How many schools did you/should you visit before deciding where your child goes?

[RedRobyn2021]

First time doing this; I have two schools locally to visit over the next couple of weeks, one is Ofsted outstanding and the other is good, I think as far as I know they are a good choice of schools to look at but not sure if I should look further as well.

Please can I have some guidance from more experienced parents? I feel out of my depth and quite anxious about doing the right thing for DD

About three for both primary and secondary but given the location there was only one main contender both times

We didn't visit any.

We knew it would be our catchment school.

All the primaries in our area are bursting. There is no choice - it depends on where your house is in our area.

I went to six haha. Our LA goes by distance not catchment so it's a bit different to e.g. London

Three which were good schools but further away that we thought we were unlikely to get offers for.

Three schools close by that didn't have a good reputation but that we wanted to have as bankers if they were less bad than their reputation. (They weren't)

All were undersubscribed last year and likely to be this year too apparently, based on recent birth rates, so it all worked out well for us in the end.

For primary I visited 2, both ones that were nearest so we could walk to school. They both had similarly good ofsteds. I went for the nearer of the 2, indeed the other had a tight catchment area so I felt we may not have got in anyway.
It was an irritating time as many mums were of the belief that the other school was much better, but really they were both pretty equivalent state schools.

Why are you that anxious about It?

Catchment can dictate where you go for starters, unless you can afford private in which case look into that as well.

None. I just sent them to the closest one.

Keep in mind that you can make your life a lot easier for yourself by choosing your closest school. The morning school run will be easier, your children's friends will be local. Over the next few years these things can make a big difference to your quality of life.

I wanted to see every school that we listed on the form. There were were four spaces. I saw five schools as there was one that when I looked round I thought was not a good fit for my daughter, so I went to the open day for the next closest to us and that made it into our fourth space. My partner thought this was a wasted effort as most years we’d have been well out of distance for it and we really loved two that were closer. We did get one of the closer ones so in a way, I saw more than I needed to - but it really helped me as a comparison as will as ensuring I felt confident in the ones we listed.

It depends if you live rurally. Where we lived, there was no choice for primary or secondary. However, I did look at 2 schools for secondary to "compare and contrast".

I only put one preference on the forms as there were no other options. I'd read the admissions criteria in detail and, in the case of both primary and secondary, there was no way my dc wouldn't get in.

It's different in areas where there are several schools though.

Primary 2
Secondary 1

Visited closest 3.

Go in with an open mind; and don't forget to think about before and after school provision if this what you'll be needing. Not all schools offer, and usually a wait list if there is as demand exceeds spaces.

I'm in London and I went to visit loads (20+, state and private, not all in one year) It really helped to open my eyes to the way different schools operate and for me to narrow down what was important to me. But I admittedly had the time to as I had a few days off in the week when dd was at nursery. It was a bit of a hobby and people-watching really as some of them were far out of catchmment but were a bit legendary as they were so sought-after (and had celebrity and politicians kids attending). I quite liked seeing all the old Victorian schools and some newer award-winning architect-designed buildings, comparing the various religious options vs the academies and community schools, and selective preps.

None. There’s one our road! Never considered anywhere else

We live rurally so our catchment area school is about a 3 minute drive away and the other school we're looking at is a 5 minute drive away. We probably wouldn't walk to either of them just because the walk is along an A road so not very pleasant.

The one that isn't our catchment area school we have actually visited before as they do take children from 3 and have stay&play sessions weekly which would make the transition very easy for my daughter.

The other school that's our catchment area school is the one that's just been marked as outstanding has a very good reputation and is a very small village school, one of the teachers at my daughters preschool sends her own children there and speaks highly of it. So I feel like maybe this might be the one but we have never seen it and I do get clicky vibes from it tbh, we live in a farming community (we aren't farmers though) and a lot of the parents actually went to this school themselves.

I'm anxious because I don't want to make a mistake, I think we could probably go to either of these schools but I really want to choose the right one and I want my daughter to be happy and settled.

The kids at her preschool go all over so she may end up in the same place as someone she knows but it's not a given, her preschool is really small and run from a village hall, it's like a throwback to the 80s in the best way 😂

How did you access what was best for you? Like what criteria were you looking at?

I read a book by Sarah Ockwell Smith called The Starting School Book, but I still feel a bit clueless tbh

For DC 1 I looked at 3 school. Our catchment school which has a not great reputation. Our nearest school (as the catchment is lopsided) and the next nearest school. I looked at all the schools within walking distance) I knew that DC1 would be ok at a big primary school as she is very social. I plumped for the nearest school which had a good reputation. With hindsight I made the wrong choice as DC1 developed glue ear and couldn’t hear. The school did nothing for her. Piled on the pressure as she wasn’t learning phonics (as she couldn’t hear) and labelled her a naughts (as she sat there fidgeting and not getting on with the work as she didn’t know what to do as she couldn’t hear the teacher). I was dragging a screaming child to school everyday but there was still no support as her attendance was good. They also had a sudden ‘jolt’ from Reception to Y1 and went from play based to 100% sit down classroom learning which DC hated.

