This morning I decided to go through the pile of mail that was piling up during the week and there was a letter in there from Lux's principal, telling us that she has expressed an interest in applying to one of the state's selective high schools for year 10 (she is in year 7), specifically, the science school that was co-founded by one of the Co8 universities (which is Australia's equivalent to the Ivy league). The letter was basically a run down of the numerous exams that are involved to apply, plus reassurance that both her science and math teachers believe that she is a candidate.
The only thing is, she has never said anything to us about wanting to apply, so this was a complete surprise. We asked her about it and she produced this pile of brochures about the school from her room and stated telling us about it and how she has already picked her year 10 electives (I also learned today was 'bioinformatics' means) and how if she gets in she will almost be guaranteed a spot in a science course at the co-founding university.
Of course we support it, but we ran through the 'realities' of what that would mean; 1.5 hour commute on public transport each way, the possibility of having to give up horse riding if it eats into her time too much, starting a new school that none of her friends will be going to, having to wear a formal uniform, including dress shoes, a tie, blazer and a pleated skirt without complaining (she doesn't even wear her school dress at her current school, just the hoodie and leggings every day), and the increase in amount of work, plus the addition a competitive learning environment. She is adamant that she is willing to do/give up all those things.
She won't have to start sitting exams until 2016, so there is plenty of time to think about it, but it just really threw me because whilst I knew she was finding some of her subjects at school too easy, I didn't realise that she was thinking of going down this route.
The only thing is, she has never said anything to us about wanting to apply, so this was a complete surprise. We asked her about it and she produced this pile of brochures about the school from her room and stated telling us about it and how she has already picked her year 10 electives (I also learned today was 'bioinformatics' means) and how if she gets in she will almost be guaranteed a spot in a science course at the co-founding university.
Of course we support it, but we ran through the 'realities' of what that would mean; 1.5 hour commute on public transport each way, the possibility of having to give up horse riding if it eats into her time too much, starting a new school that none of her friends will be going to, having to wear a formal uniform, including dress shoes, a tie, blazer and a pleated skirt without complaining (she doesn't even wear her school dress at her current school, just the hoodie and leggings every day), and the increase in amount of work, plus the addition a competitive learning environment. She is adamant that she is willing to do/give up all those things.
She won't have to start sitting exams until 2016, so there is plenty of time to think about it, but it just really threw me because whilst I knew she was finding some of her subjects at school too easy, I didn't realise that she was thinking of going down this route.
