I am a parent and I am suffering from S.A.S SYNDROME. Thats School application stress (S.A.S) for all United Kingdom residents.
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| This is the right school for you Primary |
Sorry, just had to get that confession out there....
So for those of you who don't live in the UK or whose kids are still under four, allow me to explain this phenomenon which has only really cropped up over the last decade or so. This is because of the perception that most comprehensive schools are rubbish and grammar school or church school is the best. This is a whole different subject so I'll cover that in another post. For now am just looking at S.A.S.
In the U.K. every October thousands of parents have to go through the process of applying for Primary, Secondary or Tertiary places for their offspring. This process is now done online through a centralized computer system that supposedly matches the applicant to the school with a place out of their six available choices for primary and secondary education and five choices for tertiary education. Sounds simple right? Definitely not simple!
Its a process rigged with catches where you as the parent start to panic about everything from not living next to a 'good' school to not choosing the right university course for that teenager who is about the embark on one of the most important periods in their lives. The process is designed to encourage self doubt. Even the application list for primary and secondary school encourages self doubt with its preference rating for schools. The idea is that you list the schools in your application according to the one you like the most down to the one you like the least. I mean you look at the list and start to wonder if you should put the the school you really really want but don't actually live next to first. Or should you be practical and put the school you actually live next to but hate with a passion because the kids at the chip shop after school do nothing but scream like banshees and shout like gorillas being let out their cages every afternoon at 3.30pm. I mean talk about pitching the "practical parent" against the "aspiring parent" or the "I'm too hippy/pally with my kids to be a parent to actually parent so i'll let you choose schools" against the "you will do what I tell you at all times and I don't care if you hate the look of the school or don't want to go to the same school as your older sibling parent". It's a conspiracy against parents!!! OK, maybe not but it can feel like it sometimes.
For those of us who can't try to rig the process by moving house to get into that sought after primary school or secondary school (Yes this does happen, and is quite common!); October is the probably the most stress filled month of the year before Xmas. It even beats the School summer holiday for stress levels. At least the sun is shining during the summer (well kind of !). Summer months are definitely warmer so this makes it all seem a bit easier to handle. In fact here's an idea. Why don't we have this school application process during the first week of the summer holidays. Lower stress levels as the sunshine keeps people smiling. It's the most expensive air fare week of the entire year so most of us can't afford to jump on a plane anyway which means loads of people are around for school visits. Yes lets do that.
Maybe someone will start a campaign.
PLEASE.... someone start a campaign. I am too busy dealing with my S.A.S.
Am going to do some yoga now for S.A.S relief
