Moving/finding a new school

[Kmg]

We may be moving house next summer, but have quite a lot of choice about location, but we will be moving to the other end of the country. My eldest will be going straight into Yr1, (no reception here). How do I find out about schools, before we make decisions on houses? Is there a website with offsted reports on, which I could just put a postcode into?

Do you think I should phone a school and ask if they have any spaces at this stage, or would they think I was mad?

I don't think it can do any harm to phone schools that you're interested in, although you may be greeted with indifference if the school is very popular. Last time we moved, the local authority would not entertain any application for our eldest dd's entry to secondary school, until we had actually exchanged contracts (or signed a rental lease) for a school in their area. This made it impossible to do anything until the week before school started (talk about maximum stress points!) In the case of the year groups where applications are not taken via the education authority, ie: Yr 1,2,3 (unless the child is going to a new Junior school)4,5&6, I think admissions are dealt with by individual schools, unless there is a dispute, when the education authority becomes involved.
Can't remember the website for Ofsted reports, but if you put Ofsted in a search engine, you should find it.

ps, local education authorities provide booklets with all contact nos and some info on all the schools in their area, which they will send to you if you request them.

Mooma and Batters - thanks for your help. That should get me started. I'll let you know how we get on.

It's such a catch 22 - we don't want to be committed to a particular area, and then find that there are no places, or that the local school is dreadful.

A long shot: try phoning local newspapers. With their finger on the pulse, and, hopefully, some local people on their staff, you may get an informal low down on the local primaries.

We actually gave up on the idea of moving, for now, partly because of the schools hassle. As you say, you find a house, can't find a school etc. What we found was that village schools were often more accessible, if that's an option (they seemed to focus more on the local community as their priority so if you have a house you're likely to get a place). Another way we found was to contact an upmarket estate agent in the area - they supplied list of schools with the initial map/info and will tactfully tell you which are the 'popular schools'. That, and the LEA info will allow you to trawl the Ofsted site for reports. We did phone schools, looking a year ahead, and got some useful info that way too. Good luck. When we do move, I'll have to face this all over again ...

Through experience I've learnt that estate agents opinions should be taken with a large pinch of salt. There has been an incident in my area where a particular estate agency has been bad-mouthing an excellent school. I don't know why this should be, maybe a member of staff has a child at a competing school, but it certainly made me think twice about people's opinions!

If you are able, it is a good idea to visit as many schools as possible, beforehand, to see if they offer the kind of thing you are looking for, as your idea of a good school isn't necessarily the same as your neighbours.

Batters is right - www.upmystreet.com, give loads of assorted information about a postcoded area... if you're not sure of the postcode, you can work it out there as well. I find it really interesting. You can make a note of the local schools there and contact them individually. Failing that, yes, www.ofsted.gov.uk. have a site that may help - if you locate the area of interest, you can scan through all the reports for the relevant schools. But be warned! It's detailed stuff..... This site can also lead you to others that are similar! Good luck! (I picked my son's nursery this way and so far, so good)

We recently were relocated with my husband's work to a different part of the country and had the headache of finding a good school for my ds who started reception this Sept. Looking on the OFSTED website gives you a good idea as to which schools are achieving good results and you can the contact them to find out about places and to get a prospectus. However, it is very important to visit each school as sometimes the schools with the best results aren't necessarily the best schools for your child (you know them better than anyone and know which environment suits them the best). Some schools just seem 'happier' places to be than other ones and you need to visit to get these vibes. Also, I liked to suss out how safe each school was ie. intercoms, fences etc. etc. You can get an idea of which schools are the most sought after by studying house prices in the area you are interested in as often these are higher around the most wanted schools.