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We should be having our last of three tonight but clashes with MiL birthday so will probably just do the open day with said MiL for the boys to visit her tonight. Logistics make it difficult to do both and DS's are happy with this as the school arranges a visit to their catchment school at some point anyway. So far we have seen Crypt and Tommies and I am torn. Have told DS1 to chose which enviroment he would feel more comfortable sitting the test in. Once we have the results then I will probably take DS's out of school for a day to visit both running as they normally would, then we can decide which we prefer. Truth be told both are good schools.
Main problem was that a sixth form girl showed us around Tommies whereas two y9 boys showed us around Crypt on the open days, (DS'S didn't come) and I got far more of a feeling for the school and the staff from these two boys who were obviously very proud of their school, happy to be there, warts and all, and incredibly sensible and nice. One told me how inspirational his English teacher was and that has made such an impact. Having met her very briefly on the open evening I get the impression that DS1 would really benifit from being in a school with her as he wants to be a writer. I just have huge reservations about what I perceive as an over use of laptops and feel that Tommies' shorter lessons woud suit DS2 far better than Crypts' hour long ones. Also DS1 was very impressed with Warhammer club and library in Tommies, had to be dragged away from both. Have tried to explain that Crypt will have an excellent library when it is built.
Uggh parental choice, who needs it
Main problem was that a sixth form girl showed us around Tommies whereas two y9 boys showed us around Crypt on the open days, (DS'S didn't come) and I got far more of a feeling for the school and the staff from these two boys who were obviously very proud of their school, happy to be there, warts and all, and incredibly sensible and nice. One told me how inspirational his English teacher was and that has made such an impact. Having met her very briefly on the open evening I get the impression that DS1 would really benifit from being in a school with her as he wants to be a writer. I just have huge reservations about what I perceive as an over use of laptops and feel that Tommies' shorter lessons woud suit DS2 far better than Crypts' hour long ones. Also DS1 was very impressed with Warhammer club and library in Tommies, had to be dragged away from both. Have tried to explain that Crypt will have an excellent library when it is built.
Uggh parental choice, who needs it
We're still doing the rounds, as DD has asked that we look at Sir William Romney (many of her school friends are in the catchment).
One secondary we looked at felt so calm & quiet that we wondered if the children were forced to take a dose of Ritalin every morning. One parent on our tour quoted an art teacher as saying "it's really hard to get the children here fired up - they always seem half asleep". DD couldn't imagine herself there.
Another we went to was very lively and had a good sparky feeling about it. Quite a few friends there from a youth organisation, and a year 10 even came bouncing up to say hello, as she is friends with DD from Saturday Music. DD thought it was OK.
Now that latter bit is important. She now realises that if she doesn't pass the 11+, then there's a school that will be very acceptable for her. And that takes the pressure off her, thus decreases risk of panic during the exam, increases her chance of passing and therefore paradoxically lessens the chance of her going to that school.
One secondary we looked at felt so calm & quiet that we wondered if the children were forced to take a dose of Ritalin every morning. One parent on our tour quoted an art teacher as saying "it's really hard to get the children here fired up - they always seem half asleep". DD couldn't imagine herself there.
Another we went to was very lively and had a good sparky feeling about it. Quite a few friends there from a youth organisation, and a year 10 even came bouncing up to say hello, as she is friends with DD from Saturday Music. DD thought it was OK.
Now that latter bit is important. She now realises that if she doesn't pass the 11+, then there's a school that will be very acceptable for her. And that takes the pressure off her, thus decreases risk of panic during the exam, increases her chance of passing and therefore paradoxically lessens the chance of her going to that school.
Capers
One of the boys who showed us around was proud recepient of jacket! (same guide maybe). Photo showed him in it, apparantly the teacher who should have been wearing it was away that morning and because he had the dubious honour of second place he ended up in photo with it. The teacher did have to wear it all afternoon though. 
It was in the morning we had the 6th form female guide and the y7 tutor gave her to us. In the evening it was so hectic we DIY'd. I do think that the schools need to think about this one as it has definately made a difference to my feelings for the individual schools.
Was fine Tuesday but very stressed Wednesday night fortunately feel whole lot better after seeing our local school yesterday. Will now just send in registration form and forget all about which school until we have a result to work with, phew.
It was in the morning we had the 6th form female guide and the y7 tutor gave her to us. In the evening it was so hectic we DIY'd. I do think that the schools need to think about this one as it has definately made a difference to my feelings for the individual schools.
Was fine Tuesday but very stressed Wednesday night fortunately feel whole lot better after seeing our local school yesterday. Will now just send in registration form and forget all about which school until we have a result to work with, phew.
