How important is your child's primary school?

[kezziethecat]

Just wondering for opinions as we have recently sold out house and can't decide where to buy. My son is due to start primary next year and fortunately all the primaries in the local area are considered good but there is one which has the best reputation, has the best results and everyone wants to get their child into. It's catchment is very small and expensive but there is one house we could afford which is in catchment, we like it and it's big enough but needs a little work. It's very rare for a house to become available in this area for this price. The others houses we have seen are in catchments of other good schools and are cheaper and need less work. Is primary really that important?

Some outstanding schools can be a bit pressured on the academic side and that doesn't work for all kids. You also have to consider whether your child and the school are a good fit.

I wouldn't obsess about THE best school if there are lots of other good schools.

If it was one good school vs 2 crap schools I'd be more bothered.

That said the advice seems to be to buy the worst house in the best area if you want good investment, which this house sounds like. Can you be bothered to do it up?

Yes that's true. I actually know someone who is a teacher there and they say it is lovely and nurturing despite being so academic. Quite a large proportion go onto grammars and a lot of parents choose the school over local private ones but that could be because it's an expensive area a lot of parents can afford extra tuition.

We have some savings to do it up and prepared to do it but would probably never have the high spec kitchen etc of the houses in the cheaper area.

My daughter didn't get into our local outstanding school and I was gutted to be honest. She got into a good school which is less well presented and has a much more mixed intake. However she has absolutely thrived, partly due to the amazing reception team but also because she likes to learn and we support her learning through doing the reading and homework with her. I think at the younger ages parental input and attitude can really swing things one way or another

I would go for the best primary you can as your DC will spend a lot of time there. If the house is a rare find perhaps you should jump at it!!!

Only negative is that in expensive areas I have found that school mums can be quite pushy and cliquey

I would also look ahead to high school. It’s amazing how quickly the years go. My 8year old is going into year 4 this year and so next year we will have to look at high schools. We didn’t really think about that when we bought and don’t want to move again as her younger sisters will still be at their primary school.

catchments can be deceiving, check that the admissions policy has a specific distance stated, and be aware that admissions policies can change . It would be devastating to set your heart on a school and move nearby, then not get in because there were a large number of siblings that year.

I find most of the high achieving schools tend to be full of middle class parents who pay for tutors so their exam results are more to do with that. I would go for one with a mixed intake , maybe not such stellar results but a caring ethos and look at how the children with difficulties or less advantages get on as that's the true measure of a school in my eyes. None of us go into schools thinking it will be our child that will need help , but they may well do and even if they dont I think it's better to be in a school which values all their pupils including those less able , which I tend to find the ones with the great results may not. I speak from bitter experience.

All of the local secondaries are fairly good as well, none really considered better than any other. As I said a lot of this primary go only grammar or private after primary. The area is lovely but we would certainly be one of the poorest at the school as a lot of the houses in the catchment are very expensive. The school publishes a list of roads in catchment so I know we would almost definitely get in, obviously if there were a lot of siblings we wouldn't but other good schools are nearby. I do worry about clichey mums but don't want to let my own insecurities stop me from choosing the best school for my children if that's what we decide is the best.

I think it's really hard at the moment when you can't visit and get a feel for the school but I certainly wouldn't base my choice on a one word Ofsted summary. Have a look at the detail - especially for the other schools. Have a look at the class sizes and overall numbers. My children have thrived in a smaller school which will never get an "Outstanding" because it just doesn't have a large enough intake to tick all the boxes. Have a look at facilities (although bigger schools will have more). What is wrap-around provision like - is this important? As someone else has said, have a good look at secondaries as well. Which secondaries do the schools feed into? We made the mistake of moving house and sending the kids to an Outstanding school rather than the Good school down the road (we had a choice). Within months we were moving them to be with friends.

I think friendship groups moving from primary to secondary are important. We have a similar issue with kids going private in Year 7 and believe me, by Year 4 they are all talking about who is going where. It gets quite competitive especially among the girls

but there is one which has the best reputation, has the best results and everyone wants to get their child into

I'm pretty sure you'll find it's only the minority of people who talk up primary schools and how important it is that what their kids go to the right one. These are also the only people who talk about primary schools, and what they're actually talking about is avoiding any poor kids by selecting for the richest area, nothing to do with actual school standards at all.

The best schools tend to have more competitive parents and children who get tutored for the grammar entry.

Go visit all the schools, talk to the heads make the choice on how it feels to you.

Also things can change very quickly with a change in staff.

There's an outstanding school in our area and a good school - the amount of shit-talking that goes on on the local social media about the "good" school is fucking ridiculous.

The outstanding school gets their results by actively deterring parents of any kids with SEN from applying there (academy) and they flipping well stir up the shit-talking the other school down. Whole of year 5 and 6 is coaching to the SATs - the kids come out with wodges of past papers to do every holiday.

I turned down a place there for my kids - they go to the "good" schools who are fucking superb, inclusive, and focus more on the range of opportunities and developing learning skills - and take a slight hit on SATs results as a consequence. I have my odd niggle - usually just last minute communication stuff (which the parents of the outstanding school also complain about endlessly) - but generally I'm very happy with where we chose to send them.

Ours will all end up at the same secondary regardless.

For me yes, but that doesn’t mean picking the so called outstanding primary.

I picked the school that I thought would suit my son the best, that meant a good pastoral system, all staff having a good level of trauma training, a behaviour system with a positive focus etc. Him being happy, feeling safe etc is more important than getting the highest SAT results.

A fairly high proportion of children at my sons primary go to public secondary schools, my son won’t be.

Hmm yes I do think a lot of the children are being tutored heavily which obviously reflects in the results. According to my teacher friend though the school pushes against this pressure and refuses to teach to the test and focuses on the whole child. There does seem to be the opportunity to do a lot of sports and extracurricular activities. Difficult as a lot of schools will probably only do online tours this year.

'Outstanding' might what Ofsted believe but what is important to one parent is not always important to another. Leagues tables are based on SAT exam results. I think SATS are time wasting nonsense that make Year 6 boring and their purpose is not for the child's benefit but for the league table. Other parents will get their child a tutor so they get a 'high grade'.
I think 'Forest School' should be more of a thing but some parents just see it as messing around outside and they should be indoors doing 'proper' work.
Some people love uniforms. Some people don't.
You need to write a list of what is actually important to you about a school and the experience you want your child to have.
If the 'outstanding' school ticks the boxes then go for it.