We went to a couple of school open days this week, one at our closest school & one at the popular girls school. We have no issue with the closest one, in fact our ds goes there & likes it. When we looked round there was nothing glaringly bad & on the whole the teachers were enthusiastic. It has always been our preferred choice due to its location. We decided to go & visit the other school to provide some perspective expecting it to be stuffy & not at all what dd would like. How bloody wrong we were. She & we came away totally blown away by the school. She loved everything she saw & now has her heart set on going there. One thing I did notice is that the teachers took more of a step back & let the students do most of the talking. Our guides were a y8 & y12 girl & they were lovely.
Problem is the school is likely to be very over subscribed & as we don't live in the catchment area or have a sibling she is unlikely to get a place. Also if we put this down as her 1st choice & our closest school as her 2nd there is a risk she won't get a place at either. Although at least there will be a sibling connection.
Anyway, I don't really expect any answers & i know it's how things are but it still saddens me that dd won't be able to go to the school she has set her heart on.