Primary school dilemma - Please help

[Carbonaranight]

Which primary school to choose out of the two below for our reception child that starts in September? Please help!

AIBU - Local primary , 8min walk from home, good reputation over the years, ofsted rating good (last inspected last year) and many current friends from the nursery will go to this local school meaning that our kid will have some friends to begin with

AINBU - CofE primary, 15min drive, needs supplementary form from a Christian church to get in but our priest signed this form for us, good reputation over the years, ofsted rating outstanding (last inspected last year) and our kid won’t possible know any classmates.

We are Christians from a different denomination, believers and don’t mind the churchy part of the second school. We also love that it’s outstanding but the commute and the fact that our kid won’t have friends in the beginning worries us.

Please please please help us chose! Whichever we put first, we will get an offer 🙏🏻

AIBU - Go for your local good school
AINU - Go for the churchy outstanding with longer commute

If there is a perfectly good school in walking distance you would be absolutely crazy to commit yourself to a twice daily drive for the next 7 years.

I'd opt for the good local school. The school run quickly gets tiring! Plus local school means local friends.

Local school within walking distance will be so much better.

School runs by car are so stressful and great to have local friends.

I don't think schools should be teaching religion as fact they have enough to do.

We've gone from a longer nursery commute to a short walk to school and it's made a huge difference to our lives.

Local school every time. Playmates nearby, walking to school so much less stressful and they can increase independence when they are old enough to walk to and from school themselves

Definitely local one
Unless there are any other considerations like availability of wrap around care, secondary etc

Will your choice of primary school affect your choice of High School ?

Go with the local good one. After our recent desater off our Ofsted inspection (basically they are having to do it again as they got stuff wrong) I wouldn't give them to much wait.

The difference between a good an outstanding is mainly that the school has spent more time doing all the paperwork. Doesn't mean the kids are getting a better education.

In primary I think it's important if possible to have local friends and that your child is happy.

This... look further down the line as part of your decision.

But 15 min drive is an hour a day driving. Probably more on top for the crazy parking shenanigans that occur at primary schools.

Oh and I wouldn't get sucked in by ofsted ratings. Not the main thing by any means. X

Local school, 100%. Church schools are insane. Outstanding means they are obsessive about absence, Sen kids get ditched and it’s all for show. Go for the ‘good’ school near home.

Depends on your child. Local all rounder likely to be your best bet. Lots of pluses to being local, not just ease of walking to school, but also friends likely living close to your house.

If the outstanding religious school is anything like the one near where I live, it is fine for children that are likely to do well and are engaged with prescriptive learning at an early age. But, if they don't have any neurodivergence and are just happy playing and not that interested in learning immediately (not to say that they won't be at a later stage, but not all children are that focused at a young age) then it might not be the school for them.

There is an 'outstanding' Catholic school very close to me, they have a very low number of children with additional needs, and children that are entitled to free school meals, because they actively (but discretely) push them out, allowing them to maintain their Ofsted 'Outstanding' rating.

Sorry that should say, if they have any neurodivergence

Church school.
We went with one very close good school and it has been nowhere near as good as the 2 church schools slightly further away.
It didnt identify how bright dd was. And thats affected her.
And the ATs results etc have mainly been achieved by parents - reading and lots of maths homework.

I had same dilemma! I chose the ‘good’ school within walking distance instead of the outstanding school 15 min drive away.

I really regretted it. The ‘good’ schools is a much wider category than outstanding. Ours turned out to be appalling and my child was not learning and not physically safe there, after a few rubbish years we left. The outstanding school was full by then so we had to go private. Don’t be us!

Get as much local gossip as you can on both schools but if you have a bright child or a sensitive child or a SEN child definitely do the outstanding one.

I'm not voting. Go for whichever one you liked more when you looked around.

Definitely you need to get the lowdown from local people. I had a similar scenario for my child and went for school B. I curse the school run daily but he really is getting an excellent education. I went on local word though rather than OFSTED (we don't have that where I live)

Don't just rely on the ratings, read the latest Ofsted report and check why the local school only got a "good" rating. It will help you see whether the reasons are important to you or not.

I would also look at the size of the school/size of the class, their teaching methods (by visiting the school or often it's on their website), discuss the schools with parents... Basically anything that would help support the CoE school case because on the face of it, the local school is the best option.

Local is best.
Even non-church schools are supposed to include broadly Christian acts of worship in assembly etc. A church school won't be significantly more Christian. There is an enormous value to being local. There is minimal value to an individual child between ofsted outstanding vs good - much of the difference is about bureaucracy and record keeping.

I don’t even understand the dilemma on this one. The local is a no brainer.

I had the same dilemma. I went for the local school as I wanted my DDs to have friends in the village that we live in. I am now so glad that I did as they both have lovely friends close by

I think you should go to the nearest unless when you have looked around them both you feel your child will be happier at the other one. I think unless the religious aspect is particularly important to you there is no need to preference the other school.

I do a 15-min drive to drop my DC at school but only because a) I work near the school so I'm going that way anyway, and b) we're planning to move closer soon. Do you have to drive on to work after the school run? How much of a detour would it be? If you love the school then maybe any inconvenience would be worth it, but only you can make that call. Good point from a pp about what the consequences could be for secondary school.

Back when my kids were little I’d have gone for the outstanding. But after 1/4 of a century of doing school runs I’d now say go for the walking distance school. Secondary school is much more important, as long as the school is good rating I’d go with that. Parking near schools is a complete nightmare so don’t sign yourself up for years of dealing with that

It’s a no brainier. It has to be the local school.

You don’t want to send your child to an outstanding school - more often than not that means they’re great with the paperwork and lacking elsewhere.