Nice people thread part 7 - a thread in its prime

LydiaJ

lostinrates wrote: »

He always wants to know how the nice people are, and he feels very, very fond of lydiaj's children who he thinks are amazing people.

The feeling's mutual. I've just asked them what they think of him, so as to be able to reply, and the general consensus between the two of them is that he's a lot of fun, and much better at playing with kids than most other adults they've met.

silvercar

As PN would say,....flying lessons = posh alert.

michaels

Just filled in the infant school application for DS. Now we realistically have two schools he could get a place in, one based on geography and a second church school based on faith so the choice sort of makes sense but for most people there is basically no choice, it is closest school or none so why do we have the whole rigmarole of completing the application and 'choosing'?!

silvercar

michaels wrote: »

Just filled in the infant school application for DS. Now we realistically have two schools he could get a place in, one based on geography and a second church school based on faith so the choice sort of makes sense but for most people there is basically no choice, it is closest school or none so why do we have the whole rigmarole of completing the application and 'choosing'?!

You don't have to choose the closest non-faith school. You can pick one further away if you want.

michaels

silvercar wrote: »

You don't have to choose the closest non-faith school. You can pick one further away if you want.

But unless it is extremely unpopular then you will not get a space as it will be fully subscribed by those who live closer than you....

LydiaJ

michaels wrote: »

But unless it is extremely unpopular then you will not get a space as it will be fully subscribed by those who live closer than you....

In many cases, yes. But not in all cases. It depends how close together the schools are, and how big, and the demographics of that age cohort. When we were applying for primary places for DS, our closest school was a church school (where we ended up sending him) but there were two other schools we could realistically have got him into - one not very popular, it's true, but the other one a good school taking kids from a large area simply because it's three form entry. In any case, his year group have always had more choice than most because they're a very low birth rate year for some reason. All the way through his primary school career there were spaces in that year group in all the local schools, even the over-subscribed ones.

Also, if you apply to a more distant school and don't get a place, you can usually go on a waiting list, and lots of people get places later, if people drop out because they've moved house or decided to go private or something. Friends of ours did that with secondary applications this year, and got their son into the same school as DS, but only heard they'd got the place some time in July, to start in Yr7 in September.

GDB2222

silvercar wrote: »

As PN would say,....flying lessons = posh alert.

Gliding is much cheaper, provided you are good enough to stay up for a while after your launch, and it's more fun IMHO. Less good if you actually want to get somewhere, though.


Amazingly good weather here again. Mostly it's grey, but every so often we say: "Look, there's a patch of blue!" (I'm sorry that I'm becoming a weather bore, but at least it's unlikely to offend anyone deeply.)

We just spoke to our neighbour's daughter. It seems that her mum (the old lady who lived on her own next door) sadly fell and lay on the floor for 'at least' 24 hours until the cleaner came in and found her. So, as some sort of act of contrition by her children, she's been packed off to a 'home' - not called Dothebiddies Hall and not run by anybody called Squeers, oh no!

MIL has one of those buttons that activate a telephone alert, but will she wear it? I can just about cope with the idea of becoming old and frail, but old and frail and just plain stoopid and cantankerous? Shoot me first, please.

Maybe I should stick to the weather, after all?

misskool

grumble grumble. have cold

zagubov

lostinrates wrote: »

My favourite of dh's relatives died in a glider crash.

I'd hesitate to take it up again as a dad with dependants. There does seem to be a high death rate for a sport. At least in a powered plane there's more controlover your fate.

Once my DD was born I started being ultra-careful even crossing the road. The thought of DW having to comfort DD at my funeral kept popping unbidden into my imagination too often.

silvercar

michaels wrote: »

But unless it is extremely unpopular then you will not get a space as it will be fully subscribed by those who live closer than you....

No, because they may all go private or to a faith school or to a slightly better school that they can easily get to but you can't.

Also Hertfordshire occasionally put odd rules in place. I remember when the big housing development was first built in Shenley; those on the new estate got the local school above those who lived in the village, because the nearest alternative school from the new development was a lot further than the nearest alternative school from the village. So kids that were the nth generation of village life were denied places at the village school.

My road is a case in point, all the primary school kids go private or faith, yet there is a very good village school that they would get into if they wanted.