should i be worried?..lack of school choice

[apple85]

Hi everyone, this is my first post! Been reading for ages though. Anyway, will try and be brief! We currently live in a good area for schools. Although we rent our house-have lived here for 3.5 years. My dd is due to start school in 2015. We had thought we coujd stay here long term and dd would go to the local primary which has a really good reputation. The other 3 closest schools are seemingly also good. However out landlord is selling our home, bit out of the blue. It has made us reconsider our choice of area as we are trying..albeit slowly to save to buy. We have seen a cheaper. Bigger house that we really like. However, as you'd expect the area is not as 'nice'. Im really not too bothered over reputation and I think its really alright. Plus we could eventually afford to buy in this area, where as we couldn't in the one we have lived for past 3 years. The only problem I can see is the schools. Even though its less than 2 miles away from our current house the closest schools are different. The 4 closest primaries- all less than a mile away from the new house are rated 3 by ofsted. Should I be worried about the reports? They are pretty critical. Dd is s bright child, she's very articulate and i don't want to hold her back. However, I also don't want to be a snob and live somewhere more affordable. I know it sounds silly but I've had sleepless nights over this and wonder if we should go for the house or bot because of the schools. There is one school about 1.5 miles away with a much better rating. They are not currently over subscribed currently but that could change. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

Hi apple - if I were you I would read the ofsted reports carefully, not just go on the overall rating. They may have scored higher on the things that you really value. Also, as many schools are having open days in the run up to applications for school places in 2014, you might like to visit the schools so you can get a feel for what they are like. You may find that you like the vibe, and a school that is on it's way up is better than one that is coasting. Don't worry about being a year ahead of when you would normally do the visit - we visited some junior schools when choosing preferences for a reception place and the schools didn't mind at all.

I would visit the schools, try and choose based on feel but take account of the Ofsted too, then look at their intake last year and how far out the furthest child admitted lived. You then want to look for a home less than that away from the school to be fairly certain (though not guaranteed) a place there. The local authority will publish data about the admissions last year and distances etc.

Thanks for your replies. I have just realised my post was full of spelling and grammar errors..I blame it on having to type on my phone! I will phone round schools this week and see when they're having open days. Thanks for the advice, I assumed we wouldn't be able to go because dd doesn't start until 2015. Has anyone got any good ideas of things to ask when viewing schools. I've re read the reports, the school closest to the new potential house has a pretty bad report, scored 3 for everything and commented on the poor standadrd of teaching.

I wouldn't worry about the fact that you are going on open days a year 'early'. They are big, busy affairs and either no one will notice or no one will care that you aren't 2014 intake. Just explain if anyone asks that you are potentially moving house.

I would worry about teaching, safeguarding and general atmosphere the most. Also, if your child is bright, I would be concerned if it said that the brightest children are coasting or underachieving. Have you taken a look at the OFSTED data dashboard for information on SATS etc? One thing round by us is that lots of the Outstanding schools are resting on inspections from a few years back, and have had a paper based interim report more recently. They could be doing worrying things themselves!

I always asked how schools dealt with special needs and gifted children. I think how a school treats both ends of the spectrum tells you quite a lot. Take a look at the wall displays - do they look interesting and engaged? Use that as a jumping off point to ask about topics - the teachers should be enthusiastic and positive and talk about all the different areas of learning from whatever topic they might be doing. I always think asking about the bullying policy is a revealing question too - if they say they have none then run like the wind. No school has no bullying - the best schools are careful how they deal with it!

FWIW, the school DD1 goes to had, until recently, a satisfactory grading. It went up after applications closed for this year. It's now good and I think it's nicer than quite a number of the outstanding schools in the area.