Change school y3? Help!

[Nameofstreets]

Move or not?

My Y3 daughter has been offered a place at our closest, and excellent, state primary school.

She has been on the waiting list since reception and has several friends there.

She was at another local school (a mile away) until the start of Y2. The school was not very good and was on the decline. We were offered a place at a sought after private school in the next town (20 minutes) and accepted. She has settled in well, has made friends and is happy.

My daughter does not want to leave this private school. Yet the new primary school has quite a few advantages: less homework, no commute, more local friends and a good creative curriculum.

The private school is good but in my view no better than the state school. If we had been offered a choice of either the state or private school in Y2 I would have chosen the state school.

My husband feels that circumstances have changed and we should keep her where she is as she is happy and settled and it would be disruptive to move her again (the initial move was bumpy). We can afford the fees without any real dent in our lifestyle so to some extent we can take money out of the equation.

I am not a fan of private schools in principle and that is playing into my preference.

Should I move her? Your opinions please.

I am not sure if we will send her to private secondary school. I would prefer the grammar but neither the state nor the private school prepares for that, so either way we would have to tutor. My preference would be the local comprehensive school but we may be out of catchment.

Have you visited the state school? If not, then I would advise you to contact the head teacher and arrange a short meeting and visit as we did.

We moved our daughter from a private school to a state school, Y2, not for financial reasons, and haven't looked back since. My daughter was not very happy when we told her our decision as she had made friends, but two terms later she told us she is happier at her new state school. We found the (OFSTED outstanding) state school facilities and teachers are better than the private school. BTW, she kept up with her old school friends as well.

You need to compare the two school's carefully. If you think the private school is better than the state school, and money + time lost are no problem, then don't move. However, if you are not sure if you will send your daughter to a private secondary school, then maybe state school is better. (People usually send their children from state primary to private secondary schools hoping for better exam results.)

Only you and your husband can make that decision, as every case and school are different.

From what you've said, I'd leave her where she is.

My dd2 changed school in yr3 after Xmas. It took her least than a week to get used to the new school. But then my situation was different I didn't like the previous school and my dd wasn't happy either. The new school is an outstanding school and it feels very similar to or better than a private school. But I wouldn't really know or expect I would be so pleased with the new school until after my dd had had been in the school for at least 2 or 3 months.

Sorry no advice really but I can understand your dilemma. I wouldn't want to change school again and again. However year 3 is perhaps a good stage to change as they only just started their KS2. But then you said money is not a problem to you.

In our area children from the LA schools get priority over others for the LA high schools. This means home ed or private primary children can struggle to get into over subscribed secondaries. It's not a common policy but it is our area one.

We moved DS from private to state primary at the start of yr 5. We were moving house to a large village about 20 minutes further away from his school and wanted him to integrate into village life.

I can honestly say that, other than him missing his friends for a few months (although he quickly made new ones), the move was seamless.

He did get more homework at his new school though!

From the village school, he moved to a state comprehensive that is listed as one of the top 50 in the country.

And it's free!