I think I want to move dd but dh doesnt?

[mam29]

dd year 2 rc primary not overly huge

45intake per year so split classes
303pupils
lovley grounds/facilities as in 2large playgrounds, feild, garden, play equipment.
large dining hall and extra classroom for afterschool club.
preschool next door where dd2 attends.
10classes in whole school.
plan this year is new ict suite, next year maybe new libary.
dd happy in sense she has freinds and settled but academically feel shes lacking as ses very average and in the lower middle.
they have breackfast club -which now cant be used adhoc and afterschool club we never used as its basically just childcare and £7 for 3.15-5.30.
THe oftsted last term was satisfactory-not that im sure im worried about ofsted.
its 15mins walk so close
she cant do musical instruments until year 5
they not sporty-no sports after school cubs, no recorder or art club.
Academically they quite pushy and we have had homework from reception year, this year its readingm numercay and spellings.

sats keystage 2reading levels falling but results broadly middling for area we live so not the best but not the lowest either.

A year 6parent who i dont kinow said they good at supporting the ones struggling at bottom those gifted and talented.

dd has special phonics blending group with ta in year 1.
she had same reading book for over a week and ended year 1 on stage 3 ort which seems low compared to rest of her year and on here read rception and year 1 higher.

shes currently ginn lecel 4 so ort level 6.
shes finding it too easy but at speed they telling us ie read half a book and giving new books will take 2weeks+to complete a level and wouldent surprise me if she flits back to stage 6ort.
We seeing teacher after school thur.

But dont want to see like pushy parent whos in there all the time telling her this books too easy.

dd pased phonics test last year so not getting any extra litercay help this year but too be honest think shes ok with literacy clicked and shes capable reading higher as current book too easy and she can read the orian early reader at home.

eekly spelling test last 2weeks 10/10

numercay is where shes weak and offered no extra support with that.

Her maths homework was very simple week 1 year 2-shapes find the diffrerent shapes around your home-shes bottom table maths yet top group got identify this shape ho many sides properties-so concerened from the easy homework that they not challenging or improving dd.

Her numeracy books from last year mostly incomplete and coments said need extra help on most pages.

her year 2teacher this year does seem strict and one of best in the school but then worry about next 4years.

she got 1b in end of year report for everything so needs to climb 3sublevels to get to expected 1b by end of year 2.

shes still fixated with reading levles and feels she cant catch up-she doesnt get this from us im sick of blooming reading schemes.
The books are kept in numbered boxes in corridor directly outside the clasrooms so everyone seems to kno hat everyones on.

Its not most class higher that concerens me its the few in her phonics special group last year have progressed ahead yet as shes pasee phonics shes deemed to be fine.

Other school is small coe village school.
lea run
40min walk, 15min drive.could maybe cycle as motly cycleo path.

just 5classes-primary so reception to year 6
split classes so around 25-27most classes apart from reception which is 20 as intake 20per year.
small hall where they do pe, no feild so do pe on village green
old victorian building so most of the classes in portacabins
books lept in libary and up to parents to pick books-felt from visit they trust parents more and have some online learning too.
no structured homework as such in keystage 1 other than reading, no spellings.

they have after school activities art clubs,netball, choir, drama all of which think dd enjoy.
They do a breckfast club but no after school childcare or holiday clubs that current school does but im sahm so not been too bothered,

They have specialist higher level ta who,s maths specialist and use numicon-feel dd very visual and practical.

It seems so much less competative, pushy and much more informal tahn current school.

when asked about disipline they dont use sad sun, thinking branch or falling off the edge of golden circle head said they believe in positive behaviour not being negative.

Every class even juniors had floor space where if child chose to sat on floor thety could, they seems very hands on, saw every class spoke to teacher and pupils. Liked the head.

They do music in year 3 there.

Dh thinks sats results broadly similar.
its too far
shes settled and happy

I think their relaxed practical style suits dd better and extra stuff be a bonus.
downside is distance and would still have to do 2school runs twice a week as dd2 at preschool.

also out catchment no guarantee on 2younger siblings.

Not sure dd be overly keen on moving at first,.

My mums calling me selfish and mad.

I just had such a lovley feeling and liked the way they worked facilities couldent compare granted.

The worrying last year and this ones getting me down.

If you think carefully about the future of all your children, then you have to give consideration to the belief that there is a fair chance in the future you will not get places allocated to younger siblings at the school you are considering. So think about the year group differences and how you will get your children to two different schools.
Every school is different and will do things differently. You think that the alternative school will suit your eldest child better but what about the siblings? From your description of the schools I would say that you are making a lot of the maths issue and assuming that because the alternative school has an HLTA specialising in maths that this makes the school a better school. It might do, but as a small school, with funding becoming more and more of an issue, it would not be beyond the realms of possibility that the school could have to reduce staffing - maybe the HLTA. What will your reaction to this be, move again?
At the end of the day, you need to agree with you partner what you intend to do, before you even consider talking to your child about this. It will be about your joint gut feeling over the two schools but I would caution you that what looks better may not be, the grass is not necessarily always greener somewhere else.

