School life, between the linesBy Eleven Plus Diary
School stories, admissions adventures, and the things parents talk about on the way home.
School life · Wales and England
A Llanelly schoolboy revised for the BBC’s Top of the Form and forgot about the microphone. I ran a PTA quiz night, so I know which one bites.
School life · Britain
Nobody else at the PTA meeting would do the music, so I said I would. I had five weeks, a request box and a husband with a Bluetooth speaker.
School life · England
In November 2002 Dover Grammar’s Year 12 law students took three cases to Maidstone Crown Court. By lunchtime they needed a new image.
School life · London
Pupils who get to be headteacher for a day write up the job afterwards, and it is mostly furniture and condiments. Our youngest ran the house for a Saturday.
School life · Old school friends
I revised for my school reunion harder than I ever revised at school. Two men who went before me had left notes.
Parent life · School and home
Teachers whose children attend their school get their day reviewed at teatime. I volunteer one morning a week. That is plenty.
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.
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.
