Choosing a school

AHarvey

AHarvey

AHarvey

Soldato
Joined
6 Mar 2008
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Location
Stoke area
So, any other parents having to choose a school?

We are going through the process of seeing local town and village schools. We had a short list but then you start speaking to others (parents, staff, ex staff etc) and it gets really confusing real fast.

Had teachers say to ignore OFSTED reports as well, others saying that's all you should check out (which is silly imho).

Anyone else suffering to make the choice?
 
No, no suffering, we made our choice of nursery, didn't get the one we wanted, ended up in a wonderful unit, who were outstanding.
Then made the primary school application, got the one we wanted, seems to be good thus far.
No suffering.
 
If you can afford private, go private. If they can get into a grammar school, get them in. If you have girls, send them to a girls school. Failing that, look at ofsted, it is at least a good guide.
 
picking a school??? Never had to do that, your zoned for a school based on where you live, that's the one you go to where I stay. If you want another one, you have to apply but you give up your automatic right to your zoned school.
 
You get assigned a school depending on catchment area here, and ours has just been put into special measures but it's right on the edge of some scummy council estate. 80% of the kids are from there and having been born there and living right on the edge for 10 years in my teens I am not sending my daughter there. Swearing 4 year olds aren't the type i want her mingling with.

It's the initial choice we are having trouble with, just so many experiences and opinions. Maybe we are just looking into it far too much :D You chose 3 and put them in the order you prefer, send the form off and wait to hear where your child got in :(
 
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Yes - just been going through this now my oldest has passed her 11+ exam.

I assume you are looking at primary schools though. Best advice usually comes from the parents of slightly older children. OFSTED reports are helpful, but you have to take into account that a poor report can just be a crap examiner, or, in a small school, you only need one child with issues to drag the whole year down in score.

The other indicator is parental engagement. Is there an active PTA, do parents come in as helpers with things like reading.

Ultimately, trust your gut. Every child is different, pick where you think yours will do best.
 
Good idea to check out the area around the school. If there a numerous council flats then be prepared.
Ofsted reports can be misleading.
 
Send them to the one nearest your house? You don't want them trekking miles to get to school or busing it.
 
Moses said:
Seriously? :o
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When buying or renting a house, is not one of the things you look at the quality of schools in the local area?

You'd have to be a bit stupid to move to an area with a bad school - as generally bad school = bad area.
 
sham baptism send the child to catholic school, its what we did and its the best primary school by miles in the area, it competes with private schools imo.

avoid academies like the plague, they don't have as much regulation and some of them don't even have qualified teachers in all classes.
 
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Moses said:
You say that as though everyone has the choice between a nice area and a good area. That's naive in the extreme :o.
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I know that.

But if you have no choice about where you live, then the discussion about choosing a school is a mute point, and this topic is redundant.
 
Bad area = bad school? Don't think that's the case at all, many outstanding schools will be in 'bad' areas and many good areas will have poor schools.

To help decide you need to consider a number of things, not just area or ofsted. Speak with parents, teachers and youngsters if possible. Slightly weird but you can tell a lot about a school by the way students enter and exit at each end of the school day.

Also consider subjects on offer, some schools will be dropping more technical subjects in favour of those which are cheaper and easier to get good grades in.

It's difficult to do but I'd be wanting to find out if the school is an exam factory aiming the majority of its resources at key students who affect headline figures.

There are more things to be looking out for like staff turnover and average age of staff. In my experience low staff turnover and a wide range of staff ages and gender is the best setup.
 
Lakeland said:
Slightly weird but you can tell a lot about a school by the way students enter and exit at each end of the school day.
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This.

You should deffinately hang around outisde the school gates for any prospective school you're looking at. If you can, try and engage the students in polite conversation so as to better gauge thier attitudes. Ask them what thier hobbies are, what sweets are thier favourites etc. Every afternoon for two weeks should suffice.

This strategy has the bonus of letting you get to know the head teacher quite well and if the local police force are any good.
 
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