Inner city primaries - which one?

[Twinkletoes77]

Went round three primary schools this week. All Ofsted outstanding. The very nicest we may not get into but I will put it at the top of my list. But how do I choose between the other two.

1. Used to be bad, just got an Ofsted outstanding due to incredibly hard work from a new head. All children greeted her as she came in, two from each class came up hand in hand to tell us what they were working on. She was SERIOUSLY impressive, on it, answered everything and warm and welcoming. They've just got 100% on their SATs grade 4s (if that makes sense, I'm very new to this game!). But they didnt get any SAT grade 6s - I don't think they entered the kids for it, if that makes any sense? As they were focussed on just getting all the kids up to a basic level. Dramatically high proportion of free school meals and English as a second language. Very culturally diverse but they seem to be doing a brilliant job of integrating everyone. But will this head stick around having turned round this school or move in to sort out another one, as often happens round here I think.

1. Has been Ofsted outstanding for ages but just got a new head this year who I thought was a bit of a dipstick. Didnt know the answers to any of my questions and always seemed to get the wrong end of the stick when we asked questions and trotted out a long irrelevant answer. Maybe she was nervous but that's not a good sign, is it? She's only been there a month but still couldn't say in any detail how they deal with bullying, stretch brighter pupils, what instruments they teach etc. Lower proportion of free school meals and English as second language - ie more middle class intake. They seem to have a higher proportion of bright kids. Other teachers all seemed good - but will they all leave if the head's no good? Surely she wouldn't have got the job of running an Outstanding Primary if she was dreadful? She didn't seem to have much of a plan for the school.

So - my question is - should my bright son go where all the other bright kids seem to go - option 2? Or go for the recently turned around, dynamically led school that has a lot more pupils with problems? Please tell me your experiences.

The first one sounds fab

Go with your gut instinct. Oh and stop going on about 4 yr olds being bright, it's as bad as labelling them as dense at that age (sorry a pet hate of mine).

Go for the one with the inspirational, impressive Head. Also, I went to school in Central London and realise as an,adult that cultural/social/ economic diversity is a benefit to a child' s overall education about the world.