Would you put the "shit school" down on your list - or not??

[TheBeanAndTheBee]

Hopefully that got someone's attention! I'm desperate for some advice and sorry in advance for the essay….

DD1 is due to start reception in Sept 2014 and we have to complete the application form in the next couple of days. We live in London and have lots of schools in our area - the "shit" school is the one we are in catchment for.

My DH and I have visited all the schools in the area except the religious ones that we don't have a chance of getting into.

I have got 5 schools that we are quite happy for her to go to, all within a reasonable distance - 5-10 min walk etc. But catchment areas are so small here that there is a real chance that she won't get a place at any of our first 5 choices.

The school we are in catchment for has a satisfactory ofsted, but we thought we would go and see it with an open mind. All of the other schools have had an open day, or you could make an appt to go and visit. This school, I have tried and tried to make an appointment over the past 4 months to no avail, getting fobbed off regularly with whomever answers the phone. They finally decided to have an open day last week, DH went. He got pointed in the direct of one of the reception classes and he stood in there watching a class, no one talked to him or told him anything about the school. Their idea of an open day, was that you could walk into a reception classroom and watch. The teacher did acknowledge him by smiling, but that was it in terms of contact from any of the staff. He asked if he could talk to someone and they said "no that's it really!" He wasn't shown any other year groups. The reception lesson seemed ok but his overriding impression was that they were doing it by the numbers and that they just don't care.

So as not to drip feed we are looking to move out from London as soon as we can, but there is a possibility we'll be here for another year or even two. DD2 is due to start in the next school year.

If we DON'T put this down as option 6 there is a very real chance that she might not get a school place at all, or be given another random and probably not very good school which could be as much as a 45 drive away (it's a big borough with a real squeeze on school places.)

If we do put it down, and we get it, my DH feels strongly though that he's not happy for her to attend, he's not so worried about the academic side as we can help with that - it's more the complete lack of care from the adults that he's concerned about.

What would you do????

No responses on ParentView may well mean that the school haven't had the pleasure of Ofsted yet this academic year.

My children's school had about 3 ParentView responses until the end of the Ofsted inspection during which time the office bombarded parents, carers and anyone on the emergency contact lists with text messages asking us to complete the wretched questionnaire. By close of play on day 2 of the inspection, there were 146 responses.

Equally, it may mean that the school haven't promoted PV to its parents, that the parents don't have easy internet access, that they all hate the school and don't want to help the school by responding or that the school community are so complacent about the wonderfulness of the school that no-one takes PV very seriously.

I still reckon it'll be the Ofsted reason!

Does your child not go to a local nursery? Are there no local parents you could speak to whose children go to SS? Do they all boycott it? Can you lurk about in a coffee shop to see if parents with SS children come in and maybe ask them about the school? Do you have a local library where SS children may go? Are there any SS mums in the park? How can you live in such a vacuum? There must be someone you know who knows a parent at this school. Neighbours?

If I was sure this was a school I wouldn't like my kid to go I wouldn't put it but I would be prepare to either move or go private (I couldn't HE). If none of the proposed options works for you then probably you should add this as last option and hope for the best.

Unfortunately I genuinely don't know anyone whose kids go to this school, even though my DDs do go to nursery locally. Mums I know, and random mums I talk to in the parks we go to, send their kids to many schools, I just happen to have not met anyone random or otherwise that go to SS. There is no local coffee shop to the school (I wish it was that kind of area that had a coffee shop!) I guess in theory I could accost someone outside the school…….!!!?

Yes put it down for all the reasons stated above. I would also add that my DS1 got into the 'shit school' (although I quite liked it when I had visited but it was the furthest away in our preferred selection).

Within a year of him being there, there was a new Head, investment in the school and 5 years on it rates 2nd in the County. Schools can turnaround on a sixpence if the leadership changes.

tiggytape I do agree with what you say. What I meant is if she doesn't list the school and the council gives them a place 20 miles away they will probably need to move, or they will have to which school around the are/borough has a free space visit the school and then move closer to that school. I know that this is not the case for quite a number of parents but for example in my case there is only one school which i haven't listed and If i was given a place there i would move. i would move because I am renting and I don't have a special bonding to the are as I have no one else in this country. Finally I have thought that worst case scenario i will send my son for a year to a private school which will probably costs as much as I pay now for the nursery/pre-school (ore even a bit more).

I have very recently moved form the one end of London (south end/croydon) to the the other (North end/ High Barnet) just to have access to better schools. I am prepared to move again if needed although I would prefer not to.

Echoing everyone else - yes, definitely put it down, even if last preference. I don't think anyone really has a choice any more when it comes to primary as increasingly there are parents not getting a place at all.

I can imagine if you dissatisfied with this visit because you didn't get to meet the head or a senior teacher and ask questions. Or get an idea of how older children are working in class. But otherwise I don't see what is wrong with being allowed to watch a class in progress but not address that particular teacher. It's quite disruptive for very young children to have adults gawping at them, after all, let alone interrupting lessons. Schools must get 100+ such visitors per year, some more and it's really hard to manage. I do remember at one school visit being shown a load of empty classrooms - and although it gave us lots of time to ask questions of the leadership, I wasn't sure if the answers I got were about standard practice in all schools rather than some particular approach, and I didn't really feel it was as good as watching a class...