The morning after offer day

[Elembeeee]

How’s everyone doing?

I admit I’m still in shock. Getting the letter from Dulwich in the post today is starting to make it feel real. I had spent the last week prepping myself for a rejection and focussing on our state options. Realised they would be lovely too. Almost sad he can’t go to both places.

After being fairly low key leading up to the offer, my son is now bouncing up and down. He said he wasn’t sure the first time we visited because it was so different from primary. But at each open day and throughout stage of the process he’s felt more and more at home.

Independent school is all new territory to us. So I’ve got mega butterflies with the unknown too.

Hope everyone else is doing well. Sending all the positive vibes to those on waitlists and big hugs to those who didn't receive offers too.

Congratulations! I’ve heard many good things about Dulwich so it’s a good choice. Can I ask why you decided on private rather than state?

Do you mean Dulwich College, Farage’s Alma mater? 😩

Oh, well, when you put it like that, I’m sure the OP will completely re-think the choice of school.
…cos Nigel Farage went there. 🙄

Bin Laden went to summer school in Oxford, when he was a kid.

To be honest, I hadn't until my son's yr 5 teacher suggested it. My son has consistently been working at 2+ years above his classmates. The lack of challenge (despite his lovely teachers exceptional efforts) has started to affect him. And he's become self conscious and started to feel very 'different' and wanting to be less clever. So I've been searching for a secondary that would challenge him but still nurture him. I think I went to see 11 state schools in 5 different boroughs.

Our nearest state schools are not those schools. The schools that would be better are a good 30-40 minute bus ride: some do academics, some do the nurturing, but none really offered both (or had tricky admission criteria).

So we went to check out Dulwich which is a 10 minute bus ride/bike ride away not expecting it to feel right. But it immediately felt right. Subjects and societies and clubs that engaged my son. A lovely warm welcoming feeling from the head of the lower school through every student and staff member we chatted to. It was far more diverse than I thought it would be - and living in south london that's important to me. It was a school that had everything on our wish list - no compromises.

We're not posh. We're just regular folks. We didn't tutor. Simply did a month of Atom Learning (after discovering during the Wandsworth exam that 11+ was not at all like SATs). And took a punt and applied.

My DC works there & loves her job. Ignore any comments about Farage. It's hardly their fault that someone who left in the early 80s is awful.

You are in the same situation that we were in 4 years ago, our daughter at state primary having just been offered a place at private secondary.
The next morning is one of my happiest memories of her primary school friends, seeing them all jumping down in excitement for her outside the school gate when she told them she'd been accepted.
My daughter is now in year 10 (and her younger sister in year 8) and it was the best decision we have ever made for them.

We got the offer email at 7pm on 12th Feb - DS had just gone to Scouts so I had to wait a whole 2 hrs before I could tell him. He was so happy he cried! He has only told 2 of his friends. The rest still think he is going to the local school with them - he is not sad to be parting ways with most of his year.