What really matters in primary school?

[Maybemaybenot76]

Our child is due to start reception 09/24 so we’ve been attending all the open days, around 8 in total!

A mix between small village and large (500 student) schools! Ultimately we think our child is best suited to something in between, not too small of a village school but around 200 pupils.

We had decided on first choice based on feel and buzz when we visited, beautiful grounds and kids seemed happy, however having just looked online on a website called “snobe” it says the Pupils Progress Scores KS2-KS3 are below average. I am finding the same outcome when searching for many of the schools in our area, but seemingly these are for the years 2018-2019.

How much does this matter? Should I be asking our preferred schools for the latest data?

thanks.

@Whiskerson Well, I was moved from English private to foreign comprehensive age 9, didn’t speak the language and there was a lot of bullying and cliques. Things were not taught in the same manner at all, and I really struggled.

I’d prefer to not have to chop and change my children’s school due to these issues, especially bullying, as I’ve seen quite a few of my friends doing with their kids. I suppose this is why I’m keen on the overall feel and size of school rather than just academics. Saying that, I feel I’d be doing my kid a disservice if I didn’t consider all of it.

I mean go to the one you can walk to! If you’re a committed parent, your child will be fine anywhere. Honestly. You can tie yourself in knots.

Also, there is no way you can compare a school with children in, to one in the evening empty. Children make schools.

@Maybemaybenot76 just to break down the whole KS2 bit, KS stands for Key Stage.

Nursery and reception come under Early Years,
KS1 is years 1 and 2,
KS2 gets split into Lower KS2 years 3 and 4,
Upper KS2 years 5 and 6.
KS3 is secondary school where they go at 11 years old and KS4 is GCSE years aged 14-16. Hope that helps.

Whilst it is good to look at options, please remember that there is no guarantee of a place, though if it's your closest school it's likely you will get a space. There's also an issue with friends if you choose a school further away, not just you would have to drive them to play dates, but more their parents may not be keen on them having friends a distance away. If your local school is decent I strongly recommend going with it

@gotomomo Thanks.

The closest is a few doors down, but our preferred is a 6 min drive. Luckily both close!

FWIW, I'd go with a school where you like the feel.

I'm sorry that was your experience and can see why you are so keen to get it right for your child!

Yeah, in that case, I do think you're right to focus on the feel of the school. People move their child because of bullying, but I've yet to hear of anyone moving their primary school aged child because they weren't happy with their child's spelling test scores and so on. Obviously bullying can happen at any school, but you can find out about the pastoral side and also the personalities of the senior staff can tell you a lot.

I also think you had quite an extreme contrast between your schools, and the difference between two English state primaries in the same area is going to be minimal in comparison. To be very broad-brush about it, I think test scores tell you more about the school's demographic than anything, and can vary for all sorts of reasons that may have no effect on your child's own academic achievements.

Think also about family lifestyle - e.g. distance and transport is part of the whole school experience, and (though it doesn't sound like a big factor here) a school you can walk to is better in the bigger picture than a school with slightly better scores that's a massive pain to get to. That's just an example, but do think about how the schools would fit into your life. Other examples that may or may not be relevant to you: wraparound care, availability of childminders that pick up from there, if the school is linked to a church you attend, other relevant community links...

I wasn't hugely happy at primary school, and therefore the feel of the school was my focus when choosing. I don't think I even looked at the stats! The overall Ofsted rating "Good" satisfied me on that front and I looked no further 🤣