having a panic about the school we've been offered

[shelley72]

not that we can do much about it, but it was our third choice, and have been hearing bad things about it recently. from parents with children in other schools (parents seem to be very defensive of their own school ive noticed). the head is leaving at xmas, and this has raised eyebrows as to timing, and also i have heard (only on grapevine friend of a friend type of thing) that teachers themselves are putting their own children into different schools. should alarm bells be ringing?

we have visited (and had mtg yesterday) and of the three that are in our area and we were likely to get offered it was the one we liked the best - its fairly small, reception room was chaotic (in a good way i think, the teacher herself seems v organised), it was bright and airy, lots of work of all children displayed on walls etc. am i getting myself in a tizz over nothing?

Parents who don't have children in the school don't know anything about it. At best they may know someone who knew somebody and embelished the story along the way. And the story is usually about 10 years old.

IME teachers tend not to live near the schools they teach in so are unlikely to send their own children there.

The head leaving is always a bit of an unknown. DD's school head teacher left last year. I was worried as I thought the old head was very good, but IMO the new head is even better :) Do you know why the head is leaving?

Your impression of the school sounds very positive, I definitely don't think you should panic!! (Though if like me you would potentially worry about any school your DC was going to?)

The time of leaving of the Head has no particular significance as such. (if retiring could depend on a combination of Birthday and on what date they started their first job.) if moving to another school, might be starting at that school at the earliest possible date.

Parents ALWAYS get restive when the Head is changing.

And rumours always fly.

(A number of years ago I was a member of a Governing Body which accepted the early retirement/ resignation of a popular Head entirely at her request, with a mixture of deep regret, and some anxiety - how would we do without her - A group of parents then demanded to know why we had "sacked" the Head.)

Why not try to contact the chair of Governors to get a feel as to what is going on?

Probably! Parents are always defensive about the school their dcs are in!

The teachers may live a few miles away from the school and like any other parent has chosen to send them to their nearest school rather than the one they teach in becuase they want their child to be part of the community they live in rathe than the school mum works at.

And head teachers shouldn't be there for life - (in fact alarm bells should ring if they are) - a good head is likely to want promotion and that will inevitably mean they leave their current post. A very high turnover of teachers may ring alarm bells though.....

You've looked round the school and you liked it - that should be enough.

Am on phone so forgive typos! Thanks for the replies, the head is leaving due to retirement so, the timing may be due to her birthday I suppose. The school is expanding so have been recruiting a lot lately (moving to two form entry) and maybe some rumours stem from that? redskyatnight I think you're right, if he was going to the best private school in the land I would still worry! I just hope it will work out ok, and that we can support him if things get rough.

An added complication is that we are moving closer to the top of the waiting list for our first choice school - and can't really remember what its like. Lots of his friends are going to this school but other than that not much to choose between the two in terms of ofsted/sats.wld also be in a bigger class (30 v 22}

I'm hoping I'm panicking over nothing!

we had the same thing last year, everyone kept saying it was a bad school, but none of them had actually been to the school or even had children in the school, as it turns out it is a lovely school, and dd (5) is doing extremely well and loves it there....

I wouldn't worry about teachers sending their children elsewhere. I went to a different school to the one my father taught at. His was the better school, but with a one form intake he might have had to teach me, also in the staff room things might be tricky if I was having problems, my class teacher would still have to work along side my father. I'm sure lots of teachers do work in same school as their children, but others choose not to.

If the other school is bugging you, why not make another appointment to see it, now that you've seen your allocated school. It makes sense, as if offered you may need to accept quickly and not have time to have another look. Then you can take a more measured assessment of which school you ideally want.

If you are high on the list now a place may well come up during reception year if not before, so it will help you to know which one you like now that you know a bit more.

Thank you, I feel a bit less worried today. Like you say 3 duracellbunnies children of teachers don't always go to same school, have a friend whose daughter was allocated a different school for sept and they don't always live where thy teach do they?

I think that I will do as you suggest though, and ring school b after half term to see if we've moved positions and if I can have another look around the school.

Can you tell he's my pfb

We were lucky and got our first choice, but still felt as if she was too little (at 4 and a half); and wanted her to stay home! Nowhere is ever good enough for your pfb! By the time it comes to #3 your only concern is dodging the glares from people with first borns when you get in on a sibling rule (even though we are really close and would get in anyway).