should have gone to the beach, instead 😈🙄😹. But, I picked myself up, changed college, did a 9 month crash course in subjects I actually understood and got into law anyway. It just took me a year longer and gave me resilience and confidence to crack on..

So… hoping the dreaded English ( or maths!) won’t need it, but…… 🤷‍♀️🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞

Oooooh, ok! Thank you! That’s really interesting… I didn’t know that….. DS is Public Services….. I’ll need to suss it out tomorrow.. ( I hate bring uninformed as I feel I’m ill prepared to help him if it goes tits up, so to speak 🙀)!

I replied to this on your other one !.. in case you realise it made no sense! 😹😼

I'm feeling a bit stressed but not saying anything to DD2.

She got a letter from her first-choice 6th form college with her enrolment appointment: out of the 6 days they have for enrolment (21-27 August), she's been allocated the 6th day! It's a nominally religious-affiliated college, we are atheists, so I would guess the priority criteria would be something like Day 1- LAC and same religious denomination, Day 2 - other denominations, Day 3 - other religions, etc. It is a very very very oversubscribed college. For DC to be Last Day, I fear she's not going to get in, no matter what grades she gets.

Her second choice is a very oversubscribed school-linked 6th form (hence priority will be to existing pupils so her chances are not good anyway), she doesn't really want to go there anyway as it is a very inconvenient commute and further away than 1st choice.

The backup is our local school which is severely undersubscribed because it has a lot of notorious issues. DC is going to be completely gutted if she ends up here - has already said she'd rather drop out of education than attend this school!

@frozendaisy no no TikTok here either unless it’s shared by others anyway .

Does the health kick include lots of rice and chicken too ? Just wondering as DS2 is hooked on that too ( as is my friends son also 15)

@Sisublondie S👍

Dd at work today and tomorrow.
2 get together with friends next week and a garden party a couple of days before results day.
Hopefully that'll keep her mind busy

@Poisoningpigeons
I used to work in school admissions.
The admissions criteria has to be applied....this doesn't mean your dd won't get a place - its just an administrative process.
Whats the PAN for 6th form?
Locally to me 6th form applications are low. So much so, a lot have reduced their subject offer.

Lovely to hear that some DCs are living their best summer!
No bridging work done here at all. DS is going to a different sixth form hopefully, so I guess they will give out any work once the place is confirmed after the results?
Joining in with those that are keeping their fingers crossed for a pass in English. DS also only got a 4 in mocks.

DS has had a lot of time off holidaying with us and we just got back from 2 weeks in France. He got bitten by midges/mosquitoes on the 2nd day and got an allergic reaction to it, so he spent most of the holiday in discomfort to say the least. He had boils all over him, poor thing. He can get like this on holiday and we should be better prepared for it, but we didn't think he'd get bitten in Lille!

He has been officially diagnosed as ADHD just before we went away on holiday. We had the meeting with CAMHS and given the results of all the assessments and interviews. Main symptom is his focusing in class and impulsive behaviour. They showed the results of his QbTest which measure his inattentiveness and focus/impulsivity and it is way off "average". DS wants to go on medication at least for a trial period. We have an interview with the medical team in September where we will discuss this and potential side effects.

Thanks @Whoooo, I can't recall the PAN but it is a large college and their policy is that enrolment is by categories (e.g. EHCP, LAC, religious requirements) in order of priority. So I imagine there's a possibility that some subjects would be filled up by higher categories before the later categories even get to their appointment day?

Has your dd picked very popular subjects?
It's always tricky (e.g. going ooc) in a sought after area
🤞 for your dd x

Anyone else just feel like your best is never good enough with our DC? 🤷‍♀️🙄😈😹?! So, I had unexpected day off. DS wanted a lift to town to meet his friend, which I was obviously overjoyed to do, as it is exceptionally rare. Roads rammed with tourist traffic and, ironically, we had to reverse back up a lane and turn round as there was an accident as exactly the same spot I was crashed into during GCSES.. anyway! .. so, he was a bit late, but off he went, I’d given him some money for Costa, that boba stuff they drink and snack, all was good. I went home, laundry, sorted DS18 out with his stuff, left to go pick DS up and had a delivery of some passes etc I’ve been waiting for, for a local event. So, didn’t have time to go back in. Popped the envelope on passenger seat and went back to traffic hell into town…. A couple of Amazon brown envelopes too. DS gets in, and before I do, he hurtles the stuff off the front seat somewhere, so I get in and he’s sat there and I can see Amazon crap on back seat but no white envelope with show tickets in. All my windows were down as my air con is broken. He says he hadn’t seen it, but it had literally just been there! I turfed out back seat, footwells, started looking under the car ( strong ish breeze), neighbouring cars, nothing. He was insisting must be in car and to just find it when we get home. Which clearly was probably the case, but the tickets aren’t all mine .., last ditch attempt, I found it’d flown backwards into the boot… Anyway! Whilst thst was good. DS blew up..,,, refused to tell me about his day… said I’d broken his brothers speaker by moving it (hadn’t!), and how I’d “totally ruined his fab day he couldn’t wait to tell me about”…., which he “ SO isn’t gonna do now”….

Got home at at 3.15pm. I tried to knock and go in a while ago,.. I got told to “ do one”.., ( in not as nice terms 🤯!)…
So, all quite crap, I don’t know whether it’s his usual meltdown or Resukts stress…… Anyone else experiencing similar?? ( I need to get him out at 6.30sm like Ratty!!!🤩)

🤷‍♀️🙄😸.. hope you’re having a fun Friday!!

@Sisublondie
Blimey.
Could be nerves. Or he could just be being 16 😬😀
Sorry its been horrid x
Tomorrow is another day!
I'm currently helping a family member plan a funeral - its tricky when you didn't know the person. Remains coming from the US, too. So all a bit complicated 😕