Is anyone else fed up of looking at schools

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bexmumof2
Posts: 77
Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2009 6:23 pm

Is anyone else fed up of looking at schools

Post by bexmumof2 »

I feel like I have seen so many, and some I have even seen twice, once in the evening with Hubby and then a daytime visit alone or with DS.....

Now i'm getting a little confused.... Can't remember which negative belongs to which school. I've felt deflated after lots of them and the ones I'm possitive about are the hardest to get into obviously.

Thankfully I only have Hurstmere left before results, then IF he passes I have to zoom around the Grammars in 3 4 days... I swear this is one of the most stressful times in my life, I got into heated arguements with my husband, had dreams about breaking into my primary school to get results and I don't feel like I can concentrate on anything else.

Please tell me i'm not alone.
hermanmunster
Posts: 12817
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Post by hermanmunster »

oh bexmumof2 it sounds like you need to chillax, preferably with chocolate or vino!!

re remembering schools, we used to have a checklist and got kids (usually) to give scores out of 10 for various features. made decisions more obvious and made it easier to remember..

Good luck and remember it can't go on forever!!
Bexley Mum 2
Posts: 851
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2007 9:55 pm
Location: Bexley

Post by Bexley Mum 2 »

Oh you're not alone - I'm almost in total meltdown.

I'm afraid we've only managed one school visit so far. As ds is the youngest of three, we've been round all the schools in the area twice in recent years and he was involved in most of these visits. I don't really feel you learn a lot at open days/evenings anyway - they all try to put on a good show. I remember with DS1 we visited our nearest non-selective (subsequently put into special measures). DH looked at the nice new building, listened to the HT's speech, then turned to me and said, "oh this is nice - this'll do won't it....?" :roll: I've tended not to involve him much in school selection since then.

What I did with ds1 and ds2 was draw up a table setting out the criteria that we wanted to take into account and gave each school a score. We included things like size of school, ease of journey, whether or not they were allowed mobile phones (didn't want my kids travelling on public transport without one), what they were like for sport and science, mixed/single sex, what grade Ofsted gave them etc etc. Not a very exact science, but helps to focus your thoughts a bit - you can always manipulate the figures if you don't get the result you want! Don't underestimate the importance of a good journey. When they're lugging sports bags/musical instruments/heavy school bags to school they don't want to be changing buses/walking too far and you don't want to turn into a taxi service!

It's really difficult to make a choice on the basis of one visit. I remember going to one open evening a couple of years ago when it was dark, pouring down and I had a really bad cold. I hated the school - thought it was tatty and run down and wanted to leave almost as soon as I got there. Went back the following summer to watch a cricket match ds was playing in and thought how lovely it was!

At least this time next week things will be a little clearer!
stevew61
Posts: 1786
Joined: Fri Nov 17, 2006 9:54 pm
Location: caversham

Re: Is anyone else fed up of looking at schools

Post by stevew61 »

bexmumof2 wrote: had dreams about breaking into my primary school to get results and I don't feel like I can concentrate on anything else.

Please tell me i'm not alone.
You are not alone. :) Dreams, mine were more like plans and plots, waking up in hot and cold sweats. :) It is all part of the roller coaster ride.

It means you care, have done your best and whatever the result you will continue to support your kids. :P

steve
Bexley Mum 2
Posts: 851
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2007 9:55 pm
Location: Bexley

Post by Bexley Mum 2 »

Hermanmunster - crossed posts! My brain is so addled it takes me ages to type at the moment. Glad to see you recommend giving schools points for different things. Though I remember with one ds the school I hadn't realised I wanted for him didn't get the highest overall score on my little chart - so I went back and altered a few figures!
bexmumof2
Posts: 77
Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2009 6:23 pm

Post by bexmumof2 »

I find the GSCE results the most confusing.... It is very apparent that those non selectives with the highest gcse a-c results offer maybe the least desireable GCSE's. The figures can be so confusing. I'm not sure how I feel about it not being comulsary for my DS not to study a GCSE in a language, and again figures being influenced by GCSE in litteracy and numeracy..... At one school visit this week we witnessed year 8's being taught how 10% of 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000.... my son was shocked with disbelief. Some people have said we are so lucky in Bexley to have so much choice with schools, yes there are 16 in the school admissions brochure, plus a possible another 3 in Kent we are considering but the list of those which I would actually consider sending him to are very few.

Is everyone actually putting down a whole 6 on the form if non-selective?

I'm on the vino tonight so feeling slightly better x
Tracy
Posts: 1123
Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:28 am
Location: Bexley

Post by Tracy »

You could so very easily get fed up. I did it last year too when dd was in yr5 so this year is not so pressured. I treat each visit as a chance to have a good old nose - when else do you get the chance? :lol:
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