School

I made a promise to you all in my last blog post that I would update you all on our school situation. If you’d like to know more, please read on.

So, the last time I spoke about school with you all, Kory hadn’t got a place at his first choice school and rather than send him to the school where he had been offered a place, we decided to appeal for a place for him at the school we originally wanted and homeschool him in the meantime. (I think I explained our reasons for him not wanting to go to the other school in my previous blog post.) That was our plan anyway but it wasn’t as straight forward as we had thought it would be. Basically, our appeal was unsuccessful, despite being second on the schools waiting list there had been no movement within the school and no place became available for Kory. As time went on, it got to January and he had been at home learning with me for 3 months and as bright and clever as he is and as much as I loved having him at home, I’m no teacher and I could tell Kory was really missing socialising with children his own age and we figured it would just be best for Kory if we got him into a school.

A new year, a new start for him.

So we got the ball moving. We asked the other school if we could have a look around. We had a look around the school, showed Kory around, met his teacher and the head teacher of the school and long story short, loved it. Maybe even more so than the original school we so badly thought we wanted him to go to. His new school is much smaller and I like that about it. After that, it was a case of buying him all his uniform, school shoes and school bag and then he started with a couple of taster days just to get him familiar with the teachers and to get him used to going. Monday was Kory’s first proper day at school and this week will be his first full week there. And just like that, my once 4lb 7oz baby boy has gone off to start his school journey and I now have a son in reception.

Crazy.

Do I feel bad for not just sending him there to begin with? At first, yes I did. Just sending him right at the start could have saved a lot of stress for us, especially for Kory who was particularly upset and anxious when he first started his new school because he’d been at home for so long but I can honestly say, I tried everything in my power to get Kory into the other school because that’s where he wanted to go and I know it didn’t pay off but I don’t have to wonder ‘what if?’ I can say that there wasn’t a route I didn’t explore in trying to get Kory a place there. I will always fight his corner. With COVID going on, he’s not the only child who would have missed a lot of school this past year anyway, I think they all have to be honest. And although our plans didn’t pay off, something better fell into place instead and what matters is that he’s there and settled now. In fact he’s more than settled, he’s thriving. He’s adjusted a lot faster than I thought he would, he’s earned rewards, made friends but most importantly, he’s happy.

I really truly believe that sometimes the universe knows what we need before we do.

So, yeah. Kory is now at school full time, here’s to hoping they actually stay open this time! I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling lost without him, from the day he was born he’s been by my side but seeing him start this new chapter in his life has been a great privilege and I am such a proud mum. I am so so proud of him I can’t put into words.

Thank you for reading this blog post, I hope you’re all well. How have your kids found returning to school now that they have reopened? Was they looking forward to it? Was you? Or were they/you feeling more worried or sad about it?

Please let me know.

Kirsti, xo