Please tell me lovely things about your deprived primary

[mollysmum82]

Deprived is the ofsted word and isn't a term I'd like to use really but 5 of my local friends have moved out the area recently to avoid sending their kids to our local school. Some of them have openly said its because they think our area is dodgy. I must admit I panicked a bit as I'm not from the area and looked into moving/private instead. But financially it's not really an option. So I looked round our local school and I actually really really liked it. The staff were friendly and warm, the head seemed clued up and the kids seemed happy. So I think I'm going to go for it. I'm just a little scared I'm going against the grain and I'm worried I'm missing something since everyone else is moving away. So I guess I'm looking for a bit of reassurance, people who's kids are thriving and happy in a school others avoid. Thank you!

Well, my children have attended two deprived schools, and the teachers and staff have always been really lovely and positive. They genuinely care about teaching these kids.

I have always been confident that I can top up any learning they need so I am not too worried about them academically, and I have actually been given masses of support from the school when I asked for it.

I do sometimes worry about the behaviour of other children impacting on mine, but then I think it might happen anywhere, and actually I find that there is a real community at the school because they are making sure that children are fed, clothed, cared for and that parents can be as involved as they want via the well-being team.

The hardest part for me is seeing children that are uncared for at home and knowing they are growing up in a horrible situation. Have seen the homes of some of these children, and how they don't have shoes, or jackets, and don't get meals, and it is heartbreaking. It is hard to not want to befriend and help everyone.

DS1 has been to various schools. His first school was in a very affluent area (and was very desirable and oversubscribed), but it was awful. The whole ethos was dreadful and the atmosphere anything but nurturing/accepting of difference. He was so miserable there.

His next school served a deprived catchment (c. 70% FSM) but it was just lovely: supportive, nurturing and tried very hard to cater to the different needs and strengths. We were very sad he had to leave.

His third primary was dire. It was very popular and served an affluent (and incredibly narrow minded) catchment. Oftsed said it was astounding, but our experience was that it was beyond dreadful. The school allowed DS to be bullied for months (his 'crime' being that he was Scottish, not English), and actually punished him for it. The teacher was embarrassed when they eventually discovered that they'd been encouraging dreadful, intolerant behaviour from most of his class. They made no attempt to support his SEN and he went backwards in achievement. For example, he's very good at maths but they didn't care about anything other than his workbooks being untidy (he's dyspraxic, so they should expect this). When I complained that his total bastard of a maths teacher was ripping up his work (and humiliting him in front of the whole class), they decided to put him in the remedial maths group and just stop teaching him at all.

Then we moved again and he went into year 6 at the unpopular local middle school which had previously been in special measures (and which has a more deprived catchment than the other middle schools locally). It has been wonderful. He went from a level 3 in maths at the start of year 6 to a 5a in his SATs and is in the top maths set going into year 8. The school is very supportive and the kids are much more tolerant than in his previous nightmare school.

We're starting to think about first schools for DS2 (who'll start in 2013) and I'm inclined towards the unpopular school that serves a more deprived catchment (whereas the other schools serve really quite affluent catchments; one has no known pupils eligible for FSM at all). The only reason it's unpopular is because people don't want their kids to go to school with kids from council estates. The school has several great advantages over other local schools, such as large grounds with playing fields etc, rather than a small concrete yard. I'm also keen to avoid a school that feeds to the most popular middle school (which is pretty much everything I don't want in a school, right down to the young conservative style uniform and extra 'voluntary' charges to discourage the poor from even applying for a place).

I think it all depends very much on the impression you have of the school and whether you think it'll suit your child.

Ds's school is indeed in a deprived area although we heard many rumours that people travel quite far to get their child in there because it was so good , and they too have high expectations for a child to perform unfortunately they will go to great lengths to be sure that they get the results they want....so much so that my ds's social communication skills have suffered greatly due to him being kept in for countless breaktimes/lunchtimes he constantly missed his goldentime also and low and behold he doesn't see the purpose in doing his work now...can't think why, can anybody else??

