The visits to potential secondary schools, that is.
As parents we have free choice of where to apply to send our children to secondary school. That doesn't mean we will get our first or even second choice of school but it does mean we aren't restricted to the school closest to the family home.
So we have lined up 6 (yes, 6!) secondary schools to visit in order to be able to make an "informed" choice. Last night was the first visit to an all boys comprehensive school. Its a school which, in the past, has not always had the best of reputations but has seen significant improvements in the last few years. So along we went. We sat through the Head's presentation (very passionate and enthusiastic), we had the grand tour but, you know, it just didn't "feel right". I wouldn't say it was a rough school but TOM and I agreed it felt a bit like Waterloo Road (off the telly) but with not as good decoration. Son One was fairly ok about it but I did point out that we still have another 5 schools to visit and he doesn't have to make his mind up just yet.
I can see the next couple of weeks are going to rather stressful!
3 comments:
I got sick to death of heads talking about a "learning experience".
I chose the school where the head said that my son would get an "education".
Good luck,
GG
I guess at the end of the day whichever school your son chooses should be a happy balance between your expectations for a good education and a place where he feels happy and secure. Wishing you the best of luck over the coming months.
what has been interesting, GG, is just how much the heads' presentations are likely sales pitches. Some are highly polished, with professional-looking short films or slide shows. Others, quite frankly, are rather amateurish. I find that you have to really listen between the lines. Beginning to realise that the schools which keep batting on about good behaviour and the "consequences & rewards" model they have in place are probably the schools which have real problems with pupil behaviour. So far, in our search, one school really stands out. Unfortunately it is outside our official catchment area but we'll just have to put in the application and keep our fingers crossed.
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