Thursday 23 August 2012

My Brainy Daughter

My Padawan Learner is all grown up!
Sorry for this off-topic non-gaming post but I just wanted to express my overwhelming pride at my eldest daughters exam results. Like hundreds of thousands of kids up and down the country she went into school today to collect her GCSE exam results. We were confident she had done well (she's had lots of feedback from the school to help her focus effort where it was needed) but we are still blown away by her success...

Six A-Star's, Four A's and Two B's !!!!

She must get her brains from her mother because she sure as hell didn't get it from me! Joking aside, these results reflect the hard work, commitment and maturity she has shown over the last couple of years and I'm very very proud of her. 

We are all going out for dinner tonight to celebrate and discuss what sort of reward is appropriate for such an excellent set of results. I can confidently say my Padawan Learner has passed her Initiate Trials and can be elevated to the rank of full Jedi. Now we just need to find her a suitable Jedi name.... hmmm, any ideas? 

44 comments:

  1. Hi Lee,

    Many congrats and I am having the same day today with Holly and so can echo entirely everything you are saying and feeling.

    Holly got three A* for the exams averaged into As and like you I doubt she got her brains from me!

    Its a great day so enjoy the moment and reflect on a job well done - then put your hand in your wallet!

    All the besry best ad many congrats to your young Padawan.

    DC - still teary eyed and grinning like a halfwit!

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    1. "Its a great day so enjoy the moment and reflect on a job well done - then put your hand in your wallet!"

      Your right there, this is gonna cost me bigtime! Lol. She deserves it though, she's worked really hard.

      Congratulations to your daughter also, this is a day for them all to savour.

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  2. Excellent, that puts her in the top twenty percent easily.. most likely higher...

    Any plans for what she does next?

    I only ask as I am a college lecturer and we're in enrollment now, so giving advice and guidance on what people do with their outstanding GCSE results is occupying a lot of my time right now :)

    also, next step choice would heavily infuence jedi name.... though "Darth ALevel" wouldnt be that imaginitive...

    (Still better than Darth Undeaddu)

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    1. She's got a place in Sixth form studying Biology, Chemistry, Physics & Psychology (she wants to study medicine at Uni). I think she gets the option of dropping one subject after the first year if its too much but knowing Sarah once she gets the bit between her teeth she won't give up.

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    2. Lovely, looks like someone did their homework on the subjects needed for medicine.

      You've be amazed how often I hear people say they want to study it and they haven't taken the right A levels. I assume the plan is only to pursue psychology to A/S?

      It's the only expendable one there. be aware though, some universities will want to see maths at A level as well.
      (although physics and a good maths GCSE will suffice most places)

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    3. of course, if you want to study medicine at Oxford, you need A's in all three.. and there's an entrance exam too :)

      (the reason I say psychology is the only expendable one is that these colleges wont consider it for medicine usually)

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    4. That's a good point about picking the right A levels for what they plan to do in Uni. It might seem a long way off at 15/16 but by checking now we found out that not only does my son need the A level grades to do Music but also get his grade 8 in keyboard resulting in him having to cram level 6 in alongside his GCSE's and take the exam the week after the GCSE's finished...

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    5. Your lad might want to investigate weather places will be looking for Music theory at grade eight too, my partner's conservatoire did, but other colleges and uni's might not.

      regardless, if he were to get a ways down the road on understanding the dots it wouldnt hurt.

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  3. I'd say a day out with dad doing something she likes is a good reward.

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  4. Ah, wonderful work! Congratulations to her!

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  5. Lee

    Great stuff. Haul out the plastic and treat her well.
    You forgot to mention that she's a beauty with a real good sense of style - does she get them from you.
    I am the father of a bright 17 year daughter too. Our schools obviously run differently but I know good results when I hear them.

    Cheers
    PD

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  6. Congrats to the Padawan - you must be really proud of her achievement. Definitely worth a big celebration.

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  7. Congratulations! Ahhh, parenthood can bring a tear to your eh sometimes eh? I was the same a few years ago Lee when my son got his B.A. .. You should treat her to something extremely expensive.

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  8. Congratulations to the young lady. Very well done indeed!

    Any chance you/she are going to the Asylum in Lincoln in September?

