To wonder why when choosing a school parents go for the easiest option despite it not always being the best choice for their kids.

[Jackpack]

My Ds is due to start high school in September. We put down a catholic school with a great reputation, good feel to it and with excellent ofsted reports and results and for our second choice we put down an equally good community school, both around 2.5 miles away. My Ds does go to Catholic primary so he'll move up with the majority of his friends, most of whom live closer to the school but he'll also have kids in his year that live close by to us as one of our local primaries is a feeder to the secondary, so making friends local shouldn't be a problem.

The reason I chose these two schools is quite simple, the rest in our town are diabolical, in every way imaginable. I wouldn't ever want my child to go there and if we'd have been allocated one of these schools then I'd have quit my job to joke school him. That's how bad they are! So, there are I think seven children in our street in the same year as my Ds so they are going to secondary as well this year. Each of their parents have chosen one of the failing schools to send them to and two of my friends, and a family member have chosen to do the same.

Obviously it is their choice to send their child to whichever school they like but why on earth they have chosen these schools i don't know, but then it dawned on me, because it's easier for them, the parents not the child I mean.

Sending their kids to the nearest school means they won't have to get up early and drive them to school. One of my friends was on Facebook recently raving that she can stay in bed longer come September as she won't have to take her child to school. I mean come on. I realise that a lot of kids do go local and there are certainly advantages to that including walking with friends etc but what's more important, thier kids get to walk to school with friends or that they get a better education. If all the schools in the area are equally as good then o can see why parents would want their kids to go to the local school, but when they're all exceptionally bad why not try for a better school slightly further away. It's just seems like laziness to me.

How is it irrelevant? You feel that they should have done like you and sent their children to what you think are "better" schools. You think the catholic school is a better school, ergo you think they should have sent their children there, or at least considered it.
The faith aspect is not irrelevant. Your opinions on what other people choose re their kids school are though.

It's irrelevant because I'd still be wondering why these parents chosen to send their kids to failing schools even If my Ds hadn't been allocated the Catholic school. As for the question about what makes the schools dire, well there's a few things. I went to visit four of the schools in question. Between them all I encountered rude unengaging staff, out of date run down buildings, rude children, litter everywhere, bad structural damage. Also outside is the schools they have a bad reputation in general, shocking gcse results and league tables and like I said terrible ofsted reports. So I did my reserach.

Do you think you could proofread your posts before posting?

No actually. I wouldn't expect any parent to even consider faith school if they didn't have at least some degree of faith. The schools my kids go to do have quite a lot off kids that aren't of the faith so obviously they are welcome to apply but why would I or anyone else expect them to?

I was staggered when in one, a reception child came up and whacked the headmaster who was showing me round, on the arse.

I'd have loved to see this .

OP, the religious element is not irrelevant. It's one of the reasons (among many others) why a parent may decide the school is not for them. Maybe they liked the school. Maybe they know parents with children there who are happy and doing well, or teachers who speak well of it. Maybe the school specialises in something the parents value. It's not all "easiest option" stuff.

Someone more contrary than me might suggest that you're taking the "easiest option" by unthinkingly sending your DS to the Catholic school where most of his peers are going, rather than carefully considering each school in the vicinity.

I am constant amazed at how many mumsnetters live on the doorsteps of the country's worst schools. Considering that they are mostly in areas of significant social deprivation, and most mumsnetters.........aren't.

For many faith schools you have to make an active declaration of your faith and often provide evidence in the form of churchgoing. I imagine some non-believing parents would think that the moral effect of seeing his parents lie outright about such an important matter would do far more damage to the child than a not-perfect school. I would certainly never have wanted to be in a situation where my children saw me lie about my beliefs; I'd be afraid of losing the influence over them that I knew I needed to get them safely through the teenage years.

Anyway, as a non-Catholic, I would know that I didn't stand a chance to get my child in, so why would I want to lose all choice in the matter by wasting a space on the application form on something that was a lost cause? You do realise that if you don't get into any of your chosen options, the LA will not ask for your preferences again, but will simply send you to wherever they have a spare space, however bad or inconvenient?

