It's gone great, even better than we expected in fact (blog post to follow when I come out from under boxes!). We are totally in love with the house - it's perfect. It's one we have coveted since before TC was born. It's right next to where we used to live before our last house so we know the area very well and it's lovely to be living back here. We have everything we need and more. I'm happier than I've been in a long time.
Apart from one thing.
I'm in turmoil over Mini Cheddar's school.
We have only moved a couple of miles or so away. It takes a few minutes to drive down the road to our old house. The school that MC has her reception place at is near our old house. It's a really lovely school and she's been very happy there of a morning in her nursery class.
I thought when we moved I'd be happy for her to continue at this school. It means a short car journey - it's a bit too far to walk now - but it's been no bother.
The thing is, there is a school right around the corner from our new house. It's a smaller school. A lot smaller than her current one. Is smaller better?
The official reports say that her current school has the edge but people seem to rate the local school very highly and argue that this isn't the case.
I'm having sleepless nights at the moment trying to decide what to do for the best. The decision may be taken out of my hands - it could be that there aren't any places at the local school. I haven't checked but I'm going to investigate on Monday. In a way I'm hoping the decision is out of my hands, as selfish as that sounds.
I know MC wants to stay at her current school but she's only 4 years old and the reason she gave me (when she heard Matt and I discussing it last week) was that "the local school doesn't have a slide outside". The slide is in the nursery section anyway so she wouldn't have access to it in September - I've not broken that one to her yet!
Anyway, I'm worried that if she stays at her current school that neighbours children will be going to the local school so she'll have difficulty fitting in. I worry that in bad weather we won't be able to get into school. In the snow in March it was great to be able to sledge to school! I worry that when TC is old enough he won't get into the school as we live outside the catchment area and I would like them both to go to the same school. I worry that she may be missing out on more one-on-one education from a smaller school. Her recent school report said she's shy in school (anyone who knows my daughter in real life knows she's far from shy!) and I don't know if a smaller class would be better for this.
However, I'm worried that if I move her - she won't like it. I'm worried I'll regret it and then we are stuck.
What would you do?
Do you have any experience or advice?
I just can't seem to concentrate on anything else right now.
