Is local better?

[Lookingtomoveperhaps]

Is it better to choose a local prep? I have enrolled my DD into a nursery/prep close to our house – approx. a 10 min drive away. While it is a feeder for an outstanding senior school (top 15 in the country), it is not the senior school that I hope she’ll eventually attend. I’ve since found another nursery/prep that tends to send a lot of their pupils (11+) to the senior school which I prefer. However, this school is around a 30 min drive away. What would you do?

Well 30 mins away means 2 hours of driving each day unless you organise a lift share.
So I would definitely go for local.

"local" is less relevant for private schools as their peers tend to come from all over. (Being part of local community and having friends close by being 2 of the main reasons for opting for local).

I think a 30 minute journey in the car (is that in morning rush hour?) is a lot for a young child unless there are very compelling reasons to prefer that over the more local school. Basing it on where the school sends its leavers (and it sounds like this is years away for your DC?) is not a reason. The schools might change, your idea of what you want from a school might change, your DC's own friends might not go to the "right" school...

For prep definitely. The school day will be long enough as it is.

30min each way is imo ridiculous if there is a good local alternative.

Local makes a huge difference for high school when the kids can walk to school and to each others houses. There's no issues when school shuts early suddenly due to an unexploded grenade found in an old cupboard or buses don't run for weather-related reasons. And importantly, you'll know a lot of the kids they hang around with as they'll have been in primary school together.

I'd always go local if it's a viable option.

Yes, being part of a school community is important to me so I think local would likely be better. Admittedly if my DD gets a 4+ place at my preferred all-through school then I would likely opt for that – which is also a 30 min drive away. But then I would seek to relocate shortly after. Not necessarily to save on the commute but because I’d like her, and us, as parents, to feel part of a community.

Has anyone done a 30 mins or more commute for pre-prep? If so, what were your reasons?

Hello, I do the 30 minute drive because the children’s school goes through to the senior we wish for them to attend. It’s a bit of a mission and ideally we would move closer eventually but for now it’s fine and he seems okay. The other children seem to come from quite a wide radius.

I’m not coming from the perspective of a private school and I know it’s slightly different… but yes local is better, I would go local unless there’s a compelling reason not to.

Not me, but my sister in law.

Reasons were

• school had good record of getting children into local prep/junior schools
• good music provision (important for their family)
• range of after school activities
• SIL was a SAHM so happy to do the journey each day especially as there were other things she often did locally to the school after drop off (at least she thought she was happy to do it before she started; much less so after doing it for a while :) )

Do you have, or do you plan to have, other children? I think SIL's biggest bind was having to take pre-school children on the journey (so they spent a lot of time in the car) and having to hang around after school when one child did an after school club, but another didn't.

I think I’m convinced. I thought local was the more sensible option but it’s so easy to be swayed when considering schools.

I would definitely do the local one. She'll make more local friends and have a nice network nearby. She'll also perform better at school as she won't be knackered.

She can do pre-prep there and then you can move her to the other school for prep. You may even decide that you don't want to send her to the original senior. (My three went to a three different schools!)

Yes, those were also my thoughts if she doesn't get into the preferred school at 4+. May I ask why your DC attended three different schools and what, if anything, was the impact? I want to avoid that if possible but I can see how it could happen.

They're just very different and different schools suited them .
DS1 easily passed 11+, was ready to move schools at year 7, quite self-motivated and went to the Grammar school.
DS2 again easily passed the 11+ is very academic, but quite shy. We didn't think he'd be happy in a large class size and he likes a range of extra curricular's (which the grammar were not good at). He went to a selective independent in year 9.
DD has inattentive ADHD and is academically average and goes to a nearby non-selective independent which is fully streamed for every subject. Her stream has very small class sizes.

I did make sure that all the schools had a nearby bus route for secondary though.