School Places

I am over the moon at the moment as we have received confirmation that we have a place for our oldest at the primary school of our choice – it is such a relief. We had investigated all of the schools local to us – we talked to other parents, looked at website, visited the buildings and talked to the staff and made the choice on what we thought was best.  

-       Single year group classes.

Lots of the schools around us are smaller village schools and the majority run mixed year group classes (some freely admit that the mix the children based on ability so the brighter younger children are in with the older children that need some catching up). This terrified me as there will not be a school year between our children and I would hate for them to be in the same class as each other.

-       Location

We have chosen the school closest to us. Great for practicalities like the school run, not so much so when you consider the location of the pre school but we figured it was only for a year.

-       Some of his friends from pre school will go with him

We know that the transition will be traumatic for him, we expect it to take him a lot longer than his peers to settle but we are hoping his friends being with him will be helpful

-       The facilities

It felt like a lot of the schools were very similar – nice bright classrooms covered in art work and learning aids, tables and chairs, playgrounds of both grass and concrete, a hall. None of the local schools have a kitchen onsite for school meals so no  matter where he attends these will be shipped in.

The most important thing for us was his choice. We tried to keep him included and he came to every visit. He had a brilliant reaction to the school he will attend and the Head. There was a school which he had an extreme negative reaction to which we also took into account.

I am hoping that he has a positive experience of school, fingers crossed that he remembers his first few days as happy ones.