October 2017...Bring on Secondary School!

So it has been a while, but it is hard to find the time to blog.  I need to blog instead of spending so much time on Facebook, but I find that Facebook feels like a lifeline to my US family and friends!  It seems a bit like turning back the clock to go back and write about the summer holidays which now feel like EONS ago, so I will start with a short recap of the school year so far and then hopefully be able to get a regular blogging time into my schedule.

The kids have all three settled beautifully back into school, which is so great.  It is the last year they will all be at the same school.  In the US, this year would have been the first and ONLY year they were all at the same school, so I am thankful for the British school system that they have all been in the same school for the entire time we have lived here.  Lauren is in Year 6 (5th grade) and has Mrs. Herselman, who was the other Year 5 teacher last year.  I still cannot believe this is her final year of primary school; she has really grown up so much over the past 6 years and I am so proud of her journey so far.  She excels at math and she is a super speller and writes great stories with lots of detail.

Alison is in Year 4 (3rd grade), which is a year older than she would have been if we had stayed in the US.  She has completely amazed us with her schooling!  Her teacher this year is Mrs. Daniels, who is very generous with golden tickets, but Alison really thrives on that.  She has read every night since the school year started to make sure she gets on gold for reading.  She has developed a love for hula hooping and she is actually REALLY good at it!  She definitely didn't get it from me, but I feel like she could hula hoop for 10 minutes without stopping.

Drew in Year 1 (Kindergarten), and his teacher is Miss Lowton.  The first day of school he said "I just want to see how complicated Year 1 is going to be."  He decided after the first day that it wasn't that complicated, and he seems to be enjoying it.  He is wearing a white button down shirt and a tie every day, so he definitely looks more grown up now and he seems to have gotten really tall.  He is reading really well, and he is learning about Medieval times, which he finds fascinating.

This year was the first year they have all started school on the same day.

Our days for the past few weeks have been filled with secondary school visits and tests and will culminate in our Common Application Form being completed and submitted at the end of this month.  Wow, the school process here is so complicated!  Here is a brief rundown from my POV for all you non-Brits.  Secondary School starts in Year 7 (much like middle school in the US), and you can select to go to any school that you can get yourself to in a reasonable amount of time.  There are several different types of schools:

• Grammar schools- I liken them to magnet schools in the US.  All students are admitted based on performance on a two part test.  If you pass the first part, then you are asked back to take the second part and you can put the school on your application form as your top choice.  Many students are tutored from as early as Year 4 to prepare for this test and it is very competitive.  Lauren did some Bond books at home, and was really structured in the last month.  We were of the opinion that if she couldn't get in on her own that she would probably not thrive there.  She took one grammar school test this week and it was AMAZING the amount of girls there to take the test.  The queue was MASSIVE, and as we were queing up to collect the girls, there was a second queue of girls to take the test in the afternoon.  Lauren felt pretty good about the test; I was so grateful to see a smile on her face when she came out of the school.  We will find out the results in a couple of weeks.  The school is about 5 miles away, so she will have to take the train if she goes to that school, and there is no guarantee that Alison would go there unless she also took and passed the test.
• State schools -  Public schools, which are assigned based on proximity to the school (being in the cachement area, which is similar to the primary schools.)  The difference in the primary school and the secondary school is that for primary school, you can only apply for schools in your council, but for secondary school, you can apply to any school (as long as you can get there each day).  We live in Merton, but we are on the border between Merton and Wandsworth, and there are several schools in Wandsworth that we like.  A few of the Wandsworth schools give selective spots based on the score on the Wandsworth test, which the children in Wandsworth school take, but Lauren took that on a Saturday.
• Church schools - These schools are the same as state schools, but there are spots that are given to church goers first.  Most of the schools are Church of England, but a few are catholic.
• Independent Schools - Private schools, which we are not looking into because the state schools options are all very good.

The other factor to consider is all girls vs co-ed.  There are not as many co-ed schools, but there are a couple that we are considering.  The one good thing about the co-ed schools is that there is a higher chance that Drew and Alison could both go to school there as well based on the sibling policy.

So, after you have done all the open mornings and evenings and tests, then you complete the Common Application Form, listing out your top 6 school choices.  It is due on 31 October, and then the results are received on 1 March.  If you get your first choice, then that is it; if you get anything lower than your first choice, you are out on the waiting list for all the higher choices.  Suffice to say that I will be so happy when 31 October comes and I don't have to think about secondary schools again until MARCH!