Oxford area primaries/prep schools

[WorldWithoutFolly]

I can see that there are a few posters around with Oxfordshire based knowledge so hope I might be able to get advice on my current dilemma (even though DC not 2 yet!).

We live near to Oxford in an area where the local primary is really struggling to get out of special measures. I am also not entirely keen on the fact that all the village schools around here seem to be CofE church schools or academies (Plus the state of the local primary doesn't fill me with faith in the diocese's education team). So, I've been trying to work out what options we might have and have come up with:

1 - move into the catchment of one of the non-CofE state primaries in Oxford but I am not sure how many of these there are? The ones I do know aren't ideal in terms of location as we really need to be able to get to the M40 easily. And it would be an expensive move if it took us back into the ring road.

2 - look at the private sector (and, yes, I know most have a Cof E ethos but at least I would be choosing that rather than it being my only option). As far as I can work out:

• Abingdon prep, Chandlings, and Manor are the wrong side of town so would require driving the Oxford Ring Road which I hate. I am also trying to cut back on excessive driving and we aren't somewhere the schools run minibuses from.
• the Montessori school but again that would involve some driving in Oxford traffic and we aren't in minibus area
• MCS junior school (from 9) or New College school both of which we could reach by bus.

3 - hoping the local school is turned around in 2 years time and sucking up my dislike of the CofE academies.

4 - try and move towards Buckinghamshire/Thame catchments but no idea of the schools that way or how far we would have to go to get into catchment.

Can anyone think of an option I have missed? And, if we did go for the private option how soon do we have to start looking and registering? Should we have been on registration lists since birth? (the private sector is a massive unknown to us!)

Dragon School?

I think for State schools you need to educate yourself a bit. All schools in England are supposed to be "broadly Christian" unless they have another religious affiliation.
Just because a school is C of E doesn't necessarily mean it is more religious than a "community" school. Just because a school is an academy doesn't necessarily tell you anything (often academisation was undertaken for financial reasons).
Ofsted doesn't necessarily tell you much.

Dragon scares me a bit! In my head it is a bit too 'public school' although I appreciate I may be being a bit ignorant about whether it is really that different from New College school.

I do appreciate that state schools are supposed to be broadly Christian but where I grew up most of the state schools were not 'church' schools to the extent of having diocesan involvement in advising the board of governors (for example) and those that were had religious admissions criteria. In contrast I believe all the schools near me are church schools and the Oxford diocese education board specifically state that 'We exist to support our local communities to witness to the Christian gospel' which sounds a step further on than broadly Christian to me.

I have read the ofsted reports for the local school from the last two years carefully and would definitely dismiss some aspects as not an issue for me but there really are some major issues. I guess they have to get turned around eventually though...

I do stand corrected, the next nearest state school is a VC CofE school so not as directly involved with the diocese but it is small and I suspect we wouldn't get a place there.

Dragon school wasn’t for us, there was a very definite type going there. We were at one of the other schools you mentioned and were very happy. Choir school.

In England the government was very slow to set up schools for the "poor" so before the Education acts of the 1800s the Church stepped in and set up schools. Which is why in some areas there are a lot of C of E schools, because when the government passed the education acts they absorbed these existing schools into the system. Quite a lot don't have the right to have any religious entry selection.

On the other hand my DC went through C of E schools which were quite closely linked to Church. But still read Harry Potter, had pupils from and learnt a lot about a range of faiths (and none).

And their school provided less of a C of E upbringing than New College.

Go for a private school if you want but please be honest about it! It is likely to be far more religious than a state school.

I know the special measures school I believe you're talking about very well. It has been a very frustrating couple of years as a parent and the support from the diocese and governors has not been brilliant to say the least.

However throughout my kids have continued to learn well, been safe and pretty happy (marred only by several of their friends leaving). There are some excellent teaching staff and we'd probably be in a lot better position now except for the excellent interim head we had in January unfortunately becoming seriously ill.

