Nice People 13: Nice Save

Generali

Doozergirl wrote: »

We had snow last week on Thursday. None today, it's totally clear, thankfully. Car is booked in for new tyres on Monday.

DS also has his GCSE options to decide on.
He has to do:
English Language
English Literature
Maths
3x Sciences
Short course RE
Short course PE (I don't know what these mean!)

He has three options. He wants to do:
Business Studies
Economics
Geography.

It looks a bit heavy to me and with two brand new subjects to him. I suggested he leave BS or Economics to A Level and did Art instead, but it looks like Art might go on the reserve list with history, at the moment.

I'd not bother with O' Level Economics TBH. I don't think that you can meaningfully study it below A' Level. A lot of work with an outcome of limited worth.

silvercar

GDB2222 wrote: »

Where would you recommend for a week's holiday that is:
Within say three hours flight of London
Sunny and warm
Safe, ie no riots, rebels or civil wars?

Portugal or Italian Lakes. Flying time 2-2.5 hours. War free. Beautiful scenery, decent hotels, abundance of fish and/or pasta.

silvercar

LydiaJ wrote: »

DS has come home from school with his GCSE options booklet.

He has to do:
Eng Lang
Eng Lit
Maths (and may or may not be offered chance to do AO Maths as well but that depends on how well he does in Y9 English :mad:)
Science
Additional Science (no Triple Science option )

He has to choose 5 others. He is looking at doing:
Computing
History
Drama
Art (in which he hopes to specialise in graphic design digitally)
DT: Food

He's academically ambitious and will probably end up going in some kind of computing direction. I am hoping these choices are a reasonable compromise between being academically respectable and dyslexic-friendly.

You know your child best, at first glance I would say that drama art and DT are all practical subjects. Does he need all 3. Practical subjects take up a disproportionate amount of time IMHO.

No foreign language may be an omission unless he is really bad at them.

silvercar

Doozergirl wrote: »

We had snow last week on Thursday. None today, it's totally clear, thankfully. Car is booked in for new tyres on Monday.

DS also has his GCSE options to decide on.
He has to do:
English Language
English Literature
Maths
3x Sciences
Short course RE
Short course PE (I don't know what these mean!)

He has three options. He wants to do:
Business Studies
Economics
Geography.

It looks a bit heavy to me and with two brand new subjects to him. I suggested he leave BS or Economics to A Level and did Art instead, but it looks like Art might go on the reserve list with history, at the moment.

Short courses are half a gcse each. Is this a science academy that forces 3 sciences? I wouldn't study Bus Studies and economics, too much overlap to be justified. Personally I would keep the economics, anything with "studies" in the title sounds weaker.
Again no foreign language.

I [STRIKE]forced[/STRIKE] heavily suggested both mine do a language to satisfy this baclaurette equivalence idea that requires one. Possibly the weakest subject for both of them.

mystic_trev

GDB2222 wrote: »

Where would you recommend for a week's holiday that is:
Within say three hours flight of London
Sunny and warm
Safe, ie no riots, rebels or civil wars?

Madeira? Some lovely scenery and great walks on the levadas.

hjd

Generali wrote: »

I'd not bother with O' Level Economics TBH. I don't think that you can meaningfully study it below A' Level. A lot of work with an outcome of limited worth.

In addition, there is quite a bit of common ground and not worth doing 2 separate subjects. Certainly leave Economics for A level, and make sure he's confident with Maths (that's what I did).
Universities often don't count BS and Economics as 2 separate subjects when it comes to offers through UCAS, thus potentially causing major problems.
I know this seems a long way off, but other universities won't accept candidates for any degrees who don't have a modern foreign language GCSE. Just making you aware in case this could be a problem. Schools don't flag it up often enough.

Cross posted with others!

Generali

Possibly the most Australian invention ever. An Esky (cool box) that is also a wicket.

https://www.pitchi.com/pitchi/cricket-cooler/10602

I found out something interesting today. If a teacher in Aus writes an original poem on a blackboard (s)he doesn't have copyright over the poem but if they do so on a whiteboard he does!

Generali

GDB2222 wrote: »

Where would you recommend for a week's holiday that is:
Within say three hours flight of London
Sunny and warm
Safe, ie no riots, rebels or civil wars?

Turkey. North Africa (Algeria or Tunisia).

I knew loads of North Africans when I lived in Paris and they were a wonderful bunch of people. Algeria might be about to get a bit interesting as the oil price falls though. The food is blimmin' good though.

silvercar

hjd wrote:

I know this seems a long way off, but other universities won't accept candidates for any degrees who don't have a modern foreign language GCSE.

I think there are only 2 universities in the country who are sticklers for this. We did look into it and it wasn't an issue, though no guarantees things won't change.

One of them is UCL, who insist that anyone without a modern foreign language gcse take a foreign language module in their first year.

Is it true that a Modern Foreign Language at GCSE or equivalent is required for entry to Russell Group universities?


Our institutions very much value language skills but there is no universal entry requirement that students must have studied a Modern Foreign Language at GCSE or equivalent. However, there may be course-specific requirements, so we strongly encourage students to check universities’ websites for details of these.

Currently University College London (UCL) is the only Russell Group institution to require a Modern Language GCSE at grade C or above for all of its programmes. However if you did not take a Modern Foreign Language GCSE, or if you got a D grade or below you can still apply to any UCL degree programme, and it won’t negatively affect your application. You will not be rejected just because you don’t have it but you will need to complete a short course in a modern foreign language, either on a summer school or in the first year of your degree, to catch up.

hjd

silvercar wrote: »

I think there are only 2 universities in the country who are sticklers for this. We did look into it and it wasn't an issue, though no guarantees things won't change.

One of them is UCL, who insist that anyone without a modern foreign language gcse take a foreign language module in their first year.

Those 2 universities were the only two which did the course DD wanted to study...
She hated GCSE French.
In her second year at sixth form college she did AS Italian (from nothing to AS in one year) which was taught differently, by total immersion in the language, and loved it. Went on to do her language degree, then her Masters in Translation Studies and is now working as a self-employed translator. Very busy and having to turn work away.
The Italian has come in useful as she now has an Italian boyfriend - he is also a linguist and works over here, but she can communicate well with his father and brother in Italy when she goes over there. She is taking more Italian classes.
Had anyone said to us (or her) when she was choosing GCSE options that she would end up doing this, they would have been laughed out of court.