I need some perspective...
My daughter is in reception currently and we love the state school, but we only relocated temporarily for work and need to move back at the end of the year. Our daughter was enroled at the local community school for 1 term. She wasn't meant to attend initially but my illness forced us to push our temporary relocation back. We relocated and she settled in well. But, I badly that our circumstances have made it hard on her like my illness and moving. So, the next school needs to be good for her socially and for us too! Just to summarise, we would move back in the middle of Year 1.
We have a choice between two. Going back to her original school is probably not an option as it is very popular and oversubscribed. Last I checked it has a waitlist of 30. We also thought it was only OK.
One option is a village school in a nearby village which is very posh. We would have to drive there. It is a good school rated by Ofsted. Class sizes are around 25. We know nobody there. Husband's coworker raved about it, but he emigrated to Oz. It offers the after school programme which we need. Kids seemed happy, it had a warm feeling and we liked the head. I worry that it will be cliquey. I also travel a lot for work, have some health problems and wouldn't be able to be involved with the school very much. I wouldn't want this to impact my daughter. Although our child is VERY chatty and outgoing, but slightly uncoventional in that she is a tomboy and hates princesses.
The other option is a good private school. It is a 15-20 minute journey away. Our daughter would have to take a very early minibus (7:30 am) from a location a mile away to attend. Class sizes are around 15 and it has excellent pastoral care. It is also in our faith, which we like very much. It also offers a wide variety of sports which our daughter would love. It also has after school care. I know one couple who send their children there and they love it. I think it would be a good fit for our child. I don't like the idea of paying for a school if I can help it. So, that's the big stickler for us.
What are people's thoughts?