Creative Kids where should they go to School?
A different post from me today. Things are rather unsettled at the moment in our household. My eldest son is about to transition to secondary school, my daughter is unhappy in her current school. When we moved to Hemel Hempstead we did so in most part because we wanted to change schools as my son was unhappy. It worked out in our favour and my son was much happier at his current school. He has been very fortunate with his teachers during his time, however my daughter has not been so fortunate. She has had a myriad of different teachers, at one point even having 4 teachers during a week.
As the children get older, the gaps in the friendships seems to show, and my daughter feels very alone. She is super creative, follows her own fashion, doesn’t let anyone push her around and although I am very proud that she is like this, it has left her isolated at school.
At the back of my mind for the last 6 years has been the possibility of sending the kids to the Steiner School in Kings Langley. We seriously considered it for my son, before we moved house, but it was a choice of move house and find another government school or use the funds to educate our son in the Steiner School instead.
Now I am thinking, should my daughter be there? After all they have spaces in her class (currently they only have 18 in her class, compared to 32 at her current school), and it is only 10 minutes away. Whilst waiting for news of next years teachers, I am preparing for the worst or the best whichever way you look at it. I shall be visiting other government primary schools and the Steiner School this week so that we can make an informed choice when the time comes. A school that encourages creativity like none other, a hope that she would be amongst other like minded children and be happier. But at what cost? To re sit a year of school (as would be required by Steiner)? But she is already near the top of her class, so will she get bored? What if funds don’t continue and we have to go to a government secondary school? Will she be even more isolated then? What if my son isn’t happy at secondary school and wants to go there too? We can’t afford two children to go there. So many questions, no wonder my head is all fuzzy.
When you have children that enjoy the creative arts so much, would this help them? Would it help them find a career doing something that they love? Some people say I am running away from our problems, I disagree, I think I am facing them head on, and if there is a better solution out there, then don’t our kids deserve the best?
In my role in Dotty Bobbin, I have met people from all walks of life. I have also met lots of people that have traumatic memories of school. I don’t want this for my children. I want them to have fabulous memories. I want sewing to be a fun activity for them, not a means of escape from the stresses of mainstream schooling (although it is a fabulous escape!).
However lets hope that over the next few weeks we have great news, that my daughters new teacher will be an amazing one not (2,3 or even 4), she will make some more friends, and that we will be happy to leave her where she is and use the funds to redecorate the living room instead! Who knows what may be round the corner?