School life, between the linesBy Eleven Plus Diary
School stories, admissions adventures, and the things parents talk about on the way home.
School portraits · Croydon, London
A Croydon school club gave up on sewing machines and found its way to wool. I bought a sewing machine in 2019, and I know exactly how that goes.
School portraits · Winchester, Hampshire
Winchester College’s new guide to its private language runs to fifteen pages. I went looking for the entry on parents and found out what the bollards are called first.
Parent life · GCSE results day
On GCSE results morning the pupil goes in and the parent waits outside. I have been studying how other people waited.
School life · Staffordshire, Devon and Newcastle
Three Year 10 pupils spent their work experience in museums and archives, checking, counting and scanning. Our Tupperware drawer has not been checked since 2019.
School portraits · Belfast, Northern Ireland
A Belfast school greets its new Year 8s with pipes and drums. Our youngest had asked me for a quiet drop-off, and I had just been reading about Belfast.
School portraits · Bolton and Scotland
Bolton School pupils built a sailing ketch out of steel, concrete and chicken wire. Its later crews had their own plans for the voyage.
School portraits · St Donat’s, south Wales
At a sixth-form college in south Wales, the students run a restaurant with a full kitchen brigade. I tried the model at home on a Sunday.
School portraits · Norwich, Norfolk
Budge is not a pupil at Norwich School. Nobody seems to have told the Christmas card competition, the music department or the Royal Geographical Society.
School life · Norwich and York
A Norwich Steiner School newsletter reported that its maypole dancers would rather analyse the tangle than dance. I run the maypole at our May fair, and I know the type.
School life · School swimming and the after-school lesson
The youngest’s swimming letter asks for pyjamas, for a lesson on water safety. I took the pyjamas more seriously than the water.
School life · British reading records, at home and at school
Our youngest started Reception with a small blue reading record and a box for parents’ comments. I took the box personally.
School life · East Sussex and West Yorkshire
A Crowborough primary asked Year 2 families to build Tudor houses for a bonfire. I have built one of these before, and I built it too well.
