Tell me about your child thriving at (comprehensive) school

My 3 all went to the local comp and have thrived. There were some friendship issues along the way but academically great results. However I agree with pp that's partly due to them having parents interested in their education, who support school decisions and respect teachers etc. Plus valued a love of learning outside of school with plenty of reading, talk of news and a few sporting hobbies.

My DS is at a local outstanding state school. Still have parents pulling kids out and moaning about it.
Are you sure they don't set maths on yr10?
Also do they do triple science and double? Opt for triple as only the dedicated students will want to do it so it self sets.
From experience you get what you put in. If you do well/try the teachers help you more.
My DS noted that all the ones who put in effort did well at GCSEs and those who didn't were the ones upset on results day that they should have done better.
Also he doesn't have to travel all over the area for his social life. By default they all live within a mile of the school.

@Flockameanie don't underestimate the impact of a strong and aspirational HT and SLT – our local Secondary Modern went from somewhere parents wanted to avoid at all costs to being over-subscribed, thanks to a new HT.

Research has repeatedly shown great teaching to be the most important element in a child's educational achievement (and no, I'm not a teacher!). Closely followed by a supportive home environment, and a friendship group who share the same ambitions. Class size is a much less significant factor than we as parents commonly assume eg children do better in a large class with a great teacher than in a small class with a mediocre teacher.

All mine went to the local comp. Our original preference was for state but we did due diligence on the other options.

Grammars in the neighbouring borough - concern was the long journey, the intense focus on academic results at the cost of a broader education, the "hot house" atmosphere (little to offer the child who had peaked at 11). They were overwhelmingly white, affluent MC whose parents wanted private without paying for it.
Local private schools - fabulous facilities, their own theatres and golf courses but broadly a narrow social subset and we had concerns about poor experiences of racism reported (from observation this is an issue across all school types, you can't buy your way out of it) and the very narrow social demographic.
Local comp was a true local comp - it took all social and financial demographics, was walking distance from the house and did well by both the top ability kids and the lower. It was larger than I original wanted but had a very good pastoral structure so felt smaller whilst benefiting from the economies of scale. It also mad a much more diverse staff and intake and a supportive cohort of parents from all parts of that intake - parents can make a huge difference if they support a school.

All four went to the local comp, all went to top end universities and are established in good professional roles across public and blue chip private sectors. They have friends from a wide range of backgrounds from their school days and the "local" factor meant they had time to build local friendships and engage in more after school activities. They were also happy at school for the most part.

We were able to provide the "cultural capital" and activities which the school budget didn't run to. I would expect under current budgets we would need to do more of that. I'm glad we resisted the pressure to go selective/private.

The one factor which might have pushed us down the private path would have been unmet special needs where LA budgets did not adequately support a child in mainstream.

Local bog standard comp to us has a permanent police presence. Kids are scanned for knives and there are random phone content checks. Girls either wear trousers or shorts under their skirts. This is compulsory.

Private school my girls went to have a resident tennis coach.

The other thing is yes, we’d all like our kids to go somewhere better than fine/decent/just about acceptable. But, under the gloss of good facilities, how good actually are your private alternatives?

We’ve never had the money for private so it’s a moot point for us. But that being said, our local independent is IMO not worth the money. It does get better results than the comp, but it’s selective so it should, and the results aren’t stellar. The extra-curricular activities are definitely better, but taking music as an example, the strongest kids at independent schools are still attending the music centre and junior conservatoire that my DC attend, so ultimately you reach a level with many where parents are still buying in extras.

There are clearly some fabulous independent schools out there, and a couple of DC2’s friends travel a long distance across the city to go a really high achieving one that looks like amazing. Maybe you do have a really great independent option, but I worry that it’s easy to assume private always = better without the evidence to support that on an individual school level.

Well im not so impressed so far. Dd in y7 at local school.
Put in wrong set. And they know it but still stuck there 4 weeks later. An admin error i assume so could be primary or the secondary.
Shes being set homework which is ks2 level despite exceeding on sats.

Shes also had a much older boy try to knock her shoe off.
Her friend in another school is stuck in top set and really anxious doesnt understand and they wont move her.

You should want more than fine.

It doesn’t sound at all ideal, so if can afford to go private until 6th form I would.

But if it’s going to make life a misery or worry you to death then go with the comp and make sure they have tutors when needed and extras and summer language exchanges and all that. However, it might really not work out, so devise an emergency really have to try and afford it plan too.

My 2 dds are thriving in a local comp. They are both doing really well academically, are joining in with loads of extra curricular activities the school offers, and are generally enjoying school.
With over 1000 students there, there’s always kids they get on with, and teachers are generally happy to support students who are willing to learn.
This is a ‘good’ (ofsted) comp in a mixed area in a northern city - nothing special as such, but it seems to work for my dcs

We live in a grammar area, and my dd failed the 11+ by about 10 marks. We could have appealed to get her into the naice grammar schools locally but dd wasn't super set on going and was offered a place at the local comp (which doesn't always have the best reputation) and dd seemed happy to go there. So we thought we'd give it a try but if if she wasnt happy we would either move her to grammar or private.