When ds joined the school at 4 1/2 after being in a private nursery since he was 1 1/2, he could count/recognise numbers up to 20, knew all of his colours, knew all of his shapes, could recognise/recall all letters of the alphabet, would write his name etc, very confident and outgoing - now at 7 he is 2 yrs behind for reading/writing, gets shy when he's around too many people, hates school with a passion, has a mass breakdown if you so much as ask him to fill out his nans birthday card! I have spent the past 8 months practically teaching him the curriculum and funnily enough he has actually improved in the parts I have been teaching him. When we approached the school for various reasons including his lack of progress what was the schools response? lack of help from home, they don't know if he reads at home because he doesn't bring his book in (would be slightly strange of me to send him in with an empty book bag) lmao! because after all we are of course thick as pig shit what with us being from a deprived area and all that has puff on fag, then opens another can of lager.

I don't think it makes an ounce of difference what an ofsted report states I have heard excellent reviews from schools classed as "good" and not so good from schools classed as "outstanding", but I do think that when it states a deprived area that the school can deal with individuals how ever they see fit because thats what they have to do to get the results, but it would all be down to the child being taught and how they learn which determines the outcome.

We are giving the school until the end of the first term when ds goes back to his new class to see if he begins to improve (he is actually looking forward to being with his new teacher and has mentioned school a couple of times during the hols....so fingers crossed!) if he doesn't then we will visit every school in our catchment area until we find one that we are happy with, also looking through every policy the school have (you would be suprised just how much they can get away with because they have a policy) and then move him.

my son's school is like yours although the demographic has changed a lot now with middle class people sending their children there. It is a lovely environment, nurturing, with good expectations of children. I can't fault it.

3 DCs all went to an inner city London school, in what's classed as a "deprived" area ie big majority of free school meals, half of yr 1 class had English as a second language.

The head was amazing, the teachers put an amazing amount of effort into each and every student, took in consideration their individual needs, it was fantastic.

There were some children with quite severe behavioural problems but I would imagine that's not just a "deprived" school issue.
There were some parents who couldnt care less about their DCs schooling, and some PFB parents. There was a lot of different nationalities, religion and languages which represents the area we live in so no problems there.

And they put a lot of effort into helping dd and ds1 pass the 11plus and go on to super selectives so all in all, we loved it.

It's a personal decision, if you love the school, are happy with what your d s get out of it, then that's what counts, not what others think.

The school I teach in serves one of the most deprived areas of the country. We're Ofsted rated good with outstanding features (although I would always take Ofsted reports with a pinch of salt tbh).

We get enormous amounts of funding, so we're incredibly well resourced and have pots of money for trips etc. (Less so now admittedly, but the resources are there to stay!) There has also been lots of additional funding for staff training in the last few years, so our professional knowledge is always fresh and updated.

We do have some children with serious behavioural problems, but as a result of that, we have a very good behavior policy. The discipline in our school is excellent and the staff have very good experience of a range of behaviours and solutions - we've seen everything before.

We provide a very supportive, nurturing environment for families. Both children and parents/carers. We're approachable, kind and lovely

Despite our children coming to us with very poor speech and language, social skills etc, we have high expectations and encourage them to strive for the best. Our children make an enormous amount of progress, regardless of their starting points. (Unfortunately, this goverment doesn't care about that, but that's another story).

Our children love coming to school. Sometimes my reception children have thanked me 'for the learning'. They're streetwise, bright, have\masses of enthusiasm for everything and I love them.

Our dds (about to go into yr 1 and yr 4) go to the most deprived school in our -admittedly undeprived - local authority. 35% fsm.

It is our nearest school and the only one we can realistically walk to, so I ignored the comments from our friends who would have cut off their arm and leg to go to the much more middleclass school slightly further away.

The atmosphere is great and every child is treated like an individual. Because the children are so diverse in their backgrounds - rich, poor, foreign, disabled, academic, quiet, in care, lively - the staff do not expect to teach in a one-size fits all kind of way.

So, our older quiet dd loves it and our younger loud dd does too. Academically they thrive and the expectations are high. The school is getting better sats results than some of the local schools with a more prosperous intake and there is more money than in other schools (although slightly less than there was a few years ago!). Infact, there is twice as much money per child than the next nearest school. We have never paid more than £5 for a school trip, most of which are free anyway.

