Really confused about primary school choices

[pud1]

i went to see 3 local primaries and am not sure which one I want to put as my first choice. We are practising Catholics but this does not nesseseraly mean I defiantly want dd to attend faith school so I went to see the village primary as well as my church school. My church school has got outstanding on ofstead and is massively over subscribed for it's 20 places but I am very confident that we will get in. It's a feeder to the rc high school which is also very good. Tbh I thought this was my first choice until I went to the village school which is much bigger and has a good ofsted rating. Is a bit more of a hassle to get to and is a feeder to the local high which is not quite as good but still a good school. But I really liked the head and the general feeling ofnthe school although it's not as nice as the rc one.

I am confused as I really did not expect to like the village school and on paper it is not as good but there was just something about it I liked. Now I am stumped as to which one to go for

I think gut feeling is a great thing :)

My considerations would be: bigger v smaller school, ease of getting there (will "bit of a hassle" turn into "totally fed up with the journey" - remember you have to do it twice a day in all weathers), how much will your secondary options be affected (could you reasonably do village primary followed by RC seconary for example?)

I would ignore Ofsted ratings.

Could your son go to the rc secondary school from the village primary? He's can surely still be a Catholic and go to his local school?

On the flip side, I would take seriously the convenience of getting to school and the joy of having local friends.

Could you go and have a look again?

They are both local so friends near by is not an issue. The issue with travel is that I don't drive and the bus route for the village school is circular and the return journey would be going miles put of my way.

I am not sure how the rc high admissions policy works.

the rc high school admission code is likely online if you search for it.

Could you learn to drive? Or could you cycle? How far away is it?

I would love to learn to drive and tbh am totally pissed off with myself that I can't but I just can't afford the cost of licence, lessons and tests at the moment let alone a car. Cycling is not an option as I will have my dd2 with me who will be 3. I will check out the admissions policy for the hi school though.

I am getting into a bit of a tiss as dd2 will be starting grant nursery same time as dd1 starts school and I am hoping to do some paid work. Just don't know how it will all work out

If you are very confident that you will get a place at the catholic school (have you checked the admission criteria?) then it does come down to the "feel" of things. How are you going to feel in the middle of a bad winter getting to the local village school in comparison with the catholic school? How would you feel if the head of the village primary school left? Which school is easy to manage when you take into consideration dropping off your DD2 at nursery?

Another consideration should be DD2, when it comes to time for them to go to school, if you have a sibling in the school does it help in terms of admission criteria for the village school? If not there could be a chance that your DD2 will not get a place if it is oversubscribed.

gut feeling from your posts says that the answer is the catholic school. But look at it another way, you have two schools that you would really like your child to go to and would be happy for them to go to. That is much better then many others will have.