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!

Feels so strange not to be washing whites for uniform and making sure he got up on time!
Prom tmrw and then a taster day at college on Thursday.He had decided he doesn’t want to do maths now but will need to have an idea of what he wants to swap it with by Thursday. I said we would look at the info online tonight or Wednesday night to have an idea .

My son is in year 10 and will be sitting GCSEs next year. I want to transfer him to another school because he is not happy. He is very good at drama and the group they peer him with all of them have stoped attending the drama intervention session that should have help them with half the mark towards. Any advice please.

Start your own thread.

Transferring mid GCSEs is tricky and will likely impact subjects
. Timetabling may mean option combination not possible
. Different set texts for English lit
. Different boards for eg History - Different topics
. Teaching in a different order, so cover some aspects twice and others not at all
. Being placed in inappropriate sets
. Teachers won't know him

I wouldn't transfer at thus point just for drama. Only if very unhappy. Expect to lose at least 1 GCSE option entirely, and possibly to drop grades in some others too.

Might be in New York! 😁

Little is absolutely fine
He is one of those that thrives and loves school. He has been lucky in many ways, and yeah is just absolutely fine whatever he is doing, he is also being gracious about Ratty being off school and being the supportive little brother to his (sometimes oblivious) big brother as he always is.
Ratty is so very lucky to be adored by Little, we think he knows.

Little is getting to swear and stage fight in drama (whilst wearing dresses), so he's all good, plus he has worked out a way of being part of some basketball academy game session whilst also being in a science class at the same time, don't ask I don't!

Ratty was out of the house by 7.45am this morning as we did a dry run to his preferred college, which is a very different travel route, for most of secondary I drove him in and he (think reversing snail) slowly walked back with friends. Weather permitting. Then he took a bike, it's cycle lanes almost door to door, all safe, good exercise, bit of independence.

New college is also a lovely independent commute, 10 minute walk to station (small local many level crossings type thing), very pretty 15 minute journey with friendly guard on train, 5 minute flat safe walk the other end. Trains are one an hour so timing imperative, but apart from that.

We did a trainline.com (with railcard) app rehearsal (good we did dad said he had input his credit card, we couldn't find it) and we walked to local newsagents and co-op so he was familiar with local shops.

He is going in solo on Wednesday for a taster day. Will sort out the other details with him tomorrow.

Then he did his delivery job, other half tomorrow.

And he has full days for the rest of the week various of school (trip and leaver's), new college, job (paid), jobs for me.
Ratty has also said he is going to load his rucksack with warhammer figures, paints and cycle down to local games cafe as you can paint these things there with others who understand who the different fractions are not "staring blankly" Mum "I'm trying baby I really am I just also really don't care" (but think the previous chess training mostly via dad might have helped?)

Yes Little is happy all he has to do is "school".

It's hard growing up!

Sorry I have been awol for a few days - I think we are all just basking in the siesta that is the END OF SCHOOL 😃

DS has had a great week, he has been to the cinema twice - got to celebrate his 16th with his mates on Friday, had a chilled weekend, gone for lots of walks, and has today applied for a summer job at the local Maccies.

Currently building his football empire on FIFA. Happy days!

We also have a little one still at school, DS2 had sports day today which was fun and is now preparing to go to the same high school as DS1. One out one in!

Yes DS has a taster day next week too. He will go solo, it is just a tram journey into the City but it will be about 45 mins door to door so i intend to teach him the art of aiming to get there 10 mins early... 🤔

I think my brain is frazzled though

I am presently watching the webcam live that covers the Abbey Road Beatles zebra crossing, it's brilliant.

On a warm summer evening there are bunches of teenagers attempting to recreate "that album" cover (I am assuming for "the gram") and a bunch of traffic (most of it should be used to it I am sure) who are sort of stopping not stopping and no one is crossing because the gram lot want a break in traffic and the traffic needs to obey the traffic laws, and then you get the occasional pedestrian or two who actually do need to use the crossing as an actual crossing!

It's better than tv at the moment, hopefully the gram lot will go home soon and I can do something more productive.

It's probably teenagers who have finished their GCSEs that are causing this present traffic chaos!

Which is why I mentioned it here

I explained to Ratty you can do this one of two ways

You can do Mum's way of getting the earlier train, get to college unruffled, allowances for late running of train, grab a coffee/coke at cafe, read a book, turn up on time, or Dad's way, assume it's all going to be ok, leave it until the last minute, run for trains, miss them, turn up late, flustered, sweaty and have to wait until break for a caffeine hit.

Up to you baby you find your own style.

Hi all. Dd has CRASHED! She’s spent the last few days all puffed up with hayfever and absolutely shattered!
She had a friend’s birthday party this afternoon which she dragged herself up for and has Prom on Thursday. She’s still going into school for drama rehearsals a couple of times a week though I’m having to taxi for that. It is nice not having to get up so early!

This is how I am going to pitch it to him 😂 Genius!!

Just catching up!

