School life, between the linesBy Eleven Plus Diary
School stories, admissions adventures, and the things parents talk about on the way home.
School portraits · Colwall
A Year 8 leaver at The Downs Malvern was asked what he would miss most. The dining room had done everything right.
School portraits · London
At King Alfred School, Year 8 spend a week cooking on open fires with no phones. I decided our kitchen could manage the same, minus the huts.
School life · Britain
Our daughter was getting a prize at Speech Day, and I prepared as if her grandmother were flying in from Berlin. She was, in fact, driving from Shrewsbury.
School life · England
In the big freeze of 1963 a Gresham’s boarder learned that the chaplain could skate and that an igloo can go without a roof. When the snow came to us, I had a plan for both.
School portraits · Wem, Shropshire
Greg Davies’s school comedy band gave a cassette to a teacher at Thomas Adams School in Wem and got back a review, both sides. Our son’s band has a SoundCloud, and I have a pen.
School portraits · Manchester, England
An English teacher at Manchester High School for Girls had firm views on flowery 11-plus compositions. I had just laminated a list of wow words.
School portraits · Rochester, Kent
A mother in Lagos once chose her daughter’s A levels and wrote about it afterwards. I read her account with the GCSE options form on our fridge and a pen in my hand.
School portraits · Stockport, England
At Stockport Grammar in the 1950s a boy who could not stay upright on roller skates was given a flute instead, and found a Latin master running the recorder group. Our youngest is on his third scooter.
Parent life · Britain
A forum thread from 2010 asked how to cover school books without bubbles. A year later it was still going, and I have just found out why.
Parent life · Hampshire
Eva Molea helps bilingual children through exams for a living. Her own daughter had an Italian GCSE coming up, and an expert in the house.
Parent life · The family collection
A professional declutterer counted her nursery-age daughter’s output and decided they could not all stay. I adopted her method, and then I told a lie at the gate.
Parent life · Among school friends
Our youngest had been in Reception for a term and his name had never once appeared on the playdate board. He did not mind. I minded enough for both of us.
