Y11 2025-26 Results Day and Next Steps

[UncomfortableSilence]

We can use this thread to continue our discussions for now.

We’re booked on to three universities this term and will do another bunch in the summer.

We're going to do a couple of open days this term. DS wants to apply for Oxbridge so next Oct istoo late and doing them all in the summer was manic for my other child! Also it will give him things to think about before we get to the June/July stress next year.

We’ve done an open day. Quite local but good to just open their eyes to options

I'm taking DS to the Cambridge colleges open day on Friday. It's quite local and he only has one lesson on Friday morning so we're going around lunchtime. Not looking forward to finding parking, otherwise very interested.

We’re booked in for this but I think I might cancel as it’s just the colleges and not subject area. DD is now saying it’s not worth going at this stage just to figure out which college she might fit best in as she will probably be a whole different person closer to the time!!

I mean, she’s been the exact same person since she was born so not sure what changes she’s expecting in the next 12 months!!

Wow impressed with how many have started looking at open days.
School messed up DDs study sessions she only has a free hr a week due to doing 4 alevels, rest are supervised so trying to get it changed.

Haha! DS is reluctant to go for the opposite reason: he already knows which college he wants to apply to and doesn't see the point of actually visiting it. He'll thank me later (maybe).

We were planning on doing some
open days this term because DD has no idea what she’ll study at Uni or whether she’ll apply for apprenticeships as well
or instead of. However, she plays sport on a Saturday which really limits which open days she can actually go to

I hadn't even thought about open days yet. DD still hasn't started college, her first day is Friday!

But it probably isn't a bad idea to start thinking about it. DD seems pretty certain at the moment what she wants to do at Uni and we do have a few local if she chooses to stay at home. But it would be good for her to start getting a feel for them, both local and further away, to help make up her mind when the time comes.

@Monr0e you are Manchester? We went to one within an hour away as we were free and it’s a specific study area. I’d like to take her to look at Salford as loads more vocational course and maybe somewhere like keele to see what a campus is like. Not necessarily an open day. Maybe just online and a drive round

I think even a visit to the city / campus of any near enough is worth it. We have Leeds Sheffield Salford Liverpool Keele Manchester Preston etc all within an hour and lots have two unis in the city. Within 2-3 hours adds on Birmingham Nottingham Loughborough etc etc
A drive round a campus uni like Lancaster would bring home the differences in location types

We thought about it but not started open days yet. Cambridge and Oxford both places we know well. Just the others to think about and we’ll need to deal with accessibility then course. Location very much third consideration!

@ifonlytheydlisten yes, Manchester, so I feel quite lucky that we have 3 on our doorstep if she chooses to stay at home, which she has always wanted do. But she definitely might change her mind on this so certainly worth looking wider.

Her brother us currently at Salford.

@Monr0ei have family that went to Salford and had a blast and job prospects for their graduates are great. DD also thinking home as loves Manchester or commutable so could be hybrid. The word ‘campus’ doesn’t really mean much to them I don’t think hence why I’m thinking a drive round somewhere like Keele would give her an insight

Wow not looked at unis yet. Just moved daughter into her new college accommodation yesterday. Extreme stress with her having packed enough stuff for three houses and having to help her unpack it all, build some additional IKEA crap she allegedly needed etc etc. The campus and her room are lovely though - certainly much nicer than my uni accommodation years ago. It's an en-suite single room with a lovely view and the whole campus seems quite wholesome to me (I'm probably very naive 😂) with groups of teens wondering around lovely green fields. They are basically free to roam as long as they're back in their accommodation by 22:30. I take it as a good sign that my daughter hasn't been responding to my calls/messages all day as she was too busy with her new friends and wanted to get me off the phone asap (although not before asking me to send her additional stuff via amazon 🥶).

Her studies will only begin next week and she doesn't know her timetable yet. This week are just activities for the new college boarders.

The horse seems to also have settled in well 🤞🏻

I'm quite shocked at how much I miss her though, as I was so looking forward to my new found freedom without having to taxi her round and be covered in muck and hay at the yard. I seem to miss her and horse much more than they miss me 🤪 Will be going up there next weekend though.

