Yesterday was a good day.
I drove my daughter, Taylor, back to her student house to empty it of the last of her belongings and give it a good clean before handing the keys back. The journey was easy, her things fitted effortlessly into the car and the cleaning satisfied an urge in me that surfaces from time to time to restore pristine cleanliness to where once was clutter and dirt.
The University uses a credit system whereby students have a card that can be topped up with money and spent in food establishments on campus. Taylor had a few pounds left on her card so she bought a lunch for us both that had become something of a tradition for her on Thursdays when lectures had kept her on campus all day. A freshly baked baguette generously filled with brie and salad eaten in the glorious sunshine on the central piazza was a perfect reward for all the scrubbing and vacuuming.
Our final job before heading back home was to collect Taylor's results.
We all knew that a mathematics degree at a prestigious university was never going to be easy and having now experienced it, Taylor would be the first to concur. She found it extremely challenging for all sorts of reasons beyond the simply academic ones, yet she persevered. Her boyfriend did everything he could to support her (including sending her a very prickly cactus that outgrew the box it had been delivered in thus causing a few concerns about how to transport it home!) Big sister Liberty made sure she had colourful post-its and notebooks to help with revision. I did my best to encourage her without putting her under any pressure to live up to my perceived expectations. We all did what we could and so did she... but would it be enough.
Taylor's first and second year results coupled with how well (or otherwise!) the final exams had gone meant that a first class degree was not going to happen. The dream was to scrape a 2.1 but a 2.2 was a more likely outcome. A 2.2 could still open doors, just not as effectively as a 2.1. Of course, the worry was that after all her trying, all her enormous effort... she wouldn't get a 2.2. I would need all of my consolation techniques ready to deal with that particular outcome.
We walked to the maths building. We were moments away from knowing. I grabbed a coffee and waited outside as she and her friends went in to face the truth. Students were emerging from the building, mobile phones to their ears, sharing their news with anxious parents. There was jubilation. There were tears. I waited.
Taylor is a petite little thing. She was wearing dark clothing. As she emerged from the gloomy interior of the building into the bright sunlight, I saw her smile before I actually saw her. A huge, beaming smile.
A huge beaming smile followed by a thumbs up as she waved her piece of paper at me... the piece of paper with an unfathomable jumble of percentages AND the magic number... the number we had dared to hope for.
2.1
We drove home letting the good news sink in and sharing it with friends and family by the magic of text and facebook.
We celebrated with a rather unusual meal created by cooking all the partially defrosted frozen food that had been left in Taylor's uni freezer. Nobody cared how odd the meal was because Liberty arrived with a bottle of bubbly. As I toasted my daughter and sipped my drink, I could rejoice that the stress of 'not knowing' had been replaced with the joy of a fantastic result. I may have it all to go through again with the A level results, but today was most definitely a good day.
Showing posts with label warwick University. Show all posts
Showing posts with label warwick University. Show all posts
Friday, 26 June 2015
Thursday, 16 August 2012
Hur-A*A*Ah!
A Level Results Day had seemed so far off - then all of a sudden, it was here
I was slightly concerned for my daughter, Taylor, because she had set herself a very high standard to achieve for her first choice of University - Warwick. I knew she would do well but with a lot of study days lost to ill health and a wild card in the form of an essay based subject (Taylor admits she does numbers not words!) there was a question mark over whether she would do well enough.
We had an inkling that things had gone in her favour when the school telephoned to ask that she come in early to collect her results and talk to the local paper. It seemed unlikely that the paper would want to run the headline "Promising student's shocks teachers with 3 fails at A level".
My husband works in education and had an obligation to be at his school for the all important results day. However, he was reluctant to leave just in case our worst fears were realised and Taylor needed help in terms of going through clearing to find an alternative University that would take her. He decided that the best solution was to check the UCAS website first thing. It wouldn't tell him what her grades were but it would say if she had been offered a place at Warwick.
When my husband brought me up my morning coffee all dressed for work and with the biggest smile on his face I'd ever seen, I knew we had nothing to worry about.
