Changing schools

[Ameliaanna]

DS started reception this September, he enjoys it and seems to be doing well however there are a few things im concerned about. His teacher has been off sick for over a week twice now, we are getting minimal information on the school app- about one post/picture every 2 weeks showing what DS is doing and I've looked at the school exam results which are good but not great.
Another parent who attends another local school was showing me that she gets updates and pictures every other day and that school does better in the end of year tests and most go onto the grammar schools compared to DS school where about 75% do.
I'm debating if we should move schools seeing as it's still early in the year. DS has one close friend but gets along with most in his class and I've been told he's in the advanced reading group in the class so so far he is doing well. Just don't want to regret not moving him in the future. Anyone have any experience of this?

Ok so first off, 75% is, by all definitions, "most". So your school's grammar school entry is probably about identical (and this is largely down to socio-economic factors, not the school itself, which is why some people are anti-grammar school although I'm not per se).

Secondly, would you really want that sort of deluge of information? I just drop my kid at the door and ask him what he did at the end of the day, like my mum did with me, and her mum with her. I'd be really stressed if we got more than a weekly update on what the class has done, I have almost never read the nursery updates over the last four years as I was too busy with work and life, and since he started reception, I've never had photos/updates of what my child is doing individually except the parent/teacher consultation which was 8 minutes of "he's fine".

It sounds like you're looking for reasons to find fault because you're not confident that you've given your child the very best. If you're not happy with the school to the point of wanting to change, you need to look into the admission policy for the target school as some don't accept in-year transfers except if you're moving in from outside the county (especially in our grammar area as a lot of parents actually move their children to primaries into the catchment for the two non-selective good/outstanding secondary schools on the county boundary when they suddenly realise their child probably isn't going to get into a grammar).

You also need to check if your target school has spaces, which is unlikely if everyone thinks it's the all-singing-all-dancing option. You can usually check vacancies for the county on your local council website.

Really though, it sounds like your child will be fine if they stay here, why not use the lack of information as a talking point to start conversations? "What was your favourite activity?" "What did you have at lunch?" "Who did you play with?" and let them tell you what they think is important about what happened in their life rather than what a teacher managing a full class decides is worth you knowing about.

Tbh, I'd rather my DC had staff who spent time engaged in activities with them, not stuck taking endless photos. We only had occasional photos uploaded to Tapestry (DD is now Yr1).

The teacher has been off sick - I wonder if they're newly qualified. Go and spend 7 hours a day in a germ factory of small kids and see how long you take to succomb to a lurgy. Your immune system builds up resilience over time (hence why I asked if they had a newly qualified teacher) but yes, teachers get sick. They also have their own kids who bring their school's germs home too.

Nothing you've said would concern me. Leave your DC where they're settled.

My son has just started reception, too. Generally speaking, we get updates from the teacher every few days with upcoming information and sometimes pictures of what the children have been doing. I’ve been really happy with the communication from school. However, teachers have a huge amount of work to complete outside of teaching the children (lesson plans, resourcing, cpd, monitoring subjects, SEN paperwork etc.) so I wouldn’t be upset with less updates. As long as the teacher is communicating issues (which there doesn’t seem to be), I wouldn’t worry. People get sick. If they don’t take time off, they’ll potentially make the other teachers ill too, causing more staff absences.

Are these private schools (guessing from high grammar school entry... since these are top 25% or less of a cohort...)

Anyteacher can be come ill
Some schools prioritise pupils over updating parents every 5 seconds

We aren't quite at the stage of schools just yet but we moved from a nursery that sent photos daily to one that puts photos up once or twice a week. It was odd a first but we soon got used to it and 15 months later we are so much happier with this nursery she is thriving so much they are on the ball with all of her needs. I cherish the photos much more too, I feel awful about it but there were days when I didn't manage to get to look at the photos and they were left unopened.
I get more communication at handover in the morning/evening especially if her key worker is on the handover.
Look into other options but I think I would be inclined to assess further into the year especially when you get out of the winter when sickness of staff should be less.