School choices

[Horriblegoose]

Which school would you choose? It's the deadline today so just having a few doubts. I've had the application submitted since it was opened up in November, it's the last day to amend.

I have 3 children. Child 1 at a juniors in y3 5 miles away as the local juniors is awful. Child 2 is in y2 of infants school A that is walking distance and due to join child 1 at the juniors 5 miles away in Sept 24.

Child 3 is at nursery and due to start reception in September. The closest infants to us is where my other 2 children have been I have been reasonably happy with up until recently. I can walk to the local infants as its half a mile away but due to my older ones being 5 miles away at juniors I will be driving them all to make it work anyway and it will be quite tight to drop off 5 miles away then come back to drop child 3 off at the local infants A.

There is however an infants school B that is closer to the juniors which I actually prefer to the local infants for a few reasons but it's 5 miles away from our house which makes me feel strange being so far away from the youngest.

Which would you pick out of these 2 schools? Both are infants with 90 pupils total.

Infants A.
Positive:
Local to us
Already know all staff and child is familiar with the school
Local for playdates (although will be tricky anyway with my eldest children needing collecting).

Negative points
Lots of behavioural issues
A couple of teachers are quite shouty at the children, even in reception.
The school is expanding to a primary so there will be a lot of building works for the next few years.
I will be sending child 3 to the juniors 5 miles away anyway in the future rather than staying at this school when it expands.
Outdoor space isn't great.
Has a lot of disruptive children from a local community with very different rules, children swear a lot, lots of absence, very physical with fighting etc

Infants B
Good:
The staff all seem very calm and have no issues with behaviour at the school
Smaller classes due to birth rate, last reception class had under 15 kids
Amazing outdoor spaces with forest school 1 day a week, lots of outdoor emphasis.
Super nurturing.
Calmer environment.

Negative:
Further away (but will make school runs ultimately easier as close to junior school where child 1 & 2 are)
Harder for playdates due to our distance from school (but I am happy to drive to drop kids back home).

I have put Infants B as our first choice but as its the deadline today I'm having a few little niggles purely over the fact it's further away and I feel like we'd be at a disadvantage with playdates and its sometimes better the devil you know. Infants B would hands down be the better school for my sensitive, gentle son who found the nursery transition hard, I just feel bad about not being local.

Infants B

If you are driving that way anyway... why not?

Infants B

Make your life easier.

Pretty much my only why not is because of play dates. I guess I just need reassurance it's not everything!

On the balance of things, having them all at Infant/Juniors B has to be easier than one local and two not. Do you have other local families with whom you could share either school run? If there are other families in the same boat, then it's obviously easier to swap kids to get to the two schools.

Do you know that child 2 will get a place at Juniors B?

If child 3 goes to Infants A, presumably they would then have the option of staying there rather than the awful junior school - and of course once child 2 moves to secondary, that then lets you off the hook on the 5 mile school run.

If Infants B has low numbers, is it actually going to continue to be viable? If their intake is below 15 that's a very small school, and mixed-age classes are also inevitable. If Infants A is expanding to primary, given falling numbers, is that going to replace the local juniors?

If friendships are a concern it would definitely make more sense to go with a feeder Infant for your preferred Junior

Yes I have local families doing similar school runs to the juniors and I will know another mum and her son who are hoping to attend infants B and they live round the corner.

Child 2 will definitely get a place at juniors due to siblings rule as child 1 will be in the year above.

Child 3 could indeed stay at infants A when it turns to a through primary but as its 1 form entry I wouldn't want them with the same set of kids from reception up until y7. Also infants A once a primary will still never be able to offer what my eldest's junior school can offer currently. Masses of space, lots of sporting opportunities, swimming pool etc.

Infants B has never been undersubscribed up until last year but has been predicted to have lower numbers for the next few years. Y1 and y2 currently are full or almost full so I don't think it will be a permanent thing.

Infants A expenditure won't really impact on the local juniors numbers massively (I think 4 children went there from infants A last year, the rest went to the further away juniors). The local junior actually has its own linked infants next door but I avoided it because of the juniors.

I'd go for infants B. Always make the school run easier!!

Distance and play dates are generally irrelevant at primary age because they wouldn't walk themselves round, so driving them is no bother.

If needs be, make sure they do some sort of club in your own village if you want them to befriend very local kids.

I hadn't really thought of it like that really but it does make sense. Once you are in the car it doesn't really matter is 5 mins or 15, does it?