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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think we shouldn't move to a village with a poor performing primary school?

65 replies

KPjoenix · 15/10/2018 21:23

DH and I disagree. We found a village that we both like BUT the village primary school gets dire results for no particularly reason. It's not in a deprived area. DH thinks we should go for it and hope the school improves or if not then try for a place in a neighbouring village...I think that's too risky. AIBU?

OP posts:
hidinginthenightgarden · 15/10/2018 21:25

How long until you will need to place a child in the school? Next week/month/year, no. In 3-4 years, yes.

CherryPavlova · 15/10/2018 21:27

Visit the school and look specifically at what it doesn’t do well. An Ofsted rating isn’t everything and may be out of date already.

treezylover · 15/10/2018 21:29

I’ve worked at ‘outstanding’ schools that were in reality terrible. Visit the school and see the reality rather than a snapshot on one day, or what the head wanted the inspector to see.

Oliversmumsarmy · 15/10/2018 21:32

Ds went to a school with a special measures OFSTED rating. It was absolutely fantastic. They had a new HT who was putting everything right and had almost a blank cheque to get the school on the right track.

Go and see the school and look at whether the school is a good fit for your DC.

I have seen some really dreadful OFSTED outstanding schools

StoneofDestiny · 15/10/2018 21:33

They won't be allowed to be 'failing' for long - the school will have a new Head shipped in or have a 'partnership' forced upon them with a successful school

OrangeSamphire · 15/10/2018 21:34

Schools can change quickly. In either direction. Or you could home educate.

Starlight345 · 15/10/2018 21:36

How old is your dc?

obviouslymarvellous · 15/10/2018 21:37

My children go to a school that is considered outstanding... it is far from it! The school is very academic and very sats orientated. Had I known then what I know now I would have looked at primary schools in much more detail and not gone off a report! Go and have a look and see what your gut tells you, get a feel for the school and the atmosphere and pupils.

Original poster
KPjoenix · 15/10/2018 21:57

It has a good ofsted though an old rating. They got "well below average" in math and writing. Only 30% of the kids met the standard. I won't need a school place for two years.

OP posts:
cookiesandchocolate · 15/10/2018 22:11

Teachers need to hit targets and if they don't then pay freezes and other action will be taken. So if only 30% of kids are hitting the targets then the teachers will be removed or given help and advice to improve teaching. Also a lot depends on how much goes on at home etc.

Fredthefrog · 15/10/2018 22:24

If it is a village school it.might be small. How big is the year 6 class? How many children is that 30%?

garethsouthgatesmrs · 15/10/2018 22:31

fredthefrog has very likely hit the nail on the head. Our local village schools sometimes only have 5/6 children in a year group so the results will vary massively from year to year .

garethsouthgatesmrs · 15/10/2018 22:35

also can you research how oversubscribed schools in nearby viillages and towns are. I live in an area that for one reason or another has several good schools with places that we could have got our DCs into, not all good and outstanding schools are oversubscribed

Original poster
KPjoenix · 15/10/2018 23:07

152 in the school. Not sure how many per class? More girls than boys. Hardly any on free school meals. Everyone speaks English as a first language. Better than average attendance record. It's consistently had poor results for the last few years. 0% of students exceeding.

OP posts:
TitaniumSodiumBorate · 15/10/2018 23:12

I live in a village with a poor performing primary. My kids go to the not so local brilliant Catholic school which the council provide transport to (25mins ish) . Check out what faith schools there are and your council's transport policy

Purpleartichoke · 15/10/2018 23:18

School quality is our number one factor in choosing a home.

garethsouthgatesmrs · 15/10/2018 23:20

152 isn't very small and if it's been like that for a few years i would say it doesn't sound like the greatest school. If they would have to go there then I personally wouldn't move there

mumtomaxwell · 15/10/2018 23:24

Just looking at it from a different perspective.... maybe it’s one of those rare primary schools that doesn’t plough everything into being a SATS factory? In which case they won’t give a shit about SATS - and quite right too!!

As several PP have said - visit the school and don’t judge it by meaningless shite like Ofsted and SATS!

I’m a teacher of 20+ years experience BTW.

Sillybilly1234 · 15/10/2018 23:58

We moved to a village but took the kids to a different school nearby for the same reason. You might be able to make it work. Good luck.

Original poster
KPjoenix · 16/10/2018 08:59

I agree ofsted and SATS aren't the full picture but surely there's a happy medium between a SATS factory and 30% reaching and 0% exceeding? It looks like some of the neighbouring villages have much better performing schools and aren't oversubscribed but I really didn't want to have to drive for the school run if I could avoid it.

OP posts:
MinaPaws · 16/10/2018 09:06

Is there a reason you prefer this village to the others nearby? I'd definitely go for the village with the better primary. The results you're describing suggest uninspired teachers and a Head who doesn't pick them up on weak results.

FrayedHem · 16/10/2018 09:14

It would be a risk to assume you'd get into other schools in 2 years time. Our local village primary has been historically not great for many years. It used to be you could get into other schools nearby quite easily, but with the poor reputation and new housing developments there's little to no chance now.

NotAnotherJaffaCake · 16/10/2018 09:54

For that kind of cohort, those results are very poor, and if parents there aren't up in arms about that then I'd worry about that too, and the ethos they are happy with. There are a lot of schools in areas with no obvious issues (middle class, naice villages) which frankly have very poor results considering their intake - in many cases parents don't have ambition and aspiration as they did all right and they don't see what's changed. So if parents are happy with poor standards, that would be a red flag for me too.

The school data on compare-school-data.gov.uk is adjusted to account for small cohorts so that's no excuse - it's why you can have a school with a +3.0 progress score that's only average, as in a small school the standard deviation is generally very large (i.e., one pupil can make a big difference). Was this a poor one-off year or historically has it been bad year on year?

I'd be very, very careful, to be honest. I'm not sure I would risk it unless I was extremely confident that the school was going to be turned around. I sent my children to a school that was RI, but only because I was a governor and knew exactly what was going on to turn it around behind the scenes.

Piffle11 · 16/10/2018 09:57

I think you need to find out more about the schools. See if you can go and have a look around, get a feel for the place. I never felt confident about my DS2's school, but DH thought it important to send him to the local village school in order for him to meet other children from the village … turns out there were only 2 other DC from the village in his year, and one of them moved after 18 months! The classes were mixed years too - 2 year groups in each class, and nearly 30 DC in each. Must have been difficult to teach. I think Frayed makes a good point about development too: greenbelt land is being developed on, and I know of 2 sites here that are being built on, and there's a large development in a nearby village, and an even bigger one on the outskirts - less than 10 mins drive from the school - so the local village school here and the nearest one (5 mins away) are going to be massively oversubscribed in years to come. You may not have the option of going to another village school.

Original poster
KPjoenix · 16/10/2018 19:36

The parents do all seem quite happy with it because the children are happy. I assume they are happy because they aren't being asked to do much! I don't want a hothouse but I do want DC2 to reach a good enough standard to go on to private secondary.

OP posts: