To ask how many of you use your local/nearest school?

[monkeymamma]

When we moved to our current house I was pregnant with dc1. I noticed there was a newish, nice looking school here and thought 'ah good, that's where the baby will go to school when the time comes.' Ds is now 3 and all anyone seems to talk about is the school question. Many people seem keen to avoid the local school (it Required Improvement at last offsted, has a new head, and a large intake from both social housing and local traveller community). Everyone wants to send their dc to an alternative school but the others round here are 'good'/'requires improvement' apart from one small village school (v.v small, middle class intake, not what I have in mind for my dc - I feel like they'll learn more about life in a more diverse environment) which is outstanding. No one ever gets their child in there anyway from where we live (ie nowhere near said village).
Anyway sorry to go off on detailed tangent - my thought ws that it seems the 'normal' thing to do to try to shop around rather than using the school nearest to you. Is that your experience also? Or did anyone find this whole business more straightforward?

We moved to this village (mainly) because the primary school was the only one (of 8) that had any vacancies. It's a 'good' school and even if it was no good we wouldn't have any choice - there are no spaces anywhere else.

There are 4 secondary schools in our area. We will apply for the closest, then the other 3 in distance order. One is 'outstanding', the rest are 'good'. It is more important to us that DD goes to a school that 90% of the village kids go to than its ofsted rating.

I took my son from an outstanding school and put him in a satisfactory one!

Why?
I went with my gut instinct.
Please please don't go on ofsted - it means nothing.
My son was desperately unhappy and being bullied at his old school.
He loved his new school and was very happy there.
Go and visit each school...have a good look round, chat to teachers...try and talk to parents of dc at the school.
That will tell you so much more than ofsted every could!

We moved into the area when dd was 6 months old & intended to apply for a place at a local state standalone nursery but just before admissions opened the nursery closed & extra nursery places were supposedly made available at local primary schools.

However no nursery places were available at the primary within walking distance & the attached ore-school were unable to offer ds a place as you had to have been on the waiting list from birth!

So we sent her to a nursery attached to an independent school, ended up loving the school & couldn't bear to move her in reception. Ds followed her there.

Yes for both primary & secondary.

We don't. Our DC go to another state primary about 5 mns drive away.
Both schools have good Ofsted reports but we preferred the one slightly further away ( closest is less than 5 mins walk). We just felt it would suit DD better from speakng to people and asking a teacher friend to " translate" the Ofsted report"
It would have been easier probably if the DC were closer but not by much and we don't regret it for second

We didn't get into the 3 schools nearest our house.

We were allocated another school, further away in special measures with an 80% attendance rate and where English is the third popular first language.

We declined.

No as they would have been in the minority group by a looooong way. They go to a school with a more representative pupil group which is a couple of miles away.

I know several people who have started their DC at one school because they perceive it to be better/naicer/smaller/larger etc, but once the reality of driving there every day hits, have moved their DC to their local school sharpish! One parent admitted to me that they'd got rather "caught up in the rounds of 'choosing' a school".

Ds went to a mainstream school that came closest to meeting his needs and is now at a special school that does meet his needs. Neither are the closest of their type.

Nearest school here. Didn't even consider a placing request. In Scotland though so I think it is a lot different.

OP it depends on your child. If your child is confident, socially adept and generally cheerful with no SN then yes...local school all the way. If your child is NOT the above, then many of us need to search further afield for their child.

My DD was shy verging on silent at age 3...she was in fact selectively mute...so the local, massive slightly failing school wasn't what we wanted. She went to a private prep on a bursary until a place came free in the outstanding, tiny village school 2 miles away.

Bram yes...getting to school 2 miles and 2 miles daily IS a pita. For someone whose child will cope in a large school, I'd say choose that one every time.

Ah!!!! Itsalgoingtobefine, I grew up/went to school in Scotland which is maybe why all this (now in SE England) seems so baffling/scary to me. Finding it hard to get my head around. I feel like I'm suddenly in a race or competition I didn't know was happening iyswim.

MrsT, surely most additional needs are picked up after children start school? Can you really know at 3 what their needs might be?

This is all like a foreign language to me. In Scotland, kids go to their catchment school unless there's a reason why not. You don't 'apply', you just go there.

it is kind of sad and rubs off on the children at such a young age.
I will never forget taking my DCs to an after school club and the OTHER kids eyeing up their school logo and asking snootily if they 'went to a GOOD school?' They were about 7 at the time.

Sunny you are right the naice village outstanding school is complacent

Have you got proof of this?

Our school is outstanding and they very much want to keep it that way, the Head is devoted as our the teachers.

In terms of choosing a school that meets my child's needs. How do I know what these are?

Whats your child like? Sensitive, or boisterous, running round, able to learn easily, needs more support? Does he need a homely caring environment or would he be OK in a more sink or swim one.

Also try and separate out your own needs and ideologies, and what he needs.

My DC go to the local primary school. Although we moved here when they were in year 1 and nursery and I based where we lived on the school rather than the other way round.

DS will be going to the catchment secondary school although there are others nearer, which baffles me a little.

but once the reality of driving there every day hits, have moved their DC to their local school sharpish

Yes our school is a drive away for us, its a pain the distance, but the school is worth it.

Many of my neighbours choose the easy option, due to distance but I think I value my child's education a little more than a drive putting me off.

I suppose it depends what you value in an "education", gobbo.

gobbolino no proof, just my impression.

Ds is 3! So he is sometimes boisterous, noisy, crazy, and silly. Other times he is sensitive and shy and clings to our legs and won't let go. Surely this is typical at his age! Surely most kids would prefer homely/caring to sink or swim? I can't imagine anyone saying Yeah, I love a sink or swim, brutal environment... So is 'meeting my child's needs' really code for 'choosing the best school'? Morris you're not wrong, I don't feel like i speak the language at all. Like dorothy I'm a long way from home!

Threads like is make me so glad I live in Scotland and we don't have all this angst about ratings & Ofsted! You have my sympathies, OP.

I went with my gut instinct.
Please please don't go on ofsted - it means nothing

Yes and no, visit schools, you will not know anything till you start to look at them.

For instance walking into a room that is grey, children look lost and quiet at tables, teachers seem grumpy to show people round. Compared to a bright and sunny room, with lots of busy little children all chattering away, smiling, music in background, very happy teachers showing people round. Would I choose the former just because it might get better? The children look miserable.

Our school is not the best by a long way, there are many outstandings round us, and many indeed that come top in the UK. But it was perfect for our daughter.

Look round, look at OFSTED because it is a gage, if a school has been failing that does say lots when its not hard to get a good rating ( told to me by teachers) but also build up your own picture.