Help! How do I choose a school?!

[Nuvanewname]

I know I need to be in the catchment areas. I know I should be looking at ofsted reports and results they get.

What if they get great results but not so great ofsted reports or vice versa? What's more important?

My child is 2, but 3 very soon, so I think I need to apply this year to start next year because this time next year they'll be 3 almost 4? Seems too soon to me!

I'm so lost with it all.

The two schools within 5 mins of me- 1 is a religious school so won't get in as we don't go to church... I think? And from what I have seen from the children passing, I don't like it at all. They don't get average results and ofsted.

The other has quite bad results and average ofsted.

There are, I think, 3 more schools within a 10ish min walk. They're much better, but don't know if I'll be in the catchment. How do you even find out if you're in a catchment area?

There's a much better school, that we may be able to get into, but they're temporarily (but for a couple of years) having the younger ones in another building that's about 30mins away on the bus.

God. I thought choosing a nursery was hard!

You can look at your local Councils website to see the catchment areas.

As for choosing between the 2 schools, I'm not sure a school with poor results and average ofsted sounds all that great but it could be wonderfully nurturing.

Could you visit both school and see what you think. It might be worth asking if the religious school ever admits non-religious children first though.

Do you know which High School you want them to go to and what their admissions policy is too? In sone areas the high schools have feeder primaries and do if you don't attend the primary school, effectively you won't get into the high school.

Well honestly I'd read the Ofsted sure however I would go visit every school that would be feasible for them. I visited 5 in walking distance (although some were a good walk). And I knew from the visits which ones to discount. I discounted one with a good reputation.
Just visit every one and you'll know how you feel

If you go in your local council website on the where you live section it says what school is in your catchment area

Oh and when you visit write some questions down to ask them

Go on some school visits in addition to looking at the ofsted reports. You will get a much better feel of the environment and ethos of a school and staff by having a nose about. Talk to parents with children at the schools if you can, this can be a mixed bag but might be helpful. Good luck

Yes, I am very worried about having to "choose" those schools. I don't know how it works, but I have seen people be rejected and offered a school closer to home and if they don't accept it they just have no school. I am worried about that happening.

The religious school, I'm really not sure about. They seem very heavy on the religion. I've looked at their website and all of the children's art work is connected to religion, as are most of their events.

I think high school should be much easier, there are a few good local ones. Some that I know some students at now and they enjoy it. But I know lots can change between now and when my child starts. Although one of them has been quite good for years now from what I know.

Another good one does have a feeder primary, but it's the primary that is 30 mins away on the bus. I think year 3-6 are the ones closer to me and reception to yr 2 are a bus ride.

Oh yes, I'll write questions. I always forget what I want to ask and remember when I leave wherever I am.

Visiting them though, does it actually work? I think they'd all act differently, trying to sell the school, so you won't see how it really is.

Is it really weird to ask parents I don't know who I get talking to at the local park or whatever what schools their children go to and what it's like? Or is that a bit creepy, a random stranger asking what school your 4-10 year olds go to?

Definitely visiting works. The school I got which I wanted isn't different to when I visited.
I don't think the others were acting up either.

I put the religious one as 2nd choice for mine (I'm not religious) I decided I didn't want her to go there as I didn't them telling her all this stuff and her believing it. But it was a good school so I put it as second choice. But to be honest I'm glad she didn't go there I think she would have absorbed the religion a bit and I didn't want that

You need to get your head around the fact that you are not really ‘choosing’ in the proper meaning of the word.... you are expressing a preference.
You could choose a school that you do not stand a chance of getting in.
Make sure you fully understand about equal preference and that you know the entrance criteria of all the schools you are interested in.
Use all of your choices if you are in an area of oversubscribed schools, be realistic, if you put a school down you don’t fit the criteria for ie you live too far away and it’s oversubscribed, you won’t get in.
If you do your homework and you are realistic you will be well prepared

Thank you. I'm going to check when all of them are having open days and do a visit then.

I'm just so scared we'll be forced to accept one of the bad ones.
And gosh I always thought children started school young, but now mine is starting, I think it's REALLY young.

itscold I started reading about these local schools when mine was about 6 weeks old then I realised at 8ish months that I was being crazy and gave it a rest.

All of the schools say sibling and distance preferences, and 3 are good schools within a 10 min walk, but most of the schools are over subscribed from what I have seen, apart from the not so good one that's closest to me. It's worrying. I think if I choose them I might just be sent back to this one. Even though they're all very close too!

Get the information from your council on distance of previous years offers and you will be able to see if it’s been consistent or if it’s shrinking. If it’s shrinking it could be due to things like new homes being built, high birth rate years or that the school is becoming more popular.
Get a map and draw a circle of the last years distance for all the schools that interest you, is your home in the circle, if yes then it’s a reasonable possibility, if not them you probably won’t get in unless you meet another criteria.
Hope that makes sense!

Thank you so much, yes it does make sense.
At least I know now and won't have to just guess.

It really depends on where you live, my children are older now but when they were small we lived in North London where the whole school thing was a real nightmare.
My children went to a primary that was the least popular in the area when they started but it was in a really nice area and had lots of space, it got more and more popular and by the time they left it was the most popular in the area, things do change if you live somewhere that had an expanding population.
It’s better to join a school with a few issues but that has a good headteacher that will move it in the right direction.
We went to several summer/Christmas fairs at school because then you get to see the type of families that go to the school and also how involved and engaged the parents are. These type of visits give you a really good feel for if it’s right for you.
Also think about ethos and what matters to you, I ruled out all church schools, and preferred a gentle child centred ethos rather than results driven, but you need to think about what works for you and your family. Have a look in your ‘local area’ bit of mumsnet and see if others know or have real experience about schools you might consider.
Try not to get too caught up in the whole snobbish rubbish that happens
If you really want a school but you can see that you don’t really stand a chance of getting in, think about how important it is to you, we moved before my first went to school, as I said before at the time it was for the least popular primary school, but we moved into the catchment for the most popular secondary school, so we knew it was a good decision in the long run and the primary was much better than any of the ones local to us before we moved, it was a big step but very worthwhile.
Hopefully you don’t live somewhere that is quite as restrictive and stressful !