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  9. Congrats I know who much pride this causes :-)

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  10. Lee, that's absolutely tremendous news. Well done to you, Mrs Lee and the young Padawan. Fantastic - I know you'll b really proud, and so you should be. Well done to you all again!

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  11. Grats. I wish her well for the future.

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  12. Excellent results!!! Congratulations to the young padawan!

    Cheers
    paul

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  13. Well done, she'll be learning to drive next and then you'll really have problems LOL

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  14. Super. Good for her. I wish her all the best for a bright future. It's a great start!

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  15. Wow! Well done to the young Padawan.

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  16. Thanks for all the congratulations and feedback, I'll make sure to pass on your best wishes when I see her later.

    I just wish everyone could be so supportive of the thousands of kids getting good results today. No sooner have the results been published than the usual groups (largely politicians with an axe to grind and Daily Mail readers) are bemoaning a 'drop in standards' and 'dumbing down' of exams. It doesn't seem to cross their mind that standards may have risen.

    When I look at my daughters school (in a largely underprivileged and poor area of East London) and compare it to my old school 25 years ago, its clear that the quality of teaching, resources, support, encouragement and challenge students receive now is far far superior to anything I encountered. Standards have clearly improved and its not surprising that results have too.

    My daughter received an outstanding set of results today and I know she has earned every single one of them. Any suggestion by politicians and armchair annalists to the contrary is an insult to the hours of homework and revision she has put in pretty much every night for the last two years. Its a grose insult to all those students and its hardly surprising her generation feel disfranchised and abandoned when they have worked so hard for results that nobody seem to value any more.

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    1. Well said sir! I agree with your comments on the airchair analysis.

      Cheers

      PD

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    2. I agree. I learnt by rote. Reciting facts. Children today have to THINK and come up with reasoned arguements for theirown theories, that's what I did at Uni. They're doing that at year 6! Hat's more teachers have to develop that, nurture that talent and allow its expression. Rant over. I'm with you BL and PD.

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    3. Absolutely right, Lee. "Standards have clearly improved and its not surprising that results have too" - there's nothing more to be said, I think you're spot on there.

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  17. Please pass on my congratulations to your daughter. It is nice to hear that she has done so well.

    As an ex-teacher I know that the staff who taught your daughter would have done their best for her ... but that in the end the results are down to her and her alone. If she had not put in the effort, hard work and dedication, she would not have done as well as she has. She deserves all the credit ... and I hope that whatever she does next will see her build upon what she achieved today!

    All the best,

    Bob

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  18. Congratulations to your daughter. Tremedous effort.

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  19. Great results and you have every reason (as does she) to be proud of the achievment, especially given the press of the lower grades due to mark downs.

    Very pleased for you (I/m 9-10 years off ths milestone thank goodness)

    Ian

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  20. Congrats!
    Start saving for the university fees. Have just put two daughters through college and still bankrupt.
    :)

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    1. Don't get me started on the injustice of University Fees! Since both kids were born we have been saving for them. Initially it was supposed to be a little nest-egg to help them get started in life, then (when house prices started to sky rocket) it became a small deposit if they wanted to buy or rent a house when they left home. Now it represents a small dent in the huge debt they will owe just for getting a university education.

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  21. Well done Padawan Learner! Make sure you spend lots of your Dad's cash!

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    1. Oh yes... she needs a new Laptop for sixth form. We were going to eek out her existing laptop but decided to let her get a new one now as a reward.

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  22. Well done there!

    I've worked with Years 10 & 11 and while it isn't too difficult to obtain the lowest grades, the higher grades take just as much work as they ever have, so it is a real achievement and at the end of the day, does come down to nothing else but studying and working hard.

    Unfortunately as you say, not every child gets the support they need however, often not even within their own homes.

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  23. congrats for the Great Padawan!
    Princess Sara ?
    White Vadorin?
    Sara Starwalker?
    (not easy to find the good Jedi's name! maybe choose it with your heart and your love, that's better!)

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  24. You could always name her (I apologise!) Jar Jar Thinks

    See! another reason to be thankful for the AWI.

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  25. Congratulations to your Daughter mate well done!

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  26. Very many congratulations, a fantastic result and one to be justly proud of.

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  27. Well done indeed. I hope they open up some doors for her!

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  28. Those are pretty enviable results, particularly when the examiners have been accused of marking too harshly! Very well done eh?

    :O)

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