Priorities when chossing your child's school

[HairyToe]

Once more surrounded wherever I go by the dreaded school conversations so thought I'd canvass a few opinions here - hope you don't mind.

When I was picking a school I felt that driving children to school was bad for environment, bad for children's health and bad for the community so my ability to walk to school was one of my main priorities ( though not my only one obviously).

Many other people I meet don't seem to consider that at all and are happily scouring the surrounding district for the perfect school, seemingly taking it as read that they'll drive.

I'm with you! Even when I was a young child, long before I became an eco-freak, I always knew any kids I had would attend local school in walking distance. It just didn't make any sense to me to do otherwise. I guess the school run traffic bothered me even when I was very little.

Being in walking distance probably means that most of their friends will be walking distance, too, very helpful when they're older. Faster for you to bring packed lunch in if they've forgot, and easier to attend Nativity plays, etc.

I agree, I'd love my DC to walk to school. But I wouldn't put proximity above suitability.

The schools my DC attend all have to be driven to and I dislike it intensely, but what they offer will I hope be worth it in the long run.

There isn't really any choice here as just about all schools not on special measures are oversubscribed.
But yes, I agree that if we actually had a choice, then a school within walking distance would be really important, for all the reasons listed. I have found friends within walking distance is really useful even in Reception, so children can easily go to each others houses after school.

we started by finding out which schools were in our catchment and going from here

But what do you consider to be 'suitability' and in what circumstances would it outweigh proximity.

I considered my local school first, decided it was fine, DD would be happy and would receive a reasonable education. I didn't look further afield - I'd rather choose a local ok school than a distant "fabulous" one.

Being able to walk to school was important for us too, we feel a bit more part of the local community. I would also say read ofsted reports but don't rely on them. If you go a visit a school you'll get much more of a feeling as to whether it's right for your child

mumofmonsters - thats what i was aiming for really - proximity as a first priority, then which one do i like best.

Actually in my case there is only one within walking distance so not much to think about!

Say in the event that your child was particularly good at sport or languages or whatever and the closest school wasn't up to much in that field, whereas a more distant school had excellent facilities and offered better prospects then you would consider it, wouldn't you?

Driving didn't come into it as I don't drive. Primary I went round a few school fairs and noticed the behaviour. We ended up at the school which backed onto our estate so less than 10 minutes walk.

The DCs' secondary school is 7 miles away and a long walk to the station and a train ride. This school just seemed perfect for DS and it has proved to meet his needs and both he and DD are very happy there and thriving, which is far more important to me than anything else

Well since there isn't a single primary or secondary state or private school within walking distance of us, the mode of transport wasn't the top priority for us.

I have applied for one 8 minutes drive away over the one 4 minutes drive away though, as I decided to put what is best for my dd above what is best for the environment. So shoot me.

castille, at primary level, I don't think so, no. They can go to after school clubs and so on. I'm not sure what kind of special ability in a 3 year old (when you are applying for a Reception place in the UK) would lead me to think my child was particularly talented and needed extra facilities.
Secondary is probably different.

I would love to be able to walk to school. However, the only one within reasonable walking distance is Catholic and they won't have us! (Not that I want them either iyswim)

We have to drive to all our local schools so for us it was the one where the environment would suit DD the best. Although RC we have chosen to send her to the localist of the schools (still 3 miles away) as they have more emphasis on learning through the outdoor environment which would suit her better.

Convenience and ethos were important to us. I teach in our 2nd closest school (800m away) and wanted DD to go there. I also like that it has a very mixed intake, that FS is play-based and that the school does a lot to encourage creativity, imagination and the arts rather than teach to the test/restrict itself to QCA units.

The closest school doesn't have a mixed intake, is very formal even in Reception and has little time for fun learning. DD got a place at this one where she spent the first term of Reception until a place came up at the school I teach at.

Looking at Ofsted reports, KS2 results or listening to local gossip were of no interest whatsoever.

Sorry should have made it clear my DD is at primary school, so whether she's good at sport/languages hasn;t become apprent yet. By secondary age I'd assume she could find her own way to school on public transport if necessary (as I did at 11).

Also if you live rurally with no schools nearby obviously you'd need to drive, so in that case walking as an option wouldn;t come into it.

Do you really want to know what people take into account?
It seems you've decided that those who don't choose the nearest are doing something wrong.

Reading the papers, watching the news, looking at mn, must have all lead you to believe that many parents will do a lot for a good education for their child.

A short drive, or plonking their kids on a bus is small change.

SE13: "Looking at Ofsted reports, KS2 results or listening to local gossip were of no interest whatsoever" Yes, I found all of these things pretty useless.
But out of interest, for those of us without inside knowledge, how can we figure out what a school is like? Is looking around the only useful thing? And what should we be looking for, general atmosphere or anything else?

Yes if there were several I could walk to I'd pick my 'favourite' rather than necessarily the closest. Just wouldn;t choose to drive a 4/5/6 year old to a different school further away because it was thought to be 'better'.

I should add the school she attends is relatively unpopular here and an awful lot of parents seem to rule it out as a matter of course, preferring to drive theit children out of town to village schools.

She's been there a while now and is doing well and the school seems fine.

Seems a shame though that it's undersubscribed each year whilst parfents fight tooth and nail to get into these other more 'popular' schools.

Ah I'm talking secondary

Agree that primary is different, unless special circumstances apply (as they did for us)

I visited a few schools at primary level in both sectors. None were really in walking distance. I guess the most local one is, but not an ideal walk and walking wouldn't be an ootion anyway due to mine and DH's work hours.

I went with gut instinct on being insdide the school and looking round. I could feel which one was right or not. DD has been at the school we chose for 3 years now (in Y3) and so far we remain convinced it was the best decision.

I'm still not convinced that you actually want to know what other people look for, but here are some of the things that I considered when choosing a primary school for my dd (which incidentally can equally be done at 4 as 3 - applications only closed last week in my area, and will include children who turned 4 last September).

• the head - can s/he communicate well? Does s/he teach as well, or just a glorified admin person?

• the facilities - sport, IT etc. I chose the school with enough computers for each child to have one to learn at, rather than the one which doesn't yet have any.

• year combining - common in small village schools, but I chose one that doesn't over one that does, as I don't want my dc to be held back by being in a class with children almost 2 years younger than them.

• G&T programme - may not be a concern for all, but dd's nursery school teacher says that she is the brightest pupil she has had mathematically in 17 years of teaching, so we wanted somewhere that would build on this (esp with me being mathematically minded and dh also strong in this area, so we know that it's likely that she will excel). The school we have requested has a G&T teacher for maths, with one boy working 8-10 years above his age . (We aren't expecting dd to excel that much!!!)

• Gut feel - when looking round, what is the overall impression? Do the children look happy and like they are having fun? What do the wall displays say about school life?

Hope that gives you a bit more insight.

I never considered proximity at all. Was not important to me.

Thanks for your thoughts on this - just realised time and I have to get to school!

Difficult to debate this in real life for fear of being ostracised (yes I'm a wimp) so good to be able to 'talk' freely on here.

Am always amazed that people feel there is choice. We have one primary school in our small town. If DS had applied to other schools in neighbouring towns, he wouldn't have got in. Therefore, he goes to our local school. No choice in the matter, in reality.

though of course, because it's our local school, we're able to walk!

It depends where you live Cirrhosis. We live in Herts and in my small cul-de-sac alone children have gone to at least 6 different primaries all but 1 within 20 mins walking distance.

When my DS left primary I think the 30 children went to 8 different secondaries although one of them got a scholarship to private school.