I can't advise whether you should change schools but if you feel that your daughter is capable of more then homework like the maths you mentioned are good opportunities for her to demonstrate that she know more by including the things that the top group have been asked for. Granted this would be much more difficult if she has been give a list of sums to do but the possiblities are there.

As for competitive environment, I would not describe the ethos of my DD's school as competitive but the level of competition between the parents and children is shocking. So you may well move her to a 'less' competitive environment on the face of it, only to find that it is exactly the same.

I have pondered over the summer moving my daughter (Y1) as I disliked the level of competition but I decided against purely based on the the fact that my dd is happy and settled.

Thanks for feedback I know grass not always greener.

wasent saying shes advanced at maths in fact she struggles and think she benefit from smaller groups and one to one time with numercay.

The competition between her and her freinds drives me mad.
I also have fair share competaive parents at school including my freinds whos genuis daughters same class and keep reminding me how much higher hers is.

I guess i think if this bad at infants how bad will in be in junior classes it driving me mad not that dds lower but fact they so competative and the way their systems makes the ones who are lower down feel rubbish.

we do stuff at home maths factor and few workbooklets.
we read daily.

just knocked dds confidence last year and this year she was on bottom table for both shes moved up for literacy but not numeracy..

siblings start 2014 and 2015 .not sure want to send them there so could end up doing 2school runs through choice as prefer the other out catchment school which is a risk as having sibling or baptised coe which all 3are wont get us higher up.

All the nearest coe schools are out catchment hence why shes in roman catholic we wanted a faith based primary.

A 1b at the end of yr1 is bang on where she is supposed to be so she is not behind.

Most schools target 3 sub levels in one school year (KS1).

The only thing that would annoy me tbh about your DD's current school is the lack of after school clubs and no musical instruments till yr5.

Have you spoken to her current teacher about your concerns re numeracy?? I would try and work with her current school for a bit if she is happy there tbh but it is a tough choice to make

The other thing I would say IIRC when DS was in yr2 (he is in yr3 now) is that the homework at the beginning of the school year ie spellings, literacy and numeracy is easy to start with and by Xmas it is soooo much harder for them.

Maybe they are setting easier work to build up their confidence before the more challenging work starts.

her school website said 1a is expectation and 1 is below average on the helpful guuide to your childs school report.

the otehr schsool we looked at said 1b fine just a lot in her class got 1a and 2cs.

as she got 1b for everything literacy, science and maths wasent sure what to focus on in summer so did reading challenge, carol vordmans maths summer camp and some writing.

the no clubs annoys me as a parent
of 3easier to pick her up later than take her somewhere and then pick up.

I dont wnat to use current schools afterschool club as theres no activity its just childcare.

She loves sport and art and if shes not most academic would like her to excell and shine in other areas.

she won 3races at sports day and no fuss from teacher in fact got told off that afternoon for something which wasent her fault.

year 5seems bit late as year 6 so hectic with sats and trip ect.

shes been set the easy stuff numeracy as shes lower group.
If the homework helps her i dont mind but couldent see the point and underatnd why sge feel it be babish and worried shes not doing same as her mates.
The time its taking to move up reading levels is frustrating.
she feels like shes playing catchup with close mates yet they going up levels too.

When DS was in yr1 his school had 1b as expectation for end of yr1.

But the following yr upped it to 1a for literacy (I guess taking into consideration the phonics tests). I guess each school will have different expectations at end of yr1 but as long as they get their 2b in yr2 it does not really matter iyswim.

My friends kids go to a school where 1a is the expected level at the end of yr1.

My DC school is not amazingly academic tbh and only a few kids got a level 2 in year 1.

Can you get her to take in a book that she reads at home to read with her teacher?? Maybe she is finding the school reading scheme books a bit dull (which they are IMO).

It's good that she passed the phonics test, so you know the knowledge is there but maybe she needs to work on confidence. My son hated reading with the teacher or TA in yr1 as he is shy but it took me a while finger out why he could tackle harder books at home iyswim.

Have you spoken to the teacher about how your DD feels??

Also I have just had a thought... Maybe the school has a policy that all the books must be read in all the levels iyswim (DD is currently having to do this )

Are you perhaps being blinkered by needing a faith school? I'm not sure what benefit you feel it brings. The other school doesn't really sound like your ideal either.

Maybe you could look further afield at non faith schools and see if they would be a better fit.

If you moved schools then you would be spending money on petrol for the school run. Perhaps you should just set aside that cash and spend it on enriching extra-curricular activities for your dd. Perhaps music lessons, if you want her to learn those, or (better still) drama, which is very good for self-confidence. It might lessen the competitiveness if she has things she is good at out of school.