Outstanding school or inadequate one?

[Dontmakemecometovegas]

Apologies I have another thread started earlier in the week in this vein.

I'm struggling with the decision as to whether or not to move my son (in reception now) to a different school. Here are my lists of pros and cons. Please give me your opinion:

Current school

In special measures. Last ofsted a year ago - everything was 4. Including behaviour.
Behaviour still not great generally
Parents a bit rough (I know this sounds snobby but we've had two letters about verbal and physical abuse from parents, a police presence some nights on the playground and parents who had to leave sports day for being drunk)
At the moment achievement is well well below national average.
Ds has a couple of close friends. He won't play with a lot of the boys because they hit. But appreciate they may mature with time.
It's a really boy heavy year and there will be 25 boys and 4 girls in the year.

But -

School is improving all the time
School is becoming an academy
Ds is happy there
It's very near and we can walk

There is now a place at the outstanding primary 2 miles away.

It got 1s in everything, the behaviour is exceptionally good.
All the teaching observed was good
Class sizes are only 20 (instead of 30)
School has a very pleasant calm atmosphere
School offers lots of additional clubs and hobbies (current school offer none)

But:

Ds won't know anyone
The current head is retiring - and a new one starting in September. Bit of an unknown.
Can't walk there - on country lanes

What would you do?

Mainly because ds does seem happy where he is now. It's hard to say to my child "you're not going to go up to the next class with your friends" although they will possibly be in different classes anyway.

He's so confident and knows the systems and the behaviour strategies etc. I'm just worried uprooting him is the wrong thing to do, it's easy on paper but I'm definitely finding it harder in practice! However everyone saying to move him does help, I know it's the sensible thing to do really.

Move, no question.

There was a waiting list for it last September and we were told it wasn't even worth applying.
They have had two children move out of the area in reception this year and can only assume that when offered the place the parents on the original waiting list turned it down because presumably their children are settled elsewhere now.

You also couldn't get to it very easily without a car. It's not on a public transport route.

But he only has a couple of friends! Most of his classmates sound 'antisocial' and the school sounds unstable so I wouldn't be counting on his friends staying around long term. Their parents could well be looking at the situation the same way you are.

If he got on well with most of the class and there was lots of potential for other friends that would be a different story.

If the outstanding school isn't an academy I'd move him like a shot. We've just lost a 9 month battle to stop our school being forced to become an academy. It isn't magic dust that solves the problems. It makes the school less accountable and is essentially privatisation.

The outstanding school isn't an academy.

It's true he hasn't got a load of friends, he's been invited to all the parties he just doesn't seem to like them very much! He's says they play too rough, and it is true that there have been a lot of problems amongst the boys this year.
He seems content with his one close friend but agree he needs more than one friend who he reliably can play with and his options are limited in the school he is in.

The staff at the school seem the think being an academy is a very good thing, or are they just saying that?

Can anyone shed any light on what happens with an academy?

Mve like a shot. I was in the same position with dd in year 3 and it was the best thing ever.

I think with an academy the school can make more of its own decisions with regards to stuff like funding and admissions.

And the smaller class sizes will make a huge difference to his learning on its own. Never mind it sounds like better teaching as well.

Just to point out - the hitting children will mature - to hitting harder. Not a given but in our experience at an outstanding school with excellent behaviour this does happen and is managed through lots of structure, therapy and other interventions to give those children the best possible chance. Are you confident the current school will provide that? Also is the gender balance better at new school? I would look at that closely. Son'a class was nearly all boys in reception and they mixed all the classes for year 1. The difference was huge.

A school that goes into forced academy status will be 'taken on' by a sponsor. That sponsor will do what they see fit with the school- that may or may not include making changes to the management team.

Sponsors often have 'chains' of schools. This might mean that the school loses some of it's local feel. The school will take on the 'ethos' of the sponsor.

The school will no longer be under the LA umbrella so will buy in it's own services. There is the potential there for the sponsors to try to 'economise' on many aspects of the school budget.

I'm sure there are some great sponsors, but there are probably also some not good ones and the point is that nobody in the school has any choice in the matter. There are already examples of sponsors failing and being stripped of their schools.

In my local area this sponsor has taken several schools and they have a bad reputation. Schools are in fear of being taken by them!

www.e-act.org.uk/

The gender balance is 50:50 for ds's class at outstanding school.
No idea why there are so many boys at his current one.

Yes, I did think that they might just hit harder or misbehave in other ways as they got older!

Thank you for explaining re the academy. So basically with an academy it could go either way?

Goodness, no brainer! From the perspective of having older kids now both in outstanding schs, I wish we had moved them much earlier. The difference in expectation, calibre of staff and pupil behaviour is very marked. I know people often say Ofsted is just a tickbox exercise etc but it is a useful starting point and in our case, I believe, an indication of a seriously good school.

I'm not even sure why you're hesitating.

He is 4/5? He will make new friends. What a miserable school existence to only have one friend and be surrounded by the children of anti social idiots.

The academy status won't change the parents.

My ds is going to a school with a broad range of parents from different social backgrounds. If the school was like yours I would take my ds out.

I understand that it is difficult but children are so much more adaptable than we are as adults. Better move him now than when he's older.

I've sent his form off.

I hope he will settle ok and be happy at the new school. If he'd been unhappy at the old one it would have been an easy decision but he'd settled we'll despite not having a large social circle.

He is just 5.

I don't think he is happy though OP. I suspect that what most if us in the thread are saying is that when he goes to the other school, it is highly likely you'll see what being happy at school really means. Of course there's always a risk involved. But I think from what you've said, even if the other school was rated good I'd still be telling you to move.

He rarely talks about school - but that's normal at 5 isn't it? What I mean is he never tells me what's happened or what he's done.

Move for sure

In ky experience with four children reception and year 1-2 are the years you do get told about school. After that you need to drag it out. I think you made the right decision and I ssy that as a mother who moved from outstanding school to good. However the good school was outstanding fortmy childreb who have thrived in it. Much of this in my opinion due to a smaller school.

I think in a month or so you will discover a very different child about school. And perhaps best friend may move too?

I would go with where I think he'd be happier long term - if there are some boys who hit in his current school, I would be worried about that. I've had the opposite decision to make - I've moved house and have left my son in a school miles away (near where we used to live) because he loves it and his teacher is brilliant. I drive 12 miles each a day - not ideal, but not the end of the world! Good luck!

Frikadellen - I know plenty of parents of Reception children who get told precisely nothing about school - some of them just like to keep it all as their little secret. So I wouldn't take that as any indication of unhappiness. But I do agree that there is every possibility he will be even happier in a more stable environment.

A chickencalled korma

You will notice I started my post saying "In my experience" as that is what it is. 4 children through primary (last one in year 5) and it was the early years where I got the info readily and willingly not the later years..

For me it would be a indicator of "something to watch" if my child in year R/1 did not talk to me about school. For some children it will mean nothing for others it will mean something is not right.

Either way I think OP did the right thing and I hope she and her son have a excellent experience in his new school

How can any kid be happy with one friend and a bunch of boys who hit the pair of them and even the parents ruin everything.

Glad you decided to move him I hope you get in!!

Glad to read that you have gone for the outstanding school. Our school (state) has an intake of 15, so 20 seems normal to me. There's a lot of movement about in here, my daughters class (now yr 3) has had about half the class change since reception because people move. It's quite normal and the new children settle in so quickly.