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#NoWrongPath (Results Day)
Former Member
Obnoxiously Large AnchorPosts: 1,201 Wise Owl
As results day has passed I wanted to share my story and hopefully help anyone who needs a little encouragement after receiving their results.
Firstly I want to say that I am proud of each and every one of you for getting through such a difficult and awkward year or two.
Now I want to share my story and maybe inspire some of you guys to share yours in the comments.
I struggled a lot in school, when I was about 8 a lot changed in my life. We moved house, I got pretty badly bullied and started facing neglect at home. This neglect over the years turned into abuse. I always blamed myself because I would resist going to school due to the bullying.
I was regularly late for school over the next few years just before high school. I ended up going to a different high school to the rest of my classmates as by this time I pretty much hated all of them.
I struggled to fit in at my new high school as I didn't know anyone. I actually made a lot of friends but I was also experiencing health issues which made me an easy target for people. I remember we went on a ski trip to France and I'd walked into the room and someone had made a comment about my skin which at the time was awful due to eczema. I hadn't heard the comment but another classmate had heard it and reported it. I was pulled aside and a bit confused and upset. Anyway ultimately I decided after two years at this school that I wanted to move.
So off I went to the high school where my primary school classmates had went. Not ideal but hey ho.
I struggled a lot to maintain a good attendance and had the attendance officers coming after me. We were called to a meeting basically threatening to put my mum in jail. Tbh I didn't really care.
The school got me into the pupil support classroom which was quieter and I was able to do my work in there. They started gradually trying to force me back into classes which again I resisted.
At 14 I was taken into care which highly impacted upon my exam year.
My attendance was so poor in my exam year (national 5s) that teachers started dropping me down to national 4 level. I ended up only sitting 2 nat 5 exams and the rest was NAT 4. I passed the two exams that I sat but ultimately I'd decided I wasn't going back to high school.
I applied for college and got accepted, which I went to the induction day for to solely tell them I wouldn't be attending. They weren't so happy as they said I could've just called, but I walked out anyways.
I'd received an offer to a scholarship in America for my sport but the condition was me attending high school. I agreed (I'm so glad I continued) and off I went. I didn't have any family over there, I lived in a team house originally but was then placed with a family as I struggled to adjust to the large family atmosphere. The coach was also abusive and again I was an easy target.
She also removed my support for schooling even though I'd been placed in the wrong level of classes (some too high a level and some too low a level). I was hovering over 10th and 11th grade.
I ended up finishing the year and passing all my classes, some better than others.
I then got an offer to go to a team in Canada. I ended up in 12th grade and finished all my classes, I graduated on time with my class and got some even better results.
I came back to the UK and returned to my kinship placement and took a gap year to readjust to life in the UK. I got bored and applied to college and again was accepted. It was the same course as previously and the people had recognised my name (awks).
I came into the course late as I hadn't planned on doing anything that year, they took a chance on me and I ended up screwing them over. I left in the January because I was struggling a lot mentally. The workload was getting to me and by this time I'd got an offer to go to uni in America and play for a team out there.
Anyways my family encouraged me to complete my UCAS none the less so I did. I omitted the fact I attended college for a few months, which I've been told wouldn't have affected me anyways. I ended up getting two unconditional offers to a Russell group uni, which I accepted in the middle of January. I couldn't turn down free uni at my first choice uni.
Here I am now going into my 3rd year, last year I got 2 As, 2Bs and 2Cs in my classes. I'm here to tell you that absolutely anything is possible.
Not everyone can be lucky enough to move abroad like I was, but everyone can get somewhere if they want it enough. I could've thrown those two years that I was abroad and screwed up my grades but I put my head down and was able to forget about life in the UK, I was able to be my own new person and I graduated.
I didn't have an ordinary path by any means. I went to 4 high schools in 6 years over 3 countries and I never spent more than 4 years in a school (I did P1 then moved, did p2-3, then moved back, did p3-7 then s1-2, s3-4, grade 11, grade 12).
If you didn't get the results that you were expecting or had hoped for better, there's options out there, sometimes it'll take a little longer but sometimes the best path for you isn't always the easy path.
And if you got what you wanted, congratulations!
I'm proud of you all.
Please feel free to share your stories, past or present! Much love all
Firstly I want to say that I am proud of each and every one of you for getting through such a difficult and awkward year or two.
Now I want to share my story and maybe inspire some of you guys to share yours in the comments.
I struggled a lot in school, when I was about 8 a lot changed in my life. We moved house, I got pretty badly bullied and started facing neglect at home. This neglect over the years turned into abuse. I always blamed myself because I would resist going to school due to the bullying.
I was regularly late for school over the next few years just before high school. I ended up going to a different high school to the rest of my classmates as by this time I pretty much hated all of them.
I struggled to fit in at my new high school as I didn't know anyone. I actually made a lot of friends but I was also experiencing health issues which made me an easy target for people. I remember we went on a ski trip to France and I'd walked into the room and someone had made a comment about my skin which at the time was awful due to eczema. I hadn't heard the comment but another classmate had heard it and reported it. I was pulled aside and a bit confused and upset. Anyway ultimately I decided after two years at this school that I wanted to move.
