Here's a nice long message for you. Looks like they're getting less frequent but bigger at the moment.

Apoa's in her final year of primary school now which means it's time for us to come face to face with the tragic reality of England's education system (actually, the system as a whole isn't bad but the secondary transfer deal is terrible if you live in a decent-sized town or city). Historians will remember that it all went particularly wrong in the 80's when Thatcher decided to give choice to schools and to a small percentage of families, while leaving the majority to worry.

We're lucky in that we have a good state school just down the road from us, even though it's just for girls (until sixth form). Apoa's quite likely to get in there, but we can't be completely sure. I think I've gotten over my aversion to single-sex education enough to go for that if she gets in.

If she doesn't get in there, then the only thing we'll know for sure is that they won't send her to one of the other choices we put on our form (since they'll fill up with people who have put them down as a first choice). So we've decided to let her try for two selective schools, which means I have now to get over my aversion to selection (you know, that thing that there would be none of under a Labour government, according to the writing on David Blunkett's lips).

I went to the grownups-only open evening on Monday and I have to admit I was feeling physically sick by the end of the evening. I think the main cause was being reminded of my problems with selection, but it was added to by the presentations from the staff who said a little about education and a lot about why everyone should think carefully before putting their kid in for the exams and about the standards the kids will need to meet to get in. It reminded me of those helplines where the message begins by asking you to think carefully about whether you really want to be phoning. Then there was the general 'scramble for the lifeboats' atmosphere among the audience, which was pretty unwholesome. I think only one question was a general one and all the others were about the questioner's kid and their chances of getting in.

Last night, we went back for the grownups+kids open evening and got a much better impression. The kids were very friendly and relaxed, and seemed to be enjoying being at the school. Anyway, I guess it's up to Apoa really, and she seemed to think it looked pretty good. There were a few famous linguists and a showbiz celebrity in the audience and a most enjoyable standoff between two cars on a narrow road on the way home. One of the cars had a bus up its exhaust pipe but the other one still wouldn't back down. Glad I'm no longer a car owner.

Robert Elms had a piece about secondary transfer in Time Out last week but I can't point you directly to it as you have to pay to get it online.

B-)