School choice

[Zoomerang]

Which would you choose for reception?

Option 1 - state primary. Rated Good and it has a lovely feeling/ ethos. But budgets are shit (as everywhere), and so there are no TAs. I can’t fathom 30 4/5 year olds with just one teacher, especially as we live in an area with lots of social issues and many kids who don’t speak English at home.

Option 2 - small private primary. Great ethos, lovely teachers and facilities. Would be a 30 min cycle, with no realistic option for public transport. This makes school runs really tricky. DD2 would be guaranteed a place.

Option 3 - prestigious private school, where DD could stay to 18. Amazing facilities and teachers, but potentially pushy and no guarantee DD2 would get in. 10 min cycle/ 30 mins public transport.

We have offers from both privates, and would get allocated the state one. Help!

Option 3. Do not underestimate how hideous it is trying to sort out a senior school place at a school that is ‘t all through. I’ve just spent two years forcing my child to learn spatial reasoning and verbal reasoning and exam techniques etc when that time would have been much better spent on something else. I’m furious with myself for not putting DC in an all-through school.

I would not even consider the state primary if you can afford private. One third of the class will be disruptive / have undiagnosed SEN and that third will take up all of the teacher’s time. Your child will learn nothing except to not bother trying. I’m still trying to undo the damage state primary did to my family.

Option 2 doesn’t sound realistic commute-wise and can’t compete with an all-through school.

(Ps even if your child isn’t guaranteed a place at the senior school, if her behaviour is good she’ll be given a much easier ride into the senior school than an external applicant.)

Thank you - that’s exactly what I’m thinking. In theory they’re guaranteed entry to the upper school, though I suspect some are managed out.

I’d honestly go for 1. I work in a role where I see lots of schools, and can tell you anecdotally that the better ones are the ones who are kept on their toes and striving to improve. Prestigious and outstanding ones, not always, but sometimes can get complacent. If it doesn’t work at one you could always pull DC out and put into 3.

How far away is 1? We could have afforded private for my DS but our closest school is a good state school with an excellent reputation locally and within walking distance. I would not want a 30 min commute and for him not to have most of his friends nearby. Our plan is to supplement with extras when he's a bit older (music lessons, tutoring etc).

My son is at our closets school, good ofsted rating and only 19 in a class....they do exist! X

I would be nervous about the lack of TAs in the state school. Are there any other state schools in the area

It really comes down to the specific school. We have just applied for schools and have applied for the school that 2 years ago almost made us rule out this town as one we could move too as we didn't want her to go there. It had been needing improvement for a very long time but had made those improvements and actually it had the best feeling of all of the schools we viewed. 2 in catchment and 2 out of catchment as it's a very rural location. When looking for our house we went through the Ofsted inspection with a tooth comb and could see that they were trying really hard to be better and were making substantial improvements over the previous 2 years. For us this was more important than the overall one word statement

Option 3

Thanks everyone. All state schools round us seem to have no TAs unless they’re assigned to particular children. We’re in a ‘very mixed’ bit of zone 1 London, so they are classes of 30, and very high levels of all sorts of needs. That’s what’s putting me off state - I know many of the teachers will be brilliant, but I don’t know how they effectively teach classes like that.

Option 3