Tropicmama

[Aethel]

I think you have to ask him how he feels about single sex schooling, and if he's ok with it , consider whether you can encourage him to keep up a hobby which mixes the genders.
My brother went boys-only at eleven, and said he missed the normal banter and friends who just happened to be girls: orchestra let him socialise with boys and girls and made the feliniation feel less "artificial..."

We have the can't-decide-kid this end too! friday is our deadline...

[tropicmama]

Aethel, thanks for the tip - I honestly haven't thought of asking him that. We were so busy looking at "fit", clubs, transportation, sports that it hasn't occurred to me but you're absolutely right! All his activities are actually mostly boys too. At the moment though, he is still at that stage where he is not bothered with girls, all he cares about are his sports, music, skateboarding, Ipad, PS4. He might regret it in a few years' time! 3 of the 4 closest GS to us are boys' schools. His top 2 are within these 3.

[tropicmama]

After the relief and happiness over the transfer test results, we have now hit quite a nice dilemma. I say nice, but it is actually a serious one. As I previously mentioned, my DS has narrowed down his choices to two schools, both single sex, one we are in catchment for but the other not very far from us either. I actually think we are smack bang in the middle of the two schools, distance-wise. Both are easy to travel to, through school bus or public transport. Travel time is perfectly doable and not long at all. After visiting both school's open mornings this week, he now favours one over the other (he gave one a 9/10 and the other a 9.75 ) Truthfully, though we won't tell him this, DH and I think he is a much better fit for the one he gave a 9/10 to. DS' favoured school is the one we are not in catchment for and if he places it as his first choice, it is entirely likely he will still get the 9/10 one if he places the latter as his second choice. I really don't want to make him pick the one we think is better for him should he have a difficult time and then turn to us and say we "made him" go there (I am imagining this scenario in my head - DS is unlikely to say anything this scathing but you never know!) Has anyone else encountered this? Where your choice is different from your DCs and how did you compromise/decide? Looking at OFSTED reports, results, and clubs etc, these two schools are actually very similar, although I have a feeling the one my DS prefers slightly is a little bit more formal and strict, but just a little bit and this was just my impression from the 3 times we visited each school.

[BlueBerry]

Would you mind me asking which schools you are considering?