CGSE year holiday - is this really a thing?

[TempersFuggit]

Hi there, DD is 16 and sitting her CGSE exams this year. She assures me that all of her friends are going back-packing around Europe, and going to Reading festival, and that I am really unreasonable to say that I think she is too young?
What are your teens doing over their CGSE summer?

The summer after GCSE is the summer for work experience, paid or voluntary. That should be the priority. Holidays are fine, but work experience is more important.

Reading/Leeds for the post GCSE crowd has been a thing forever!

I first went to Reading at that age about 30 years ago, before there was even the Leeds side of the festival running.

Yeah it’s full of booze and we smoked some weed and had no sleep but it’s good for kids to have some independence, and I bet they’re actually much stricter on serving at the bars now although you can take your own drinks into the campsite.

I think backpacking is more 18+ mostly for being able to afford it and I think quite a few hotels/hostels wouldn’t allow a group of 16 year olds with no adults with them.

big holiday with us and reading festival with friends(but day only and a parent also attending as i'm not yet comfortable with camping trips around so many other drugged up /drunk teens!)

Mine went to Reading post GCSEs and Zante post A levels. I was worried about Reading but he had a ball. Slept about 6 hours over the entire weekend and came back with festival flu but all was good. He went the following year too but too old for it now at 19.

DS is going to London for a week with his best mate. Then he’s got a day at the Leeds Festival and we’ve booked a cottage in the countryside nearby for a few days so he can get there.

Reading festival was post GCSEs for my year group, girls holiday to Zante/Malia/magaluf followed by Europe interailling with boyfriend post a levels. Everyone did it

Most places won't take bookings from under 18's anymore, we went to Newquay post GCSE's back in the 90's
Festivals are popular now... my SIL had to pick my nephew up from reading after one night as couldn't cope with his hangover without a shower 😂

well, it is not so good for the kids that die, get scarred for life or get a police record....

Reading is awful. You can't compare it to deaths in other festivals like Glastonbury, because the demographic is so different. People go to Glastonbury as a bucket list experience at the end of their lives, but the knock on effect is that the two festivals can look similar in terms of death and illness rate, but in actuality, they are poles apart.

I went to Reading post-GCSEs with a group of older friends 20 years ago. I hated it at the time (mainly the lack of hygiene!) but look back with fond memories. I made some dubious choices but came back safely and my only regret is that we went so early that I missed collecting my GCSE results in person so didn't have that experience. I paid for it with my own money saved up from working a Saturday job. My older DC is 14 and if he wants to go to Reading/Leeds/Boardmasters then I'll let him but I'm clear that he needs to get a job to pay for it.

I had a gap yah after A-levels. No solo foreign jaunts before then.

Post GCSE Latitude and Boardmasters festivals; post A levels holiday to Spain without parents

DS went to Krakow for a week with 5 friends post GCSES. One of them had been before with family so knew his way around.

Amazingly that boy's brave father arranged and guaranteed the accommodation because they were all 16.

We would have let DD do something similar if she wanted to but some of her friends have stricter parents so it was a no.

I'm not sure I'd have been comfortable with Leeds Festival (near to us). Very druggy from what I hear.

This is info from 20 years ago, so may apply- or not.

Reading festival:

the different camping sites (colour coded) have a different vibe. Some quiet and some raucous- shades in between.

do not stay (camp) the very last night. I remember my son calling me at 1am asking to be picked up as people were setting empty, abandoned tents alight. He was worried I would be cross (more so about being burnt) but I was just glad he asked for help.

It is very much considered a right of passage. They got their results at the festival, so if they are likely to need support, this may be a problem.

it is now a much treasured memory.

Yes that’s my thinking too - time to start saving up for driving lessons!

There was a thread on MN last year about Reading/Leeds festivals, and several posters went to rescue their DC on the last night because of this.

DD didn't go anywhere and none of her friends did.

I know that some schools arrange a volunteering trip to Borneo or similar.

Reading - our neighbour's DD went after Y12 and had to be rescued because of awful weather, leaking tent and general disaster. I think that put DD off. DD is an experience camper as a Scout but hates the idea of not being able to stay dry.

DS is off to Boardmasters festival with loads of other year 11, 12s and 13s from his school.

Then his grandparents have got a huge list of jobs that they would like him to help them with over the summer and he’s also hoping that he might get invited to some of his friends holiday homes along the coast for a few nights!!

1. The week after exams DS is going to a family friends holiday house in the UK with 7 school friends. 2. Reading festival with school friends. 3. Working for a friend's business for a bit. Those are the three independent things he's doing, and he's also doing summer holiday with family for a week and a sports camp residential for a sport he plays at a high level.

These trips might be great fun, but they are not volunteering

Exactly. Some people call them poverty tourism.
Also, only the more privileged young people go as they cost ££££££.

I had a look at this with my 16yo in mind. I found the website SO cringey and trying-to-be-cool!
Also I didn’t like that we couldn’t see any details of the various options without putting in all details and signing up