School options - how seriously would you take teacher's advice

[Grace204]

DD is currently in year 6 so we have been looking at secondary options. We live in a town where there is only one secondary school so DD has been keen to go there as the majority of her friends will go there despite its poor reputation.

I had DD's parents' evening last week and the subject of secondary options came up. DD's teacher said that she had not heard great things about the local school and she thought DD has the potential to do well academically and would thrive in a more academic environment (the schools in surrounding towns have better results but pastoral care also seemed good when we looked around )

DD is obviously distraught at the thought of going to a different school from her friends but I'm wondering how seriously I should factor in her teacher's opinion when considering the options.

I'm also struggling to decide whether potential academic achievement is more important than having friends locally.

It's causing quite a bit of stress in our house so any advice / thoughts much welcomed!

This is, unfortunately, one of those questions that only you can answer (sorry). Personally I'm of the opinion that you can always make new friends but I know that I'm not that normal in this regard! How much more "academic" are these schools? And how far does this matter to you? Is there anything actively wrong with the school she's going to?

Local. Miles better for teens. Go where she's happy. She'll then do well

It depends what makes the local school poor.

If there's problems with a lot of disruption, including low level disruption, there's high turnover of staff and the overall performance of the school isn't great then I'd be applying for a different school.
If it's overall an ok school, no major concerns but progress isn't as good as an excellent school up the road then I might consider local if I felt it was right for DC.

10/11 year olds are children. It's natural that they'll be concerned more about friends than their long term education. By the end of the first half term in year 7 friendship groups have changed in many cases. I'd not be letting year 6 friendships dictate the school choice.

Agree. I would go with academics over mates. At that age, they really can make "new" mates, and hang on to some of their old ones- but I would go with the teacher's advice. They're the educational experts.

It depends why the local school is poor it in general I would at least pay some attention to the teacher.

Most secondaries will have issues with occasional fights, disruptive behaviour, vaping etc as there are teenagers at them and especially the 14-15 year olds tend to go off the rails a bit.

If your local one has regular knife fights and has gangs then yeah, I'd definitely avoid.

I was in this position as a child and my parents chose academic. All in all I'm happy they made that choice, but there were definitely consequences socially. At the time that was hard but looking back I wouldn't swap it. Though that's easy for me to say now! Happy kids are important, but if your DC can be happy AND in a good academic environment that's good.

Thanks all. The complaints about the local school are low academic achievement - progress 8 is well below average, struggling to recruit teachers so not all positions filled, poor communication and high levels of disruption although incidents are dealt with by all accounts

They are rated good by ofsted although there has been a change of leadership since the inspection.

Schools in neighbouring towns have either average or above average progress 8 and much higher parent satisfaction

I would be sending her to (what sounds like) the better schools in the next town. It’s not like she’ll never see her primary friends again - they’ll all still live nearby, she can see them after school, at weekends, in holidays. In fact there’s a lot of benefits in having two groups of friends rather than just one.

Would I be listening to an unprofessional teacher who shouldn't be voicing their opinion about any local schools? No, absolutely not. I've been in this awkward position as a teacher and even though I definitely had my own opinion I would never have shared it. It's not for me to try and influence a family's decision or damage the reputation of another school.

Do you know whether your daughter would actually get a place at the higher performing schools?

Yes, I would listen!

She did you a favour. She tried to help. I wouldn’t say unprofessional. She obviously cares about what happens to your DD.

I would try for the other high schools. Why would you knowingly send your child to a poor school when you can have a better one?

How long/awkward is the journey to the other town/s? Don't inflict a tricky journey on her - if your heart sinks at how to get there, don't do it!

Whatever you decide about listing the other schools, remember to include your local school on the form as your "banker", Depending on distances and numbers of other families applying, are you likely to be offered a place at the more distant schools? What was the greatest distance offered for each in recent years?

I would listen to the teacher. They know inside information about schools plus they know your child academically.
Send your child to the best school for her to achieve what she is capable of. Friends tend to change completely when they start secondary.

If the other school is so much better I imagine you will not be the only one making that choice and, at the start of Y7, she will find many familiar faces have done the same. It sounds an absolute no-brainer to me. As to the teacher being unprofessional, independent schools are very clear in suggesting schools suitable for a particular child so I cant see any problem with the teacher trying to help. It sounds to me your daughter has potential that will be wasted at the failing comp. I say this as someone who attended a comp suffering from many of the same issues as the one nearest to you. I'm sure you will not be alone in your current school at the other better secondary. If your daughter has a particular close friend perhaps mention it to their parents so both might end up at the better one. Good luck with it.

This isn’t about listening to the teacher really is it? Presumably you knew about these other schools anyway and would have considered them, even if the teacher hadn’t mentioned them?

What @MadridMadridMadrid said. You aren't choosing a school, you’re expressing a preference and if the schools in the next town are better, you might find you don’t meet the admission criteria. There’s nothing to stop you putting down other schools as your preferences, but be prepared that they may be over subscribed.

And this is why op is having to ask the question, and why teaching as a profession does not have the respect it used to. What a weird concept of ‘professionalism’ now doing the rounds.

The profession of teachers is education and educating youngsters. When someone asks for a teacher’s professional opinion they want a serious opinion on how the child is progressing, prospects, and best options to give them the best future. Not to protect reputations of other teachers and other schools.

I can't begin to think how on earth you'd believe this is professional behaviour. If workers at Tesco were saying Asda weren't good enough would that be professional? Of course not.

I can't begin to think how on earth you'd believe this is professional behaviour. If workers at Tesco were saying Asda weren't good enough would that be professional? Of course not
Agree with this.

Unless there was something very specific (for example a school had a base for a special SEND need, had a particular pastoral system that I would suggest a parent asks about, or a school was very well regarded locally for something like music or sport that the child excelled in) then I'd be very wary of passing any comment on other schools.

Could you imagine being another parent hearing that your child's teacher has cherry picked a couple of pupils and told the parents that they're too good for the local school where most of the class are going?There's a danger that the communicated message becomes "Townsville Academy is good enough for the 29 other children in the class but you're special so I think you're better than them".

My approach on discussing schools is always to tell parents to read the Ofsted reports, look at the public attainment data, talk to local parents, try to do a visit during the day if they're not sure or have further questions, and that should help them make a balanced evaluation.

I think it would be borderline whether she'd get a place at a school in another town. I've had a look and they are oversubscribed some years but not always so I will put the local school as one of the options although it is never oversubscribed.

Whether professional or not, it felt to me as though her teacher was genuinely concerned for DD's future and that was trying to help by giving an insight into how DD is at school and what sort of environment would suit her.