New Zealand mums - can I get a bit of primary school advice

[WhatSheSaid]

My dd1 is due to start school in Nov this year. I am dithering between the 2 closest schools to us. Neither is right on our doorstep. I didn't go to school in NZ so don't "know" the education system that well. Here's a quick summary of what I know about them:

School A:

• is (just about) our closest, it's 2km away, along a busy main road.

• it is walkable but if/when I get a job (am SAHM at moment) I would probably not be walking 30 mins to/30 mins from school twice a day - I would prob be driving them.

• has an after school club but not a before school one

• parents I ask about it all say it is "fine" but no one is massively enthusiastic iyswim

• has about 60 in a year

• gets a pretty good ERO report but there are a couple of things mentioned - one is along the lines of "Some teachers are good at such-and-such a thing and they are a good example to other teachers" (perhaps indicating some teachers aren't quite on the ball about some things?). The other is about "Strategies are being implemented to improve student behaviour" (indicating there are some problems with student behaviour?)

• has no uniform (I know this is normal in NZ primaries and some intermediates and high schools)

• is decile 7

School B:

• is 2.5 km away, part of it up quite a steep hill and we would be driving most if not all of the way as it would be a 40 min walk each way with 2 kids.

• has before and after school club

• parents I know all seem to love it - have never heard anything negative

• has a uniform (which I do like the idea of as dd1 already spends ages every day deciding what to wear and if she has to wear a uniform that is taken care of!)

• has about 100 in a year

• gets a glowing ERO report. Schools are normally reviewed every 3 years and this school's report says at the end it will be reviewed again in 4-5 years, I believe this is quite unusual and ERO only do it when they are very happy/impressed with a school.

• is a decile 5.

I know ERO reports are not the be all and end all - I know they only spend a limited time in each school and have stock phrases they use in reports etc. Dd1 will know others from kindy going to both schools.

I will visit both schools and try to get a feeling from the visits. My gut feeling is School B but I am then sending her to a school that is slightly further away and lower decile than our closest one - does that sound nuts? I know the reports say "decile doesn't reflect the school" etc etc but truthfully, if it was a choice between a decile 10 and a decile 1, we'd all go for the decile 10 wouldn't we?

Have you/would you send your child to a decile 5 school?

I know I'm probably overthinking this and she will probably be fine at either school - I'm just interested in other's opinions.

TIA

My 3 went to a decile 10. All the schools where I live are decile 10. I personally don't think it necessarily makes for a better school, at primary level.

I don't think the fact that one is decile 5 and one is decile 7 would be of much significance. Lower decile schools just get more Government funding.

The teachers that your kids get have the most influence overall I believe, in my personal experience.

I think you can only really go by how the place feels to you taking into account your own children, obviously having talked to parents, read ERO etc.

Don't know if I've been any help, sorry.

I'm a NZ mum (well, English mum of kiwi kids in NZ) but probably won't be much help with your questions. My children's school is decile 9 I think, in an area of mainly decile 9 or 10, which in effect means they get minimal funding from the government and are forever fundraising. But you're right, given the choice of decile 10 and 1, I'd definitely go for 10. But between 9 and 10, it wasn't something we took into account. And I would be the same for a difference of 2, as you have between 7 and 5. Also, so I was told, the decile is based on census information for the area, so not necessarily people with children at that school, or any school - our area has a lot of farmers, and that pushes up the deciles of the country schools apparently. (hope I'm not spouting rubbish here!)

ERO reports, well, I think I skimmed the ERO reports for the 3 schools we were looking at, but again I didn't make any decisions based on them. We were in between two schools (driving distance to each as we are in the country) - one was tiny (30 kids total) and the other quite large (nearly 300) - the bigger school was our first choice, but we were in zone for the tiny one, so we applied for a third school about 10 minutes drive away, with about 200 kids. In the end, DS was accepted at all 3 (oh the joys of rural NZ!) and we went with our first choice. It's local so lots of his friends are close by (again driving distance but only a few minutes), no uniform but this didn't bother me.

Not sure that was any help, but it makes a change to have someone talking about something NZ-y! It sounds to me that you are favouring school B - a look around should help to cement your feelings!

I agree I don't think there will be too much difference between a decile 5 and 7 apart from the amount of govt funding and potential fundraising you will be expected to do. I think I would concentrate on the practicals....

I would probably ask where the children come to the school from i.e. are there alot of out of zoners and where do they come from purely from a friend/play date perspective. You may find you are driving quite a distance after school or at the weekend for play dates (ds 2 seemed to rarely find local children to play with!)

If you will probably need a before school care option B would get my vote.

Do either schools feed into local sports - again when they are old enough they will probably want to do sport/ballet and they will want to do it with their school friends not what is local.

If all else fails you can always move her - I know not ideal but I am about to move ds2 partly because we are moving although I could easily keep him at the same school and partly because I want to see if he will make more friends and more local ones at the slightly larger new school. (There is an abundance of girls in his class which is a composite class in a school of 100 students years 0-8 so limited choice of friends and out of school social life.)

School deciles on the whole are a red herring. the decile rating relates to the general socio economic groups that the pupils parents fall into. My son's school is a decile 4 school. He likes it, I like it. there are a wide range of children at his school, a lot of professional people send their children there, but are also a greater amount of parents with limited means. Teachers are great and my son has a good appreciation that not all children come from and home like him.

DH is a teacher and he tells me that schools have to be decile 3 or below before extra government funding is released.

The main thing for you though is that most primary schools in NZ operate very tight school zones. So, if you live outside the zone, you don't get in, unless you apply for and get a place through a ballot for out of zone places. So, I'd suggest you contact each school and find out if you are in zone or not, and find out when the ballot for out of zone places takes place if necessary. Visit each school and just see waht you think!

Thanks, this is all helpful.

I do know of several people who live closer to school A (much closer than I am) but choose to send their dcs to school B. Whereas I don't know of anyone who is closer to school B but sends their dcs to school A. Which suggests that people must think school B is pretty good.

I know of 2 teachers (friends of friends) who have done relief teaching at school B and were v impressed - both mentioned how passionate the teachers are.

Whether I need before school care is going to be totally dependent on whether anyone wants to employ me after 4+ years out of the job market

shelscrape - neither of the schools is zoned so I don't need to worry about that. There is occasionally talk of school B introducing a zone - so if dd1 went there this year and they did introduce a zone later I would be in a better position for dd2 to get in, having a sibling at the school.

I think you will have a much better idea once you visit them. It really helps to meet the principal, look around and observe the mood of the school.

I looked at three local schools and the visits made my decision very easy. They were all good, but the one I chose felt exactly right for us.

The decile factor is a good indicator of how much funding the school receives but otherwise not terribly helpful.

The ERO reports tend to mask any problems with phrases like "working towards" etc though I have noticed that schools where Maori and Pacific Island children are achieving at or above expectation tend to be excellent. There is a separate section in the reports for this.

Personally I favour bigger schools as they tend to be very well-resourced, but again, I would visit first.

good luck!