Aaaaagh! UK School Admission System stinks!

After an early start, 17 hours in the car, quick chip test for the cats at Calais - we arrived knackered at my mum-in-laws. Our life squeezed into every nook and cranny of the car, roofbox and trailer. The cats weren't happy to be in their box but they definitely thought travelling by car better than by plane - they talked to us occasionally from the boot to remind us that they were still there.

Moving back was emotionally draining and physically exhausting. Especially after the lovely drinks and meal with our wonderful Dutch and French neighbours who had so quickly become friends. But the hardest work was yet to come.

Finding a suitable rental property was very difficult - family sized house with a garage, a garden and being within the catchment for a good primary school was a lot of boxes to tick but we did it and have now been living in the lovely historic town of Malmesbury for 10 days! It has taken this long to write my blog because of waiting to be connected to broadband which happened yesterday! However, finding a house and getting internet and television was easy compared to how frustrating it has been to get the boys into school!

At the moment, 3 weeks after doing the application and 10 days after moving in we are still waiting for an answer as to whether they have a space in the school 5 mins away or not! The system allows them 20 working days to get a reply out to us! Despite the fact that the children are not in school and I am homeschooling them. (That is a whole separate blog!)

I have just had a conversation with the Local Education Authority, which I instigated because I wanted to find out how much longer they were going to take and gently remind them that the boys are not in school. I can not remember the last time a phone conversation left me so frustrated and belittled.

The conversation went something like this:

Me: "Why is it taking so long?"
LEA:"We have 20 days to give you an answer."
Me: "Why, when you know my children are not in school?"
LEA:"We have 20 days."

LEA:"You're living in Calne?"
Me:"No - as I said on my form, we were at my mother-in-laws when we came back from overseas and we would be in Malmesbury from 28th April. I clearly stated our future address."
LEA:"Well you said you lived in Calne, we need proof of address for Malmesbury."
Me: "But if I had put down Malmesbury you wouldn't have asked for proof of address."
LEA:"No, but you put down Calne."
Me:"Why are you only telling me now when I've phoned up? When were you going to contact me?"
LEA:"Well we are now - we need proof of address."

Me:"Will this delay the process as we are at week three?"
LEA:"Your application is pending."
Me:"But you won't give me an answer until I send proof of address?"
LEA:"No but we have 20 days"
Me:"In the meantime I am homeschooling and technically breaking the law having the children out of school."
LEA:"You chose to move them."

So as you may have gathered they have 20 days to get an answer out, and 20 days they will take. They are not bothered by the fact that children are not officially in school - so that implies that it's ok to go on holiday during term times. They cannot think outside the box and read forms and understand them when the future address and moving date is give and the school being applied for is no where near the address for correspondence given on the form. A proof of address is required yet they had chosen not to tell me.

I know that the fight is not over for the school is fairly full and has a place for only one of my boys. But it is the closest, 5 mins walk as opposed to 15 minutes in the car adding to the pollution and frustration on morning roads. So I will have to face the appeals process and then possibly have to make a decision about either moving them both to the same school or splitting myself to be in 2 places at once!

The French education system may have been poorer than the British; however their administration is streets ahead of ours!

Three Weeks In

A six month "stage" or the start of a new life in a new country? My emotions are on a roller coaster at the moment and possibly because of being away from my "home" country for close to 6 years I am currently wishing to be amongst those who speak my tongue and within a short drive of friends and family.

For the boys it is the end of the first 3 weeks of school. They have done fabulously well. I don't think I would have been too happy to be abandoned with a group of people that neither you understood nor could understand you. We have had tears mainly at school drop off from the youngest but the staff have been lovely and are really trying to reduce the pain of their transition. The school only has 2 classes; within each there are 3 different class groups. Our youngest is in CP - the first official year of school. But in reality all French kids have been at school in les maternelles from about 3. CP just formalises the learning and when they officially start to read. He has the Grand Section of maternelles with him in the morning and the CE1 (class above CP) with him all day. In the words of the teacher - she's not left with any time for the fun stuff in class because she is concentrating on the reading, writing and maths between the 3 ages. The eldest is in CM1, the second last year of primary school. He has CE2 and CM2 in the same room with him. His teacher is also the headmaster. He doesn't teach on a Friday so that he can do the paperwork that goes along with the job. There are no TA's and no school secretary. This is a French country village school with only 65 children.

The school has made efforts to accommodate those children who don't have French as their first language. This means that Monday and Tuesday they are in their respective age group classes following the national curriculum. Then on a Thursday and Friday those who don't speak French have special teacher who comes in to teach French language. There is a centre for asylum seekers nearby so there are a number of children who are in the group. The boys are coming out with more words at home, slotting them in the middle of english sentences.

The boys have also joined a football club. Unfortunately the training is at different times. The youngest on a Saturday and the eldest on a Tuesday at a village 15 minutes away. This makes it a logistical juggling ball to get the youngest to basketball in the village closest to the house at the same time the other is meant to start football! A french neighbour across the way has a son who does the football training and he has offered to take our eldest - so hope he remembers!

To sum up - how's it been so far? Well for the boys they are slowly making headway with the language and feeling more sure of what happens at school. My husband has headed back to work in the UK to ensure that we can still pay the bills. And me? Well I lost my best friend and am left feeling a bit liked a beached ship. I speak the language, but not as well as I would like and talking can sometimes be an effort. I end up restricting it to what I need to say. We are in the countryside and I am discovering that the beautiful sunrise over the Pyrenees, the huge numbers of birds of prey and deer loping over the fields is not sufficient. I need more stimulus, more options of courses and activities. And, I never thought I would say this, I miss like minded people - who have given up a birth country to settle in another. But that is why we decided to rent for 6 months whilst house hunting. We have committed to no more than a mobile phone contract and the cost to register the car in France.

Week four looms with 2 challenges - getting the headlights swapped over to LHD ones and a day's training in ski de fond (x-country skiing) for me so that I can accompany the school on their day out in early Feb. Just need to find skis to rent, find out where the course is and understand it! Not much then! Will update how it all went next week.