THE TIME HAS come to choose a primary school. It seems a mere couple of years since we first carried Harvey home in his car-seat from the maternity ward, yet soon we’ll graduate to posting a Facebook photo of our all grown-up son, standing at the front door, grinning in his school uniform, unaware that another 14 years of Physics, PE, and early starts stretch ahead of him like freshly laid turf.
The county council have sent us a rather austere four-page guide to the process, referencing nothing of the joys of education, or indeed any kind of joy. Instead they provide a timetable of impending deadlines—when to contact schools to arrange a tour, when to send off our application form, what the last date would be to change our allocation area, etc. Apparently we need to select up to four schools in our area and rank them in order of preference.
This feels a little daunting because what had seemed a straightforward decision—we live in a village, our son will surely attend the community primary that lies a short walk from our doorstep—now presents itself as a process we should somehow be gaming. Do we vote tactically? Do we download Ofsted reports? Should we be trying to get Harvey into an "academy" school, or a "community" one? Do we gamble on the school we want, and put that in pole position, without considering any others?
To ease the burden, I’ve devised the following three criteria:
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 2020 من Reader's Digest UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 2020 من Reader's Digest UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
EVERY SECOND COUNTS: TIPS TO WIN THE RACE AGAINST TIME
Do you want to save 1.5 seconds every day of your life? According to the dishwasher expert at the consumer organisation Choice, there’s no need to insert the dishwashing tablet into the compartment inside the door.
May Fiction
An escaped slave's perspective renews Huckleberry Finn and the seconds tick down to nuclear Armageddon in Miriam Sallon’s top literary picks this month
Wine Not
In a time of warning studies about alcohol consumption, Paola Westbeek looks at non-alcoholic wines, how they taste and if they pair with food
Train Booking Hacks
With the cost of train travel seemingly always rising, Andy Webb gives some tips to save on ticket prices
JOURNEY TO SALTEN, NORWAY, UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN
Here, far from the crowds, in opal clarity, from May to September, the sun knows no rest. As soon as it’s about to set, it rises again
My Britain: Cheltenham
A YEAR IN CHELTENHAM sees a jazz festival, a science festival, a classical music festival and a literature festival. Few towns with 120,000 residents can boast such a huge cultural output!
GET A GREEN(ER) THUMB
Whether you love digging in the dirt, planting seeds and reaping the bounty that bursts forth, or find the whole idea of gardening intimidating, this spring offers the promise of a fresh start.
Under The GRANDFLUENCE Suzi Grant
After working in TV and radio as an author and nutritionist, Suzi Grant started a blog alternativeageing.net) and an Instagram account alternativeageing). She talks to Ian Chaddock about positive ageing”
Sam Quek: If I Ruled The World
Sam Quek MBE is an Olympic gold medalwinning hockey player, team captain on A Question of Sport and host of podcast series Amazing Starts Here
Stand Tall, Ladies
Shorter men may be having their moment, but where are the tall women?
