Going to see the headmistress - help please with a lovely old chesnut....

[Gizmo]

I'm sure this has been done before, but I'm not able to find the relevant thread.

Due to - in my opinion - a ridiculously early cut off point for applications to primary schools in Cambridgeshire, I have to go and see the headmistress for a tour of DS's catchment school on Friday. The Ofsted for this school is hardly glowing, but it's an old report and I've heard good things about the school from other mothers, so I'm not sure it's relevant.

But I've not had much time to think about this and I'm not sure what I should be asking her. So does anyone have any ideas? What did you ask when you visited primary schools for your kids?

Anyone????

I asked about the Reading schemes (in case we felt like looking at any before starting for added confidence), did they use phonics? When doed homework start, that sort of thing. Also, where do the majority of pupils transfer to at secondary age.

You should pick up some of the atmosphere from your tour which may prompt questions.

Good luck

What they do to encourage pupils and also to discipline them.

What special projects there are, and how the children get involved.

How is reading taught.

Everything already mentioned is good. Also find out how many TAs there are. How much help each class gets. This should give you an overall idea of how much money they have. This is important as it impacts on resources and support.

Ask if they have an 'open door' policy ie can you speak to a teacher whenever you need to? Can you pop in/help etc?

Look at the wall displays. If they're very tired, the staff are probably stressed out.

Ask about extra curricular clubs. A good school will offer a good range.

Ask for SATs results from last 3 yrs. If the school is improving, it should show here.

Sorry, I'll stop there. Take a pen and pad. Make notes. Good luck

Thanks guys, that's a great start. I shall have to do some hard thinking in the next few days about what suits DS and what doesn't.

So far I want to check out what their philosophy is with regard to teaching vs 'settling in' in the first year. Definitely want to know about their approach to reading and extra curricular activities too and I think I'd also like to know a little bit about how they maintain discipline, since it's only fair to give some consistent boundaries at home as well as at school.

Oh and then there's school dinners, and after school club and probably hundreds of other things and I'm just confused, I guess (can you tell ) about which bits are important.

On another note, this school is one of the larger primaries in the area, but we are right on the border of the catchment for a much smaller school, which, on the face of it, I think sounds nicer. Is there any advantage to smaller schools, in your view?

If anything on the old OFSTED report particularly concerns you - ask how the school has been/is addressing the issues raised.

It's a bit low on a number of value added scores but has a high number of SEN kids and kids with english as a non native language, so that doesn't bother me.

The Ofsted is 5 years old now and I think there's been a change of headmistress since. That's another thing, I guess, whether I 'click' with the headmistress and whether I'm actually ever going to see anything of her, even if I do...

what are the schools current results like? you will find a link to the performance tables for the school on the ofsted site.
what are your other options if this school is unsuitable for your ds?

You think yours is early? Ours (Warwickshire) had to be in two weeks ago!