Primary school dilemma.

[TeddyIsaHe]

This is slightly early as dd doesn’t start school till 2021 but I’m finding this is keeping me up at night, so advice is very welcome! (Slight bit of PFB going on I think).

We live in a not great area and so the local primaries whilst not terrible aren’t good either. None really hitting the national averages. The thing that worries me the most is the primaries we are in catchment areas for feed to really awful high schools.

There is a great prep school not that far from us, fees aren’t extortionate (less than what I pay for nursery currently!) even when they increase for older children. My parents are more than happy to help out.

Is it worth sending dd to prep and then moving house in the summer to the catchment area of an excellent state high school (regularly scores top in our area) or would dd find the change from prep to state too much? There are good private secondaries, but I would definitely need a bursary to even consider dd attending. I’m not having anymore children so no worries about fees for siblings. Just really not sure what the best thing to do is!

You can’t tell what a high school is going to be like in eight years time. Anything could happen. All you can do is your best at the moment and be prepared to move again once your dd is in year five.

My dd goes to a secondary that was closed down three years before she started as it was so bad. And then reopened as an academy and it’s fantastic now. And she went to a primary that was fantastic when she started nd then the head died very suddenly and the whole school fell apart.

Nuts and bolts issue: how far away is the area with the good secondaries? You need to be in situ in your new home (and shot of the old one) before 31 Oct of year 6 - that couid mean a year of long/complicated school runs.

Do you really want to live in the 'good secondary' area? If nit, what's stopping you from moving now? The primaries there are presumably as good as where you are now. Or you could move (including changing state primary) some time in the primary years.

Remember that the performance and reputation of schools can change significantly in the many years until your DD is secondary age.

But yes, people from preps do move successfully to state (and vice versa)

You need to look at candidate schools, and also have a think about what matters most to you in education. Then see which school/s offer the nearest thing.

Do remember that private schools have longer holidays, so do factor and childcare you require into the sums when checking affordability.

You'd be far better moving now.

I say this because I did what you suggest. DD1 went to a lovely prep from reception to the end of year 2.

I moved her for year three by moving into the catchment of an outstanding primary in a neighbouring village.

The reason we chose this route was that the entirety of her class in prep were planning on going to one of the two expensive private secondary schools in our area.

The local High Schools whilst ok would have been an enormous shock to her.

Even if your DD completes one year in the local schools, then moves ready for year 1, it won't affect her badly. There's a lot of movement in those early years and though you might not like the idea of it, the majority of children cope just fine with it. My DD barely remembers her first school.

I would suggest looking at moving if private isn't an option right through - if you can only privately educate for part of her schooling do it for secondary.