Taylor was still asleep at this point, but not so asleep that she didn't register my involuntary outburst of the chorus of Kool and the Gang's Celebrate Good Times (come on!! its a celebration!!!!)
She was up shortly after, checking UCAS herself and celebrating the confirmation of an offer of a place at Warwick.
Going into school to collect her results was now just a formality. She achieved two A stars in her Maths and Further Maths and an A in her essay based subject.
I am so incredibly proud of her.
I was slightly concerned for my daughter, Taylor, because she had set herself a very high standard to achieve for her first choice of University - Warwick. I knew she would do well but with a lot of study days lost to ill health and a wild card in the form of an essay based subject (Taylor admits she does numbers not words!) there was a question mark over whether she would do well enough.
We had an inkling that things had gone in her favour when the school telephoned to ask that she come in early to collect her results and talk to the local paper. It seemed unlikely that the paper would want to run the headline "Promising student's shocks teachers with 3 fails at A level".
My husband works in education and had an obligation to be at his school for the all important results day. However, he was reluctant to leave just in case our worst fears were realised and Taylor needed help in terms of going through clearing to find an alternative University that would take her. He decided that the best solution was to check the UCAS website first thing. It wouldn't tell him what her grades were but it would say if she had been offered a place at Warwick.
When my husband brought me up my morning coffee all dressed for work and with the biggest smile on his face I'd ever seen, I knew we had nothing to worry about.
Taylor was still asleep at this point, but not so asleep that she didn't register my involuntary outburst of the chorus of Kool and the Gang's Celebrate Good Times (come on!! its a celebration!!!!)
She was up shortly after, checking UCAS herself and celebrating the confirmation of an offer of a place at Warwick.
Going into school to collect her results was now just a formality. She achieved two A stars in her Maths and Further Maths and an A in her essay based subject.
I am so incredibly proud of her.
Sunday, 25 September 2011
Monday, 1 August 2011
Road Trip
In the summer before leaving for University, Ivy passed her driving test. For two years after this she had no car and hence no driving practice. I was worried that when she did get herself a car at the beginning of this summer, she would have forgotten how to drive.
It wasn't as bad as that. She was a bit rusty but she soon remembered the old mirror, signal, manoeuvre routine and everything that went with it. However, her experience of driving on motorways was very limited and something I wanted her to have some practice with before I send her back off to University later in the year. We decided to have a Road Trip.
Ivy and I both loved the idea of a Road Trip but neither of us were able to come up with anything very imaginative to base it on. In the end we settled for shopping and lunch in either Manchester or Birmingham. Both fulfilled the only criteria we had set which was to use Motorways but for student Ivy already living off her overdraft and for me, a self-confessed terrible shopper, neither had huge appeal.
Taylor has been out of sorts of late. After some gentle probing it turned out she has been worrying about her lack of direction when it comes to choosing which Universities and which courses she should apply for. Many of her friends (including her boyfriend) have very clear ideas about what they want for their futures and she was fairly clueless. She is incredibly bright (predicted As at A level) and leans towards mathematics as an academic preference. She had gone as far as to order a number of prospectuses from possible Universities but it transpired that said prospectuses have been sat untouched on her bookshelf taunting her for her failure to get stuck into them.
It seemed that there was a possible solution to the lack of direction for Ivy's Road Trip and Taylor's University dilemma. A good old fashioned killing of two birds with one stone. We invited Taylor to join us and set the sat nav to Warwick - home to a prestigious campus University with an interesting selection of flexible maths courses on offer. The route required the use of four different motorways.
My husband had filled the car up with fuel and provided us with sweets and water for the journey. We were ready for anything.
The journey to Warwick was uneventful. Ivy coped beautifully with the motorway driving. We had a good look round the University campus and Taylor began to feel the first stirrings of "I could study here".
We stopped for lunch at a little cafe. There was not a lot for vegetarians but a jacket spud and cheese with a cup of coffee was all we really needed. We were served by a most beautiful boy. He was tall and slender and had spiked his flame red dyed hair vertically upwards giving him the air of an exotic bird. He moved with the fluid grace and body awareness of a well trained dancer. I was quite fascinated by him (much to Taylor and Ivy's embarrassment). When I remarked about the size of our jacket spuds, his face lit up with a glorious smile as he agreed with a flamboyant flourish that they were indeed enormous! I thoroughly enjoyed that jacket spud!
