The big decision: Big school for Mia

Last month, I attended three "open days" at private schools in our area.  Two of the schools I absolutely adored - just loved the look, feel, sound and ethos of them both, and the third one I didn't like at all, for various reasons.

The private school fees, however, are R5000 a month.  Which, to me, is a ridiculous, ludicrous amount of money, that I'm struggling to justify.  And for a young family like ours, who are still busy paying off two motor cars and still looking to buy a house, putting all our money towards school fees just doesn't make sense.

So we decided to not apply at any of the private schools.

I did research about all the government schools in the area, and made a shortlist of schools, and went about getting info from people who have children in these schools. 

It has all boiled down to one school that I have set my heart on. It's an Afrikaans school. A very big school, but with a very good reputation.

Tomorrow morning their applications for 2016 Grade R open at 7am, so I'll be there in the queue, with all the necessary documents and deposit to pay.  They take 240 pupils (oh my goodness, 240 children, at the moment she is in a school with only 24 kids!!) and they have specific criteria that needs to be met to be on their "A-list", if you don't live in the feeder area, work in the feeder area, or have kids in the school already, you go onto the B list.  It sounds like our area is pretty much borderline to their feeder area...

Then we have to wait until the last week in June to find out if we got a spot or not. Stressful!!

On Friday they have an open day that parents and children can attend, so I'm going to take Mia along to have a look, and start preparing her and talking to her about what's ahead of us for next year.

Exciting times, indeed.
xx