Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Well, we went, delivered my daughter to CH for the residential assessment, left her fine and happy, and she remained so for the rest of the day. Friday morning however, I received a call to tell me that she was unwell and had been admitted to the health centre. It was a vomiting bug which had suddenly made itself known during breakfast...
Anyway, we went to collect her early as she was not well enough to complete the assessment. Apparently, she can sit the rest of the tests at her current school, but she has missed out on the music part, and the physical stuff.

What a time to get ill!

Possibly Noroviris.

It's rampant around here at the moment, especcially with kiddies !

Oh dear, poor girl. When my daughter did the residential assessment a girl in her group broke her arm during the sports assessment! She had to go to hospital and then home. But she still got in. So fingers crossed and good luck!

I hope she feels better soon. I'm sure CH will be very understanding, and assess her fairly.

I hope your daughter is feeling better now, and that her assessment is successful.

Situations like this do seem to occur before and during assessments, critical interviews etc.

At CH one of the boys in my house went down with a bad case of nerves just before S level. He was kept sedated in the sicker, being "brought round" for the dutation of each paper which was taken by his bedside.

The day before her first job interview my wife had to have stitches after being bitten by the family dog. Consequently she couldn't do the typing test but Royal Bank of Canada accepted her assessment of her speed.
The dog never attacked or bit anyone before or afterwards - he was very friendly.

What a nightmare for you. My daughter attended the residential assessment too. She had a blast and loved every second of it. The sports assessment apparently is more about trying to ascertain if a child has dispraxia (not going to try and sort the spelling out on that one!) than their sporting talents - so it was simply a game of "bench ball" - to see if they could catch okay. My greatest worry now is if my daughter doesn't get in how I am going to deal with a heartbroken 11 year old. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it! Good luck and fingers crossed for 14th.

She's fine now and has gone to school today. I've spoken to her headteacher who is fine about my daughter taking more exams there. No idea when, but I'm presuming it will be soon. She's still very enthusiastic about going to CH, so I'm hoping there will be no other hitches!

Cupcakemom, not getting a place doesn't bear thinking about does it!

It's odd to think that come February 14 - a process that has occupied my mind every waking hour for what seems months and months will reach a conclusion. I have another daughter - younger who has, since this process began, been adamant boarding school was NOT for her. Since older daughter returned on Friday from the residential assessment and has done nothing but spout CH stuff - younger daughter's changed her mind! I'm not sure I'm strong enough to go through this process again!! Mind you - when I look at the alternatives available to me ... no doubt I'll find the strength from somewhere ...

Well mine was collected by his nan who lives in Horsham as we needed to collect his sisters from school. she did not have the packing list so did not know he had brought a pillow - so guess where it still is.


He has taken the words of the chaplain to heart and will discuss nothing except how large the portions of fish were and the fact that he tricked everyone in some group exercise where they had to guess which of each others 4 self proclaimed statements was false by giving the 2 statements of "i love KFC" and "I hate Sprouts" when he actually loves sprouts and hates salty chicken.

Other than that don't really know much - although he told his auntie (wife's side and a primary dep head) it was good and his uncle (my brother - old blue) that he thought it went "ok". But whatever he has done he has done and we know he tried his hardest so it is fingers crossed time.

Have to wait and see as the only decent local option is highly unlikely - we have a state selective grammar that is heavily oversubscribed (about 10:1) and 30 mins after leaving their exams he collapsed with a fever of 39.8c which was the beginning of a week of flu but as he had completed the exams and not complained to an invigilator he is not entitled to any consideration or retake. When he came out i had assumed it was the stress of a mornings exams that was why he looked pale and the headache he complained about was eye-strain + stress + dehydration (not touched his water) - so i had not flagged it. Can't see him having passed those exams. So based on living the wrong side of a footpath if he has failed the CH assessment it is the local Sports specialist sink comp that was criticised by ofsted for poor individualised learning especially in maths and science for our non-sporty maths gifted son.

I've still not heard anything about when my daughter will be able to complete the assessment, if I've not heard by tomorrow lunchtime I'll give CH a call, just to make sure she doesn't get overlooked. Our local comprehensive is mediocre, so really hoping she won't need to go there.

I can't hurt to find out when she's likely to have to sit them. Perhaps it would also flag to CH that you're keen she completes the process and didn't hate every second of her albeit brief stay.

I was advised by my daughter's current headmistress not to ask how she thought she done ... as she simply won't know ... didn't stop me though! Well, to a point anyway - I was interested to know what she had done. I did discover things were a bit different from what I was lead to expect - having been told by the English master at an open day he wasn't too interested in spelling "I can teach a child to spell - I can't teach them imagination" I was surprised to find out she had a spelling test! I haven't dared ask her what she was asked to spell!

If she doesn't get in ... does anyone have a paddle I can borrow ... I think I may need it!

DONT PANIC FOLKS. the most important thing about a child's education is that the parent(s) support it.

As I have said several times on here, my three went to a primary school which is so bad now that they are closing it (where the children are going I have no idea as all the others are oversubscribed) and it wasn't much better 10-15 years ago when they were there. All three also went to the secondary mod. one getting no GCSEs at all (due to illness not truancy) he is now at Uni and looks like he might get a first, another already has a 2:1 and the third has a job with prospects - he is not academic, (but he is dyspraxic cupcakemom)

Thanks, englishangel for your encouragement and words of support. It's difficult not to panic - when this is a lonely road one treads and when there seems to be a lot at stake! I'm just glad of the forum! I know it will all calm down over the next few days - it's all a bit current in my mind right now and seems a very very long time until 14 February. Clearly, no one will die if my daughter doesn't get in to CH - but without that opportunity the future is a bit of an unknown for me. I think it's an age of case of "fear of the unknown". Whatever life throws at us - we'll deal with it. If I think hard enough me and my girls have been dealt tougher cards than this and we've come thr ough! (hey - first use of a smilie!!)