Looking for advice from teachers and experienced parents. We are preparing to move house in the next 1-2 years and want to move into the catchment of a secondary school we are happy with. We will be moving 2-3 miles from our current home, but flexible on exact location, which gives us the option of about 5 secondary schools.
I'm feeling at a loss as to what to look for, and how to find out the information. I feel that Open Days, Ofsted etc can only tell you so much about what it's like to actually attend the school.
Things that seem to be important to us are -
- Staff turnover. I can see this is a huge issue nationally. How can I find out what a school's staff turnover is, and what % of lessons are staffed by cover teachers? Would a school tell me the answer to this? Would I need to do an FOI request?
- Behaviour. Our DD is very well behaved and finds excessive classroom noise stressful. How can I find out what behaviour is like, and whether the behaviour policies are actually followed?
- Phone policy - we are very anti phone in the classroom as it's clearly as distraction and affects behaviour. How can I find out what the phone policy is?
- Sexual harassment - I want a school that take a very firm line / zero tolerance stance on sexual harassment of girls, whether that's in person or via social media. How can I find out girl's experiences at the schools? Could I request data on how many instances have been reported at each school?
Can anyone advise?