A change of pace

Well, well, how life can suddenly change so unexpectedly.

During the week Jimmie was involved in a school production, celebrating 25 years of integrated education in Northern Ireland. The 40 minute performance was very good (even though Barney insisted on yawning very loudly at every opportunity, causing ripples of laughter across the assembly hall, from Jimmies amused school mates!) They put on a very educational and enlightening slide show, with photos and captions from the last 25 years. Photos of all the bombs that had gone off in Northern Ireland, photos of protestant wall murals from Belfast, and newspaper articles from various conflicts from across Ulster over the last 25 years. It celebrated the integration of children from all communities in its school. To do this they presented another slide show, tracing the personal family lines, journeys and ancestry of some of the pupils. The whole presentation was quite moving, and I felt sure that Jimmie is in a great school, compared to the place that he went to before. It was wonderful to see diversity being celebrated, rather than shunned and hidden.

Anyway, Annabelle quite enjoyed her 40 minutes in Jimmies school. I could see her eyes lighting up. Any time I have mentioned the possibility of her going back to school she has burst into tears. This time I asked her, that if she could find a school like Jimmies, would she be interested in having a look around it, with no pressure to join it. She said yes, and got excited about it. I looked into some of the local schools. I was obviously determined not to send her back to her old school, and she was also adamant that she would never go back there.

I phoned the local Integrated primary school and spoke to the secretary. Places at this school are like gold dust, just as they are in Jimmies school. We were unable to get a primary place for them there when they were starting school age. The secretary told me that it was very unlikely that I would get a space in P6 for Annabelle, but that she would check with the principal for me. The next day the principal phoned me. She said that they had triplets leave P6 this week, to move to Spain. There were 2 children on the waiting list for P6 who had been offered places, and had just started at the school, but they still had one place left which they offered to Annabelle. To top it off, that evening was the school open night, for parents to come and visit, and wander around. So she invited us to pop in for a nosey, which we did. This morning we went back for a meeting with the principal. It turns out that her daughter is in Jimmie's class at the college, and she has heard all about him! She even told us about his Mika video on the blog !!!!!

The principal was lovely. I talked to her about how terrible life was in P6 for Jimmie at the old school. I explained how he often had up to 3 hours of homework, studying for the 11 plus. She relayed my fears and stated that P6 had not even begun their 11plus work yet. (I'm pretty sure that the 11plus horror started the first day of school in September at Jimmies old school.) She was very accommodating of Annabelle's home education. She asked that we bring her books in for the teacher to see, so that they would know what level she is at. When I explained what she was currently reading the principal said that it sounded as if she was way ahead of the average P6. She also offered that Annabelle could break into school slowly if she wished to, staying for a few hours a day at the start until she felt comfortable. I don't think that will be necessary, but was impressed that she offered.

When we came out from the meeting Annabelle said "I really want to go there!" I felt a bit sad about it, but also pleased for her. If she is as happy there as Jimmie is at his school, then it will be a good thing. I have told her to give it a 1 month trial, which is what we did for Jimmie. At the end of a month she can come back home if she wants to. We will see how it goes. So, from Monday 26th March I won't know what to do with myself. It will be just myself and Barney in the house. I hope to spend a lot more time doing things with him, instead of concentrating on Annabelle. A change of pace is certainly on its way for myself, Annabelle, and Barney.