Catherine Scott: Parents put to test as decision day approaches

I am sure back when I was ten my parents didn’t have the anxiety attacks I am currently having when making the decision.

We had little choice. Take the 11-plus, pass it go to the girls high school, fail it go to the secondary modern.

I suppose there was the option of private education, but, despite my begging to become a character in Mallory Towers, that was never an option for me. So what has happened? Now we seem to have endless choices, from grammar school, for which your child needs at least a year of tutoring, church school, for which you need to attend church weekly and then two comprehensives.

We have a week to make that crucial decision; probably one of the most important decisions we will make for our daughter.

And the anxiety is mounting, not helped by the seemingly daily letters from school and the LEA reminding us that October 31 is deadline and we haven’t filled our form in yet. We know! Despite trying to be prepared, everything seems to have been left to the last minute. So as the school half term draws to an end our lives have become a round of school visits and bedtime reading is filled with Ofsted reports.

We did take the advice and started early, visiting potential schools’ open days as early as year five. These are opportunities for the schools to show off a bit, well quite a lot actually. And while my daughter loved icing buns, watching drama and trying her hand at trampolining, they don’t really give you an insight into the day-to-day running of the school.

Having started early we were lulled into a false sense of security. Don’t be fooled, by the time the summer holidays are done and year six has started, time is preciously short and the round of open days starts again. The best thing is to try to visit schools when they are actually teaching, only then can you really understand whether it is likely to be the right place for your child.

One thing I have to say is that we are extremely lucky. I live in a part of North Yorkshire where there isn’t a bad option no matter what happens. I was so impressed to see children actually enjoying learning – even Maths last period on a Friday when all I could think at their age was what I as doing at the weekend. Now we have to work out how to download the form.

The clock is ticking and I for one can’t wait for Hallowe’en to be over and the forms posted.

Twitter@ypcscott