The New School

There was a sort of parents' evening at the school bear will start in September.  I felt under pressure.  It was such a big deal for him to be accepted, and the school has such an amazing reputation, and I didn't want to mess it up. 

The school is also quite old and so you have the original building plus a rabbit warren of add on annexes that have grown over the last 100 years.  Just the thought of actually finding the right place in there was daunting.  Actually, they had the meeting for around half the parents in a hall that was very easy to find.  We had to go through a modern entrance, past a massive case of school trophies and then we went into an older hall that looked a lot older with Victorian beams propping up the ceiling.  I was intimidated.

However the people weren't intimidating.  When you entered there was a little ring of tables with interested parties manning them.  There were the two businesses that sold the official school uniform (ouch).  There was the bus company and the caterers, who seemed awesome.  They were providing tea, coffee and cakes and buns that were made in house.  There was also the equivalent of the PTA who did the fund raising. 

The introduction and overview from the teachers was crisp, well delivered, clear and concise.  They made me think of the best of the teachers I knew when I was in school.  They looked like they could be very scary and would tolerate no disruption in their class but were decent people and good for a laugh when it was appropriate.  They laid out not only their perspective on learning but on growth of the children as a whole.  If it lives up to this talk, bear is blessed indeed. 

He also did well to get in.  828 sat the entrance exam.  210 will be starting this year.  Bear is in the top 25% or so that made it through.  I'm proud of him.