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!

You are sorry mad to consider a private school that is potentially going to go bust (with your money probably). I would not touch it with a barge pole and nor would most sane parents. If it gets help later on you can move your son.

Go to the local school - if your son is truly gifted he can get a bursary at 7 or 11 at an independent school. Pay for extra stuff outside school.

You like the things that an independent school can provide but you can't afford it. Either find a way to afford it or go to the local school.

Would also be wary of a financially struggling school - friend's daughter had to move schools because her independent school folded.

IME schools have started to bang on about learning through play more over the last couple of years - they did at the school dd2 started at last September. However, in reality she started on the reading scheme within a week or so of starting and has made good progress with reading and writing and basic sums.

Fiddledee - hit the nail on head - can't afford a private school so we sort of jumped on the possibility of reconsidering this school with the information of the free school status. Initially it looked like a real opportunity, however it could potentially come back to bite us.

What we consider the most important thing is to settle son into a school where he can stay, grow and develop friendships, and there will most likely always be a question mark hanging over the longevity of the private school.

We haven't even thought about scholarships or bursaries etc... that's a very good point down the line.

Eldonave - the free school status means the school will receive slightly more per capita than they are now through charging fees. Yes, of course, I do realise the begging thing would not work!

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

Unfortunately it isn't up to you to designate funds, you are more than welcome to donate but you aren't allowed to say how it's spent.
In our case it was playground equipment that was sorely needed, we donated £3k thinking a lovely slide and maybe something to climb on would be bought but oh no.
They have to use approved suppliers, nothing to do with the best equipment for the children and everything to do with lining somebody's pockets. Anyway three grand bought a slide big enough for the infants I kid you not.

If you want a scholarship get him playing a musical instrument asap, I have plans that my middle not so academic child will go to one of the best schools in the North because of her beautiful singing voice, which is natural talent of course but without the paperwork to back it up she'd never be considered.

Mamatomany, I cannot believe the sum of money you donated to the school, such a kind gesture, and probably most appreciated, but for the money not to be spent appropriately is awful.

Is your daughter going to a music school? It's art/drawing that my little boy is showing real potential in, when I sit him down with me at the piano he really is not interested!! So do great schools take children on via bursary/scholarship if they are gifted/talented in other areas? Sorry, showing my lack of knowledge....

It is quite unusual to get scholarships at 7+ now, other than choral etc. However he might get a means tested bursary if your household income is less than 35k (occasionally higher) and he shows promise academically as well.

Honestly, if you're worried about affording privat, then don't even think about going there. Especially since you have other children to consider.

State primary schools are, on the whole, very good and if art is your ds's thing the learning through play stuff will really help bring out that side of him

Lol it's a minor obsession of mine researching schools and I'm still no expert.
We found one school that had scholarships for Art at age 11 but it was based in Scotland so a none starter for us, although I was tempted.
However the arty child is very intelligent and academic so you wonder if the two go hand in hand.
My middle one is very musical and she had no interest at 5 but by 8 was fascinated, the child could barely read or write at state school and is now achieving at French, music, design and technology as well as catching up with her peers. Most importantly though she is confident and believes in herself.
I've yet to see the results but my plan is to try for 4 schools in the area that offer musical scholarships, none are specialist but all would be fine by me.
The other thing I would say if he is showing real promise by the age of say 7, phone the best school in the area the one that you want not the one you can afford and ask them if they'd reduce the fees.
I know one lady that pays about 30% as she's a single mum, for prep school simply because the boy is bright and they want him to boost their exam results, I bet that happens more often than you'd expect

I volunteer in an infant school with a reception class. Regarding donations, all parents donating money were allowed to have a say in what was bought, this included the reception teacher and mum looking through the catalogues, and together choosing equipement for the classroom.

Also the children learn SO much through play, Ive been astonished at the amount the children do pick up through "doing" They do start phonics, writing and reading. Again all the children in the class were writing at least little sentences,with capitals and full stops by the end of the year.

You only mention what happens in year R. What about the other classes? My DD went to a local school where we were not very happy with year R, but we knew the rest of the teachers were fantastic. I did need to do extra things with her for that first year, to keep her motivated, but she was fine after that. She went on to get 10 A grades at GSCE!!

Yes but there are certain approved catalogues and they are several times more expensive than say the early learning centre for example.

My cousin is a head teacher and she regularly comments she has to buy things for school that she'll later spot in say GLTC for half the price.
Maybe it's different with a few chairs but certainly with outdoor equipment saying that we were donating for the playground was as far as our input was required.

There are loads of schools with art scholarships at 11/13+(but often they only offer a small reduction of the fees). Bursaries are open to all though and some schools do offer them at 7+.

This has really proved to be an interesting thread, my little boy is only 4 and who knows, the drawing skills may well balance out by the time he and his peers are 11! Hoping he'll be able to do some reading and some maths also.

It was interesting to read on another thread that someone was is an accomplished artist now and had been doing it from the age of 4 when she realised her friends were really impressed! I would love to think we could help him pursue a talent which he'd adore through life and perhaps actually make a career out of, without being pushy or necessarily making him aware he's really quite advanced at this stage, but to let it come naturally...

This might lead onto a pushy parent or not pushy parent debate.... uh oh.

Sorry to hear about your experience Mama, but that is certainly not the case for the state school I have experiences of. Maybe it depends on the county?

The Early Learning Centre was one of the catalogues used.
Also a very kind person in our village donated a large sum for a new wooden wendy house for year R. The year R teacher was allowed to choose the one she wanted. She didnt have to choose from specified suppliers.

I think all you can do Mirrorball is make sure you never run out of paper. We haven't particularly needed to teach technique or anything like that to our eldest it just comes naturally to her. The one thing I would never ever want to do is push her and put her off.
Having said that I have been talking about St Martins since she was three so she knows she is going there

If you get onto the PTA and donate the money that way you can have a say about what it is spent on. This is the best way in my opinion. The other is to make a donation to the school ear marked for a certain purpose, if they don't use it for that you could complain to the Charities commission (I know from Church that earmarked gifts make things quite complex, as you have to show they were used for what they were intended for).

mummytime- thank you for clarifying that for me!

I had this choice to make. Local village school, or independent 15 minutes drive away.

We went with the local school. First son has just finished reception, second son about to start.

The facilities are nowhere near as good as the independent, and the class sizes are twice as big.

But - he's happy, and has made friends. His reading has come on well.

Mito - that's good to hear someone else's experience. When you boil it all down - reading well, he's happy and making friends is as good as it gets! Going to meet with a friend today to talk it over...

We have two girls at our local state school. Rated "satisfactory" and frowned on by the majority of middle class parents in this town who ship their children out to the neighbouring suburbs with their "outstanding" schools or to the local independent prep. So not a dissimilar situation.

Both our girls are doing well - the older one is going into Year 4 and has just about reached the "expected" level for Year 6. Both happy, lots of local friends (including several within 5 mins walk). And there has been a really good mix of "extras" in terms of clubs, outings, special events etc. I honestly don't understand why people ship their children elsewhere - it appears to be pure snobbery based on the proximity to a large council estate and the number of younger-than-average mums at the school gate.