WWYD? Local primary school or drive to one we consider to be the better school?

[Mirrorball]

Local School:
Learning through play taken to the nth degree we feel -
nursery and reception put together for 'free play' for 2 hours in morning (58 kids in total)

In the reception parents meeting there was no reference to reading/writing. Just the Foundation Stage... playing. Learning when they are ready.

Reception room is a portacabin - resources and facilities not great - outdoor area really small - toys very used and in need of replacement

We can walk there

Wonderful dinners cooked on-site (has a healthy schools award)

Class size 30

Nice mums and school has very good PTA support

Our son will start knowing a few children, but no firm friends yet.

Further away Independent school:

Small school, therefore smaller class size - 11 in reception and 13 in nursery - play together for some parts of the day

Lots of emphasis on the arts - school productions, fantastic art resources, languages, access to many musical instruments and lessons

Good size outdoor area with lots of vegetables/fruit/gardening

Obviously more 1 to 1 attention.

Reading encouraged and children learn numeracy and literacy from day 1 - and they do this in the morning while the children are relatively awake!

School has been struggling with finances so is applying for free school status from next year - we would pay for one years' fees.

Two of our close friends are putting their children into reception there

minimum 15 min each way school run

Our son is starting to read and showing a real interest in words. We have been told the head of his preschool he is gifted in drawing/art - hasn't seen anything like it before. Gets easily bored, can be quite shy initially. Is creative but also definitely ready to learn to read, we don't want to miss that window - so I'm doing some reading with him at home. We are torn between integrating ourselves in our local community and having him go to a normal state school or doing what might be considered the best for him to go to the private school with better creative facilities and the smaller class sizes.

Just looking for some perspective!

May I add - this is for Sep 2010, so our son has had his trial days at local school and we have prepared him for starting there. If we choose the other school we'd have a week or so of preparing him for the 'new' school!.... are we mad?

Go with your gut instinct (remembering this Free School stuff is still a little bit in the floaty realms of Govt. grand ideas-dom). Ofsted reports may give you a bit more information about the quality of phonics teaching and the like - but watch the dates on them as things can change pretty quickly in a school.

One thing I'd say from teaching in a small independent myself in the past - they can be incredibly good at front show (what my mum would charmingly describe as "fur coat and no knickers") and if they're already insecure in terms of finances and the free school project doesn't come off for them - they could well go under with pretty minimal warning (the school I was working in went this way - parents got 4 weeks notice it was closing at the end of the year). Just something to be wary of I guess.

Once the school became a free school wouldn't the things on the plus side be compromised anyway? Sorry if I'm being thick but I don't understand how free schools are going to be managed/funded/inspected etc

Okay the small independent has already told you it has financial problems. This is a huge!!!!! warning sign. It could close over night. Also be wary any teachers you saw may not be there by next term.

Do not be influenced by your friends. If you think the equipment is a bit old, then get involved in the PTA and buy new stuff. Reception should be more about play than learning to read and write, but either talk to other parents or look at results to see how well they do this by the end of year 2.

I would personally go local over an independent school in a dodgy financial state. The Free Schools idea isn't even in law yet, and is really an idea of how to provide school places in areas where there are not enough, not a bail out for independents.

I'd be extremely wary of a school with financial problems. I also wouldn't want to rely too much on the free school status.

I would go for the local one for at least the first year. Use the fees money you will have saved to pay for music lessons etc outside of school if that's the kind of thing you are after.

Keep an eye on what is happening at the independent school. If their situation improves then perhaps consider moving him later on if you still feel it's a better option for your ds.

Local School. Foundation stage children who are in reception do do reading and writing even if it does not appear so from the open day. They would not leave your ds to solely play when he is ready for reading.

Local school has nice mums and good PTA you say - so that is where you want to be. Get involved in the PTA, help fundraise for building work, new toys, new equipment and be involved. It is the best way

Plus, as Riven said, do you want to be commited to driving for the next 6 years? That is assuming the school is even going to be there in 6 years.

I would definitely go for the local school in your case.

The current class size sounds a little too small at the independent school. If the school becomes a free school the class sizes will have to rise to nearer 30 won't they?
The drive to the independent school would be a big drawback and you will find your son makes friends who live several miles in the other direction which will make play dates harder.
If you know the mums and children going to the school and like them the chances are your child will make good friends in the state school and be happy and relaxed.
It is normal for there to be lots of play in reception but the children are learning through play. They will also be taught reading/writing and if your son is ready to read at the start he will move quickly on with reading and gain confidence.

I was in a similar dilemma to yours - went for the local school

Dd1 has just finished reception and am so glad, being able to walk to school makes life so much more pleasant. You're in and out all the time in the first year for various performances etc and having to drive/park would be a pita.

Plus though I was sceptical abotu learning through play, dd1 has learned a huge amount this year but has no idea it's academic stuff. For example she loves "estimating" now, having done that in their play shop. She adores reading and writing, despite having coordination problems which make the latter difficult, because they've been encouraged to write lists, invitations, books etc. Good luck with whatever you decide

Start him at the local school and see how it goes. If they really believe in "Learning when they are ready" and your son is interested in reading etc, then I'm pretty sure they will let him learn to read!

Use the time you spend walking to school chatting to him and not getting stressed. Get stuck into the supportive PTA. If it's not working out after a year, consider moving, but give it a shot. You might be surprised and you will have saved yourself a shedload of time and money!

I'd steer clear of any school already in financial straits tbh. Good staff will be planning to leave, if not already, and you have no guarantee yet that you will not be chasing place elsewhere this time next year, along with a dozen other parents. It is very unlikely that Reception aged children make use of the art, drama and language facilities to any great extent so I don't think any lack of those is a huge disadvantage. Go local and review for 7+ , assuming the school is still around. By then he will have local playmates and going further afield will become less of an issue.

