What did you do if you didn't get the school you wanted?

[beancounting]

We are currently looking at middle schools for DD1 for next year.

We live in a village and of the 3 closest middle schools, one is so over subscribed that it's impossible to get a place from a non feeder school, one is a faith school (we don't attend church) and our catchment school has poor performance and has developed a reputation for low level bullying and discipline issues, to the extent that parents with children already there are sending younger siblings elsewhere. There are two other schools in the area but neither are particularly good and they would be difficult for DD to get to, transport-wise.

I know it's early days in terms of us exploring the options so this is probably a bit premature, but I am wondering what people do if they aren't happy with the school they are allocated.

Do you appeal (although I can't see we'd have any grounds really)/sit on a waiting list, or hope that the school is better than you think and just try and support your child to settle in and do well there? She is academically quite able so she might be able to just keep her head down and get on with it.

The whole thing of visiting schools and researching them and trying to find the right school for your child seems a bit of a waste of time when in reality there doesn't seem to be much choice!

First of all I drafted a list of schools in the area. Then I contacted all on the list asking for a tour of the place.

My next logical step was to book a appointment to see the school and talk to students, staff members and parents too. I checked the websites and viewed inspection reports and looked at curriculum information as well.
I typed up a lot of questions to ask them and asked if I could see artwork done by the children or not. They showed me copies of school policies. I observed lessons in progress and stayed at lunch to see what a typical lunch time was like.

Ultimately it came down to my gut feeling. Another good source of information are parents and newspaper articles about the school too.

Don’t forget to listen to gossip about the school too. Sometimes shopkeepers can be a good source of information too. Personally I think that it’s a good idea to explore all the options before making a decision. Only then can you make a good decision based on your gut feeling.