To ask you honestly how good your local state school is

[bliepenco]

Just that really. I’ve heard so many bad things about state. If you are totally honest, is there violence, disruption etc? What do your kids say about their days? I’m worried about Dd starting school as have no understanding of the state sector (not from the uk) and have read some bleak things about it!

State is great where I am . DS has just got his A* AA at Alevel at the local Comprehensive
As with all schools, it's the quality of teaching that's important

My DC have been to great state schools.
Admittedly we live rurally so things are doubtless quite different to big city schools, though rurality does bring its own problems.
The primary school was idyllic - made me want to be a child again to be honest - and all my children were incredibly happy there mainly because the staff were superb and the head teacher truly inspirational.
Secondary was of course a bit less idyllic. Bigger, wider range of children, so not surprising there were a few issues. But on the whole, behaviour was good and the relatively small disruptive element dealt with effectively. One of my DC suffered some bullying in year 7 but it was handled well by the school and there were no long term problems.
There's a stable workforce with very low staff turnover and as far as I'm aware all departments fully staffed, with no subjects taught by non specialists. Exam results are very good with a lot of pupils achieving very highly, but also a good learning support dept and progress 8 scores are good across the board.
Most pupils choose to stay at the school for 6th form which I think is a good sign. Leavers destinations are varied. This year there were leavers going to just about every type of University in this country and several abroad, others going into apprenticeships of various types, some to the police and armed forces and a couple starting professional sports careers. Virtually all the 6th form secured their first choice destination. I think the range of destinations reflects the fact that it is a non selective comprehensive school and that young people of all abilities are well supported to achieve.
There's a good range of extra curricular activities and the school regularly does very well in a variety of local regional and national competitions. When one of my DC wanted to set up a club that didn't exist he was able to get funding and teacher support to do it which I was impressed by.
I've volunteered in school so have been able to see the workings of the school myself, not just what's on show at open days etc and I have been genuinely impressed by both pupils and staff. Of course there are problems though. I have never seen or heard of serious violence- no knives etc - but of course there's the odd lunchtime fight,and there have been issues with smoking/vaping and some drugs. Like bullying, I would be deeply suspicious of any school, state or private, who claimed that these kind of issues don't exist. They happen everywhere. What really matters is how they're handled and I think my DC's school does that pretty well. I'd be lying if I said I'd never had any concerns but it was always easy to speak to staff and problems got dealt with effectively. My DC have been happy at school, made some lovely friends, got good grades and have all successfully moved on to what they wanted to do next. That's plenty good enough as far as I am concerned.
I know we're lucky and don't doubt that the terrible things people report about their children's schools are true, but it's not all bad - there are some great state schools and many dedicated staff doing brilliant work.

Primary, there are 3 small schools in close vicinity (2 are religious) these are all really good schools which are oversubscribed every year, the one ny kids went to had 80% of the same staff for over 12yrs which I think says a lot. The local Secondary 10mins walk from my house used to be awful 30-15yrs back, special measures, the lot. A new head took over then and turned it completely around to make it one of the best in the county and recently got OFSTED outstanding. She was very strict and no tolerance for misbehaving, the uniforms look very smart, like private school. I feel lucky to have a great high school on our doorstep.

The primary school are very nurturing, they have varied after school clubs that are free (if run by school) or have a fee if run by an external company. They engage with parents well, lots of newsletters, assemblies, sharing learning days etc. The school has a strong ethos and they try hard to get kids involved in all aspects of school life. So from a nurturing aspect I'm happy. Education wise I would say I find the standards OK. We are in Scotland and I do not belive there is enough emphasis on individual attainment the rhetoric is all about closing the attainment gaps between rich and poor. I'd rather they did this by raising the standards for all children rather than expecting less of them. They used to do one parents evening at the end of the year detailing strengths and weaknesses however now do two.

The high-school is better on the education part but the pastoral care is not considered great. That concerns me and I would like to move before our eldest starts high-school.

Inner London. Excellent state schools for primary and secondary.

We live in a similar town . The local schools are outstanding..wouldn’t have considered the private schools! We live in SE.

It's an exam factory, they are only bothered about exam results, not caring for the children who go there. Ds was horrifically bullied & they did nothing except threaten me when he started refusing to go to school. There is a mix of kids from council estates & more well off kids, there used to be 2 secondary schools across the road from each other but they got amalgamated into one school & it's too big, behaviour is out of control, bullying is rife, there have been incidences of knife carrying, drugs, kids being arrested, one boy who was excluded ended up being murdered while shipping drugs between dealers. Exam results are slightly above average, A level results are very good but the SEN department has been shut down. There was an area for kids who were struggling or had SEN where when we went to the open day we were assured that ds could access support if he needed it, it turned out that unless the child couldn't read or write, they weren't interested. My friends son was basically abandoned because they couldn't deal with his SEN, he ended up missing a year of school because they wouldn't continue to support him until a place at a special school became available. My friend just got a phone call to collect him & was told to not bother sending him any more, then nothing,

Most primaries are good.

If there is violence it'll be a child with additional needs not coping. This can have a big impact on a class but is largely the luck of the draw - there aren't enough spaces for children with needs at special schools and so many start in mainstream before collecting the years of evidence they need to get the support they need.