Shes now year 9 and is absolutely thriving. She's found fantastic group of friends, the teachers seem to reward hard work and good behaviour so she's always getting to go on reward trips, and actually being in a lower pressured environment is what suits her. Shes in the grammar stream for maths/science/english but subjects like music, and art mixed ability classes. I think at grammar she'd get a bit lost in the crowd, whereas the local comp seems to have given her endless opportunities to shine.

Our ds is now keen to go to her school, because she's so positive about it. He'll probably take the 11+, but even if he passes i can see it being a great fit for him.

The only downside is that the school seems to be struggling to recruit teachers for their science dept - but once dd starts year 10 we can pay for a tutor (as she loves science and wants to study a STEM subject at uni).

My DC go/went to the local comp. It's in a fully comprehensive area with no selective state schools. It has a diverse intake (socio economically as well as ethnically), and gets slightly below average results.They set from Y7 in maths only, and in Y10 and 11 for science and Spanish as well.

It's been fine. The extra curricular activities are very few, and run on a shoestring, and netball aside (where they've been national champions twice in the last few years) they don't operate at a very high level. We do buy in music extracurricular from elsewhere as school doesn't even have a choir, never mind an orchestra. We don't use tutors. The DC have made good friends and it's nice for them all to be local. There are some hair raising incidents from time to time, but as our DC have not been directly involved we view that as part of life's rich pagent.

In terms of teaching it's been fine. There are a few slightly uninspiring teachers, and the odd vacancy filled by a rotation of supplies, but the majority work hard to engage the DC. They can get brilliant results for the kids that want to work for them - my eldest have just achieved eight grade nines and one grade eight at GCSE. She's not an outlier - there's a group of kids with great results, but as you'd expect with a fully comprehensive intake, there's a bigger bunch with more middling results.

We live in an area where around 30% get 5 GCSEs including maths and English. DD's school had sets for maths, English and science. Her other classes were mixed ability ranging from grades 2 to 9. Her teachers loved having DD in their classes as she was someone they could stretch.

We were able to do all the nice extra-curricular ourselves. Never had to worry about paying for tutors for grammar or private school entry. She graduated in PPE from Oxford last week.

What are you basing your feelings on? Is it because the children didn't look happy enough when you walked round? Is it because the buildings aren't nice enough? The school has good results and you think the SLT are working hard. Private school will give your child a nicer building and more attractive facilities. They might get smaller classes. You will be treated more like a customer. They will have wealthier friends. They probably won't get better teaching. It is simply a question of what you can afford.

What I'm looking for for my kids is a place where they're gonna get the best results they can. A place where they'll feel motivated to achieve their very best.

The other stuff, I can provide at home.

The thing is, whilst it’s true that many kids with a supportive family will be fine, you do really want your kid to be excited by learning. For me the results are neither here nor there if there is no engagement or energy in the classroom. That’s not an education, it’s just going through the motions. OP I would talk to current parents and try to gauge if your impression of the school fits with their experience.

I don't think it's all about results/teaching to be honest. Some of the teachers in my DCs school are truly fantastic, and he is on track to get outstanding GCSEs. Some of the extra-curricular stuff has been great. But despite this it hasn't been a great educational experience. He's often been bored, and is often frustrated by behaviour and noise. He has also become extremely instrumental in what he cares about i.e. what will get marks in the exam. Like the OP, I am passionate about learning and education, and it's depressing to think that he has had such an uninspiring experience. Everybody in that school is doing their very best in a really tough job, but schools simply aren't resourced well enough to provide what I would consider to be a great education, especially when they have an intake which includes lots of disadvantaged kids who quite rightly are the priority.

Wow imagine teaching maths to mixed ability through KS3! What a nightmare.

Meant to agree with others that the support of a helpful, positive and education-orientated family will mean absolutely masses. Maybe the kids you saw are not lucky enough to have that - but your DC is and all the better.

If you have spare money that could maybe stretch to private, I wouldn;t do that even if I were a fan of private schools. There's a risk of fees rising massively when Labour are elected, plus big fee rises anyway in the coming years, I gather. Better to use that money for enrichment - trips to interesting places that fit with their passions, money for sports coaching/drama class/instrument lessons/art class, and then tutors at GCSE if needed.

There's a lot to be said for a local school (as I see you realise).

My DCs school has got rid of almost all setting due to evidence that it works against disadvantaged kids. The school has a very mixed intake. They only set for Science in Y7, Maths is set in Y10 but only in four ability bands. Nothing else is set.

If the results are above the local/national average then I would probably stay in the state system.

DS school is not above the average in either measure, whereas DDs old school was in line with grammars.

DS's school doesn't set the kids either and SLT told me that was deliberate because when they set by ability, behaviour was atrocious in the lower sets. The result appears to be mediocre results for everyone 😥