Adequate or excellent school

[Longcovid21]

I live in Wales and my ds will have to choose a secondary next year. 2 in the catchment are rated excellent by Estyn. One is rated as adequate. The adequate one is where his best friend is going and nearer where his dad lives. However, would it be better to push him towards the excellent schools? What is the difference between adequate and excellent? I guess you only get one go at education, however, he's keen to go where his best friend is going. We could a much bigger house in the adequate school catchment area, and ds would be closer to his dad, but is a bigger house and proximity to his dad (who he sees fairly regularly) really an adequate compensation? Any advice would be much appreciated.

It depends a lot on the individual child, and on the specific reasons why the school isn't considered excellent and whether they apply to your child.

So - firstly is your child sufficiently self-motivated that they want to do well and are willing to put in extra work and potentially have to tolerate being teased by peers for doing so if the school has a culture of it being uncool to do well?

Look at the reporta in detail that gave this rating - how long ago was the inspection? What has the school put in place since then? e.g. if the inspection said they aren't doing enough to stretch the most able pupils and you think your child is likely to be among the most able pupils, and they have been given a grant to initiate a new programme to benefit this cohort which your child will get to participate in, then that's great. There will generally be several areas of shortcoming like this so consider each one separately.

Also look at the inspection dates of the outstanding schools. Some were rated excellent a decade ago and haven't been reinspected since. how sure can you be that the rating is reliable?

I don't think you should base his choice of school on his best friend. They might not even be friends in a years time! I would choose the better of the schools personally.

Maybe look at what they are good at & size of school & what they offer for example extra curricular?

Yes true. Friendships are so volatile anyway aren't they!

I guess it is also in terms of what we can afford housing wise in each area too. A massive 4 bedroom in the adequate area and a tiny 2 bed semi with a tiny yard in the other, affluent area with the excellent school.

Don't choose a school based on where a friend says he is going. The friend's parents might overrule him, and the friendship might not last y7 anyway.

That said, look at the Estyn reports in context. How old are they? Schools can change a lot in just a few years. What were the reasons for only being 'adequate'. Do those matter to you? Go to open evenings and see for yourself.

Thanks. We are certainly going to go to the open evenings as soon as we can.