Furthermore, the (then very good) school I fought hard to get dc into, has now failed its Ofsted on all counts. New head, a lot of the best staff left, plummeted in no time.

Goodness, what a sanctimonious OP.

Actually I'm a better parent by your terms (i.e. distance of travel and religiousness) because I'm going to be sending my PFB to a school 7 whole miles away. I am saving to buy him a golden unicorn to carry his enormous ego erm butt erm preciousness all the way there. It's a independent Quaker school, none of this inferior state RC nonsense for my little pumpkin.

#everydaysarcasm

No not really. Surely you know what I mean. I'm a fast typer by nature and quite frankly I can't be bothered to "proofread". I do enough of that when I'm at work.

There are a variety of reasons why people would do this. Logistics, time, costs of getting to school, not meeting the criteria of getting in to the "good schools" (catchment/religion etc), other school drop off responsibilities etc etc.

I live in an area that has a couple of good schools, and a lot of failing schools. The good schools are over-subscribed as everyone is fighting I get their kids in them, so some people just go with the closest one as they know that their chances of getting in are more realistic and gives them time to prepare their child.

I think this is a really odd question.

There are loads of reasons for choosing a particular school.

Ofsted isn't the be all and end all. Besides a school can all change so quickly, a new head, a few teachers leave and an outstanding school can be failing and vice versa.

The school might specialise in something that suits their child like sports or IT.

Maybe they're confident that their child will do well anywhere. Maybe they want to move up with friends. Could be to do with the size of the school or anything.

I don't live in an area with huge social deprivation, not this part of town anyway. We live in a big town, some parts are nice, some aren't, much like a lot of towns.

OP, how about being grateful that all these lax parents have decided to sacrifice their DCs entire education by sending them to the crappy schools, thus freeing up more places for DCs like your's whose parents care about their education because if they were good concientus parents like you, there would be more competition for the good schools, and shock, horror, your DS might not get and you would be faced with either sending him to the crappy school or joke schooling him.

But at least he might be able to make a living as a clown or a comedian. Some of them are very successful.

At my Ds's schools you don't have to attend church and you certainly don't have to prove how often If you do. If you're Catholic then you have a higher chance of getting a place at the school but like I've already said, there are a lot of non Catholic children who attend too.

"what's more important, thier kids get to walk to school with friends or that they get a better education."

Given the obesity epidemic in this country I would say that is a moot point. Getting into the habit of using your feet as transport might well make the difference between life-long health and life-long health problems. No point being perfectly educated if you drop dead from a heart attack.

Ds has walked to school every day of his life. In itself that would not be enough to make him physically fit, but it has led to an attitude which means that, at 16, he walks everywhere, he never asks for a lift, will walk for miles just to visit a friend or see what another part of town looks like. Unlike organised sport, which most people give up when they leave school, this is a habit which may well last a lifetime. Not sure I would want him deprived of that just to get an extra GSCE or two.

I hate this kind of judgey post. We moved house to get our ds into a good secondary school. But not everyone has the same criteria for an academically good school. I can't judge the parents who sent their dcs to the school that kept failing ofsted which was our local. Staying near family, jobs and children's friends have equal importance to other people.
Why judge?

Think myself lucky. I would have been happy with the community school which had he gotten into it would have been based on the distance we live from the school. Which is how a lot of schools allocate their places.

So you're complaining that other parents aren't using the good schools, like you are, but then you are saying you would never expect them to apply to the school anyway.
Making a lot of sense there

My children are still at primary but when when we moved here the school I chose to put them in was the 'worst one' (ofsted satisfactory). It also happened to be the closest one to us. Did I however choose the school based upon distance to our house? Not at all although whether or not I could get them to and from the school regularly and without too much stress on me (I have mobility problems so often need to use the car despite being a 5 minute walk away) did factor into our decision but to be honest only as far as which schools we could pick from.

