Right.
So.
This is a post I’ve been meaning to write for a while, if only to set straight in my own head what we’re going to do next year with Keira: specifically, which primary school will we send her to?
And oh, lordy. What a Pandora’s box opens.
I first suspected this would be a tangled issue a few months ago when people started asking me how many school tours had I done?
At the time I answered honestly: none.
Then I got looks. Looks (or so I felt) in the
welllookwhodoesn’tgiveacrapabouttheirchild’seducation?
sideways kind of way.
My rebuttal was this: we lived within walking distance to two local primary schools: one state with biggish numbers and one Catholic with smaller numbers. And yes, with my past, I admit, I was leaning towards the Catholic one. Eventually I DID do a tour and I liked it. I liked it, but I had issues.
Then, recently I did a tour of the big state one. Again, I liked it, but I had issues.
(There are private schools around here as well, but I didn’t even investigate those.)
(I’ve dipped my toe in the private vs public debate before.)
I didn’t want to go outside either of those two schools because honestly I figured why? It’s the dream to live within walking distance to your school, yes?
Then I saw school #3. It’s not too far away, but in all honesty will probably involve a car trip until the kids are a bit older. It’s state, it’s middle-sized, it has all the kind of programs I was wanting…
…and we’ve chosen it.
One of the most exasperating things about this whole decision is the domino-effect of expectation and implication that comes with it. For example, when we were talking Catholic schools, the talk then turned to Well, what high school will they go to?
Sometimes I’ve felt like screaming, They’re FIVE. Let them live through primary school first.
But I shouldn’t get frustrated, I suppose. Most of my friends and other parents lived and grew up locally or semi-locally. I can’t help but feel sometimes, again, like the ‘Victorian outsider’ I felt for years after we moved down. So when it comes to choosing high schools part of me wonders “Will be even be living here by then?”
It’s not beyond the realms of possibility. So I suppose that question isn’t as relevant to me.
I tell you one thing, though. Now I’m asked that question, “So where are you sending Keira to school?” I hope I’ll be able to smile a small smile, answer, and not have the alternatives nag inside my stomach.
That will be a good thing.
