for putting my principles above my child's education?

[ThisTimeNextWeek]

This is just a wee, daft one.
I morally object to both religious schools and private education. Since my child's birth, I have felt increasingly objectionable to both, but in recent times, I've been wondering just whether I can legitimately and ethically put my principles above her education. The best local primary school in the area is private and the second best is Catholic. By dismissing these options, I am setting my sights on the third best school in the area (actually, fourth as the third best is desperately pretentious and I think I object to that one more).
Am I being unreasonable?

I could do private, could do single sex and choose not to. Children go to local school which is currently in special measures. The catchment has more markers of social disadvantage than the average and am yet to see any Boden on the school run.

Actually the Head is great, the staff good and the school soon to improve. I truly believe that if it isn't good enough for my child then it isn't good enough for the children of other parents.

I have taught, consulted and inspected across both sectors, generally attainment represents parental input. The least effective teachers and teaching I have seen comes from the 70%+ comps and private schools. Happy to concede some private schools are fabulous but so are some state ones too. Results do matter but they don't bring happiness or success by themselves.

Anyone that looks at you like you have two heads isn't a true friend. Ignore.

Ignore OFSTED-it can simply mean that the Head is excellent at paperwork!! You need to visit and go with your gut feeling. As your DC is very young the school can change beyond any recognition by the time she goes.
Don't pay any attention to friends. There is no reason to justify to them. Just make your choice, say mildly 'it was best for my DC' or 'we are all different' and change the subject. Never get drawn in.

Sorry-don't totally ignore Ofsted, just use it as an additional tool.

In order for a school to get an Outstanding mark they now have to prove how inclusive they are. My guess is that a lot of the currently outstanding schools will lose their top rating because they do leave struggling children behind and have a kind of two-tier system within the school.

Plus the fact that the Outstanding acolade can have nothing to do with the quality of teaching...

So you can use Ofsted as a blunt tool, but what really matters is the feel of the place and whether you and your child will fit in and be happy.

And as previously mentioned, all 4 schools will be different places in 3 years time!

Option two (Catholic) is an option despite my lack of religion because one does not have to be Catholic (or religious in any way) to attend. Nor are they required to pretend to be religious.

Sounds like the no-brainer to me then.

For the nerdy among us, here is the proposal for the new Ofsted system:

Inspectors must judge and report on the quality of education provided in the school, its overall effectiveness, and in particular cover:

the achievement of pupils at the school
the quality of teaching in the school
the quality of leadership and management of the school
the behaviour and safety of pupils at the school.

In reporting, inspectors must also consider:
the pupils? spiritual, moral, social and cultural development at the school
the extent to which the education provided by the school meets the needs of the range of pupils at the school, and in particular the needs of disabled pupils and pupils who have special educational needs.

The latter criteria are where the schools currrently resting on their laurels, might fail.

Not directly to the point - but I have serious doubts about the way schools are ranked, in the first place. As long as the education system is based on 'teaching to the test', I have no faith in school rankings.
Our teens go to a 'top-ranked' school and I hear no end about how wonderful it is supposed to be (mainly from the school itself, of course).
But as far as I can tell, they spend all their time preparing for the GCSEs, by endlessly focusing on the test topics. The depth of knowledge is fine, but the range is so narrow.
My DSD got an A on her Geography GCSE. But she doesn't know some very, very basic geography! For example, it recently came up in conversation that she doesn't know the capital of Poland. In trying to guess, she made some really crazy stabs at it. That's just one example, but I am constantly being surprised by the things they don't study - or the things they DO study. They read To Kill A Mockingbird for two years. Two years, devoted almost exclusively to one book. She got an A in To Kill A Mockingbird.

Meanwhile, DSS is in third year. He often has homework like this Technology assignment: "draw a poster for one of the safety rules". Scandalous.

My Father chose to honour his principles not reality when we moved house when I was 13. I have conflicted views as to how this makes me feel as I too am left leaning and think good education should be available to all and the large discrepancy in university destination from the top vs. bottom schools really saddens me.

I went from a lovely rural state school to a big busy (but still desirable) comprehensive.

I was bullied mercilessly for my 'posh' accent, for doing well in exams, for basically just being me.

In desperation I was moved for sixth form to the independent sector. I probably would have gone to university from the comprehensive but possibly not the same one. However those years of bullying destroyed my confidence - it is only in the last couple of years that i have overcome my fears of speaking out in a public setting. Which considering that I am an educated articulate woman who is generally held in high regard by professional peers is a pretty damning indictment of what a badly managed school can do to a child.

Interestingly though my friends from that school tend to have better defined 'jobs' than those from the much more upmarket independent school i.e. they are teachers/ accountants/ police officers/ architects. I rather get the impression a lot of my friends from indy school rely quite heavily on their family money especially as some of them have fabulously nebulous jobs - clan chief, rural entrepreneur, meditation consultant.

Those from the state sector, like me, are rather more reliant on their own earning capacity hence the solid, often public sector, jobs. None of us earn masses of money but we are mostly comfortable, own our own homes and manage the odd holiday.

Well, hats off the the OP for being flexible enough to take on board other people's opinions. I too am starting to think about schools and this thread has given me food for thought.

I would go for the best local state school you can get or the nearest. All will be well.

I agree with Shells, so called good schools are often just schools who attract bright kids with pushy parents. Quite often it is no reflection on the quality of teaching. If your child is bright and they get a good, dedicated teacher, they'll do brilliantly whatever 'type' the school is. Dedicated teachers can be found in most schools.

Personally, I'd rather my daughter went to an average state school than any faith school.

If your principles don't match your wants then your principles need to change. If they don't you're holding fast to something you don't actually feel comfortable with and what's the point in that?

brd yes I do wish they'd just learn a few facts by rote - like capital cities, historical dates, who wrote which book, the periodic table, a bit of french vocab. How to spell necessity. Times tables...