Thread to share the horrors of secondary transfer

[TheDullWitch]

Oh my lord, 9 open days to attend in the next month. So why does it feel living round here that - unless you have girls or are Catholic ? you have absolutely no choice.

Still want to know where Portonovo lives!! I am reduced to looking through the list of top 20 comps and trying to find a single location that boasts two. Help!

Ahhh yes, the SOS, as we now call it in our house too!

I don t live in SE21. I have a much less yummy postcode.

I see your "less yummy" postcode and raise you an area of SE London that is totally OFF the SE Families/Junior London/estate agents' radar

Hey, London is shit for schools even if - like a friend of mine - you live in North Kensington where her only state offer was a failing school in special measures.

This is a thread for solidarity during the horrible process of open days at snotty private schools where they think they re doing you an honour even considering your child, totally dismal comps and great state schools you have arse-all chance of getting into.

ANd how to manage not to convey your dread and worry to your poor 10 yr old. Advice from graduates of secondary transfer much appreciated.

DS is in yr 1 and I'm quaking already. eek.
I am a S Londoner too - name and fame - which are the decent secular state secondaries in our area, then?

(I picked up a free 'families' magazine the other day, which had a round up of schools, state and private - my postcode of S London was left out, even though surrounding postcodes were in! I live in a black hole! But ner ner, that means they missed out one of the top 100 community primaries in the country!!)

Ah but Blu did you pick up the South EAST or the South WEST version??? They are poles apart Daaahling.

My bit of SE London doesn't even feature in SE London Families jan

WEll, it had Battersea and Clapham, and it had Dulwich...but it missed out the bit in between. Ditto the leaflet for the posh Chinese Takeaway (actaully, it didn't say 'takeaway', it said 'home dining') that came with it, which would deliver to SW4, SE21...but not my bit - or yours!

Waaaaah!

well I made the mistake of having children only one school year apart (a Sept baby followed 23 months later by an August one) so having just about recovered from secondary school transfer last year am having to do it all again for no 2. I am also in SE London so we have the neighbouring grammars in reach as well as the local state and private schools. We ended up deciding to give up on the state system despite principles and the detrimental impact on the bank balance. I know we are lucky to have this option.

I found that the whole experience made me dislike the grammar/selection process (and my daughter would have got a grammar place based on her results had we applied so it's not just sour grapes). If we didn't have the access to the grammars in our area then the other state schools would be better and then fewer people might feel obliged to make the choice we did and the state schools would be better. The illusion of choice also adds immensely to the stress of the process, particularly for those without the option to buy their way out of it.

Blu: so what is the name for yr bit of London? Is it "betwixt the commons" as I ve heard the estate agents calling it.

And Marina I have no idea what SE London families is? Is it a magazine?

Dullwitch - no, it's Brixton!
But Herne Hill wasn't in the mag I picked up, either - and how smart is Herne Hil, these days?

Freebie thing with events for parents/families etc and usually a lovely column on children's books by Justine Crow, who runs a children's book shop in Forest Hill.
Despite alleging to cover all of SE London it focuses ruthlessly on SE3, SE10, SE21 and SE22.

TheDullWitch, here is a link to the Families website. The magazines are freebies that you can pick up from libraries and some shops - they're very clearly aimed at the More Money than Sense market but their listings can be useful.

Cheer up, there's still the ice rink, batters!

Morbid fear and loathing of bowling alleys, eh? Is there a nice long fancy technical term for that I wonder?

I'm sort of mourning the passing of the bowling alley too, though it did always reek of smoke and we must have used it all of ...oh,....two times? I expect its going to be more housing? No chance of an M&S? Hmmm. And where IS Portonovo when we need her???

The Ice Rink is next...it's destined to become a huge Tesco

The magazine we were left out of is 'Angels and Urchins'.

Yes, come back PortoNovo!

I thought the Tesco plans included a done-up ice rink and leisure centre, blu. Has that changed?

Blu - Angels and urchins will NEVER cover our part of the world!!! Far too posh.

Ooh Marina - I'm interested to know where you are! Sounds spookily like my neck of the woods.

pooka, SE9 sound familiar?

Ah - yes! My mother's family all from SE9. I don't even have a proper LOndon postcode though am in Greater London. Get really annoyed by how it's almost as if that part of London, and the neighbouring outer boroughs, don't exist.
Saying that, BR is blackhole culturally. Boooooooorrrriiinnngg.