The time is fast approaching where we need to think about secondary education for our children

And especially for Esther and William who will 10 at the end of July

At the moment our children are educated at home

The plan has always been to send them to secondary school

Most likely at the age of 13

But as time has gone on

Our feelings about school and education have changed

And now we are not sure what our next steps will be

When I have thought about secondary school before

I have always imagined the children would all go to the same secondary school

That we would build a family connection with a school

And that the children would have each other

But living in Kent

With a grammar school system

This throws up a lot of issues

Our transition to secondary school

Was never going to be straightforward

Prematurity

Our first hurdle is the twins’ prematurity

Though they will turn ten on the 24th July

They were not due to be born until October 20th

They were born three months premature

When Esther and William started primary school

I fought the LEA and won to delay their school start

If they had remained in school they would currently be in Year 4

But by their date of birth they would be in Year 5

The first hurdle that we have to jump is finding the schools

Who would be willing to educate our children ‘out of year’

Though in this very special case it would be the correct year

We would not consider a school for Esther or William

Who would not be understanding and accepting of the circumstances and impact

Of their birth story

Grammar Schools and Single Sex

Esther and William would love to go to the same school

However their educational needs are very different

William has high functioning ASD

This has not been officially diagnosed

But I know that he is and lots of people agree with me

Who work with children and work in education

William has an amazing capacity for learning facts and figures

His maths skills and science knowledge are amazing

And his historical knowledge is better than many many adults

He has a wonderful imagination and writes wonderful poems and stories

He loves to read and devours non fiction books

A huge part of me thinks that William should go to grammar school

But we are not really in catchment for any of the good grammar schools

And they are all single sex

I am doing some work with William to prepare him for the Kent Test

The 11+

But we have not decided yet whether or not he will take it

Esther will not sit her 11+

Esther though incredibly bright

Amazingly articulate

Incredibly imaginative and creative

She would not be suited to a grammar school

Esther needs lots of support in her learning

She has dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia

And is waiting for assessments for Attention Deficit Disorder ADD and ASD

Esther loves art and nature

She loves animals and being outside

She loves singing, acting and dancing

She loves stories and books

If Esther goes to secondary school it will be to a comprehensive

And again there is no comprehensive that we are in catchment for that I would want her to go to

Because of the grammar system in Kent

It means that the comprehensives are not true comprehensives

Neither David or I went to grammar school

I went to a British school in Germany

And David went to a church school

We both did well at school

And went on to get First Class Honours degrees

And I think we have turned out as good people

So we know that grammar is not the be all and end all for secondary education

But where we live a lot of people do feel that way

And that worries me

For Esther and William

I do not want Esther to feel that she was not good enough

I do not want her to see us push William to grammar

Telling him how important it is that he pass his 11+

While telling Esther she will not be doing it at all

That is not something I want for them as twins

As siblings

For us as a family

Church School

The school where David went and was Head Boy

Is a consideration

But we are not in catchment for the school

And it is a Catholic school

The only one of us that is Catholic is David

So I am not sure it is right

We will go and have a look and talk to them

As we will with other local schools

But I am just not sure that we are going to find what we are looking for

Moving House

We could move house

We could move within Kent to somewhere with schools we would be happier with

We could move out of the county

To a place with true comprehensive schools

And we could of course continue to home educate

Home Education

I have real reservations about home educating through secondary

Mostly because I loved secondary school

I loved my school, my friends, my teachers

I loved being part of all the school plays

I loved my subjects especially at A Level

I moved secondary schools at Year 9

So I have no reservations about the children starting at that age and stage

But I think secondary home education is a very different challenge to what we are doing now

There are positives to consider though

The children could stagger their GCSEs

Taking two or three at a time

They would only need to take the exams that they really wanted to

I could imagine William doing English, Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Computing, History and Geography

Where Esther might focus on Maths, English, Combined Science, Art, DT, Geography

Because of all her needs Esther would be able to take only the exams she needs to do A Levels

Or do what she wants to do at college

It would allow us to give them a truly personalised education

And they would be able to continue their dancing lessons and stage school without the pressure of exams

We do know people who are a couple of years ahead of us in their home education journey

So we will have people to ask for help and guidance

We also know that in our local home education community there are a growing number of study groups and classes for older children

It is so very very hard to know what to do

And of course the children will have their opinions and ideas for what they want to do

And where they want to go

At the moment William thinks he would like to be a Military Historian

Esther would like to work with animals perhaps somewhere like Longleat

Of course

They may well change their ideas as they grow

Our job is to guide them and help them reach their goals

Achieve their dreams

And be set to live their adult lives to the full

We have a lot to think about

We have a lot to talk about

As we face the thought of secondary school or not

For our beautiful babies

Who will soon be 10!!!