Wednesday 16 December 2009

Academic success

I have accepted Waif's place at her new school. In a surprise and very human move, her current school are waiving their fees in lieu of notice thus saving us a welcome £5,000. The Headmistress was incredibly kind saying that Waif could return any time if her new school didn't work out. This is a fantastic backstop.

The HM at Waif's new school told me that Waif had scored scholarship level on her entrance papers and is going straight into all the top sets. Waif was a bit daunted by that news but I reassured her that she would be fine. This means however that she will share no classes with her best friend who is already there and is far from academic. They can still meet up after school :-)

He also asked me about her thinness. I told him that I too was worried and that it was under investigation at The Maudsley, and we were hoping that a change of school would help.

Meanwhile, my husband has surprised me with the news that he is taking Christmas Eve off work and so is free to come with us to our next Maudsley appointment. Waif has confided in me that she does not want him there. When pressed, she said it was because she "could not relax" when he was around. Hmmmmm... I am not sure what to do about that one. Probably, he won't want to come anyway on his day off. Perhaps though he should come precisely because it challenges Waif.

This morning, Waif told me that she has 14 "outstandings" in her report. Older Daughter has only ever managed 3 at most.

There are 2 grades for each subject - one for effort and one for achievement. OD does not get"outstanding" even when she has come top in exams because she forgets to hand in homeworks.

Waif is a very different child; a perfectionist. When my husband arrived at the breakfast table I told him, and he asked Waif (jokingly, naturally) why she didn't have outstanding in "all" her subjects and which result was her worst. Poor Waif confessed that she had ony "good" and "very good" in maths. I was surprised as she is remarkably talented at maths. She said it was because she had missed so many lessons (through going to the new school and visiting the Maudsley). Husband told her it was because she is so poor at mental arithmetic (another joke - Waif's favourite game is a mental arithmetic competition which she always wins and I have maths "A" level!) Poor Waif. I am so impressed by the 14 outstandings that she did get. And yet also a little worried - she pushes herself so hard to be perfect at everything.

Being good enough does not satisfy Waif. She sets herself incredibly high standards. She has written A4 sized fold out cards of goodbye for her two best friends at her current school. In each case, she has assembled and printed out photographs from the past few years and pasted these in with comments and jokes.

Ho hum, today is her last day at her current school. It will be good to have her home for 3 weeks to feed her up, although I suspect it will be relentless work.

Meanwhile, I am hoping for her blood test results soon. I will keep you posted.

No comments:

Post a Comment