The new co-heads now in post are also excellent and if you have a 2 year old I think the school will be very different by the time you need it. So please don't discount it on that basis.

I'm an atheist and have found the CofE nature of the school not too pronounced. The local rev visits regularly but it really is a school for the whole community, I think the diocese also says something about serving people of 'all faiths and none' and I've found that to be true. I'd prefer a school that wasn't CofE but our options were limited for other reasons and it hasn't been a problem for us, I certainly don't feel Christianity has been pushed on our kids.

There's still a pretty strong community around the school, despite the issues. For me the benefits of having the kids in the local school and both them & us being part of the school community makes up for the other points. Also my belief in the new heads and many of the existing teachers.

If this doesn't sound like the school you're considering ignore me, but it sounded like it from the situation, close to M40 etc.

What's your plan for secondary? If you want to private at secondary it will influence what you do now or are you aiming at Cherwell?

You're thinking about this at the right time to give yourself options. My son has just left New College School and I'd be very happy to talk to you about our experiences there if it would help.

In my son's year, we had movement both to and from the Dragon School; I think this reflects the pros and cons of a bigger school vs a smaller environment, different characters suit either better. I think there has been much less movement in years below his though. There are certainly a range of faith and non-faith backgrounds represented in the school (and even amongst the choristers), and they learn to respect each other's beliefs.

I believe if you were interested in pre-prep entry, now would be a good time to look around and register (which wouldn't commit you to it). The Dragon, unless things have changed, you would go on a waiting list at this stage. (I found it very interesting that while we liked the Dragon when we were thinking about our daughter, though could never have afforded it, we felt no need to consider it for our son). Year 3 entry to NCS or MCS could be a good option if you start in a local school and then feel your son needs something more than they can offer, assuming he proves academic enough at that point.

Thame schools are excellent having experience with both primary and secondary.

New College, MCS and even Dragon would be more religious than any CofE state primary (in the sense that assemblies would be like proper church services, with traditional hymns, bibel readings and a choir). If you are concerned about your local school, you could volunteer to become a parent governor once your son attends. If you would like to keep the door open to an independent option, you could register ds for a nursery place. The advantage of starting in nursery is that at that stage there are usually the largest number of places available and no academic selection. Also fees are similar to, even cheaper than most day care places, so not much of a financial sacrifice. You can always move to state if you feel your local school has improved or you have found somewhere to move to or it's just not your cup of tea. MCS only option from 7, by academic selection only, but for Dragon and NC it's best to register early. There is also Christ Church Cathedral School. I assume it might feel too religious for you but a lovely, very down to earth and caring school with a very ethnically mixed/international/multi faith intake.

My ds1 is at new college school, ds2 will go there too.
I looked at about 20 schools when ds1 was a toddler...found it an incredibly hard decision to make state vs. private and then within that. Part of my problem was that we were unsure at that stage where we would be working longterm (doctors being shunted between hospitals here and there) and had stupidly bought a house pre-children without thought to schools at all. i.e. we were on the edge of a catchment area for a very poor school with a mainly very challenging population feeding into it.
There are some perfectly adequate to excelllent state primaries both in the city and around it. However, you have to get a place to benefit from them! We decided we didn't want to move as might end up moving again shortly after for work. The really nice villages are just as expensive as the suburby bits of oxford and less convinient for hospitals! But we are quite lazy re commuting.
So we tried to hedge our bets and applied for state and private. DS1 was allocated our catchment school (which was none of our 3 choices...) so we sent him to new college.
I highly recommend new college school. REgister asap. It is religious, and is a choir school, but we are an atheist family and the impact upon ds1 is minimal. There are families from various religions at the school and all are respected. ds1 has a much better understanding of religion and different choices than I did at that age (at a standard c of e primary)!
I would register for any private schools you like (the cost is minimal) and leave all your options open. Your local state school may look much more attractive by the time you actually need to apply.