LEARNING FOR LIFE
IT’S the start of a new academic year – and, for many, one that will bring both changes and challenges.
For some, it will mean the start of a new school – a new environment, new ways of teaching, new rules and regulations and also new friends.
For others, it could mark the start of a key decision-making term: which subjects to take at GCSE, AS and A level; to study, or not, in the sixth form – or maybe to follow a more vocational route through college.
As any parent will tell you, the words ‘new year’ don’t just apply to January 1.
That crucial date in September when your offspring take their first steps to school, clad in their shiny new uniform and neatly polished shoes, marks the start of another ‘new year’ - annually for at least the next 14 years!
Choosing your child’s school is one of the most important decisions you will ever be asked to make.
Increasingly, especially with the high demand on places, children are steered towards the primary school closest to their home. Some parents move house in order to ensure – as far as possible
– their child will be accepted into what is seen as a ‘good’ primary school, hence the outcry when sometimes the strategy fails. The pressure is on once again when it comes to choosing a secondary school.
As Kent is one of the few places which still offers the 11+ - officially known here as the Kent Test – friendship ties get broken as the more academic head for grammar schools while other pupils look towards secondary education in comprehensive schools or academies.
It’s at this stage, as well as at pre- school entry, that parents take a long, hard look at the offering made by independent education – and the affordability. For disappointed 11+ candidates, it’s an alternative route for which many parents are prepared to make sacrifices, in order to ensure their child achieves the best that he or she can do.
Without doubt, small class sizes and exposure to a wealth of extra- curricular activities, means all but the few attain excellent results and Continued on page 16
Malling September 2014
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