Is your primary school any good? And how do you know?!

[Reluctantadult]

Another parent asked me yesterday if I thought the school was good... and I drew a total blank! My kids are in KS1 so their schooling so far has been very interrupted by covid. I don't really feel I 'know' the school. What makes a primary school good, in your opinion?

By talking to friends with children at other schools you manage to gauge what’s what. That alone is pretty indicative as it gives you ideas, thoughts and sets a benchmark as to the positives and negatives of ‘your’ school.

But what makes a primary school 'good', in your opinion?

My dd’s teacher spotted when she was struggling, let us know and put a plan in place to address the issue. I thought that was very good.

It depends what you prioritise. If your child has additional needs be the school offers lots of support, you’d probably describe that as good. If your child is very able and is being stretched and challenged academically, you’d probably say that was good.

You get a feel about a school and whether it fits your ethos. You look at reports and results and you put all the information you have, officially and unofficially and make a judgement.

Is your child happy and keen to go to school?

Do you feel you can see some progress from their starting point?

Have you had a chance to talk to their teachers and did you feel it was informative and that they knew them well?

I have a year 1 child and I am a teacher myself. These are the things that are important to me.

DC1 is coming towards the end of reception, so it was a little over a year ago that I researched and applied for his primary school place.

I guess different people have different priorities, but for me it's the "feel" of the school, a positive atmosphere, a caring and supportive ethos, high standards of learning but not in a pushy way. Of course that's virtually impossible to measure. In terms of specific questions I asked when talking to the head teachers and parents of children already at the school, it was things like what are the strengths of the school, how do they meet the different needs of the children (eg SEND and gifted & talented), how do you tackle bullying, etc. I did feel that I got quite a lot from their answers.

Since DC started at the school, I think you can tell from how well they settle in, how happy they are to go, how the teachers interact with them at drop off / pick up, the way the teachers talk about them at parents evening, the general "vibe".

i did consider other more measurable things including distance (ours isn't the closest but it's less than one mile) and I looked at results and Ofsted but didn't go solely on those things as many people seem to.

I suppose it’s ’bringing out the best’ of a child when you actually think about it? Encouraging by engaging positively? A can-do attitude?

Whether that be academic, on a socially interactive level, be it emotional intelligence, confidence or a sport. Any of these, one of these, all of these?

For me it’s not just spending all day on the measured subjects but also having time outdoors and doing art etc. Lots of personal development.

Picking up on problems or being happy to come up with a plan if a parent notices something.

Dealing with bullying well.

Happy children who love their teachers.

My children are happy, enjoy school and seem to be learning lots of new things. The school has a nice atmosphere, for example at pickup time I see older children being kind to the smaller ones. My children speak highly of their teachers, and I also get a good impression when I see them at pickup or parents evening, they obviously care about the children and have lots of ideas to help them learn.

When I have raised an issue with the school they take it seriously and try to address the problem.

You get a feel by talking to friends with same age kids, by seeing your child's progress, by seeing how the school handles special needs etc.

My DS's school is good at keeping the children happy and secure and meeting all the basic targets with plenty of fun. Big emphasis on personal development, and a lovely atmosphere. They are less ambitious academically than other local schools, especially the academies, which I have mixed feelings about.

Honestly I think you need to experience a couple of schools to tell. DDs have attended 4/5 primary schools.

I would say school 1 was good as it had supportive community, high academic standards influenced by the intake, and small class sizes which meant extra support for struggling pupils. But it was rubbish at communication and the small size caused friendship issues for the older pupils.

School 2 was very imaginative and a very diverse pupil body which they celebrated. However most of the pupils used the school buses and the parents were very disconnected from the school. But the school buses meant the pupils learnt organisation at a younger age... they were the ones looking in lost property or remembering to bring stuff home even in reception.

School 3 was very sought after... but I just didn't like it. It was still in its rather cramped Victorian buildings, had no real playground or sports facilties, they had to use the Church for anything bigger than a year group assembly. But it had high grammar school entry... It just wasn't right for my DD.

School 4 was very inventive to enable participation for pupil premium students. They did fundraising for trips for example rather than charging the parents the full amount. They attended this school during Covid. The school did amazing for those in school and for support for struggling families. But that left no time for those at home. My elder DDs teacher managed to destroy all her self confidence, but younger DD did very well there

School 5... I've not found any major complaints yet. They seem to have a magic money tree as the 'extras' are fantastic. Communication hasn't always been the best. DD1 has flourished there. DD2 is doing well too... they noticed she was struggling with friendships etc and have made a real effort to get her to a happier place.

I can look back and compare and pick up on what was a minor foible and what was an actual problem. The number of schools was due to being a Military family, not problems as such. But we might have withdrawn DD1 from school 4 if we hadn't moved as she was getting more unhappy.

"I think you need to experience a couple of schools to tell."

Why? I disagree. Most people have enough experience of their children's school to be able to say whether they think it's good or not - experience of one or more others is a bonus but not essential.

Anyway, I do think "good" is largely subjective; what's good for one child might not be good for another, and as I said, different people have different priorities and values.

My feeling at the moment is there are better teachers and worse teachers. Current yr2 teacher is ACE, if I could keep her I would. Current YrR teacher seems 'ok' but focuses on her yr1's. It's not adding up yet to me feeling that the SCHOOL as a whole is good or bad. The head seems a bit something and nothing and is leaving anyway.