Mummytime- tthe academies bill became an act at the end of july.

OP- difficult decision, don't envy you at all. Go with your gut feeling, and good luck.

100% the local school. It sounds lovely.

I would be wary of schools that make Reception children sit down for formal lessons from day 1. Children don't learn that way. At that age learning through play is the way to go I believe.

Okay, I'll stick my head up above the parapet . I had a similar choice - local school or 15-20 min drive to a better school (both state). We opted for the drive and so far we haven't regretted it, even though we do receive quite a few faces from other people. The 'quality' of the school wasn't the only factor in our choice as other things - proximity to family, etc, came in to play too.

I (very) occasionally wonder if I'm a bit crackers as I drive past other schools on the way, but 99.9 per cent of the time the morning and afternoon runs are so much part of the routine that I don't give it a thought. DD is happy and settled.

As others have said, it's a gut feeling thing.

I would say go local too. The walk to and from school is a really nice time of day, and good precedent to get walking! And I agree that learning through play is the best way at that age. And is so much better to have local friends; when your ds is older he will be able to visit friends himself easily. The school sounds good anyway,and if you are really not happy you can move him(if other school still open!). But better than other way round;woudn't be good for him to have to go there after not thought good enough if other school in difficulty.

"school struggling with finances" would ring alarm bells for me.

I would very much not like to drive min 15 mins to school each day - that's min an hour in the car every day for you and any younger DC.

I am driving DD 20+ mins to a holiday activity this week and tbh it is a right PITA (tho the activity is worth it - and it's only for a week!).

I would also add that any school will surely teach the FS2 children phonics etc. You'd be surprised how much a child can learn. If yr DS is keen he will be encouraged, I am sure.

Anyway it's daft me replying as I would always go for nearby state over far away indie.

what happens if the private school doesn't get the free schools status?

I've experienced both.
We moved ours to private from the local school which we could walk to but never seemed to as it's always raining, so that was over rated. 20 mins in the car is nice after the mad rush to get ready 20 mins chill out time to chat is far nicer than trying to keep them out of the road walking IME.
The so called healthy meals, which our school also won an award for, also meant "if there's any left for your child" many a day they had sweetcorn and potato's for lunch. However the private schools lunch is generally awful if you have fussy eaters.
The free play aspect is actually great, i'd consider that an advantage. They do that at both schools.
Our DC are all at friends houses today, yes it took me 20 mins to drive them all to the different locations but you will find most of the children from the private school will all live in roughly the same affluent area, either by the school or the one locally that is very expensive.
They'll all get dropped back to me by the parents they are playing with, it works well.
The other consideration for us is that one of our children is very bright and needed pushing, the state school refused to do that and one is a little behind, maybe 6/12 months behind and they refused to even find out what the problem was until she turned 8. The private school had the measure of her within 1 term and she's come on leaps and bounds, just how long would the state school have left her to flounder ? Until it was too late and she'd lost all confidence is my guess.

We have another new baby who I think will attend state until he is ready to go into junior school, then down to business and off to the academic prep, that is quite common I believe.
I'd give the local one a go, it might be great, you can always join the private sector it's much harder to get into a good state school.

Rain has never stopped us walking to school FWIW. Not that I find it rains that often at 8.35am.

(quite often at 3.20pm (as parents wait at gates!) tho! )

Free schools are not as far as I believe part of the academies bill. The Academies Bill is just to let Outstanding state schools become academies. Some private schools have already become academies, but this is also separate to the free schools.

But I would never knee jerk into a school, you can go private later if you want, but after doing a lot of investigating.

Thank you! Good questions and great to hear some of your experiences.

EldonAve - the school will know by Christmas - BIG gamble though as we would NOT be able to afford to continue and then would have to beg for our place back in local school (oh the shame) if that happened. The school will stop being a private school in July 2011 and become a Charitable Trust. It's not going to be an academy - as mummytime said - that is for state schools, but they have applied through the same process I think. Knee jerking at such a late stage is exactly what we're doing and it's not at all easy trying to make a decision for a four year old!

I love the idea of walking to school. Another aspect is our other child is a year below, so would either go to the same local school nursery for the morning (where they'd play together... makes me slightly nervous!) or if we did the drive across town I'd drop him at a really wonderful preschool on the way back (eldest went here last year and learned SO much, amazing place).

I have insight into the problems the private school has had the past year with head leaving and financial difficulties as a friend teaches there. It's not been plain-sailing and closure was on the cards. I did wonder if teaching staff would be looking to move on now?

The private school is small so numbers would still be limited to max 16-20 per class.

Interesting to hear about the learning through play. thanks.

Husband has said if we're considering spending around 5k of our savings on fees to a school to keep them afloat, surely we could give that to the local school to upgrade equipment!

Lots of food for thought... thanks again.

"surely we could give that to the local school to upgrade equipment"

Ha ha yeah we diod that only for them to waste it on totally boring inappropriate equipment which by the time it went through the various procedures our children were too old for, so yes we left a great legacy behind us at the state school but it doesn't stop the teachers giving me dirty looks at the local cafe and ignoring the children because we dared to leave

Just don't assume your children will benefit from your donation, once it's out of your pocket it's out of your control.

Mamatomany, oh my god that is awful. We would not actually be able to give that amount, but have talked about donating some money for specifics, if that was possible?

The library space is NOT good and so I would want to expand that and get some nice little chairs etc...

Sorry to hear about your experience.

Becoming a charitable trust won't make the school free of charge though? How will the free schools thing work?

You won't be able to beg for your school place back - it'll come down to the admissions rules and the number of other applicants