Secondaries are a different story. In some areas they are rural and there is basically one choice and everyone goes there. Because children are grouped by ability the experience they have is very different depending on if they are in top ability groups or bottom ability groups. The top ability groups generally have little to no disruption and no violence. The bottom ability groups are a mixture of incredibly well behaved kids with Learning disabilities and kids who have major mental health/trauma issues and are violent.

Some secondaries split the bottom groups out into a learning difficulties group (I used to specialise in teaching these groups) and a mh/trauma group because the two groups largely hate each other.

In towns where there is a choice of secondaries you tend to find that there are schools seen as "good" and schools seen as less good.

The schools seen as "good" take kids from their catchment area (so will have the kids with learning disabilities and the mh/trauma kids) but in addition are oversubscribed as people from other areas want to get their kids in there.

In general children with mh issues /trauma are much much more common in poorer areas. This means that schools in those areas are fighting hard just to get the kids into school, with clean uniform and ideally ready to learn. It's hard for kids to do that if, to take one example from my school, parents are fighting a nasty divorce, dad initially refused to see kids but then mum lost job and turned to drink and now the kids are placed with dad by SS but are very aware he doesn't want them.

Actual proper violence in secondaries is quite rare. Pushing and shoving and he said/she said is very common. However it tends to be the same children all the time (usually either mh/trauma or a group of year 10 lads who think they are in a wildlife documentary about who leads the pack) and so it's really easy to avoid.

Ours isn't a bad school but has a lot of social issues. It's a very small school (only 600 pupils) but many don't speak English very well, are recent immigrants or refugees and all the concomitant issues that come with that.

My DC go there because it's a five minute walk and I want them to go to a local school. But I do think they are disadvantaged by going there.

I teach at my local state secondary and my DS1 is in Y7. It's outstanding, far better than the private school I went to. There's the odd incident, but on the whole, children are respectful and here to learn. I couldn't ask for a better school.

I have worked in many state schools and they vary enormously. It annoys me that the press focus on private schools so much when 95% (ish) of children go to state schools and there is so much inequality there. It is luck of the draw if you get an excellent education or a really bad one (luck and/or owning a house in the right place).

My son went to good schools throughout. The perfect school is an illusion you will never find. Private wasn't something we could afford so we got involved, looked carefully at strengths and weaknesses, and tried to fill whatever seemed to be the gaps. Ds is a bright boy so I thought he would do OK, and he did. I would have liked there to be more music and team sport for him at school, but he went to activities outside school and if anything that meant broader friendships and more variety.

This basically. If I had my time again and had a 5 year old now I'd pay for independent from reception.

It pays for itself in the early years ( round here £3,000 a term) as no need of breakfast/ afterschool club or swimming lessons and after y3 or so the academics and behaviour are so much better. Just my opinion. DS is at University now and Dd trudging through the last last year of a v. lacklusture state grammar school, which despite having the best performing 25% of puils demonstrate a shocking poverty of ambition.

This. Excellent post @Octavia64. My DC went/go to a very mixed city comprehensive. DC1 now at university doing a course she loves. DC2 at sixth form with a good crop of GCSEs behind her. Would they have been slightly higher (9s not 8s & 7s) if she'd been at a private school with smaller classes? Maybe, but I'm still glad she went to the comp and met people with a wide range of backgrounds.

Excellent.

All the schools in my town are good.

I'm very happy with the ones my kids go to but would be five with any of the others too.

My most recent experience is of a primary school. We are not in London. It’s a one form entry. Very happy with it.

no its not poor. Children swearing, maybe there is bullying in bigger class i dont know because my son only until year 2 there. I dont like the parents. I invite them to my son birthday party in softplay. One of the kid wanted ice cream and his mum said “just get it, its full of children here, no one notice”. And she told me with pride and think thats funny. its teaching children to be a thief. Later on the same children take my son new shoes back home. My son crying because his shoes gone, my son is ASD he likes his shoes. My son said that kid take his shoes home, so i texted the mum and picked it up at their home and mum not even said sorry, i remember clearly she said “i can give it back to you tomorrow you know. You dont need to come here and pick it up. My son only play with your son shoes”.
without saying sorry. I’m sorry if the parents act like that I dont think they can raised their children to be responsible adults. Couple months later i heard his oldest son involved in teenage stabbing and serve time.

Also lots of the mum think education isn’t important. They think school is asking too much by giving kids reading materials everyday. They keep saying education its not important and they talked about how going to uni is waisting time. I didnt said anything, but i think education its very important. I dont like them not because they are poor, but how they see the world are very narrow minded.

Hampshire. 2 state educated boys, both have As at A levels and good universities. Same for relative's children in another county although their secondaries are grammars so entrance exams for them. So, provision varies.

They're all excellent around me.

Ours is better than the nearest private - better results and smaller classes.

Shit, I came out and cried I felt so gutted about it. They are now in private

Primary excellent secondary is ok. Yes some disruption from some pupils and some violent behaviour but it is dealt with quickly.

Primaries aren’t too bad. The only secondary option is awful, so will probably have to go private.

That sounds horrendous! Can you move house to another area?

Primary is in theory good but building is falling apart, teachers on fixed term contracts and parents are relied on to raise money for things.
Secondary is mixed. Some kids thrive and there's always a cohort that goes to uni but violence and disorder are endemic.
My DD is at the local primary and DS at private.