I'm rather envious of all the DC who are getting on with activities, finding summer jobs, etc! Mine have declared they want to do nothing but sleep, watch TV and play Pokemon

I've assigned them dinner-cooking duty (now that GCSEs are over I have switched to working fully on-site not at home), which they have grudgingly done for a few nights but apparently this is cruel slavery.

I mildly suggested at least finding a summer placement for a couple of weeks and nearly got my head bitten off! I have been told that it is our (the parents) fault that "we have too much planned" this summer, i.e. going for our summer holiday next month, therefore they won't have a long enough stretch to do a summer placement. I pointed out that my workplace, for example, is happy to do a week's placement and in fact we prefer it because we haven't got to supervise a student for long. Cue outraged "We don't want to work with you!" when I simply meant that they could apply to any of the numerous departments in my enormous and vast organisation.

Dinner cooking is absolute genius @Poisoningpigeons . During lockdown we bought those ruinously expensive hello fresh boxes (we had more disposable income then) and the girls did every dinner because we were both working. Taught them more than 'lockdown school' ever did - set DD1 up well for university.

DD2 was home for the weekend - all tearfulness forgotten the second she got a night's sleep in her own bed. Went home Monday am in time for some class or other.

Current fascination is 'covering oneself in henna tattoos'... whole boarding house is covered in them, and now so is her sister. I narrowly escaped. She now wants to dye her hair but I think would be in trouble if she does this before the end of term. She has prom on Monday - a 'post prom party' at a friends afterwards and then her solo lunchtime concert which is assessed... so she had better not be too hungover. The timing really sucks, she only does two a year!

I brought home a load of her stuff from the boarding house to make it easier at the end of term. I have put away uniform she still needs (sports kit still a thing for sixth form apparently) and am hoping to sell those bits she has not destroyed to the school uniform secondhand shop.

Can't believe it's raining on the day of ds2's prom. I know many are glad the heatwave has cooled a bit, but rain just dampens the mood.

Morrisons did home boxes in pandemic recipe cards and ingredients- we got those and the kids cooked. I was looking at the hello fresh boxes - there's 50% of at moment but they still look over priced to me.

I do need to get them both cooking over the summer.

College orientation day went well for DD2 - after DS accompanying her as she was worried about buses nearly had them so late they nearly missed the bus in.

She's miffed today - it's the leaving assembly - none of them want to go and they have to go in full uniform - which one of her friends can't find and has said won't go in now. Some of them have clashing college days as well. They have to go to get sweatshirts and prom tickets. She refused a last picture in uniform.

They've promised this will be the year they actually cover how to pick up exam certifcates - college just posts them - school keeps hold of them till next year ie 2026 and prior years it's though the grapevine - they promise e-mails but last year it went to the current Y11 not the years who sat the exams.

Urgh really feeling these holidays with dd already and we've not even officially started . She's gone from completely self driven self motivated during revision to needy emotionally unstable dd . We are currently trying to find a voluntary role for her as she wants to apply for medicine at uni but it's proving difficult. She's getting disheartened and then moody with me. God forbid I mention doing any cooking or house chores ! Wirh two other dc in the mix still at school I am finding it very difficult to keep being patient with her.

Volunteering at an Residential / Nursing Home?
eg To go and play board games / chat with residents?

Or similar at a play scheme for children with SN?

DS had his 6th form taster day today, at his current school. Not sure how - they normally do things really well - but they managed to make it the least fun introduction possible, going by his account anyway. He's feeling quite down about it. And they've set quite a lot of summer bridging work, which I know is normal, but it's way more than I (and he!) was expecting.

Dd has voluntary work on a Friday, a day at gps to do "jobs" and she is hoping for some paid work too 🤞
She's focused on prom on Friday atm!

DS also had his taster day.
They are twits.
Having changed the courses he chose and was accepted on only last month, it's not really on to say his choices don't really work together. It's not a big 6th form so he had to choose either engineering or media AAQ to go with the English combined A level and History A level.

They also said "we will do our best to give them a taster of subject they've chosen". He ended up in maths (boggle), which served only to cement he's glad he didn't choose it at A level.

If he wasn't do adamant that he really wanted to stay at this 6th form I'd be doing whatever I could to help him find somewhere else.
He accepts he is forfeiting choice for a 15 min journey (fair enough).

Oh and he doesn't want to try and find work.
It's only a week since he finished exams so I'm trying not nag him, but I really want to give him a nudge.
Instead I've said I'm not funding 10 weeks of fun times.

Big bro is coming home next week for a bit. He has a car so they can both bugger off for they day! I'm not WFH if they're both sitting around in their pants.

DD had a taster day elsewhere and yes, quite significant bridging work set which I wasn't expecting.

DD2 has been having a whale of time since the end of exams! I was worried she was going to crash and sleep for a week, but although she has been sleeping later than usual (10am at the very latest, rather than 6), she has been out and about either doing things with friends, or working every day but one this week. It's a real change from last summer, when all we heard was "I'm bored, why haven't I got any hobbies? No, I don't want to actually do any hobbies (especially not any my parents suggest), but I just want to actually have a hobby." and "My social battery is empty, I don't want to talk to anyone.". How times change!