I still can't quite believe that J got into the school we wanted, I've gone back onto the website to check several times even though we've also had an email & a letter from the council & a letter from the school. The school sent me a wodge of forms to fill in, like medical forms, agreeing to use the internet correctly & does he want school dinners forms. I don't feel ready for all this yet. They also asked if he wanted to apply for a place on their Maths & Science gifted & talented summer school. This child who's been complaining that Maths & Science are too easy & he's bored at school immediately responded by saying no, he wasn't going to school in the summer holidays. I've persuaded him to apply though because it would do him good & it's also a good idea to appear willing to learn & interested in Maths & Science. Also he would get to meet some of the teachers & other children. He's got to get his teacher to fill in an approval form though, including saying how good his attendance is! Little does he know but his new school does some lessons on a Saturday morning - booster classes if you're struggling & master classes if you're good.
There were some real surprises among the children in his class re school places, 3 girls who were right up at the top of the class & seemed certain to get into grammar school didn't get through, no-one knows what went wrong. They're really upset, poor things.The system doesn't really seem fair, especially now there's so much tutoring going on which is pushing the standard higher & higher. Children whose parents can afford an expensive tutor seem to have a big advantage. We'd really been feeling that J wouldn't cope with the pressure of grammar school anyway so we're glad he's going where he's going.