How do you choose a school?

[tiredoffour4plus]

In all honesty, i am struggling to choose between schools (2 offers we already have and potentially more next week) , and even between the two we are struggling to choose. Can anyone give any insight into how they settled / chose their school , when they had very similar offers/ choices? did you go for gut feel, academic record, proximity etc? Thanks

[roaringfire]

proximity, gut feeling.

[annandale]

The shortest walk.

In fact I spent a couple of years on the governing body of one to check I out.

[Zodlebud]

Gut feeling without a doubt.

[tiredoffour4plus]

thanks for your input. Well none are walking distance- two are at least a 15 min tube ride- but we wouldn't have to move house for . The other two would involve moving house which we are prepared to do. I'm thinking gut feel but they get the worst results academically :( ( but was one of our favourites when we visited) so would more than likely involve her sitting and moving schools at 11+. The others she hopefully would go right through to A levels

[Zodlebud]

We are going to be sending our girls to a school which has "worse" results than many schools in our area BUT the school is seen as a bit of a go-to for children who fail the 11+. If you look at it that way then the results are pretty impressive.

That said, we did have concerns about whether or not they would be able to meet the needs of the very able and everything we have seen and heard says they absolutely can

I have three hard hitting hot housey independents and three grammars in our area too - my friends think we're bonkers not wanting our girls to go to one of these. We didn't like the atmosphere or feel at all but one of these so why would we even consider sending them to a place that's just not us?

I want my kids to turn around in the future and say they had an amazing, happy childhood. Sure, I'll be on their case to make sure they get the best they possibly can academically, but I'll feel happy they're in an environment that puts as much emphasis on the extra curricular stuff as the grades.

[Topsy34]

Gut instinct, absolutely.

We looked at several and opted for the most local that has a needs improvement on ofsted, but the attitude and caring nature of all the teachers made it a no brainer for us.

[ChalkHearts]

You're clearly talking about private schools.

So what are you paying for? Small class sizes? Good facilities? Results? Etc, etc.

When you look at it like that, do they not differ on those dimensions? doesn't one have smaller classes or better facilities etc.

What are you paying for? And which school is most likely to deliver that?

[nwmum1980]

Having just been through 7+ I would without a doubt move house or whatever is needed to avoid 11+ ( assuming you liked the "through to A level" schools as well. Especially if there are younger siblings to consider as well.

[Happymummy007]

A word of caution if one of your main priorities is small class sizes - our DD was at a school where there were 18 in the class, half of which were girls. The bottom line was that there were too few girls to be friends with and she was very badly bullied - to the extent that we had to move her. She's now at a bigger school with many more girls to be friends with - hence a much happier DD. So in our case, small classes actually worked against us.

Would agree with everyone else, gut feeling is very important. But look at your own DC and consider what they would benefit from, as everyone is different. Good luck!

[IslandGirlie]

Instinct, see what is important to you and your child. I went with a school little further than couple of other schools and I purely based it on the extra curricular activities it provided for my laid back DS. When I had the tour and I looked at the setting, class room set up, art works, lunch time and play time arrangements etc. Good luck, it's a stressful choice but you will find somethings that suits your child.

[AnotherNewt]

I'd go for gut feel (which probably includes most of the other factors anyhow)

Then journey.

Then facilities.

Then academic record/leavers destinations/ISIS report.

Then crystal ball stuff (such as whether you might need to change schools again and when, remember even through schools weed).

And last, how fashionable the school is at the moment.

A 15 minute Tube journey does not sound ideal (before secondary age) depending on how crowded with adults it would be.

Are any of the offers still to come from schools with a less stressful journey?