The School Search Begins...

When I was getting ready to move here I was talking to a friend at work who lived in England during his tween years. He was telling me that he attended a Church of England school, and then the American School in London. His father worked for a large American corporation. I was curious about the American School although it is too far of a commute every day, but was shocked when I saw the price tag, which is about $35,000 a year. I called my friend and told him that he should call his parents and thank them for his education! Looking at the prices of other secondary schools, private school is definitely out.

I have been trying to learn as much as I can about the school system. The terms are very different: o levels, a levels, 6th form, league tables. What adds to the confusion is that where I work is situated on the border of two counties with different types of school systems. School started here a few weeks ago so many of the schools are having open houses in the next few weeks. Buckinghamshire County (Bucks for short) is one of the only counties in the whole country to still do a grammar school system. What that means is at a certain age, if a child does well on a test, they can go to a separate grammar school. I visited one of the grammar schools in the area tonight. I was impressed by the students and the wide range or classes, but there was one parent who turned me off.

There were about a thousand people, prospective students and their parents, attending this open house and we were being divided up into small groups so we could be escorted around by a student tour guide. I joined a group with two other families when one of the moms got this strange look on her face and said very loudly to me, “Where is your child? You don’t have a child?” Everyone turned to look at me like I was the out of town pedophile sneaking into the school. I quietly explained that we were moving to the area and left it at that. Here I am always on guard wanting to not come off as the obnoxious American and little did I know, obnoxious was taken.