No clue how to choose primary school

[BedraggledBlitz]

I’m massively indecisive and feeling the pressure as a single parent choosing school for my 4yo. Help!!

I’ve visited 2 so far and came away from both thinking they were good. Both have ofsted Good ratings.

School 1 is bigger with around 400 total, 2 classes per year. Kids were lovely, Head knew all the names of pupils. The negatives were poky classrooms and I didn’t like their approach to streaming.

School 2 only has 200 pupils. 1 class per year. No need to stream cos only one class. Nice building and outdoor. Within walking distance.

Overall school 2 seemed better BUT I have just seen its ks2 Performance is well below national average on reading and maths. The head mentioned they’d had staffing inconsistencies which has been put right. I guess this explains why people aren’t choosing to send kids there.

What do you reckon? Opt for feeling it was ok and convenience. Or play safe with proven results at big school?

Also I thought small school would be bonus but read how larger schools give children a bigger pool to select friends from, so am not sure what to think now.

It feels too important and will affect my child’s whole life :-/

My experience 2 classes also mean able to separate children which can be a real positive . Bigger schools generally seem to have more resources.

My ds’ssc was about 400, he had outgrown the school by year 6 and definitely needed a bigger school

That said I think there is a lot to be said for your closest school in terms as they get older friends nearby to play with, able to walk to school

Are you in England? First thing you need to do is read the entrance criteria for each school, work out which category you would fall in, and whether you live near enough to have received an offer in recent years. That is illustrative, not sure fire, but you need to have some idea of your chances before falling too hard for a school you stand little to no chance of getting in to.

I'd go with the bigger school personally.

Bigger pool of friends. Potentially more interest/uptake of clubs after school etc

They both sound like they'd be good options...I'd opt for whichever one is in walking distance to be honest...

I'd opt for the bigger school.

By the time your 4 yo is in KS2 it’s likely the issues will have been ironed out.

Whilst the larger school sounds better, I would generally advise going for the nearest school for everyone unless the nearest one is dreadful. It is just really valuable for friendships and for participating in school life generally to be close to home.

I disagree with your assertion that having a smaller intake makes streaming unnecessary. Unless a school is selective or is physically located where it is very unlikely that there will be any kids from challenging or disadvantaged families, a 30-pupil intake school will have the same range of ability as a 60- or 90-pupil intake school*. The difference will be that the 30-pupil intake school will simply not have the staffing to provide as much differentiated teaching.

*Yes obviously we know selection-by-house-price doesn't guarantee that all the difficult-to-teach will be excluded, but it helps. I am not claiming this to be a good thing.

Which one is your catchment school? I'm having a similar dilemma, except didntvrealise that the local village school.wasnt my catchment school so thatsxadded a 3rd into the mix.

I loved being moved to a smaller school, I got more attention and a certificate for commendable progress.

It made my life easier when I realised there is no “correct” decision. Chances are your child will do well at both. Go with your gut feeling.

My son (Y1) has gone to a big school, and it has been great so far, I believe the biggest bonus is the amount of resources they have and the variety of kids.

I went to a small village school and absolutely hated it, there were about 5 girls in my year, and I didn't get on with any of them.

However there is no right or wrong answers. Small schools do have there advantages - closer relationships with the teacher etc

Totally agree with @mnistooaddictive
Trust the feeling you had when visiting the schools and go with the one you could see your child fitting in to best.

Instinct.

As a single parent, which will make your life easier? After/before school provision, distance to school etc

Thanks everyone.

The smaller school is my catchment, but stats suggest I would get a place at the bigger one if I applied.

When I left the small.school I felt quite enthused about it. It's walkable and has a free breakfast club too. It's only the crap performance that puts me off, I feel like their poor performance at reading and writing could really affect a.child's future. But how is it a Good school if t is failing there??

The bigger one is pretty close but I would drive as it's up a big hill!

How poor is poor results? Are any pupils achieving well? The school may have a high number of special needs and so progress could be great even if results aren't the highest.

I’d go for the nearest. It’s good to be able to walk to school.

Go for the nearest, friends will be close and walking to school will be great. You can support learning at home.

Being walkable and free breakfast club would be nice and to be honest stats change all the time. I'm sure your child will do well - support them at home with reading and number (So much free online)

Walking distance! This x100.

Biggest indicator of success in education in parental support and involvement. If you like the school’s ethos generally, I would let KS2 results put me off. In my opinion primary school is about fostering a love of learning, not exam results. Secondary school is inevitably about exams - primary should be about the whole rounded experience.

I don’t think a single form entry/200 pupils counts as ‘small’ - it’s nit a tiny village school or mixed classes. There will be plenty of friends to choose from in an average class of 20-25 children.

If you like the school’s ethos generally, I wouldn’t let KS2 results put me off.

Doh!

I think the smaller and closer one sounds good. It might be worth asking people you know - or even that you don't- on local Facebook groups for example- about what they think about it.
Mine are in a small school (1 form entry) 5 minutes walk away and both those factors are very positive things in our cases.

By the time your 4 yo is in KS2 it’s likely the issues will have been ironed out.

Except that performance at KS2 is likely to be related to what the school is doing at KS1 as well, to a greater or lesser extent. Like, the school could well be tanking at KS2 tests because they are basically doing a piss-poor job of teaching phonics and are not getting students solid on the basics of maths in the first few years.

Or there could be other reasons, obviously.

I would not pay much attention to the difference between a "very high SATS school" vs a "good SATS school," but if the school was getting actually poor results, I would want to take a close look at what is going on at the school and why their results are not as good. Because in terms of convenience, walkability and breakfast clubs are all very well, but in the long run the most "convenient" school is the one that teaches the kids properly so that you don't end up trying desperately to fill in gaps at home at evenings and weekends. Some "nice little schools" are really unambitious and don't attract the best teachers.

Also depends on the child...my DS1 would have been miserable at the local school (mixed year group, smaller) and is thriving at a large (90 a year) infant school. But other children would have been different.

A primary needs to be walkable.

My son is in yr 7 now , he went to a small catholic primary school, it was close knit and family oeientated etc, but they still had tables in line with ability and all the kids knew if they were on the bottom or top table etc .