After a little bit of shopping, we decided to head for home. This was where it all went wrong.
A journey that should have taken no more than an hour and a half, took four and a half hours. The traffic on the M6 was horrific. When we saw a sign saying that the M6 was actually closed ahead we made the decision to exit and use the A roads. We had a minor battle to stop the sat nav trying to direct us back to the motorway, but then the route home was fairly straightforward. Unfortunately it was also very busy. Poor Ivy certainly had plenty of driving challenges thrown at her and she coped with them all. I was grateful for the sweets and water and did get to listen to lots of music by bands that will be appearing at the V Festival I am going to later this month, so I will be able to sing along.
It may have been a horrible journey home but on a positive note, when we wave Ivy goodbye as she heads back to Uni with her life packed in her Peugeot, I can be confident that a capable and competent driver is behind the wheel.
It wasn't as bad as that. She was a bit rusty but she soon remembered the old mirror, signal, manoeuvre routine and everything that went with it. However, her experience of driving on motorways was very limited and something I wanted her to have some practice with before I send her back off to University later in the year. We decided to have a Road Trip.
Ivy and I both loved the idea of a Road Trip but neither of us were able to come up with anything very imaginative to base it on. In the end we settled for shopping and lunch in either Manchester or Birmingham. Both fulfilled the only criteria we had set which was to use Motorways but for student Ivy already living off her overdraft and for me, a self-confessed terrible shopper, neither had huge appeal.
Taylor has been out of sorts of late. After some gentle probing it turned out she has been worrying about her lack of direction when it comes to choosing which Universities and which courses she should apply for. Many of her friends (including her boyfriend) have very clear ideas about what they want for their futures and she was fairly clueless. She is incredibly bright (predicted As at A level) and leans towards mathematics as an academic preference. She had gone as far as to order a number of prospectuses from possible Universities but it transpired that said prospectuses have been sat untouched on her bookshelf taunting her for her failure to get stuck into them.
It seemed that there was a possible solution to the lack of direction for Ivy's Road Trip and Taylor's University dilemma. A good old fashioned killing of two birds with one stone. We invited Taylor to join us and set the sat nav to Warwick - home to a prestigious campus University with an interesting selection of flexible maths courses on offer. The route required the use of four different motorways.
My husband had filled the car up with fuel and provided us with sweets and water for the journey. We were ready for anything.
The journey to Warwick was uneventful. Ivy coped beautifully with the motorway driving. We had a good look round the University campus and Taylor began to feel the first stirrings of "I could study here".
We stopped for lunch at a little cafe. There was not a lot for vegetarians but a jacket spud and cheese with a cup of coffee was all we really needed. We were served by a most beautiful boy. He was tall and slender and had spiked his flame red dyed hair vertically upwards giving him the air of an exotic bird. He moved with the fluid grace and body awareness of a well trained dancer. I was quite fascinated by him (much to Taylor and Ivy's embarrassment). When I remarked about the size of our jacket spuds, his face lit up with a glorious smile as he agreed with a flamboyant flourish that they were indeed enormous! I thoroughly enjoyed that jacket spud!
After a little bit of shopping, we decided to head for home. This was where it all went wrong.
A journey that should have taken no more than an hour and a half, took four and a half hours. The traffic on the M6 was horrific. When we saw a sign saying that the M6 was actually closed ahead we made the decision to exit and use the A roads. We had a minor battle to stop the sat nav trying to direct us back to the motorway, but then the route home was fairly straightforward. Unfortunately it was also very busy. Poor Ivy certainly had plenty of driving challenges thrown at her and she coped with them all. I was grateful for the sweets and water and did get to listen to lots of music by bands that will be appearing at the V Festival I am going to later this month, so I will be able to sing along.
It may have been a horrible journey home but on a positive note, when we wave Ivy goodbye as she heads back to Uni with her life packed in her Peugeot, I can be confident that a capable and competent driver is behind the wheel.
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