Advice needed..should I move my daughter to another school?

[Vi14]

Hi, my daughter is currently in year 3. But if I decided to move her to another school I will be asking if she can stay in year 3 next year as her birthday is at the end of August.

We did live just around the corner from her school, a minutes walk away if that. She loves school and has lots of friends. It is only a very small school so they do all with them.

Due to me having another baby and needing a bigger house we have moved house 15 miles away which takes about 25 minutes to get there.

She loves our new house and she has settled so fast. The area is so quiet but with plenty of other children to play with. A brilliant park close by and lots of walks.

I don't mind taking her to school everyday as it's a lovely drive with no traffic but with the baby due in October I have a feeling this may become to much and with the price of petrol it is quite expensive.

There are two schools just around the corner from us one which is a 14 minute walk or a 5 minute drive but it is a lot bigger than her current school and one which is a 40 minute walk and a 6 minute drive which is a smaller school like the one she is currently at.

I have emailed both schools to ask if there are any places available and if we can have a look around to try and help mine and my daughters decision.

I'm not sure what to do for the best and when I ask my daughter what she wants to do she says shes not bothered but I know that isn't true.

Any kind advice is greatly appreciated...thank you x

Have her teachers said how she is doing in Year 3 academically? It could be dull to repeat the year if she doesn't need to do so. Then again if she has found it hard being so young she would gain confidence re-doing the year in a new school. You would need to ask the new school if they will allow that and how it would work later. Sometimes they then require you to skip a year to get back into the right age group which is madness. I think it might be a council decision rather than school decision but the school would know. I would also be opting for the closer school with a baby on the way as long as you don't think it will affect your daughter to lose friends.

@MigAndMog thank you for your reply. I have spoke to the schools and they have said they wouldn't allow her to stay in year 3 which doesn't bother me to much.

As the current school she attends is only very small there are only 4 children in her year group including her so they teach all of KS2 together (21 in total). So most of her friends are older than her.

She goes to her best friends house quite a lot and this would hopefully continue as she doesn't live that far from us.

I just worry that if she starts at a new school friendship bonds may already be formed and she won't make any close friends.

She is also getting to that age where she is going to want to play out with her friends so if she does move schools she will then hopefully have more friends in the area.

My head is all over the place not knowing what to do for the best x

I moved 3 primary school dc... 1 dd had a party invite the first week! . Small school - less than 100. Less than 10 girls in both dd's classes. All settled amazingly well.

There is an upside to a larger school which is more choice in friendship groups and then the transition to secondary is easier as it doesn't feel as overwhelming.

Are the two local schools feeder schools for any secondaries? I know it feels like years away but these are things you need to consider now.

I would move her to the closest one if they had space.

@ChewOnAPickle thank you for your comment. I have tried to tell my daughter this regarding the secondary schools. There is one very close which she will be going to. As is so far away from her current primary school I can't see that anyone from there would be going to this secondary school although there aren't many secondary schools in the area so you never know.

The closest primary school do have space and have said we can go and have a look around. Hopefully she will like it x

I moved my DS in year 3 - he settled in very quickly and made lots of friends at the new school. I think younger children are often less clique-y so I wouldn't worry too much about friendship groups at this age.

@Vi14 good to get her to make friends before she goes up to secondary, it helps.

Ultimately the decision lies with you for her school, so big up anything she would like ie more friendship opportunities etc turn stuff into a positive.

I moved house when my children were 7 and 4 but kept them in their old primary a 15 minute drive away as it was outstanding. We moved for a larger house and an outstanding secondary. Although the drive was okay I didn't have a newborn.

Think local playdates etc for the closest school. Plus walking to and from it. My sons both went to a 3 form entry, my eldest is introvert and still did really well there.