Skoolz

I filled in Maia's school choice form today. We had to choose three. She will probably be starting in January 2008 - the next intake after her 5th birthday, which means that I had been feeling very smug about going to see schools AGES ago and getting everything sorted so far in advance.

This smugness soon dissipated when I realised that the deadline had sneaked up on me, and that we had to do it by the end of this month. I don't think it is first-come, first-served though, so all those super-organised parents who did this 3 years ago don't get a better place. Ha!

Anyway, our first choice is Carfield School, which is the school directly behind our house. It is a great old Victorian building, and it was crammed with the children's art and crafts. Lovely feel to the place. We have had the advantage of being able to peer over the wall and see how playtime was supervised, and (apart from one kind of shouty man) they all play nicely, no huge fights or bundles. At least in the back playground that backs onto our house, that is...

The other schools we put down were Meersbrook Bank School, across the park from us, and Ann's Grove Primary which is a bit further into Heeley. Ann's Grove is moving into a fabulous new building, all built to sustainable design principles and across from Heeley city farm (and they have a wind turbine! Hurrah!) However, if she gets sent to Ann's Grove, we are going private - the results are DREADFUL and it seems to have a very difficult and transient population as a catchment. Cool building, tho.

Anyway, the first thing they look at for places is siblings of existing kids, and then the next criteria is proximity to the school. As we can swing a rope ladder over the fence to Carfield and get her to class on time, I think we are well in. But I will let you know.

Here is the website if you fancy a gander...http://www.carfieldprimary.org.uk/