Without any other information, which would you choose?

[LunaLoveLemon]

Choice of three schools for Reception entry next year:

School A is 5 minute drive away, walkable in about 30 mins in decent weather (off road and muddy). Less than 200 pupils. Good Ofsted. It’s a village primary which has recently become an academy. Academy Trust is run by a local, well regarded private school and appears to offer gifted and talented activities, sporting opportunities etc. that perhaps you might not get elsewhere. Also a possibility of academic scholarship into said school for secondary school.

School B is 7 minute drive away, semi-walkable (country lanes, no pavement) in approx an hour, very cycleable. Has less than 80 pupils. Good Ofsted but overdue an inspection. Appears to have an outdoorsy, nurturing ethos. Young, enthusiastic headteacher. Children appear to come from a wide catchment due to the school being undersubscribed. Likely to be a maximum of 10-15 pupils in the year group.

School C is 9 minute drive away. About a 45 minute, very safe walk. 400 pupils. Ofsted Good. Closest large village to us. Friends children go/will be going there. Close to soft play, cafes, shops, parks etc. Probably a bit more of a mix of different children, cultures etc. (Benefit potentially IMO). My gut says larger school is likely to have better SEND support?

I’ve got open mornings/tours booked over the next couple of weeks and will obviously base our application on these but wondered what would be the feelings of others, and what questions you would want to ask based on the individual schools as they all seem so very different!

C

C

C

C

C, then A

Are you particularly concerned about SEN?

School b is too small from a friendship pov. Dd went to a school and was one of 3 girls in her year. You can imagine what that was like

also will the smallest and possibly the next size school have mixed year classes. DDs school had two classes, infant and juniors. So still the potential for 30 kids in a class even with 7- 9 kids in a year

DS likely has ASD although currently copes well at nursery.

C , wouldn’t touch B with a barge pole .

I'd rule B out due to friendship (ie either your face fits or it doesn't, whereas a large school you'll always find someone of your own kind). Also, lack of activities.

I'd also thinking practically about getting them to school if you don't have transport. What's really doable for a few days?

I wouldn't be swayed by the academic scholarship, there won't be many places and you've no idea what the ability of your own DC will be at this stage. This comes from someone whose DD got a scholarship for sixth form. She loved the experience but long hours as you had to commit.

B, easily

God I cannot imagine having the luxury of 3 state schools that are all consider-able!

I think it’s impossible to say without visiting them to be honest. Because what a school is like on paper, and what it’s actually like to attend, can be very different beasts. You need to get a feel for the atmosphere. Schools also change over time. My dc’s school was like B when the eldest started there but had turned into A by the time dc2 reached year 6. They were very happy there.

Probably not B.

Which of the other 2 is a better fit for your DC? They both sound good. G&T and sporting opportunities are great but only if your DC will make use of them. Would a smaller school suit him better? Would having children he knows at school C help him? What SEN support is on offer?

I wouldn't totally rule out B. Only you know whether it might suit your DS. Although there is a risk in such a small class size there might only be 1 or 2 boys. I suppose, if it is undersubscribed and always has places available after allocation day, you could wait and see how many boys are offered a place and change your choice.

And also how can someone who doesn't know your child even begin to judge which school would suit them best

You need to visit before making any judgements

Like a PP I'm also surprised you have such a choice

I’m not asking anyone to choose a school for me! Just thought others perspectives might throw up questions or ideas I hadn’t considered.

C

I’m surprised so many have said C as I’d almost completely written it off already due to it being so much bigger! Which absolutely goes to show how clueless I am.

DH’s perspective totally skewed as his village school had 8 children in his mixed year class, and 7 were boys!

There definitely aren’t mixed year group classes in school A but I’m not sure about B.

We sent our DC to a large Primary (3 class entry) despite me always thinking I would send them to a small school and it worked very well.
Smaller isn’t always better in terms of resources and if there are fallouts there is always someone to play with

What about the practicalitles? Do any have school transport? Walking bus even part of the way? Breakfast or after school club? Others going in the same direction who might share lifts? Do you then have to drive on to work in a particular direction? Car parking or a safe place to stop and unload?

Lots can change over the primary school years, school performance can go up or down, friendship groups can change, your child's needs can change. But the school run never changes. Twice a day, every day. Unless there's a global pandemic obviously.

C

A, based on size, distance and extra opportunities.

My senior school only had 500 pupils, so C sounds very big to me for a primary school!

No point putting B — you could always move there later by the sounds of it. Schools that small won't always have enough children for sports teams.

A.

I would completely discount B - if they're struggling for numbers that much, they're at risk of closure. Some council official somewhere likely already has an eye on it in line with budget cuts, as a possible opportunity for the future.

School C is too large for my liking. I know plenty of people say 'my dc are in a large primary and it's great because...' but it's not for me. My dc have gone to one form entry primaries, circa 180-200 pupils and I love how everyone knows everyone, great community feel etc. Ime that's much harder to achieve with big schools and they have plenty of time for big schools in secondary.

C would be my first choice
A would be my second choice
B is far too small a school for my taste

C, possibly A

NOT B

but actually my decision would be based on which is better with chikdten with SEN. Both in school & getting the the outside help they need. Whether your son has SEN or not, that tells you a lot about the school.

Also do you actually have a good chance of getting into these schools? C in particular may be over subscribed? The furthest distance place offered at my DDs school (village school) was just 0.7 miles away.