So off I went to the high school where my primary school classmates had went. Not ideal but hey ho.
I struggled a lot to maintain a good attendance and had the attendance officers coming after me. We were called to a meeting basically threatening to put my mum in jail. Tbh I didn't really care.
The school got me into the pupil support classroom which was quieter and I was able to do my work in there. They started gradually trying to force me back into classes which again I resisted.
At 14 I was taken into care which highly impacted upon my exam year.
My attendance was so poor in my exam year (national 5s) that teachers started dropping me down to national 4 level. I ended up only sitting 2 nat 5 exams and the rest was NAT 4. I passed the two exams that I sat but ultimately I'd decided I wasn't going back to high school.
I applied for college and got accepted, which I went to the induction day for to solely tell them I wouldn't be attending. They weren't so happy as they said I could've just called, but I walked out anyways.
I'd received an offer to a scholarship in America for my sport but the condition was me attending high school. I agreed (I'm so glad I continued) and off I went. I didn't have any family over there, I lived in a team house originally but was then placed with a family as I struggled to adjust to the large family atmosphere. The coach was also abusive and again I was an easy target.
She also removed my support for schooling even though I'd been placed in the wrong level of classes (some too high a level and some too low a level). I was hovering over 10th and 11th grade.
I ended up finishing the year and passing all my classes, some better than others.
I then got an offer to go to a team in Canada. I ended up in 12th grade and finished all my classes, I graduated on time with my class and got some even better results.
I came back to the UK and returned to my kinship placement and took a gap year to readjust to life in the UK. I got bored and applied to college and again was accepted. It was the same course as previously and the people had recognised my name (awks).
I came into the course late as I hadn't planned on doing anything that year, they took a chance on me and I ended up screwing them over. I left in the January because I was struggling a lot mentally. The workload was getting to me and by this time I'd got an offer to go to uni in America and play for a team out there.
Anyways my family encouraged me to complete my UCAS none the less so I did. I omitted the fact I attended college for a few months, which I've been told wouldn't have affected me anyways. I ended up getting two unconditional offers to a Russell group uni, which I accepted in the middle of January. I couldn't turn down free uni at my first choice uni.
Here I am now going into my 3rd year, last year I got 2 As, 2Bs and 2Cs in my classes. I'm here to tell you that absolutely anything is possible.
Not everyone can be lucky enough to move abroad like I was, but everyone can get somewhere if they want it enough. I could've thrown those two years that I was abroad and screwed up my grades but I put my head down and was able to forget about life in the UK, I was able to be my own new person and I graduated.
I didn't have an ordinary path by any means. I went to 4 high schools in 6 years over 3 countries and I never spent more than 4 years in a school (I did P1 then moved, did p2-3, then moved back, did p3-7 then s1-2, s3-4, grade 11, grade 12).
If you didn't get the results that you were expecting or had hoped for better, there's options out there, sometimes it'll take a little longer but sometimes the best path for you isn't always the easy path.
And if you got what you wanted, congratulations!
I'm proud of you all.
Please feel free to share your stories, past or present! Much love all
Post edited by TheMix on
9
Comments
I did pretty well in education for a while, until mid-late secondary school. My grades went quite steadily downhill until I was at college and failed my AS levels two years in a row. Even though I have quite an academic brain, the system of formal education just didn't work for me.
I was also dealing with some mental health and relationship issues at the time, which meant my attendance started declining and I was constantly late to things. Was frequently told I was just lazy and had 'so much potential' by my teachers, and I believed them because I didn't have the self-awareness to understand why I was unhappy and failing everything.
During my third year, I decided to drop out of college because it just wasn't working for me. It wasn't an easy decision because I had no fallback plan, and no long-term goals that didn't involve going to uni. Thankfully though, both my parents were super supportive and didn't fight it.
I ended up working more hours at my job, took on more volunteer work and work experience in online communities. That volunteer experience built a platform for me to take on an apprenticeship and eventually full time work in community management, and honestly it's the perfect job for me.
When I was at school (👴) educational pressure was pretty intense. Because I historically had good grades and was always predicted good grades, teachers pushed me to do better in a way that wasn't empathetic or constructive. I will say, when I dropped out, I was instantly a million times happier and more relaxed, and I wish I did it sooner. Not to say it's the first thing you should consider if education isn't working for you, but don't rule it out, even if people don't like it.
There's definitely no universal path. Best of luck to everyone for whatever the next stage is for you, and mad respect for every one of you for getting through school. It's not easy, and I can only imagine how much harder the pandemic has made it all. You're all champions. 💪
In three years ( 2023 December time )
i will take my Law and Criminal justice mocks ( starter exams ) to get me ready for my proper uni exams to complete my course i really hope i pass, do you think i can?
it is intense
thank you :)xx
Very inspirational I may add mine but I enjoyed reading this! and well done for the good grades. ya made ya self proud?