Is an excellent primary really that important?

[saramoon]

We live (rent) in a really lovely area that has an excellent primary just behind the house. Our eldest DD is due to start there in September. One of the reasons we moved here about 3 years ago was so our DDs would go to a good school. (there are other reasons too - family etc). Anyway recently we have been looking at buying and have realised that we may not ever be able to buy here as it is so expensive. Have been looking at other areas that are cheaper but my heart is not in it really as we love this area and the school is fab. Is it really important then for children to go to a good primary or is secondary more important or does it not matter at all if you have a good, stable home life and your children are bright and able?

I always thought I'd be faced with the private v state dilemma at secondary level so I was surprised to have had to go through that at primary level. It is a lot of money to spend but I came to the conclusion that if I didn't get it right at primary level it wouldn't matter at secondary because it would be too late.

I think a child's formative years are imperative on all fronts - be it home life, schooling, diet.
Children are born thirsty to learn. They explore everything, then they teach themselves to walk, talk etc.
Children who continue loving to learn do so from us, their parents. If we are interested in the world around us so will they be.
However once they're in school they spend a lot of their day there and are often tired when they get home so it's imperative school,is interesting and satisfying for children.
I volunteer in my local primary and it is sad to see how children as young as eight have lost their zest. They describe school as 'boring' and sound like teenagers. They dodn't think it's 'cool' to put up their hand in class.
So, yes, I feel primary school is very important.

Think about what you mean by excellent - take a wide view and remember that it needs to be excellent for your child, not Ofsted, your next door neighbour, the SATs people etc. Although they might all think its excellent too, sometimes schools that are perceived to be excellent might not suit your child.

Missed the point of the question but yes I do think it's important to have good primary just sometimes hard to define what that means

It depends upon how you measure excellence. dd's school for example has a mediocre ofsted but in terms of the teaching and her experience there so far (she is in year 1) I cannot fault it. It has a slight "reputation" locally. But the fears I had before she started have, thankfully, been unfounded.

I thought it didn't matter, and then I realised it did (to me) and ds ended up on a waiting list and had to change schools after 2 terms. It was totally worth it though.

He has been fully briefed that he is to win a scholarship for high school though