College Interviews

So, both Grace and Jack have applied for Further Education College course places for next September'. Jack has applied to study A Levels in what would be the final two years of his secondary level education but in a college rather than a school. Secondary schools, even in their '6th Forms', tend to have silly, petty rules and they also have children aged 11-18 years. Jack needs more young adult company and after 16 years, feels he has sort of evolved beyond schooling. LOL!

Here's an example of a school having silly, petty rules: Jack's best friend is 14 and going to school for the first time in September. He has already sat two of his IGCSE's and is sitting another two, History and English, in the summer. The school he is going to say that, no matter what grade he gets, he will have to sit in the English GCSE classes for the next two years and sit the exam again at the end of it, because 'that's the law'. Now, what I'd have done, as his new headteacher, would be to let him sit in the library during those English lessons and study for his other exams, OR let him sit in on English AS lessons. But oh no, that would be sensible and schools are not known for thier sensibleness or flexibility. Yet, every school will have on its website about how the needs of the individual child are paramount. Yeah, right.

Anyway, back to our Further Education College interviews. Most people apply for their nearest one and have one, maybe two interviews. {sigh} But we've applied for the THREE nearest colleges and have had interviews for BOTH kids going on. Which means I've accompanied one of the kids to 7 out of  9 interviews/assessments since Christmas now.

Crucial for Grace will be the pastoral care and SEN support package at whichever college she goes to. Crucial for Jack will be the challenging nature of the entire experience, but also excellence in teaching and thorough preparation for university (if that's where he is headed). And it is our prayer that both of these situations will be found in the ONE college so that they can travel together each day.

Well, that is not looking too likely. So far, College A would be great for Jack but not so much for Grace. And College B is the other way round. It seems that some colleges are excellent for academic courses and others for vocational ones. We still have 2 more interviews/assessments to go at College C. This one has a longer journey, but if it's good for both kids that will be the one. If it's deficient for one of them, I guess we'll have to consider the worst option: Grace and Jack heading off in different directions each morning. And that will probably mean one thing. I'll be driving Grace.

So much for my dreams of finding my own niche in society again after 20 years of serving my children. I guess that's a dream I will have to give up anyway because having an adult child with a disability means just that. I will always be needing to put her first.

It's quite a stressful time really, for all of us, not knowing what is happening next. Jack and Jamie are pretty laid back people though, so they are managing it fine. Grace is quite exhausted with all the interviews and assessments and she has several 'Functional Skills' exams, in Literacy, Numeracy and ICT coming up in college in a couple of weeks which is adding to her stress. When we've decided on a next step for them both, I'll feel a lot more secure again.