Not sure if people have realised but the vast majority of Universities do have tours on YouTube , some of them are left over from the pandemic , some have been updated . There are also quite a few YouTubers who tour Universities . We found it a useful first step . DS1 whittled his list from 13 to 7 , we’ve visited 1 when it was closed , done 2 open days and have two more booked . Only one he’s pretty keen on that we probably won’t visit is Manchester … but we will go on an offer holder day if he does put it down and be lucky enough to secure an offer . I think I’m a little relaxed as I went to Uni sight unseen and the two unis I visited didn’t actually offer .

DS2 is just starting to talk about what he might be interested in so will start doing some research soon - he wants to commute so that’s actually easier to visit places and school already took him to one of the main options

DD went back to sixth form yesterday. Decided in the morning she wants to change subjects… basically rethinking her entire future plans. She’s been set on something in the medical field (not Medicine) but has now decided she doesn’t want to do Chemistry and probably not Maths either (which is her strongest subject). She didn’t actually talk to her head of year yesterday but hopefully will today.

so yeah… there’s that. Definitely not thinking about open days when she doesn’t have a plan

Going to one uni next month just to give DS a flavour of what uni is like! Had a couple of others booked but have cancelled them as it would mean leaving the house before 5am with around 6 hours travelling in the one day and none of us can really be arsed.

Would have loved to do Cambridge or Oxford but didn’t want him missing a day of lessons this early into A levels

We've been to my brother's graduation ceremony at Cambridge years ago (which was entirely in Latin!) and although my daughter was quite little she still remembers being impressed by the pink with white fur vet graduation robes, so that's the dream she's had ever since 😂👩‍🎓

I think we’ll do uni open days in the summer when hopefully DD will have actually made a new plan.

I am actually fully supportive of her doing the subjects which make her happy (she LOVES History which is what she’s trying to change from Chenistry to do), I’m just less enthusiastic about her half hearted attempts to sort it. School like them to do it all themselves so I am staying out of it.

@JustOneMoreMargarita I'm having a similar situation with DS, although less drastic. He told me at the weekend that he finds maths really boring but he's taking maths, FM and economics because he's very good at it and it can make him a lot of money in the future. While I applaud his pragmatism, I'd prefer him to do subjects he really likes. However, he doesn't really know what he likes so he's sticking with what he's good at. Hopefully he doesn't change his mind or crash out midway through the next two years! He has until the end of this month to change his subjects if he likes though so I've suggested he has a chat with his HoY and careers advisor.

I went through Cambridge's Economics reading list to get some books for DS, who loves reading that sort of thing. My goodness, they're expensive! And most of them are really quite dull and out of date. I know some of the core economic theories go back centuries but I was hoping for more modern thinking, especially with the contextual reading. Even the most recent stuff is pre-Brexit.

@NotDarkGothicMama - DD is similar with Maths. I think she wants to do something else instead but she is naturally very good at Maths and I feel like maybe she should at least give it a go. I’ve suggested that she asks school if she can start with 4 A levels (timetable permitting) and drop one by the end of the month once she’s given the two she’s wavering between a try. She’s not keen on that approach though.

History though, she should absolutely do that. She is so interested in it and did really well at GCSE (strongest subject after the Maths that she didn’t even bother revising for)

We’re having A level choice wobbles. He signed up for Maths, Further Maths, Economics and Politics but he wants to drop politics as he thinks the work load for 4 is going to be too much. I think some of it is he’s seen how many free periods others have in their timetables, plus, whilst he’s really interested in politics, he hasn’t historically excelled at things with lots of essay writing (got an 8 in history GCSE but a 5 in Eng Lit). Anyway the head of sixth form didn’t have chance to discuss it today but has suggested that they tend to avoid people doing 3 A levels where two are maths because of cross over and limiting of uni options. He might change his mind but he currently wants to do Economics at uni. Any thoughts?

Just realised that my post was kind of similar to yours @NotDarkGothicMama , although my DS claims to love maths. School issued an economics reading list which I can share if it might be helpful. DS is currently enjoying freakonomics. Did your school have any concerns about the double maths/ economics A level combo?

Hi, please has anyone ever heard of GCSE drama marks going up or being lowered after a remark or appeal? Trying to decide if it’s worth risking marks going down and school not saying what they think either way. DD still upset in her grade 5 was predicted 8 and got that in all mocks. Thanks.