May seem odd question but round here outer city suberb we have no catchment and wide choice of schools on the whole most are good, we also have wide range of independant schools within the city.
My dd just finished year 1 and really noticed last 2years people seem to make assumptions, define what sort of person/family you are and met some people whos kids go to the 3schools with the highest sats pass rate and some do look down on other schools or make patronising comments like never mind you dident get into the top school i hear the large community primarys improving!
My eldest goes to a va rc primary-chosen as its small, good facilities. average results so not low guess in middle of the area, had good osted. had lovley feel for school and preschool attached.
but when I say what school she goes to I get the
are you catholic
I hear thats a good school
or some never heard of it.
a few months ago had encounter with mum from antenatal havent seen in years.
her twins attend one of the highest rated schools which is on border of lea , neighbouring schools are dire so loads of people aspire for their kids to go there.many dont get in , know a few and see the dissapointment and people try and convince themselves and others that they happy with the lesser 2nd choice.
she asked in quite a snobby tone ohh your daughter doesnt attend our school where does she go, get impression she thourght it would be one of the 2community primaries and seemed shocked when said roman catholic then proceeded to go on about what a good school her daughter goes to.
on my new build estate , the best performing school here almost impossible to get into although we very close.
our nearest school is large new build community primary-I know hardly anyone who goes there despite it being the nearest.
some say
ohh its too big
it caters for large proportion of special needs-what they mean is behavioural issues and kids from nearby council estate.
the sats are at the low end of schools in area.
so on my estate many drive for miles or go independant.
they say the village schools 20-25min drive much better than the city school.
1 village school near me seems to be mostly full of city kids with pushy upstart parents who tell anyone who listen that their child has best school ever-i must admit the mums from that school i met have been scary pushy and maybe not representative of the whole school.
which leads me to my 3rd choice.
ok i couldent get into my nearest top performing sat/sports school this became apparent at school visit when head told me that i would be very fortunate if my child gained a place at that school and if i dident put it as my 1st choice then we were doomed not to to get in.
I liked the rc primary as eldest already went to preschool there, dident want to jeaopardise that so put it as 1st choice and was less keen on the attitude of the top school. I know many parents who are happy with the place some nice but others quite smug.
my 3rd choice was another largish community primary more urban that leafy suberb that had wide range of people.
from the outside looked awful but round the back had lovley playing feilds. the open day was best i attended. it wasent a new build like most schools these days seem to get knocked down and brand new gleaming shiny but inside had the most amount technology, staff seemed open and freindly and they did languages really had lovley feel. wasent the best sats again but could see beyond that that it was a good school and wouldent be too gutted if got that school although would have been a trek.
At the time in had good ofsted.
fast foward 2years its in special measures.
within the last week i have met 2mums from that school.
Interestingly enough they feel like when they say their childs school they are judged and defined, looks of pity.
the 1st mum said its all because they dident have a head for a while that on the whole schools not changed much since i looked at it 2years ago, the kids are happy, facilities the same, they take wide range groups including special needs which skews the sats.
The 2nd mum said she was deeply dissapointed, still is, constantly worries and all her daughters freinds from preschool go their their nearest best performing primary coe and worries her daughter be at a disadvantage and feels judged when she says the name as most parenst round here seem to know its ofsted and its sats.
of course I tried to be reasuring and say well if the parent does a lot with the child than they can still do well and ofsted no be all and end all even our school got downgraded recently yet its still the same school/
when you in the system you get better feel for whats important.
but prospective parents looking will now discount that school .
There is a few exceptions of parents who make active choice to do community primary in order to lift the school but then they moan its not enough homework, that they feel they need to do more extra curricular activies and tutoring to balance that,
I can normally tell these parents on morning school run when we both crossing each other in weird school triangle opposite ways as their kids have coats with school emblem on. I dont know if they buy from the school or get it made but see very few school emblemed coats. on the estate the kids that attend same school tend to wear non emblemed sweaters, no coat and sometimes summer dressed with tights in winter and trainers instead of shoes
Maybe its just being in a city but mum says small rural town where i grew up lea have messed with schools, shut few down, opened super primary and its become more polarised now than it ever was that when i was small we went to nearest school.
On the whole I feel proud and happy with where we chose.
i still have few niggles but most people have that over any school.
daughters happy.
but guess now word gets out about downgrade ofsted maybe i will get the pity looks and the never mind comments from the mummies at the top school.
Every childs party conversation quickly turns to schools and almost becomes competative.
education really does seem odd and devisive these days.
is it the same elsewhere or just bad here?
The choice is overwhelming
applying is stressful.
I was expecting 2nd at time and wish I had looked at few other schools but wanted something local.
because of daughters many clubs do get to meet lots parents from other schools on my estate alone must be people who go to 10different schools maybe more within 5miles of our postcode.
not to mention the congestion caused by mass commute in opposite directions from where we live.