As regular readers will know, Fran had decided to start senior school this September, to see what it was all about, so she spent the last summer term at a local Juniors to prepare her. The Seniors she had been offered wasn’t the greatest, in fact i never heard anyone say anything particularly good about it at all and once we withdrew her from it (following her decision that school was okay but nothing special) i only heard fairly depressing things, from locals who had been too polite to say anything while i was trying to be positive about it. 3 months ago, i had pretty much come to the conclusion that if she decided to go there, we’d throw in our lot and send them all for a try out too, but apart from Josie who was passingly interested, all the rest thought it was a definite ‘bad idea’ from the end of the first week. In some respects i admire the fact that they trust each other to evaluate on behalf of the herd, in other respects, we must remember to offer the rest the same opportunity to trial it when the time comes, no matter what they think they now know. With the abolition of SATs on the horizon, i suspect, term long discovery trials might become easier to achieve.

With all the back to school photos popping up on Facebook this week, i’ve had some twinges of regret about her not starting seniors, in a way. Fran had a fantastic time in her 9 or so weeks and really grew in confidence and self belief, besides being a pretty fab ambassador for HE. I’m not quite sure that she made the right choice in some respects, although i think she summed up the school and knew it wasn’t for her. Had there been a really excellent school in the area (frankly there just aren’t any), i think we might have encouraged her to go, because she really did fly in the environment. Her decision though was mainly based on the fact that it wasted a lot of time on things she can achieve quickly at home and sapped her energy for the things she is passionate about.

What i didn’t really take on board, until i saw a photo last night of my Josie aged niece, Rowan, in uniform and getting ready to put her first intrepid little foot on the school path, was that today i could be dropping one child off for her first day at Seniors and one for her first day at Primary. There are only 6 years between Fran and Josie but their birthdays fall at times of the year which stretch them across a greater number of academic years.

So today COULD have been a very big day – apart from anything, i could have been about to have my first stretch of child free life through the day for 11 years. Blimey. Pass the registration forms

As it is, we’ve a quiet day planned, with a music lesson for everyone, some anthropology, some science and probably some other stuff too. And of course gym.

Good luck little Rowan, you extremely BIG GIRL – will be thinking of all the school starters today (while in our pyjamas!)