With DC2 I looked at six schools; 3 village schools, one smaller all through school and two bigger school. As DC2 is autistic I chose the school that was most forward thinking about SEN, seemed to be a kind school and focused more on the whole child.

It sounds as though either of your choices would probably work out well. Don't sweat it too much - no school is ever 100% perfect, but nor are they likely to be Dickensian hellholes, either.

What I looked for when I went round was a) kind, caring staff who looked out for the children's wellbeing and didn't seem too stressed in their jobs; and b) decent facilities.

In fact the primary school I eventually got (after being shunted out to a faraway school for 4 months due to shrinking catchment areas) did not have great facilities, but it was a good school with a pleasant atmosphere, and my DCs did well there. And it helped that it was close to home, as PP have said.

For primary we just went to the one we could walk to. For secondary again only one choice that we could get to, although we did move to this village when kids were babies with local schools forming part of the decision. I think it’s a lot of luck though really. My kids went to the same schools, dc1 had some fantastic teachers and only one that was poor, while that was an awful year she had strong foundations which set her up well for secondary. Dc2 hit every NQT, and really had a completely different experience, he missed SATs and ended up in bottom sets at secondary who seemed to write him off, so in the end we’ve gone private for the last few years of secondary and again only really had a choice of one because we needed an inclusive school with a bus service from our village! Thankfully he’s doing really well there. If I had my time again I’m not sure I’d live rurally, towns and cities give more options.

Primary I looked at one- local village school I was very happy with. Secondary I’m looking at 7. 2 state, 5 private that I’ll knock down to 3 for application. There’s no point looking at more state schools as have zero chance of getting any others.

DC1 was in a high birth rate year so we knew we realistically only had one option for primary. We looked at it, it seemed fine, we were busy so decided to give it a whirl and see how it went knowing that, if it didn't go well, we had the option of private.
DC2 went where DC1 went as, by then, we'd set up the after school childminder & things.

With secondary schools, we did look at more schools but only because we're in a grammar school area and still had the option of private so we looked at the option for if she passed the 11+, if she failed the 11+ and the two private schools which were within a reasonable travel time. We then did a similar tour with DC2 as it wasn't set in stone that they would follow (both whether they would even have the option of the grammar that DC1 ended up at and whether the same school would be the right school)

There is no point looking as you are usually given the school closest.

Not necessarily, because that's not how it works.

You put down your chosen schools on the local authority's form, in your genuine order of preference – ie. the one you want most goes at the top, followed by your second choice, etc. The LA tells every school on your list that you have applied. Each school then tells the LA whether they can give you a place, based on their own criteria (EHCPs, siblings, distance, etc). But, crucially, they don't know what rank you've given them on your list; they only know you're interested.

The LA then goes down your list, starting at the top. If your first choice of school has said yes they'll take you, then that's the one you'll get. If they said no, the LA then checks whether your second choice has said yes, and if so they give you that one. And so on.

Many schools use distance as a criterion, and most primary parents like to be close to their school, so you do often end up with the nearest school. But it also depends on a lot of other factors – whether it's a high birth year, which schools are oversubscribed, etc – so you could go to one further away.

None, it was covid so we chose based on YouTube videos. Fun fun.

Anyway I spoke to the owner of our nursery who was also a teacher and she said our closest school is really good so she didn't see any point in us going further. Decision made!

It sounds like your gut is preferring the slightly further school, would you get in? Do you know anyone with kids there?

My best advice is to visit and go with your gut instinct about which is best. In my area I had to put four on the application form and I knew that my first choice had large numbers of sibling applicants that year so they got priority on the spaces. So although I set my heart on that school I wasn't holding out hope for getting in. Before looking at other schools I had decided on my preference order but this changed after visiting. In one school the headteacher walked away from me mid-conversation (I was the last parent there) and the reception teacher stood open mouthed at her. This was already my fifth option so it just cemented my thoughts. The school I had planned to put second went fourth in the end because the headteacher couldn't answer my questions and just kept saying to look at the website. My original fourth choice became third because it was friendlier and inclusive and was talking about a well rounded child unlike other schools that were results driven. I was lucky and got my first choice for dc but only because some parents with siblings in the school forgot to apply/didn't think they had to for their second child. I'm a teacher myself and I've worked in schools that have been graded inadequate by Ofsted and often these are nurturing schools whereas outstanding schools may get the results but that is there focus rather than the students a whole. You need to decide what is best for your child.

Yes what @zaxxon said in terms of the way it works and how theLA goes down your ranking. Yes you often end up at the closest school - btu after all,many parents put this as their top preference.

This comment from @lololulu is actually misleading as it may be taken to mean that whatever you put down you'll get your closest school. Not only is it not that bad - if a further away school if preferred by you on the form and has spaces then you'll get that - but also it is by no means automatic (as this comment might be taken to imply) that you will get you closest school if you don't list it on the form, as already pointed out by PPs. Every year people come a cropper by listing only unrealistic choices and not their local school at all (even in sixth place) and then being allocated an unpopular school miles away.

@zaxxon

Yes I know how it works. I said usually.

I have 2 that have left primary.

@clary
Well most people put the closest school.

It's not misleading.

If you put 4 schools and they are full you will get the closest one to you that has space.