Considering changing primary schools due to its' low aspirations. Opinions please>

[bowerbird]

My dd goes to a local state school, currently in Y2. It's an inner city London school. She is pretty happy there and has lots of friends. The last Ofsted report was only Satisfactory, then there was a change of head and she's worked hard at improving relationships with staff and the school is far better managed, all of which is good.

However, I am concerned about the lack of ... well, aspiration for the pupils. The school has no ambition to be Outstanding, just Good. They're incredilby pleased when a student in Y6 attains the national average. There's not a culture of excellence, or pursuit of excellence. I'm not just talking academic achievement here - but creative arts and sports. Most just seem content to noodle along, particularly the middle class parents, who "just want my DC to be happy". As if you can't have achievement and happiness in the same young person.

I worry my DD won't be challenged, particularly in the upper grades. She's not a genius, but she's bright, and she needs to be pushed or she'll just get bored. I'm now considering (very reluctantly) moving her to a "better" school, but dread the upheaval for her.

Has anyone faced a similar dilemma? Thoughts about this would be really appreciated.

Well, it might be realistic for them to be aiming at "Good". I know that my children's school, which serves a relatively deprived area, feels that the system is highly stacked against their even achieving "Outstanding", so "Good" is regarded as a major achievement!

However, I would definitely be worried about their limited aspirations at Year 6. There are lots of children at my kids' school for whom national average at Y6 would, indeed, be a major achievement. The bottom line is that the school only just achieves the national average % of children at Level 4. But those children who are capable of aiming higher are very much expected to do so (e.g. DD and two of her best friends are two years ahead of expectation and still expected to make a certain level of progress every year, despite the fact they are already above "expectation" for Yr6 in the middle of Yr5.

Are there any parent governor posts coming up? Maybe put your name down when there is a post. In the mean time you may need a frank chat with the Head about the school ethos.
It does sound like there has been positive movement with the new Head and hopefully this will continue.

I would explore changing schools. Primary school lays the foundation, it is simply too important that children are encouraged to do as well as they can and also are taught a love for learning. You don't want to waste those very formative years. I would involve your daughter in the decision process though and clearly explain why you think it would be important so she can have a sense of ownership and would not feel that everything is decided without any input from her. Alternatively, you can start doing extra work after school and resort to tutoring but it is a lot to ask from a young child. It would leave little time for playing, sport etc, which is also really important for her development. Good luck with what really is a difficult situation.

I think that you need to be sure that the 'better' school really will offer what you want, and that your dd will suit that environment. Having said that I am glad dd1 is at the school that we decided on rather than the less aspirational school, as dd1 will coast given a chance, but here she sees her friends doing well and she wants to too, but not in a massively competative way. Dd2 I think would do well wherever she went.