aspirational school with violence issues VS plodding along without violence issues???

[skrumle]

my DD is due to start secondary next year.

our local secondary is literally 200yards away and is generally well thought of. we also have the option of sending her to our catchment catholic school which is 7 miles away (there are no other secondary schools that would be an option due to distances involved, unless we had £12k a year to pay private and we don't!).

the catholic school has a significantly worse catchment area and there are ongoing reports of violence at it (including kids taking knives to school) but has a VERY good name for getting the best out of the brightest kids, and is very involved with the children, hardly ever excludes, and has an excellent range of afterschool activities.

the local school IMO is coasting - they are below the catholic school in the league tables, including having double the absence rate. i went to their open evening and asked about how they were trying to improve their exam results and basically got a whole load of waffle, including the idea that the two schools couldn't be compared??? the local school is also a very new building - so technical, PC, music, fitness rooms, etc are all still new and shiny. haven't seen the catholic school yet but i went to it 20 years ago and i can't imagine it will match in terms of facilities.

my DD is bright, and generally likes school. she has no strong views on which school she wants to attend (her friends at primary are dividing between the two schools). when chatting at my mum's yesterday afternoon my sister had a meltdown at the idea of me sending DD to the catholic school due to the violence issues but i don't feel that it's a good enough reason to rule it out completely...

any advice?

[CecilyP]

Are you a Catholic yourself and would this have any bearing on your choice?

Personally, I would be reluctant to send my child 7 miles to a school with a reputation for violence (even if it gets a little exaggerated along the grapevine). What is the transport situation like? Would she be able to take advantage of the after school activities on offer?

Although it may be in a bad area, Catholic schools generally have a wider catchment area than other schools, so this school may boost its attainment by attracting more aspirational Catholic families from further afield.

Why do you think the local school is coasting? What is its value added like? If it has high rates of absence, this is going to effect its attainment levels, but it is not going to effect your child if you are the sort of family where regular school attendance is not negotiable.

[senua]

I have several questions:

1. do you want your child to be safe, secure and happy to go to school?
   
2. um, actually, there is only one question.
   
   You have to remember that school statistics are for the overall school. It is extremely unlikely that your child will get those average results: statistically, she will perform better or worse than the school average. If no-one in the history of school ever got A grades then I would be extremely concerned, but if some pupils achieve sometimes then you know it is a possibility and you just have to try to ensure that it is your DC who is at the upper end of the scale.
   
   Also, I have some friends who sent their DC to a Catholic school. Very high achieving yadda yadda yadda and they were pleased with GCSE results. However, they sent them elsewhere for sixth form precisely because it was too much of an exam factory. You can have too much of a good thing!

[Silverstreet]

What Senua said. In addition to the safety issues (which I agree would be my no 1 priority) she will waste a lot of time travelling to the catholic school, transport may cost you (our council has consulted to remove free transport to faith schools, worth checking if this applies to yours) and her friends will be from a much wider area which is logistically challenging. That time and money might be better spent supplementing the local school with targeted extra work if you think they are not stretching her enough.

[Tigerstripes]

I would also be more concerned with my DC being and feeling safe. Does the 'coasting' school have sets? If so and your daughter is bright then she will be in the top sets anyway, where those that are likely to excel, will. You can also supplement with tutoring in the later years if you feel it necessary, but, in the meantime, your DC will have had happy years with nearby friends and no violence issues.
Having said all that, you say you haven't visited the catholic school yet. Do so and ask them directly about your worries.

[CecilyP]

I would also guard against looking at GCSE levels as some kind of gambling odds. Eg if this school gets 40% 5 A C, my child has a 40% chance of getting 5 A C, if that school 60% 5 A C, my child has a 60% chance of getting 5 A C. It doesn't work like that. These are the cummulative scores of a large number of children, some performing well, some performing badly. Your child will do, as your child will do based on the abilities she has. Of course there is no way of knowing if an individual child will do better at one school or another because no one child can be at two schools at once.

However, with an OK school on my doorstep, the other school would have to be exceptionally special with no negative factors, for me to consider a 7 mile journey.

[racingheart]

I am so strongly in favour of the non violent school. No academic pushing is worth the danger of violence. Children can't thrive if they feel threatened. If you want her to excel, take an active interest in her school work and home work, get tutors to help her or brush up yourself and help her at home. She can always do loads of extra curricular stuff outside school - it doesn't have to be linked to school. Most areas have dance/sport/drama/orchestra clubs for teens to get involved with.
There's no context imo.

[skrumle]

thanks all - sorry i disappeared! will try and answer questions.

we are catholic and she's currently attending a catholic primary - however, i would actually prefer she didn't attend a catholic secondary as i know my divergence from the "approved" message is going to be more obvious once she's at secondary but i wouldn't want to undermine the school...

she would be entitled to transport paid for, and at the moment my H works right next to the school so she could just get a lift to school with him most days.

the coasting school currently has sets but the head is keen to remove them for S1-S3, not sure he's going to achieve this (got lots of gossip at book club last night about the machinations currently going on at the school).

to put the violence in context a bit more - we're in semi-rural scotland so it's nothing compared to the kind of thing that goes on in deprived inner-city areas, but the catholic school does have a catchment that takes in kids from very deprived areas.

i'm gradually swaying back to the fact that there is nothing WRONG with local school and really should just go with it. the social side of it is the thing that weighs heaviest actually - my sister and i are both living in our home town having gone to the catholic secondary and know virtually nobody our own age because we didn't go to the local school. i know that i used to spend every weekend on the train going to visit friends as well!

[toughdecisions]

If I was ranking potential schools known violence issues would place a school bottom.

The good name will not last if the violence does as other parents interested in their kids will not send them there.

[IndigoBell]

Go to the local school.