Arggh!! School dilema - reception

[Brunocat]

Back story - didn't get a place at outstanding village school due to huge number of siblings, got dire third choice. Eventually got a place at an outstanding school but this is four miles away but stayed on local waiting lists. Now we have been offered a place at a school two miles away that is good - don't know much about it but haven't heard anything negative.

Think I should stick with the outstanding school that is further away but is it better having a local school?

Custard Cake of course there are good and not so good and downright bad schools but I've seen some satisfactory schools that are amazing and some outstanding schools I wouldn't allow to care for the dog to visit never mind put my child in their hands for 7 years.

Beware of making judgements based on a report as some schools are just very good at hiding the truth for the two days of the visit. I know of more than one school that was manned by LA advisers rather than the normal teaching staff ... and others who got the call on Friday and had teams working all weekend to paper over the cracks ....

So the only thing the nearer one really has going for it is that you would know a few people? I don't think that would be enough for me to take a flyer on a school I haven't really looked round and haven't met the head, etc.

If this offer hadn't come through you would have been happy with the place you had, presumably? In which case why not stick with it?

I'm wondering how much all our perception of places (schools included) is coloured (subconsciously) by thinks like Ofsted reports and league tables ...

Firstly, you cannot say the school is dire just because it came out satisfactory at Ofsted. I can tell you categorically that the outstanding school is not necessarily better than the satisfactory one. In your case it may well be, but it simply doesn't follow. If you have visited and you didn't like it, that's fine but to go on ofsted rating is madness.

We avoided like the plague our walk to, local outstanding primary. It really was dire IMO. There was a host of schools ranging from satisfactory to good which I would have chosen over this 'outstanding' one.

Having to drive 2 or 4 miles will be much of a muchness. View both and make a decision. Certainly don't stick with the furthest away one just because it's outstanding but if you like it and your DC enjoyed the induction etc then stick with that.

Your question seems to be: shall I stick with the school I like, and that DC has had induction sessions at, or shall I move DC to a school I don't know that is 2 miles closer?

2 miles or 4 miles doesn't make that much difference really does it? I'd stick with the original plan, it seems a bit of a no brainer to me.

mrs, lots. It's impossible for it not to be.

The school my dd will start in 2 weeks received a notice to improve in between applications and allocations. It was purely about the poor KS2 results a couple of years earlier (they boycotted them last year). I know people with kids there, and governors and someone who teaches there and the poor results were because the school continued to teach a broad curriculum throughout year 6. They didn't 'teach to SATS' nor do buckets of test papers.

Even though I know this, I still felt very uneasy about having chosen to send my child to a school deemed as inadequate.

The good news is that they've become more SATS focused in the last couple of years and their results have improved by 50%. (And this is good news with the threat of academy status hanging over inadequate schools at the moment.)

Thank you very much for all your replies - they have helped to confirm my gut instincts which were to keep dc at the school he has already been allocated. He will be going to an excellent school that I like and that he liked on induction.

By the way the dire school was mainly deemed satisfactory on Ofsted for teaching and learning.

Like others have said I wouldn't put much faith in the Ofsted ratngs, have a look around and see what you feel is right for your DC and you.

Our local pre-school has an outstanding rating even though they let the children watch tv for about 3 hours a day and stand around and gossip while the children do what they like. All the children seem unhappy and there is a culture of bullying too.

I'm glad you made a decision. Just to add that even if they were graded satisfactory in T&L it
a)Doesn't mean every ofsted team would give the same rating.
b)They (IMO) take results into account too much when assessing T&L and have this ridiculous thing were learning has to be shown within each individual lesson rather than say across 3 lessons which is what really happens in school.

I do know what I am talking about here as I was an Advanced Skills Teacher or AST who was 'plucked' out as being outstanding during my ofsted inspection. This meant visiting other schools often deemed to be poor or 'just' satisfactory. It also meant I got to visit schools deemed outstanding so as to share good practice. Initially I assumed I'd be going in to impart my 'good practice' to teachers who were struggling as that's what ofsted had said. I can tell you now that whilst some were struggling, there was also a great many who were at least good teachers and some I can only describe as truly excellent teachers with already outstanding practice.

I also visited 'outstanding' schools that were hugely false and too geared and savvy towards the inspections. I also found often, but certainly not always, that many of these schools were ridiculously pushy when it came to the SATs. It often came down to the fact that they produced the goods ie L4&5s.

Not all outstanding rated primaries are false or exam driven but not all of them are genuinely outstanding either. Many I would never consider putting my own children in, even my G&T labelled DD1. In the same way, not all schools who are graded satisfactory for T&L are dire or even poor in relation. Some of the very best lessons I have ever witnessed have been in satisfactory schools.

i would stick to the original plan too although i would check if any future siblings will get in, given its 4 miles away. My dd is at an outstanding school 3 miles away and in 2 years numbers have risen and we are now too far - DD2 wont get in even though there's only 20 months between them!