to think that all this fuss about primary schools is OTT?

[kittycat37]

DD starts school next year.

We have a school near us, not a fantastic ofsted but lovely neighbour's children love it, are very happy etc

Meanwhile, my NCT friends up the road have decided that they will do everything to avoid this school due to its less than stellar ofsted. They are busily looking for flats to rent in the catchment area of 'better' schools (i.e. better according to ofsted).

Personally, I just want my DD to be happy, learn to read and write...but is primary school really worth getting so stewed up about? At mine in the 1970s all we did was country dancing and cooking, it was bliss. I did well academically later on, probably more due to parental input than anything else.

AIBU? Our NCT friends seem to think so (which is COMPLETELY PISSING ME OFF)

Rant over.

I think it's important to realise that you cannot judge how a particular school will suit your child unless your child goes to it. If you find she isn't happy there (or if your friends find their children aren't happy in the other school) then you'd look at moving her. You seem sensible to me. :)

I think YABU why is it their business?

A personal recommendation is probably a better measure of a school than an ofsted report.

Also a good school for one child may fail another.

(Thanks goodness we never did any country dancing.....)

OFSTED isn't everything. If the school suits your child she will do well there. If it doesn't then you can look to remedy the situation.

I think you're being very reasonable about it all.

I've been told by several teachers that Ofsted reports are in no way a good indicator or a school. Ditto league tables. Having a look around and meeting other parents and pupils and finding out their views is more likely to be honest. An Ofsted report is just a random sample of a school.

I think it's a piece of nonsense and you are definitely NBU.

I work in secondary and we had a poor HMIe report (same as OFSTED but in Scotland) so we worked our backsides off to improve. We're still not perfect, but we're improving all the time.

A school not far from us got an excellent report about 5 years ago and have just been revisited. They got a terrible report, because they've done nothing since their last report as they're 'already excellent'.

Schools change all the time. Who's to say that the school your NCT friends are desperate for their DCs to get into isn't in special measures in 3 years? Then what? Will they move back to their old place? Ridiculous, IMO.

YANBU, you are being perfectly sensible.

As a teacher, I would just like to say that I love you.

OFSTED is no measure of a good school IMO.

I don't think you can judge a school solely on its ofsted report. I would urge you to visit both schools and see which one suits you best. This may well differ from what suits your friends.
Primary school is important as it is laying the foundations for the whole of your childs education. That said, if my child was happy at school, that would be more important to me than anything else, because I could make up for any educational shortfall at home. Ideally, you should get both at school though

Personal recommendation much more important IMO. That's why I have sent my DS (and DD Next year) to the school he is at.

YANBU ..theres a lot to be said for choosing local schools ..mine all went to the local primary, which didn't have the best ofsted but was a great school imo

god i to hate all this hysteria about primarys as ive always said "understandable if we lived in the middle of Moss side"

god i hope these mothers are so hot on all this when there kids are teens +

you sound sensible and sane,YANBU to be irritated by these hysterical women

god i to hate all this hysteria about primarys as ive always said "understandable if we lived in the middle of Moss side"

god i hope these mothers are so hot on all this when there kids are teens +

you sound sensible and sane,YANBU to be irritated by these hysterical women

sorry double post

Whilst most parents seem to think that secondary schools are the thing to worry about, actually all the research suggests that it is the primary school that needs to be right. And I say this as a secondary school teacher .

"The paper?s author Professor Peter Tymms, Director of Durham?s CEM Centre explained the potential policy implications: ?This work reinforces research which shows early years education is critical for children?s later cognitive development and that while attention should of course be given to every year of education, more value should be placed on the most sensitive times, the first few years."

I've also moved my DD (in year 1) from an OFSTED (and generally recognised) outstanding school to a good school and the academic differences have been huge. That said, I'm not saying all OFSTED are necessarily the best, but there are huge differences.

Whether you think this is important enough to move house for is a matter of opinion / personal choice. Also different people want different things in a school - whether your neighbours like the children is completely irrelevant to whether your NCT friends like that. For example, at my DDs last school, some parents moaned about there being homework - thought it was too pushy, whereas here, I have heard people moaning about the lack of homework! Different people want different things out of a school, which is why you have got to find the school that is right for you - regardless of what other people do. If your local school is right for you, then great, but if its not right for others, then why not look elsewhere (assuming that you are able to do so) - after all, what is more important than your child's education?

I'd always thought that there can't be a lot of difference between primary schools.....until I visited a few.

I'm with you - YANBU

A lot of the schools with very good reports are the ones where they are using fast but ineffective methods like the visual method of learning how to read rather than the phonetic "sounding it out" method. One private school near us has 50% of their kids in remedial reading aged 8 because of their insistence on using this method, but it gets them quick results on the testing scale as the kids recognise words/stories from the assigned text, but ask them to read a newspaper headline and they have no idea!

The ethos of the school I think is most important... Go see it, talk to the teachers, look at the kids.

Add me to your fan club too kittycat37! I'm another teacher who wouldn't judge a school by its OFSTED report or the league tables.

There's so much more to a school than OFSTED and KS2 results. I remember enjoying country dancing, pottery and 'topic work' back in the 80s... my class spent yesterday swimming, doing Samba, topic work and a bit of literacy. My school's not outstanding in OFSTED's eyes but there's no way in the world I'd send my DC to the supposedly outstanding one a few streets away...

For me the most important thing has been finding a school they are enthusiastic about going to. I wanted somewhere that would not make them "switch off" from learning by Y5. Our primary school is not pushy at all but they do very well. OFSTED is outstanding though, but the things I like about it are not the things on the report.

YANBU I personally think when children are at primary school age what you do with them at home to develop their literacy and numeracy is as important if not more important than the primary school they are sent to.

I think school at this age is more about developing social skills and learning how to behave in an educational setting.

Noone should be expecting primary school to be the sole educator of their children.

YANBU. I chose my DDs' primary mostly on gut feeling - both primaries in our town were rated 'satisfactory' at the time (this is OFSTED speak for 'not quite good enough). I haven't regretted it for a moment, the school has been just brilliant and my DDs have both thrived. OFSTED have now rated them 'good with outstanding potential to improve' under the new and tihter guidelines, but I'm done listening to them - they should have spotted this school for what it was years ago. Visit the school, if your instinct says yes, go with it.

We chose our DCs schools based on them being close enough to walk to with a really friendly, welcoming feel. Visit them, talk to the headteachers, take personal recommendations and go with your gut instinct.

YANBU. When we moved to Belgium, I put my dd in the maternelle attached to nearest school. She started primary this year. Ofsted reports don't exist here! I have asked dd's friends parents. They all seem unconcerned.

FWIW, from what I can see, the facilities are good, the teachers are a bit strict. There is a good mix of kids - by that I mean economic/ethnic which reflects the city we live in.

To me, the most important thing is that dd really LOVES school. She has had the odd issue in the playground, but she is coping really well with the work etc. The school obviously suits her. I have at least 4/5 years to worry about secondary I hope.....eeek!

Look at value added and whether you like the head teacher.