Choosing a school

All primary schools are roughly the same, it's the extra curricular activities you provide as a parent that makes the difference. Start worrying or plan to move when deciding secondary schools
 
My only advice as a teacher myself, is to go into the schools during the day and visit with your child. Get them involved in the choice if possible. Where they are most comfortable needs to be weighed in, then you can use the advice and weigh up against that with reports from parents or teachers etc.
 
Moses said:
No it's not. A nice area where someone lives could be unaffordable, but school fees could be affordable, for example.
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Sorry, but I can't see a scenario where you can't afford to live in a nice area but can afford to send your child(ren) to a private school.
 
CaptainRAVE said:
Come closer to London, you soon will. We have lots of parents like this. School fees can end up being cheaper than a huge mortgage.
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But if you move to an area with good schools and pay a premium for the property all you'll pay is say 10 years of interest on the difference in the house price and you'll get that back when you sell and hopefully ride the wave of house price inflation on a larger pot.

That's what we are telling ourselves anyway. We intend to move away from here to an area that is in the catchment of 3 top grammar schools. The same house we are in will cost another 100k.
 
America? Check for past school shootings.

That was a joke btw :D



EDIT : not that school shootings are a laughing matter. They are awful!

EDIT 2 : How i now feel

kpz10.jpg
 
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I'd say the best thing to do is to speak to teachers/other parents. Ask if you can turn up at one of the governors meetings to speak to them briefly (there'll be some parents there).

You can't get a feel from a school from ofstead, certainly given the criteria they actually look for these days.
 
As we found out a new Head and a Gove can wreck the best laid plans, house moves or schools, private tuition before exams and a very good sixth form college miles away in a different town works if the school goes bad.
 
Well yes, that's the other issue. A school that's good now might not be a good school when your child starts (or soon after), especially if they go the academy route.
 
I had to move 9 times from primary school all the way until A levels due to dad's job.

I can tell you having been in every type of area and school 70% of the child's performance comes from the effort made by the parents outside school hours.

Grammar and Private schools definitely make a difference.
 
Buddy said:
Grammar and Private schools definitely make a difference.
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There was a great discussion the other day on the radio about grammar schools and social mobility. They were proposing that there isn't any social mobility, because to get into a grammar you need to be able to pay a premium to buy or rent a house in the catchment area and also pay for tutoring to be able to get the best marks in the 11+.

Obviously there will be someone's mates dogs owners vets son who got in purely on merit :p
 
amigafan2003 said:
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.
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It isn't really a moot point depending on where you live and what the current demographics are. The area I live in has two ok schools and one terrible school, however a short bus ride away are several good schools and even a grammar. The current demographics mean that most schools are below intake so you can, as a parent, shop around.
 
Nothing beats actually visiting the school and seeing if you (or your children, if they're old enough!) like the place! In terms of other information, the latest ofsted report is a good one to start with - bear in mind that the criteria have changed recently so schools inspected after September 2015 were inspected under a slightly different regime to those inspected prior to September. Older ofsted reports also aren't as reliable. I wouldn't solely rely on them, however.

Parent View is a good place to see what parents have said about a school, but this depends on how engaged parents are and whether the school advertises it. Another useful tool is the Ofsted Data Dashboard which will show you some updated statistics.

Governor meetings are a matter of public record so maybe have a look at the minutes from them if you're really interested as they can give an idea as to the challenges a particular school faces.

I happen to be a school governor, and these are the kind of tools we use to assess our school's performance and to try and improve :)
 
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amigafan2003 said:
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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This post deffinately needs to be run through thier abc checkinator thing.
 
You can do all you want but it is really pot luck in the end unless you go private. We initially looked at ofsted and there were two great schools near us.

Our daughters school is/was one of the best in the area but recent happenings have put a downer on that. School times have been cut by 25 minutes (was one of the longest school days in the area) and the school now has a partnership with another school. After school clubs are good though which means she gets another hour twice a week. She could have more but she does horse riding once a week. All these changes happened within two years (She has now just started KS2).

I also checked my primary school which was fantastic and I had no problem passing my 11+. It is amazing what 20 years of mismanagement can do as the school is a complete dive now.
 
We sent our kids to Weston coyney infants and juniors in Stoke not Trent and we lived miles away in Dresden at the time with lots of schools closer
For the majority of the time they were there the schools were brilliant ,they both had the two longest serving head teachers in Stoke .....both of them retired within about 6 months of each other and you wouldn't believe how fast the school went downhill
We pulled the youngest 2 of our kids from the school and sent them to another junior school again miles away from where we now live on a council estate ....I have a junior school and and high school both within a hundred yards of my house ....
All 3 of my kids now go to a Staffordshire high school about 4-5 miles away because I don't want them to mix with the scumbag chavs where I now live
 
You find a lot out about a school by getting a one to one with the head teacher.
If he/she is one of those "just call me Dave" types, I would look somewhere else.

In my experience anyway.
 
fretted said:
All primary schools are roughly the same
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Institutions to create law abiding worker drones. Primary schools are the place where humans are brainwashed to put their hands up and ask for permission for a call of nature, and not question any thing.

Home school your kids and stop letting schooling get in the way of their education.
 
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