Hi my daughter has got a place to start at a school a mile a way in the next village which is outstanding and has an excellent reputation. It it a big school with a two form entry of 30 children which continues with staright age classes and is really well resourced school. We can walk there at a push but its along a busy road with a narrow path. The dilema I have is that all of my daughters friends are going to the village school which only has a satisfactory ofsted rating, has been in special measures with the same head in the past and is due to become an academy in september. I did like the feel of this school and it is much smaller with a class of thirty being split into two of 15 in recpetion although they do then mix the years later on. Everyone we know in the village seems happy to send their children there and I think it would be nice to be able to walk easily to school with her friends and feel part of the village community. There is still spaces and I could change but I just dont know. Should I go for the school with a better academic reputation or the local one where the social side of things will be easier to develop? My daughter is quite shy and quiet and I worry about her getting a bit lost in the bigger school.