My Beautiful Child Is Going To High School

Going To High School

My daughter is 11 and she is now going to high school after the summer holidays. I don’t think I am ready for this. It only seems like 5 minutes ago that I was in denial about her going to Primary school. But here we are 7 years lady and I have to let the apron strings go further and let her go a little bit. As she has dyslexia, I worry that she is going to struggle so much without any support. How can a school with hundreds and hundreds of pupils have time to help her?

Her primary school was an average size with about 60 kids each year. Of course, over the past 18 months, they have only been with their year group of 60 kids. Now she is going to be with hundreds of people every day. Luckily she is going to the new school with some other kids from her school and her BFF.

The Cost Of Uniform!

Okay, So I thought that school uniform was supposed to be affordable now? There was a law passed to help parents afford the uniform. But Tilly’s new uniform is nearly £200. She is only going to the local fucking comp, not Hogwarts! Even if a second-hand uniform comes up on the local selling group, it is snapped up by savvy parents.

We were told which uniform was compulsory and which wasn’t. We were told the jumper wasn’t compulsory, but if she wants it, it has to be the school-branded one for nearly £30. So basically it’s bloody well compulsory, isn’t it?

Getting The Bus And Going to High School

So I have 5 weeks to knock her into shape with the bus network. Oh, my days – it’s a nightmare. We have tried to get her to get on the bus near the school and we tell her which stop to get off. But she goes into her own world and she misses her stop, then the next one. Luckily I sit on the bus a few seats in front of her, so I have been prompting her when she needs it. But she has a long way to go. It wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t have to change the bus in town.

A Week Of Summer School

She has just had a week of summer school, where she was placed into a tutor group. So I am hoping that she stays with that group of friends in September. It gave her a chance to get to know her way around the school because it is bloody huge. How can my baby be going to a school that big?

The week gave us a chance to buy the uniform too, but I wanted to cry when I dropped her off on the first day.

Repeating Mistakes From The Past

I feel like I want to keep her little forever. It is still so raw in my mind. This was the age that Beth starting to be sneaky. At that age, she started to steal from her school friends. The age she was effectively ‘helped to leave’ her grammar school. And It was only a few years later that she was groomed on the internet and we lost her and my granddaughter. Tilly is getting to the age where I know that I need to let her go, but it is so difficult to do that. I want to keep her under my protective wing forever.

She has asked about Facebook, but the idea terrifies me. I know she will want her own social media as soon as she starts her new school. I let all of the other kids have social media as long as I had the password. But it didn’t stop Beth from being groomed from under my nose. I really don’t want to let her have facebook until she is about 33.

Five Weeks To Get Used To The Idea Of Going To High School

I have five weeks to prepare myself for Tilly going to high school, so I will need to pull my big girl pants up. This is one of those life lessons that we all need to do. I will keep trying her on the bus. She is going to get it soon…… surely.