What is weird in our area is that people spend so much time worrying about primary schools and yet half the children from our dds school will join the children from the middle class school at secondary school. (Secondary intake is based on where you live, rather than 'feeder' schools.) People seem to worry less about the secondary schools but, actually, I have quite a few strong questions I wish to ask our local school; e.g. why did no one go to Oxbridge from the school until 15 years ago...why were expectations low in a popular and prosperous comp. at a time when I attended a rural comp. with much higher expectations.

I picked my DC's primary in a deprived area because I could see that it's results we're not great but from where the children started, it gave them more of a boost than the local outstanding school. Four years later I was proud to be chair of Govs there.

There were many issues to contend with including a mass exodus of staff but over all it was a great experience for my DC.

Agree completely with chicken. Our school has a very mixed catchment, but it is warm, caring and every single child is treated as an individual. The child who arrives at school having never seen a book, right through to the gifted child who is already reading Enid Blyton etc at 4 years.

Go on your gut feeling, not what you hear or read.

Aw thanks everyone. It's so lovely to read your stories and hear your dcs are doing so well. Reading this makes me wonder why anyone moves for a 'better' catchment!

So I looked round our local school and I actually really really liked it. The staff were friendly and warm, the head seemed clued up and the kids seemed happy

This is what matters IMO

My children have been to a few different schools and I can say that the best one is the one that was in special measures in the not so distant past. It is in a deprived area with a high % of pupils on fsm.

It is fab and they are very welcoming and approachable.

The worst school they went to was the so called outstanding one in a 'posh' area. Awful snidey place that was.

We live in a deprived area, my daughter will be going into y1 and other going into the school nursery. (they have both been in "education" since age 2 because it is a flying start catchment.) The school had 7 grade ones on last inspection, has won awards for its litracy scheme and all the teachers are lovely. There are some dodgy families around but in general most are lovely (just not rich) and I have found my child tends to avoid the badly behaved children from difficult families. She really doesn't understand them or want to play with them.

I think there can be snobbery about deprived areas. It's like some people think that because people are not well off they must be criminals or not teach their children to be good. where as I think my area is the nicest friendliest I have ever lived.

I'm having a bit of a wobble. Yesterday I found out that the lady who lives next door to this school deliberately set fire to her house, and the primary school fence caught alight. Luckily everyone was ok but it's made me worry again about the area. It's strange because the free school meal number (22%) doesn't indicate an area of deprivation but this might be because the school is catholic so takes from a wider area? And I also found out the trainers on top of the telegraph pole aren't the result of drunk students messing about, their colour relate to which gang controls the street and there are shootings from different gangs. Now I feel mad to send dd there. But the ofsted, results and teachers remain great. Wwyd?

Who told you the trainers thing? Perhaps have a chat with the local Safer Neighbourhood Team about that one. Have there been any safety incidents at the school? (Other than the fire, which - although alarming - fortunately didn't result in anything and is highly unlikely to happen again). You do need to check that their security arrangements are sound.

I can't answer your question of course, only you can. But just as a note, I went to a really outstanding and quite affluent secondary school (independent). It happened to be located in a really really rough area. In my first term in the school there were 3 murders in the streets immediately surrounding the school. After I left, half the school was burned down by arsonists. Fortunately no one was hurt then either. And I wasn't aware of pupils being affected by other issues but we were told not to walk around the area with our school uniform on display, i.e. not to attract attention to ourselves. We were the posh kids and the locals didn't always appreciate it. The school was heavily over subscribed despite these issues, because ultimately it was an excellent school.

In our local area the school which my DCs will be going to (one starting in September) is on the edge of a local 'rough; estate (gang activity; 2 shootings in 2012). It's a good school and it educates a lot of kids from the estate. Perhaps I should be worried about security, but I'm not particularly. I've walked through the estate every day for years and this has made me very relatively unworried as I know that at the times of day I walk through everything is pretty harmless. I am aware of what's going on around me though. I have found that I am significantly less scared of local teenagers than friends of mine who won't step foot in the estate and seem to think all the kids hang around with daggers drawn.

You can always move your children if at some point you feel there's a reason they are not safe. I totally understand your concerns though, of course. But personally, I think I would go for it and keep a watching brief.

DS is at secondary now but his primary school was in a very deprived inner London area and had some of the worst SATs results in the borough. We lived on a local estate ourselves so we had no fears about mixing with kids from there. It meant that he met a really wide mix of children, his best friend was a refugee from Somalia and there were lots of different languages and cultures. We are not white British either (although I grew up here) so he would have stood out in a white middle class suburban primary.

