Last friday we had a phonecall from our proffered school saying they now have a space available for our daughter if we would like to take it. She is in year 1 and Her name has been on the waiting list for over a year. 6 months ago I absolutely would have said yes but now i really do not know what to do for the following reasons-
- dd2 is due to start school in september also who will not havr a place in the new school. She has beem offered a place in dd1s current school and is quite excited about starting. If dd1 moves schools, dd2 will need to be homeschooled until they new school has a place for her.. which will only happen when/if a child leaves reception and if she has highest priority on the waiting list
- the new school is approx 1.4 miles away from us. Dd1s current school is just over 0.5 miles. We walk everyday currently but would probably drive most days if we changed schools. It is walkable but we would need to cross some main roads to get there.
- dd1s current teacher is 100x better than her reception teacher. She has helped my daughter alot.
- dd1 has a best friend at her current school but does not have many other friends and we have been called into school about this as she struggles to make friends as she is shy. (Possibly a big issue with changing schools?? But then her existing school has done v little to help her with this..)
- dd1s current school is ridiculously disorganised. We have missed out on events and assemblies etc because we have just not been informed of them happening. Which has been sad for my daughter that we werent there. Everything seems to be mostly word of mouth so unless someone tells us we dont seem to know! It is not just us either. Many other parents have commented on this. The school also sends out lots of texts as the main form of communication and frequently sends a text.. and then another 5 minutes later saying ignore the last text the info is wrong.. etc.. is v frustrating to keep us with what is going on. I cannot see how the other school can be less organised!
- both schools have good ofsted.
- dd1 is not desperately unhappy but she also is not particularly happy. When we approached the idea of changing schools with her after we were offering the place at the new school she seemed quite ok with this but this is most likely an irreversible decision so i dont want to make the worng one for her and also my dd2 due to start reception in september.
What would you do in my situation?? I need to let them know our decision next monday and im having such a headache/literally feeling sick knowing what to so. Also if we say no to the offer this time/want to change back to exisiting school it is highly unlikely we would get both siblings in either at a later date as both schools are highly over subscribed! I really dont know what to do!
Thankyou in advance!