All primaries in Warwickshire are crap??

[JudyBlumeRocks]

I'm aware that I'm being a bit premature about this (DD is only 18months), but before spending a small fortune on a new kitchen I wanted to check that we weren't going to need to move house for a decent primary school for her... So I had a look at the league tables, and while not a disaster, none of the primaries in Warwickshire seem to be much good. Am I expecting too much (I'm originally from London so used to mixture of excellent and terrible schools)? Would be prepared to pay, but on looking at the KS2 results of the local independent primaries, they're not much better! I know there are other important things in a school besides results, but I had hoped I'd be able to find somewhere that combined good results with the other good stuff. Am I being too precious? Am I missing something?

Sorry - should add, someone suggested Solihull schools generally good, but it's a bit too far for me to move for work...

erm rather offensive op. please move out of our lovely county

Too precious. And yes, pretty offensive to other people living there.

Hello! A bit precious, yes. There are lots of lovely primary schools here.

All Saints in Leek Wooton is a very good state infant school always with a huge waiting list.
Thorns in Kenilworth is lovely, outstanding results in a great area and has a swimming pool.
I've heard Milverton in Leamington Spa is good.
In Coventry if you are thinking Independent Bablake and Henry VIII are both excellent.
In Kenilworth Crackley Hall is a lovely Independent school in an old convent.

These are just local to me - I don't know a huge amount about Solihull.

Maybe try looking around a few places before assuming the worst.

Where in Warwickshire are you based?

What are you talking about? There are LOADS of good primaries in Warwickshire. Even if you are just looking at results, which is a pretty narrow (and foolish, IMO) way to judge a school.

Seems unlikely. Would do some thorough research and visits. We have made the decision to start ds off at an independent school as very locally schools are ok but not fab and massively oversubscribed. Likely thing is he would get a place at not v good school or one miles away - BUT across a whole county there will always be a mixture of schools!

You only need to look at the 3-4 local schools you may get into and visit them. Little else matters. I can't believe every school in a whole county is rubbish - please !!!

Warwick Prep?

Bilton Grange?

Warwick Prep is a very results driven school if that's what you want - but a results driven school does not (always) a well rounded happy child make.

• & the senior school is boys only so if you value continuity that could be a problem.

Whereabouts in Warks are you?

I can say that as someone who lives in Worcestershire on the border with Warks, they can't all be bad because I decided it was worth applying to schools over the border in Warks rather than hedging my bets with our local schools (most of which are FAR more ropey than any of the closest ones to us over the county border). My decision is affirmed every day, especially now that the schools in our town experiencing new turmoil as they all want to convert from 3-tier to 2-tier.

Have you actually looked at any schools yet or are you basing your blunt opinion on just league tables and ks2 results?

Sorry - I really wasn't trying to be offensive, it was much more that I was sure that of course not all the schools in the county could be crap, so I wondered what I was missing/whether I was looking at the wrong measures etc. I just wanted a bit of local knowledge - didn't mean to go about it in such a heavy-handed way!

Thanks warwickshire mum - I was thinking of warwick prep but couldn't find their ks2 results anywhere, which makes me a bit suspicious!

Hadn't heard of bilton grange so will have a look at that too.

I'd looked at thorns and all saints and really wanted better results than they had..

Was just looking at results to start with - bit simplistic?

Warwick Prep doesn't do SATs so you won't find the results! Many preps don't. Their academic standards are high and I disagree that they don't turn out well rounded children. A family member is there and she does a host of different activities, is very happy, and is the most down to earth little girl you would care to meet, completely lacking in arrogance.

I'm thinking more of the senior school tbh Charles I also know a couple of people who removed their dds from warwick prep due to bullying (you won't find that in the results). Obviously this is dependent on year groups and is very flimsy info from me.

You also won't find any KS2 results on the independents I mentioned above.

Obviously it's down to you as a parent but if I might suggest waiting to see how your dd develops - what she is in to in the way of sports, drama, academia etc to decide which school is best for her.

I am really surprised by your findings OP. I live on the Glos/ Warks border and chose Warks school. It is quite a long county... But I'm sure there must be some very good primaries in every area. Have you actually moved or are you just thinking of moving?

Coten End in Warwick is excellent. It's known as the 'free private school' locally. It's a stones throw from Warwick prep and I know of two staff members who chose Coten End over Warwick prep as in their opinion the only difference between the two was the class sizes.
Emscote (also in Warwick) is also good, it is rated outstanding under the new ofsted regulations.

Ha, I went to Coten End back in the 90s I hear it's much pushier now. Although my mum found it pushy when I was there. I loved it.