How did you choose a primary school?

[Lelophants]

I guess I’m asking those who actually had a choice and weren’t tied to catchment. I’m looking at about six schools and honestly can’t decide. A couple are walkable and some technically walkable but I’d probably drive on some days. They’re all ‘good’. Some were satisfactory or inadequate a few years ago and some have always been good but I know this can change. Some are known for being good for sen but have wider catchment or are bigger. Some have better play space. What questions do you ask to work out which one? Did you get a gut feeling or did something stand out?

We have 5 local primary schools near us (furthest is a half a hour walk and then closer up to about 10 minutes). All schools have a fairly good rating with OFSTED and good reputations which we looked at when we were looking at buying our current home.

One ruled itself out because we don’t go to a Catholic Church (and you need to go to get into the school). My husband didn’t want my children going to a overly catholic school so that ruled a second out.

I had one which I preferred on paper for where we wanted him to go (10 minutes up the road and one class in take. Also did forest school). Went to go and visit. They didn’t do any lessons until year one and had them mixing with nursery. The head teacher also said she didn’t like small children which definitely put me off

Went to an open evening at the one that was my second choice and it was a completely different feel. The deputy head showed us round and fully engaged with my son and I actually saw my son settle and not cling onto me

The third one we didn’t view but it has the reputation of being the “rough school” but put this as our third option. I had a friend who’s son went there who said it wasn’t as bad as it’s reputation but I was that heavily pregnant I didn’t fancy walking round to view it

We went by gut feeling and it worked out for us. My little boy settled and has come on really well since he started

I think that easy walking distance is very important. It is a nice experience for children to walk to school. We look at cats, squirrels, insects, plants and saw hello to neighbours also going to school. Even when it might have been a rush to get out the door, we are all pretty calm as we walk along.

Closest for us. But otherwise - flexible wrap around care, and walkable. So much of a child's outcome is determined by their family and upbringing, school doesn't matter that much.

I have 4 dc and live in a small town of about 10 000. There are 4 primary schools all within walking distance of between 10 and 20 minutes. I have had children at all of them!
First school was very close to where we lived (we have since moved to another part of town). It was fine but it's intake was mainly from the local council estate (we also lived on it) and there were a lot of rough children there. It wasn't a problem as dd1 had nice friends and was not a crowd follower. It also had great wraparound and holiday clubs - and 2 classes each year.
We moved away and then came back to the same town. We were slightly nearer another school so decided to send dd1 and dd2 there. It also took from a rough estate. It had one and a half classes per year but years 1 and 2 and years 3 and 4 were all put together depending on ability and were also moved between the classes for English and maths according to ability. I quite liked this though not when dd1 and dd2 ended up in the same classes for English and Maths as there was only 1 school year between them! (Dd2 was brighter)
There are 10 years between dd2 and ds and as he had SEN I decided to send him to a further school which was very new and served a middle class area. It was also 3 classes for each 2 years. During his time there a lot of parents became dissatisfied with the head and other issues and lots of children left. It was also a bit cliquey but ds enjoyed his time there. Other children were a bit far for him to visit on his own so as we didn't live on the estate he didn't have the same relationship as most of the others.
Dd3 went to the furthest school, a C of E one as her friend was going there. I wouldn't have minded her going to the same one as her sisters ( our catchment one). This was one form entry which I think was a bit small really but the school had a good feel about it. I soon realised though how one teacher leaving in such a small school made a big difference. It was also more religious than I expected. Similar issue with not having friends in the same street etc.

I would say if everything else was pretty much the same I'd go for proximity to your home.

I understand this and it’s why I was contemplating this nice small school nearby but it looks like he might have some sen. So he might do well in the good sen supportive school or he might get more individualised support in the smaller one that has less.

When I was choosing for my foster children we lived pretty much equal distance between two schools and I chose one over the other partly because I'd started taking the kids to a local club where we'd met some children and parents from that school who were all quite happy with it and partly because when I looked at the websites for each school the one I chose had a much better website with loads of information and photos on which made that school seem better.

I also chose it because it had experience with children in care. There was another school that we could have got to which was the more 'desirable' school in a slightly better area but I figured it was better sending the kids to a school in a more 'rough' area where they had experience with children in care and children coming in at lower attainment levels etc.

The school was great but I did notice a deterioration in behaviour in general within the classes from Year 4 onwards when the teachers started having a harder job controlling kids who came from quite difficult backgrounds.