I was not always happy with the teaching and opportunities at the school - I felt that not so much was offered in terms of trips and extra activities as most parents there wouldn't have been able to afford it, so they'd never have got the minimum numbers to take part. And our PTA was virtually non-existent (the ones that raise lots of money depend so much on skilled ex-managerial sahms, but our school was full of mums working NMW jobs trying to make ends meet, or sahms who barely spoke English), so compared to schools with a more middle-class catchment, we didn't get as many shiny new facilities.

But, it was a very inclusive environment, and it wasn't an exam hothouse at all. DS was set hardly any homework as the HT acknowledged that parents from such a deprived area found it hard to support their dc with it (either because they had educational difficulties themselves or were struggling with everyday life demands like work or illness). And we never had silly things like dressing up for World Book Day or class bear stuff. The local parents here are dealing with some incredible stresses and poverty so it would have been insensitive to place that sort of demand on them as well. We never got all those additional demands for extra costs which MN threads often moan about, and the school uniform was very loosely set out (could buy from any supermarket as parents just wouldn't be able to pay for special embroidered tops etc).

Some of the behaviour was poor, but part of that I think is really because so much SEN goes undiagnosed in deprived areas (there is national research which has shown this). My DS was diagnosed with ASD while at primary school, but it took a lot of researching and pushing on my part to get him diagnosed - I can see how other parents might get the same issues dismissed as parenting problems and not get a proper diagnosis. And I felt that his needs went unmet for some time because of the school's relatively smaller budget - but in some ways that actually helped him, because it meant that it was easier to show that he needed additional support from a statement (which is now paying for a private special school), whereas he might not have got one if he was in a school with more resources. He was also helped by the small class sizes (less than 20 in some years) because the school was so undersubscribed, as so many parents were put off by the statistics.

You're having a 'wobble'...about hearsay about the area, not about what happens inside the school. Contact the school and arrange to have a chat with the Head. S/he will be a more accurate source of information about school fence fires and the like than general chit chat.

The trainers on the telegraph pole sounds like an urban myth (and appears on various urban myth websites).

I teach at a school in a deprived area and would be sad to think that what had prevented someone from sending their children to my school was, in essence, gossip. Give the Head a chance to reassure you and then, if you're not convinced, rethink things.

FWIW, I went to a primary school in a deprived area. My parents chose it over the much more 'middle class' school at the top of the hill because, in my Mum's words, "When we visited X, some of the children were grubby but they held the doors open for us, smiled and said hello and were obviously happy to be at school. We wanted you to go to a school where being polite and happy were more important than what you looked like."

That's a school that was avoided by most other families that lived on our road. And it's the reason I'm a teacher.

I agree with SE13mummy these things are nothing to do with the school and could happen anywhere! How is your dd liking school? Do you feel she's making progress? Do you still like the staff? If you answer yes to those then you shouldn't worry about gossip, the trainer thing is rubbish and the fire whilst worrying didn't affect the school.

Only you can decide what to do, but personally I'd need a lot more than that too move my DC if they where settled.

My son goes to a 'deprived area' school. While waiting for the school nurse I saw a sheet they had left out and noticed only one child in his class pays for his school dinners, so that kind of gives you an idea.

I could have sent him to the more middle-class, academic school as myself and my family are previous pupils so would have been easy enough to get him in but I knew it wouldn't suit his personality. They are very results minded, push kids far too much, stream too early and both my dbro and dsis found no support for their dyslexia there. Ds has some slight issues like possible dyspraxia and developmentally has always taken a bit longer than his peers to catch up so I felt academic school might do harm to his self-esteem.

He loves it and looks forward to going to school every day. The parents are decent and the kids seem as well-behaved as kids can be. The classes are smaller so more one-on-one and they don't reward results and homework, as yet anyway, but behaviour, manners, working hard in class and listening well. The past head-master I have heard nothing but praise about, even from well older past pupils. They have good after-school clubs also.

You know the really funny thing about these deprived schools?

Very often, the really badly behaved kids, the ones that these parents are desperate to avoid, end up being excluded from the deprived school.
They are then sent to an Outstanding graded school - usually the one those same parents moved Heaven and Earth to get their kids into.