Babies O

CNY cannot come soon enough

Am clutching the shreds of zen remaining in my soul by taking deep breaths as I walk between desks at work. Usually because I am chasing down the detail of yet another bit of data that has popped up to ruin my day. Data that exists in our system, which nobody seems to know anything about. Or, worse, which three people think do three different things. And they're all right.

Anyway. We're still doing good, seeing as Roz is managing to fend off the latest stomach bug in nursery (newspapers are warning of the return of the rotavirus; we cannot flee this country soon enough). The bug last week hit her room compadre, Spooney, causing her to have to skip a couple of days in only her second week of nursery, much to the dismay of her mom, who's a colleague.

Roz is also starting to crawl properly. She now manages a shuffle or two proper on the knees before giving up - but that's progress compared with the rocking back and forth. Also, she's gained a lot more confidence in moving around, even if it's backwards. She'll get on her hands and knees and, because her knees are usually encased in babygro, on a smooth surface she'll push with her hands and slide backwards. When she hits an obstacle though, she'll sit herself up and look quite pleased.

She's been a reasonably cheerful bunny this week and these last three days (whisper it, please Gods don't overhear) has actually slept through the night. I couldn't believe it the first time she did it this week.

We had another hearing test last week and her hearing loss this time was 'moderate' instead of the usual 'mild'. But when I said she was having a bad cold they tried the tests again by pressing the earphone thingy to the back of her ear (so the sound was conducted via the bones of her ear, instead of through the whole ear canal) and the results showed mild hearing loss. So the testers said it was probably the cold, which is usual enough.

Could try harder

The other big headache that's been on my mind is Izzy's school. We've had to submit an application for the school we want her to go to this September. Now we're in the catchment for a school that's rated 'satisfactory' at the moment (the scale is 'outstanding', 'good', 'satisfactory' and I can't remember the last one, probably 'FAIL').

Given our own schooling and the fact that we survived it to find the streets of gold, Alex and I started off thinking heck how bad can it be? So then of course I had to visit the damn things. How could I not?

So satisfactory school has a new headmistress, who's been there for about a year now, and who's replaced 9 of the 14 teachers there in the last year (yikes). I visited the school, the rooms are a bit gloomy but that's because it's in an old but quite lovely building. They have an enormous playing field and tarmac-ed playground. After my visit I thought it was fine.

The only big drawback is that it is in the centre of the village, which would mean having to cross three streams of rush-hour traffic and which would be a bloody nightmare - so much so that I'm considering cycling to work again with both bubs.

Also, it's not on the way to work. So either I cross a stream of rush-hour traffic to put Roz in nursery first, then engage that traffic again to get Izzy to school, then once more to get back to work. Or I put Izzy in school first but then add another 20 minutes to the likely 15 minutes it would take to get to my office, thereby reducing my working hours window by 35 minutes each day.

So then I visited the school next door to work, which is rated 'good', and which is my favoured option, because it is a two-minute walk from work, which would save me the hassle of having to find a parking place on the congested roads each morning, when I'm taking her into school. But we are not in the catchment area for this school and it is already oversubscribed, meaning children who live in the catchment are not guaranteed a place there.

I originally scheduled a visit to 'good' school during what became a snow storm, and was very impressed when they called the week after to reschedule the visit, without prompting. On visiting, although I didn't get to speak to the head, I was quite impressed with the fact that the whole atmosphere of the school just seemed brighter and more cheerful.

Maybe this was because it was lunchtime and the older children had just been outside, playing in the snow. But even the teachers looked more cheerful. And I suddenly became aware that 'satisfactory' school seemed, in comparison, a bit glum.

So then of course I had to visit 'outstanding' school. Again, we're not in the catchment area, and it's totally oversubscribed. So even if we were in the catchment area, we've not put Izzy down on any waiting list and unless we move into a house opposite or something we're probably not likely to get in.

But hmm. The difference. I get there a bit early and am given a big file of letters of thanks and gratitude and news articles about the school. Am thinking they must ask all visitors to write feedback comments or something.

So am a little suspicious at first. But then I - and about 10 other parents, one pair of whom, on being asked whether we're all 'local' say they live just down the road, the smug bastards - get to meet the head.

And I have to say I'm pretty impressed. The file I got to read made it quite clear the school is excellent in getting all sorts of outside contribution to enrich the curriculum: police come and chat, as do a wolf sanctuary.

In addition though the school gets sixth-formers from a local secondary grammar school to do Latin with the children, another school sends its sixth-formers to carry out philosophy discussions, and the head herself runs extra maths classes for children in the last year of school, with the aim of getting them to take GCSE (16-year-old exams) maths. Apparently they did well in the first year, about 12 of them getting As and Bs, but not so well last year as it was more Cs and Ds.

The only drawback I can see to the school is that it's on quite a small plot of land. The day I go the snow is still thick on the ground, so maybe it was the wellies everywhere, but it felt like the place was full to bursting. The pottery room, for example, was very sweet, but only just big enough to take about four children and a teacher. And there's a nice playground but no field or anything for the children to tear around in.

Anyway so now I've listed 'good' school as first choice, 'outstanding' as second - on the off chance we end up buying a house opposite, another 'good' school far currently far away from us as third, and 'satisfactory' school as last preference.

I know we will at least get a place at satisfactory school because it is most definitely not oversubscribed. But now I'm more impatient than ever to find a damned house to move into. Not just because I'm sick to death of living in rented property and forever feeling like we are going to have to move again, but because I keep thinking if outstanding or even good schools exist why the hell shouldn't we at least try to get Izzy in, instead of settling for satisfactory?