Great! Does anyone else think that 6 weeks isn't very long to decide about secondary schools?

[OrmIrian]

Because I have just learnt that that is how long we have left. DS#2 starts school next Sept and we have to apply by 18th October. Only learnt by accident because I was chatting to a friend who's son is same age as mine. I have approx 1 week until the open evening of the school we want him to go to. We are having a 'discussion' with DS about this whole subject as he wants to go to the school where his friends are going and I'd rather have my arm chewed off by a rabid lion than let him! I rang the LEA whose attitude was that it was his primary schools fault for not passing on the documentation soon enough (he's been on a 5 day residential field trip since the term began) but totally failed to see that whether we got the stuff on 3rd Sept or 10th September makes very little difference - the deadline is too short!

Anyway. I will pause for breath now and try to stop panicking.

I'm so pleased we started looking at schools early. I've just seen the dates for open days and the 3 top schools are on Mon, Tue, Wed in a single week, when dh is away.

Fortunately we did 3 in yr4 and 3 in yr5; then re-visited our 2 favourites during a regular school day later on in yr5.

Of course we still haven't actually made up our minds between those two [aargghh], but I will just take ds1 to one of the Open Evenings (and organise a babysitter to look after ds2).

Not just here that there's a bit of a rush then roisin. I think that makes me feel a little better. What irritated me was that I am normally pretty organised (have to be with 3 of them and a job) and to be on the safe side, I did start enquiring last year only to be fobbed off by the LEA. If I'd have had any idea that we'd need to get it all done and dusted 6 weeks after the autumn term started I'd have got a move on myself and rung all the schools.

However, I've booked some leave to take DS to the school we prefer and DH and I are going to the open evening next week, and the week after for one of the other possibles. Whether we bother with the school DS likes I don't know. I am just so anti I can't see the point really.