Can't decide what's best

[bernardshakey]

Hello,

this is my first post so hello everyone :-)

We're in a bit of a quandary about what school to send our daughter to in September. We have two local schools - one is consistently rated as outstanding but is a 15-20 minute drive away depending on traffic - the other is a 3 minute walk away, but has had a couple of hard years where it has required improvement, but appears to be making steps to improve.

In a purely academic way it's a no-brainer, but we've always wanted to be able to walk our children to school, and have them develop that bond with friends and family that being so local brings.

I don't like the idea of having to drive every day, plus the children from the outstanding school come from a wide area, so it's going to be hard to maintain friendships outside of school.

When visiting the outstanding school we came away with a really positive vibe, but with the local one we felt a little bit deflated. Nothing major, it just didn't have that aura about it, whereas with the outstanding one - there was a definite feeing of fun and learning.

Can anyone offer any advice on how to approach this?

Send them to the one that had the more positive vibe during the visit.

Also check out how they were rated 8 yrs ago; which one had better reputation if you had been choosing then? Because that's how hard it is to predict the future.

It's a tough decision. I personally would go to the local school, for the reasons you mentioned, plus there is no guarantee that an outstanding school will remain outstanding or that a school that needs improvement won't improve. There is a shortage of primary leaders and so all school are vulnerable to a change in headship.

At primary parents have a big influence on academic attainment, reading, spelling, writing and basic math are skills that need a little and often approach and practising at home makes all the difference.

I'd also be tempted to join the governing body at the local school to help improve it.

Also, you might not get the choice anyway.

I take it the walking distance one is your catchment school?

Thank you for your thoughts.

The local school is in the catchment area. We will also be in the right location to get into the outstanding school. This school has always had a good reputation and will probably continue to.

The two main priorities that we want from a school is close proximity and a confidently run school in which the children do well. And neither school has both of those!

It seems a really hard decision and a big compromise!

Go with the positive vibe.

Yes, he schools might change, but at least then you're starting with the one you feel 'right' about. And she'll spend more time in the school than on the journey to it. It might have been worth going for the local one had you not felt 'deflated'

You can still put the local one as second choice.

You cannot be sure which you'll be offered, and there are (different) positives about each. That's not so bad a position to be in.

go with your gut.