I chose the school because

1.the atmosphere- there seemed to be a happy but calm and purposeful feeling to the learning and playing

2.easy to walk to

1. Had an excellent preschool next door which offered before and after school as well as preschool- this meant I could drop off / pick up all my children at the same place and at the same time when I was working (including the preschool youngest)

I rejected one for being too far to walk, and one for appearing to be fun but chaotic in the reception class.

The 'outstanding' primary school was very disappointing. One child was crying, a couple looked petrified, and the teacher raised her voice at a small group as they 'moved' without her permission. The headteacher looked horrified when I asked him about their SEN provision (as ds1 had a speech delay) and preferred talking about how many year 6 went to the grammar school.

I personally think it is about choosing the right environment for your DC.

Nothing much to add but some questions I'll be considering when the time comes is, what abuse prevention education so they have in place and what year group does that start? As well as sex Ed. What support I'd in place for students that do well apart from one or two subjects, and what school trips/enrichment activities are they planning on doing throught out time at school such as residential etc

Gut feeling mostly, plus distance comes into it of course, and availability of breakfast club/after school club if that's something you need OR may need in the future.

My children are older but from experience I can say that the head teacher makes a big difference, but that being said they can change in your child’s time at a school. Go for somewhere walkable, have a look around them all and go with your gut which suits your child the best

Although a long way off, keeping the transition to high school in mind is really important. A small school is nice when they’re little, but they may outgrow friendships and find transition to high school harder.

Our local juniors is part of an awful academy chain that my oldest DC had a very bad time with at secondary. I heard they were taking over the juniors so I decided to send my DS2 out of catchment to a primary school when he left infants (yrs R - 2 and 3 - 6 are separate here). I then sent DS3 to the same primary school as his brother so we could bypass awful academy again. I have repeated with secondary for DS2. The kids have been lucky to get places at the preferred schools. If you're choosing from scratch though I think reputation and your gut instinct when you visit. You will get a feel for the place, how the staff are etc. Obviously practical factors such as transport and childcare may also play a part. You know when you have found the right place.

I think it's a really sweeping generalisation about SEN. Depends on the kind of needs your child ends up having. For a child who is going to require a lot of intervention groups etc - bigger's probably better, but for a child like my DD2 who is quite anxious, has "different" but intelligible speech but really just needs some support navigating things socially and for people to have the chance to get to know her (I'm biased but she really is the sweetest natured little kid) - the small school was definitely a good one for us.

We also looked for investment in TAs and staff rather than shiny nonsense (one school local loans iPads to all the juniors - but has slashed staffing to absolute minimal levels); approachability of the Head (the iPad school Head refused to meet parents until they'd accepted the place at her school); tatty didn't bother us (but the one where they were putting buckets under the roof leaks at a new parents' meeting was a bit too far); outdoor space - where we ended up doesn't have much - but they use a nature reserve around the corner lot, and have arrangements to share the fields of another school and had a lovely outdoor learning area set up plus sports things arranged all the time where groups come into school (they do a whole week of things like karate, cheerleading, a climbing wall comes into the site and things) - if there are issues like a lack of a school hall, it's how the school works around that that matters more to me.

One I like to do - is find the newsletters if they're on the school website - you can tell a lot by the tone they're written in. Some schools it seems to be a repeating list of complaints at the parents, some are a lot warmer in tone. I've found it reflects a lot about how they view parents and parental concerns in the school in general - are you just a nuisance or do they genuinely want to hear what you're trying to tell them about your child? (Can also see disgraceful levels of favouritism in who gets star of the week every single fucking week in the train wreck juniors we moved away from)

That’s fair. I think it’s very hard to know at this age exactly how bad the sen needs are now.

what do you think about a religious school? Im personally put off and feel like a hypocrite but not sure if that’s silly.

How much do you listen to local gossip? As they all have people who rave about them or say there are issues.

Which if these people do you have much in common with? Which wind you up and make you think they are a bit of a windbag or dick? You will have a vibe for parents most like minded fairly easily.

Actually a good point about parents values and yr4 up be8ng harder to control no matter how excellent the teaching. So listen to the parents you like, who value hw or not like you do, who discipline their kids in a way you agree with etc. As behaviour and values mostly come from home.

Eg some parents want hw, quite strict, high 11+ pass rate but others want less pressure on the kids and the teachers to work more on sports too etc.

@Lelophants i went to a CoE school and my kids do now. I’m not CoE.

so far at school all it seems to mean is a couple of prayers a day and learning about values such as peace, joy and love. I mean… they’re not terrible values to learn about.