Hi, I hope you can help me to think things through, as I'm winding myself up at the moment having to choose a school for DS.
DS starts reception next September. The reason I am getting stressed is because I don't drive, and DH is self employed so chances are he won't be able to do drop offs/pick ups due to having to work early/late most days. I work full time, but I will need to somehow drop DS off and pick him up each day. God knows how I am going to manage this, but this isn't the main issue right now. The issue is that because I need to be able to do the school run, I need the school to be either within walking distance, or on one bus route (I couldn't imagine having to get 2 -3 buses in the middle of winter when it's freezing cold and raining, and doing this 4 times a day quite frankly would drive me insane).
The options I have are:
School 1 - perfect. Excellent Ofsted report. 10 mins walk or a 2 min bus journey.. Ive been to look around the school and I really liked it, I got a really good feeling about it. Problem - it's massively oversubscribed, so even though we live so close there is no guarantee he will get in.
School 2 - great reputation, not been to see it yet but heard good things about it and Ofsted report is good. Problem - it's not walkable and it would mean 3 different buses as it's quite rural. A lady who lives on the same road as us has a DS at the same nursery as my DS and they have become great friends. She has a son at this school already, so chances are her DS will be going there. She has offered us a lift there and back every day, which is really nice of her, but I hate to have to rely on someone.
School 2 - again perfect, Great Ofsted report. Been to look around and really liked it. Not walkable but 15 mins on one bus. Problem - it is a church school in a different LA, and this particular school show favour to kids who attend church regularly. I have started taking him, but with him only being 3 it's quite hard work at the moment, he gets bored and starts playin up. Plus I'm not religious so I feel like a bit of a fraud applying to the school on faith grounds. And we live quite a distance away, so again no guarantee of getting in.
The rest of the schools in our area are all 2-3 buses and not walkeable. I have no chance of passing my driving test, nor even taking any lessons at the moment beacuse we are totally skint. So, do I keep taking DS to church and put school 3 down as an option? How would you feel about accepting a lift from somebody each day? I'm tearing my hair out here and it's all beacuse I can't flippin' drive. Any advice appreciated.