So 3 schools near me (4 if I count the one towards back of the estate but I discounted that one straight off as not walkable for me even on a good day).
School 1: catholic, on paper absolute fantastic ofsted outstanding (or whatever the highest is). Lovely school, small class sizes, friendly staff - absolutely ideal when I visited it. The factor that discounted it for me: my children aren't Catholic, and whilst the receptionist assured me that they would more than likely get into the school after nursery my eldest has asd (didn't know at the time just knew she's clingy so could do without uncertainty or moving) so I didn't want to take the chance that either she spent time at nursery not to be able to move up into the same school as her peers or that it would happen with my 2nd dd leaving me with 2 children in different schools.

School 2 Ofsted high end of good. On paper sounded fantastic, great teachers, nice sized classes. Lots of after school activities to choose from. Local links. I decided that's where I wanted them to go.....until I pop in to get an application form to meet the most snippy, stuck up lady on reception whom despite me explaining I had just moved to the area and needed to put my child's name down for sept nursery start (it was end of March) snapped my head off that she had just sorted the lists for then so I had better be quick and get it in so as not to delay her further. Refused to answer any questions about the school as apparently I would get a welcome pack when she joined.

I went back home quite dejected and that's when we decided to pop into school 3 (the one my children now go to) to see what they could offer. Went in explained we'd just moved and needed to put our name down and the two receptionists offered to book us in to see the school. Looked after our baby dc whilst we were given a tour of the full school by the deputy head who answered every question we possibly had-that was what swayed us. First impressions count and we have not looked back since. They go above and beyond to help our eldest with her needs, and our youngest loves it there too since she started. They have a wide range of after school activities, small class sizes for around here (plus an additional needs unit which was developed last year-not that my child needs it but good to know in case her needs did get to that extent), strong local links and opportunities which are growing all the time and they are now rated the top end of 'good'.

I had a few people have the same attitude that you do to us choosing that school, but the fact is I didn't choose it on how easy it made my life (that was a bonus) I chose it on first impression, and overall impression as to which school offered the best opportunities to meet both my children's needs. Just because it was the worst on paper meant nothing.

You also have to remember that Ofsted judgement is a distressingly accurate marker of intake.

When i sorted the DfE tables by % of pupil premium children, the schools with the highest % of such children were virtually all Requires Improvement or below. Those with the lowest were a) selective and b) labelled as Outstanding..

Interestingly for this post, the ONLY schools with very high free school meals / pupil premium % that were Good were Catholic schools - because that aspect of selection, of requiring proof of baptism and church attendance (and, I suspect, some very hard-working but Catholic countries) does discriminate effectively against chaotic families.

So OP, if you look at the 'dire' schools, also have a look at the % FSM / PP compared with your selected schools. If those % - and the % of low, middle and higher ability children on entry - are identical to the schools you have selected, then yes, the schools you have selected may well currently be better. If on the other hand the intake is very different, then the Ofsted (and local reputation) may only be reflecting that intake, not the actual quality of the school in any form....

Christ. These threads make me glad to be Scottish. We don't choose schools here unless we're going private.

sorry, missed out on 'immigrants originally from' Catholic countries.

That's crap. The local secondary is two minutes walk from our home. Are you seriously suggesting that my child would avoid becoming obese if I'd chosen this school and he had the opportunity to walk to school every day? As it stands my Ds is a bean pole but a very healthy bean pole and this is because he chooses to get involved in a lots of sports not because he walks to school.

Goodness what a very odd OP.

Firstly OFSTED are not the be all and end all. As a parent I am much more interested in the feel of a school and how it will suit my child than anything OFSTED has to say. Yes I read the reports but I go beyond that as well.

Secondly some parents have no other option as there are few schools local enough and maybe they don't drive.

Thirdly...maybe they really don't care and maybe their kids will thrive anyway...or maybe they won't.

You sound terribly smug so enjoy being Smuggy McSmugface as you watch the children go to their local failing schools.

I love in a town with huge social deprivation in areas....funnily enough not ONE of our local secondaries are failing...where on earth do you live to have all these failing schools on your doorstep. Sounds hideous.