Yes I'm in north London I love it, there's so much for children to do and so many places to go, but not enough school places.

One of the schools that looks bad on paper, I do think lots of children look happy there when I walk past. I do think that's important too.

I think most of the schools have lots of summer fetes, Easter fetes, jumble sales etc, I see posters, so maybe I will pop in to some. Although again worried about looking weird. A random lady with no child at the school just turning up at their events. But then they put posters around the area, so I suppose everybody is welcome.

I agree that visiting does work. You can get a real feel for the school. I'd visit a few though and make notes after each visit so that you can do a proper comparison.

We have 5 good primaries in our area and the number of people who don't do their research and put down one that they are not in catchment for and no other choices is staggering. These are the same parents who will be shocked later when they find out they've been offered a failing school 30 minutes away.

Visiting is the only way to really know. You will get a feel for how adults speak to children, how much care is taken with classrooms and displays etc, how big the classes are and how much outside space reception have and what there is to do in it. Ofsted reports only give a snapshot and schools can change quite quickly. If a school is judged RI then they will be getting loads of support and working their arses off to improve. Also, good and outstanding schools get inspected a lot less often. I recently went to a school which was judged outstanding in 2010 and I'm no sure they'd get that now (I was visiting in a professional capacity). The inspection criteria have changed a lot since 2010 for one thing.

Part of my role is showing prospective parents around our EYFS settings and I can't "sell the school" by myself. If the environments look crap, the kids aren't engaged or adults aren't interacting with kids , if classrooms are a mess and behaviour is poor, there wouldn't be much I could do or say to convince parents otherwise.

If they have any public events-like summer fairs go to them- you can get quite an insight that way. Do any of your “baby friends” have older children who go to school? Ask them. But crucially-make sure you only put down schools you have a chance of getting in to.

Yes to talking to other parents in the park, at nursery, swimming lessons, wherever you meet them, I found that as application time rolled round parents I knew talked about little else. Many of the parents I knew had older children already at school so had lots of useful information.

If you work it is tempting to go to open events in the evening but you do get a better feel during daytime when the children are there.

If you go to any groups, like playgroups Mums often have older children at school so it's good to ask

Nuva that’s weird I didn’t know you lived in N London, just used myself as an example as how tricky it can be in an oversubscribed area.
Lucky you to be living there, we moved away to the countryside 5 years ago and I’ve regretted it ever since, but that’s another story.
My best advice is try not to get too caught up in the trying to get into ‘the’ best school bit too much, there is so much status and snobb value going on in N London and it really isn’t very helpful.
It really will be important to check out the distance as some of the catchment areas will be tiny, also check if any schools are due to be expanded, I know those 4/5 form primary schools look scary and big but honestly they aren’t once you get used to it, my DC primary was 1 form when we started and 3 form when we left, most of the changes were good.
Will you be trying for a nursery place? Going half days also gives you a good feel for the whole school.
Do go to events, no one will think you are strange and you will get a good feel especially the summer fairs, most of them have them and it’s a good chance to speak to some parents.

Our school doesn't have "open days/ evenings" it's just arrange to visit in a regular day. It does give a more realistic vibe.

What are the displays about? Are they about the children and their work/ lives/ talents? Are they aspirational? Are they just like a load of memes on FB? Are they in decent condition (although for an event they may be brand new which tells you less), do they have to be protected to survive?

I mainly get my "vibe" from being a Brownie leader. Schools do change around. OFSTEDs priorities are different to mine and schools win/ lose out on technicalities which don't necessarily reflect the child's experiences.

Make sure there is a safe bet that you can realisticly get in to.

I've just looked at my DC old primary. Their last inspection by OFSTED was 2008!

It is a lovely caring school though and also gets good results. You could feel the nurturing nature of the school whenever you went in.

Check the admissions policies, then check them again.

One thing to be aware of is “catchment” is different to “home to school distance”. A catchment is a defined area on a map, with drawn boundaries that do not change year to year. Children living within catchment are given priority, even if you live closer but are outside the boundary.

Home to school distance there is no defined catchment area. They line everyone up in order of distance and first 30 or whatever get in. Boundary will change yearly, so you need to check the last few years. Also ask the school how many siblings they have- it will give you an idea of how many places are “left”.

Depends what you think will suit your child. Ask around , visit the schools. Don't worry too much about C of E schools unless it's a tiny village and oversubscribed they don't look at church attendance.
For me number of intakes was important (amongst other things) I felt the single class intake was too small for my daughter who had been at a large nursery. Equally I felt the school with three intakes was too big. So she is at a school with two intakes and it is a really nice size. Whilst you need to go on your feel do read the ofsteds as they can throw up some surprises.

It's so dependent on the balance of kids where you live that year, catchment will change each year. My nearest school is 10 mins walk, so its hard to say. Btw, ofsted doesn't tell the whole story, kids school was ranked 1 but I pulled my daughter because it was rubbish for her - it's a box ticking exercise not how good it is!

I remember being shown round dd’s primary by the Head. I had nearly discounted it because it was huge, but at one point a child rushed up to show him something. He very gently but firmly asked her to wait, finished what he was saying then gave her his full attention, including knowing her name. That interaction told me a lot about him and about the school.