What would you do to get your child into a good school?

[bossykate]

guardian article

nothing we don't already know of course, but still interesting i thought, especially given schools are clamping down on dishonest parents.

Well I am a Catholic, and I do go to church anyway, just not as often as I should, so I am making more of an effort to get to church on a Sunday morning.

Well, it gives you a bigger choice of schools than most people. Not that I'm jealous. [Sob]

Unless I just apply upfront as a heathen who quite likes the idea of religion without the practice? [brightens] What would my chances be?

I agree with you muminlondon. What I find the most annoying is all this talk on the TV/radio/newspaper about choice. I mean, since when can any of us CHOOSE where to send our kids to school (unless you pay of course and even then, there's no guarantee you'll get what you want).

This fiddling about with beacon schools, academies, opted out schools, or whatever - it just doesn't change anything and makes the situation more divisive. It makes the good schools better and leaves the crap ones to flounder. Can anyone cheer me up with any evidence to the contrary?

This fiddling about with beacon schools, academies, opted out schools, or whatever - it just doesn't change anything and makes the situation more divisive. It makes the good schools better and leaves the crap ones to flounder. Can anyone cheer me up with any evidence to the contrary?

blimey this thread has moved on a bit!
Agree with you Beatie, what is good and bad about a school, after all a school is made up of a load of things that will change, ie pupils, teachers, head teacher, even the building! I guess what does not change is the catchment area of a school and thus its (basic) make-up (ie middle-class area, inner-city area etc) but even that will be changed if people can go to a school from anywhere.
And yes, what exactly can the government do?
Replying to yr last post foxinsocks yes we could choose where to send DS1 and DD (who starts in Sept). There are two primaries in our affluent middle-class suburb and I?m sure we could have got in to either. Maybe we are just lucky? But I do fear that there is a lot of scaremongering about this issue. It?s clearly a problem in certain areas but certainly not in this city. We chose the one we are in the catchment for as it is nearby and most of the area?s children go to the nearest school. Unless there was somethign very wrong with it (not sure what that would be) I would always choose the local school.

The school that is nearest to me at present is absolutely dreadful. Appalling results, fighting in the playground (between parents!), just awful. Poor Ofsted, very transient pupils, very high English as second language, behaviour and discipline problems....

oh god i am panicking about schools. actually, i haven't heard too many reports about our local ones (in hackney), but i'm still panicking. better go & look round some i guess.

we have lived in 2 london suburbs so far and we had no choice in either of them. We got into the nearest school both times but there's no way we could have 'chosen' any other school in the borough other than the one that was technically our closest school.

and we were told that if we didn't get into our nearest school, we would be allocated a place at the school in the borough that had places left over, no matter where in the borough that was!

In both cases though, I was perfectly happy with our closest school so I guess in that sense we were lucky.

I think it must be a very differnt story in London from a lot of places outside the capital.
At any rate from what a lot of posters here are saying.

Pamina, if the school you're talking about is where my niece goes, it gets results of 60% ave. 5 A-C GCSEs. I wish we have a school like that in my area - the nearest 5 schools to me are either at 40% or Catholic. What to do?

40% ... bliss

Our catchment school is 24% - and that's out of London.

I am confident that DS could thrive educationally in any of the local-ish primaries. Many have bad overall results, but the 'value added' stats are really good. Many have high ratios of ESOL kids - but thier needs are v well managed in lots of the schools, with extra provision or they are in separate classes until they are confident enough to integrate with mainstream teaching.
BUT I must admit that parents fighting in the playground would have me daunted, and I am worried about the general atmosphere and size of school as DS will have his leg in a fixator frame for a year, and if the ethos isn't right, or behaviour isn't controllable, he will be in danger of being mown down.

Our LEA have not even replied to my e mails or calls asking how this affects our choice, though.

That's the one. It sounds OK to me - some girls have been a bit bitchy but that's probably the case everywhere. They've got a fantastic music department and I don't think there are any particularly weak areas.

I wish I could get my DH to move there! Actually where we live right now we have a better choice but we live in three rooms and are desperate to move to a slightly cheaper area with a garden.

That's depressing GeorginaA! This is beginning to sound like the Monty Python northerners sketch! must go and count my blessings

I was really worried when I had to choose a school for DD. The one closest to us had a really bad report. It had failed OFSTED and was on Special Measures. It was a relief when I started working in a school not to far from home but out of our catchement area. This guaranteed DD a place there.
I don't even want to begin to worry about secondary schools yet (dd is 6) but I have my eye on a new one opening in the next couple of years.

I wouldn't want my kids to go to a school where the parents are fighting in the playground.

Jesus, what is the matter with people?

Parents fighting???? EEK!

no agree, I think even i would be put off local school by parents fighting
agree with blu tho about english as second language, and think that whole area can be quite positive. Wish there was a greater ethnic mix at DS1?s school tbh but can? have everything....

And if we don't get into the school that is now colonised by people renting right next to the school, DS will be at the school where two local Mums looked at DS's foot in the sandpit and shrieked 'euuuurgh, look at his foot. Poor thing!'. But I feel tricky because, after all, it is the social catchment that concerns me.

Anyway, if we do have to go to that school, I will become a governor, work with other parents I know in our street, and do my best to make sure that the school is as good as it can be.