Received acceptance to 1st choice school mid way through reception in independent school

[Kellyclay417]

Hi all,

As the subject says, I received an email which informs us that there will be space in our first choice school for our child. Which we need to respond to by tomorrow.

Our child started in the nursery of his current school (independent) last year January. We decided to keep him in the school for reception as he didn't get his first four choices. Instead he got assigned a school we had never heard of and that is rated 'inadequate' based on its last two Ofsted inspections.

We decided not to accept and remain on the waiting list for our first choice. We thereby kept our child and pretty much forgot that we were on the waiting list.

The dilemma now is that our child is doing well in the independent school and has formed good friendships. We don't know what to do. Do we keep our child in this school where he is very happy at and has formed close friendships or move him to this other school where we aren't sure what it'll be like for him. Also do we stay in this school where we will be paying £4k (currently) a term or go with the state school where it's free (obviously) and meant to be a really good school.

We also have a baby who will be joining him in whatever school he is at when the time comes.

What would you do? This is such a difficult decision. Any advice is greatly appreciated. TIA

DS is in Y1 and has had two new classmates join since they started reception. They don’t bat an eyelid at that age, it’s just another friend to play with. Friendships are formed so quickly at that age. I would move schools and save yourselves a small fortune.

Do check your notice dates or you might be liable to pay fees up until Christmas if you arent quick.

The fact that the OP is debating this and that this is a “choice” makes it clear that affording two sets of private school fees for the next 13 years is an option for them. If it wasn’t an option this wouldn’t be a question to ponder based on friendships and quality of school etc. So I suppose - given that money is clearly not being presented as a decision maker - go with the best school you can?

There's a few of my children's classmates who went state school for R-yr 4 and 5, even yr 7 then swapped to private.
That's quite nice I think for the children because they have made good friends locally, in walking distance so can still hang out and play or meet up independently, but then they also have the benefits of private education. The parents could have afforded private from the start but chose not to.

What would’ve your plans for secondary? That would be the deciding factor for me in all honesty. If likely to be state then I’d move now, if you’re borderline re secondary costs, I’d save the money now for private secondary. If money not an issue re two in private until 18 then I’d just crack on.

Unless you expect to have a spare £30k a year in a few years for both DCs I wouldn’t hesitate to move now

Personally I would keep them in the private school if you can comfortably afford it, but then I'm fairly committed to private anyway. We considered moving into the catchment of a sought-after state primary but personally I think state schools will really struggle in particular for the next generation, due to dc missing so much school, families struggling in a recession and having health issues. My dc have been cushioned from all of that but there will be much more demand on school resources from the pupils who come from struggling homes, which would inevitably have an impact on my dcs if I sent them to state.

There are children from struggling homes in private schools well as state ones! Children whose parents become ill, divorced or die. Parents and children with mental health problems or learning differences. Being wealthy buys you small class sizes, and often better resources, it doesn't entirely protect your kids from life.