We have a DS (year 5) with whom we're looking at secondary schools ready for applying for a place in the autumn. We're starting looking now because we don't have terribly good options, so we have quite a bit of weighing up to do.
All the secondary schools within a few miles of us are below average (in terms of GCSE performance). The best (and nearest) one is considered in need of improvement by Ofsted. The up-shot of this school is that it's nearby, and DS could get there easily and increasingly independently, as well as back home while I'm at work. If he stayed to do an after-school club, it would be relatively straightforward for him to get home while I'm at work (a grandparent could pick him up for example), or for me to fetch him afterwards. And with the short journey time, he'd have a life! Enough time to sleep, wind down, etc.
The problem is, Ofsted considers that this school is letting down brighter pupils; it isn't teaching to their needs, and they risk not fulfilling their potential. DS is fairly switched-on. He's already working at Level 6 in a couple of core subjects, and will be sitting Level 6 SATs papers in 2015. I've never been pushy with him - just taught him to do his best and give everything 100%, and that's good enough for me. But I do want him to achieve what he's capable of in his schooling, and my concern is that at one of our local secondaries, he won't be stretched and will lose interest and motivation, and possibly lower his ideas of what 'doing well' looks like.
There are some massively-better-performing secondaries in a city about an hour away, and increasingly, kids from our community seem to be applying for places in these schools - and more often than not, getting them (most of DS's closest friends are likely to go to these). The schools are more academic and achieve much better GCSE results, and also seem to be strong with pastoral care too. Academically, they seem a better fit for DS. But he'd need to spend a few hours a day on a bus (unsupervised). He'd need to be catching said bus earlier than we currently get out of bed!
And logistically with work, it would be a nightmare if he did an after-school club and therefore missed the bus home; he'd have to hang around for over an hour before I could fetch him. He'd make friends further afield, so there'd be a lot of us driving him to see mates. And I just worry that he'd be knackered from the travel and early starts, and mightily grumpy from the lack of time for himself (he's very autonomous and absolutely thrives on having plenty of time to do his own thing).
Obviously we'll be visiting these schools throughout the year to weigh up our options, and of course we may not get our preferred choice anyway; but since at this stage we do have a choice, I'd be interested to hear what others might decide (or even have decided) in the same situation. What other things should we be considering? How have things worked out for your DC in a similar scenario?
Grades really aren't the be all and end all, I realise that. Most of all, I want DS to be content and to feel like he actually has a life still beyond the increasing busyness and demands of the school day. But I do want him to fulfill his personal academic potential, for his own self-confidence and his future.
WWYD?
Many thanks for any advice.