Private school vs 'hippy*' cheaper school from reception

[mrstina]

*used to convey meaning on a public forum rather than any form of disrespect, I consider myself to have some of these elements in certain aspects of my life

OK, we are unsure of what to do with our child's (now 2 1/2) education from next year.

The options are as above, but if the latter option to move him to that private school prior to 11+, as we have good selective state schools here. Obviously I understand all children are different, not all private schools are good etc. etc.

Is the education at reception really education, or just fun playtime which could be done equally well at the 'hippy' school? Will moving schools be problematic (I moved school aged 7 and it didn't affect me at all).

i.e. is it worth spending lots of money for a prolonged playtime, or does structured stuff give long term benefits?

I'm happy to name schools if allowed and no threat of retaliation etc.

Many thanks for any advice.

The point about white students underperforming is actually a great point and one I hadn't considered. My son is himself being brought up bilingual, but I had considered the language issue was a marker of migrants from poorer backgrounds (sorry if this offends, but I don't see any other way of putting it).

It's interesting that having claimed that state school isn't a one size fits all versus my point that academic private = one size fits one, it is being discerned that state schools have to cater for many different populations, which surely demonstrates my point, because how can a school cater to such varying groups equally?

As I tried to indicate, the 'one size' is fine if that is the 'one size' you wish to purchase, and your 2.5 year old is and remains of the correct size for that approach - so it could be seen as a positive.

I was surprised, though, by your initial claim that a problem with state schools was that they are one size fits all, because as your most recent post indicates, the reverse tends to be the case.

Can anyone tell me how I should rate state primary schools?

People would say SATs, but many in both private and public sector consider these exams a waste of time.

The way I had rated primary schools was on their secondary destinations, but these are not viewable for state schools it seems.

For what you want, SATs is a fairly reasonable proxy - you want 'results at 11+', and so for you, SATs would be a decnt starting poit.

You have to remember that you will in all probability only have a realistic prospect of getting into a few schools, so start with determining which those are. (There's a tool available online which i will try to locate for you)

Once you have determined the few schools you could get into, then I would do SATs, Ofsted report in full, %FSM to put that in context (Good on 50% FSM is an excellent school, Good on 5% FSM is an average school) and then visit.

Excuse typing.

A school that caters to many different kinds of pupils, does not make that school not a one size fits all, unless it caters to all groups very well.

I just don't see how this can be the case (because of the vastly different objectives), in the same way a selective grammar school/academic secondary school caters to academically 'able' students over those 'less able' (in principle), but don't pretend to do anything else.

Anyway, this part of the discussion is more abstract and less practical.

This site is pretty good for 'non faith' schools.

www.schoolcatchment.co.uk/

This one gives a reasonable indication as well

www.schoolguide.co.uk/

Historical data is not an infallible guide to future admissions, however.

On school selection, Sutton has an excellent tool for locating nearest schools. The catchment areas seem to be about 500 metres based on a post I read somewhere on this forum and extrapolated (catchment areas are reducing).

So how many schools do you need to investigate?

ok, great links, just exploring, thanks

The traffic between Sutton and Kingston is terrible.
Really. If you live between them ie new Malden or Worcester park then you are lining your self up for really crappy starts to everyday. If you live at one end or other of the 213 bus route (Kingston or Sutton) and opt to send your pre school age child all the way to the other end in peak traffic times you are going to be even more miserable.

There are a number of good state schools in the area. And a number of other good private schools too.
scooting, cycling or walking to school would be much much nicer for you both.

based on my postcode and my assumption of a 500m catchment area in Sutton, there were about 4-6 schools (from my recollection, probably closer to 4).

Remember that faith schools with faith-based criteria will not have their admissions data reliably shown on the first link. Check their criteria to see how well you fulfil them, then call the school or LA to see whether you might have been admitted.

Portobelly: consider naming a few if you want to! If you want to, please tell me why they are considered good.

Is the catchment area for local state primaries only 500m?

Yes, driving my niece from WP to a Kingston selective school for a test took just over 1 hr!

I cycle it in about 15 minutes!

Mrstina, the second link will give you exact cut off distance (for distance-based criteria) for each school from last year.

awesome.

thanks

So basically in a nutshell you don't want you child to mix with anyone 'different' no children with special needs, poor children, refugee children, as they are the only reasons you have listed for not wanting to send your child to a state school, good luck with that, I'm sure it will produce a nice well rounded child with a lot of empathy, I hope to god that your attitude doesn't rub off on your child.

OK, so St. Cecilia's catholic school is out!

Sounded like a good school.

Presumably you lack the catholic credentials?

your comment about 'migrants from poorer backgrounds' IS offensive actually
besides the points mentioned earlier about many BME children achieving very well, you might want to have a think about what sort of person drags themselves and their family half way round the world in search of a better life and a better education- or even just so as not to be killed. I know several refugee families whose children have excelled in school and are now successful professionals and I consider my children fortunate to have been educated alongside them. In state schools.
as for the 11+ do you not think it ridiculous to be worrying about this when your DC is 2 1/2 ? Have you considered that your child might be, you know, average- like most children?

Is it really that surprising that the academically minded parents are wondering if their child might be academically minded and looking for options should this be the case.

Is it then surprising that the parents would want their child to be in a school with as large a number of similarly minded children and parents as possible (regardless of race, refugee status, financial status) and don't want to use their child as some sort of virtue signalling beacon so they can write resentful stuff on internet forums.

In the 2 postings I have made, I have learnt a lot. In fact, I have been surprised the PC brigade hadn't arrived sooner (hence my repeated apologies for anything anyone might deem 'offensive' in an attempt to be courteous to those who can't understand what being offended actually entails).

Ah. "virtue signaling" and "state education is one size fits all" .............r

on the other hand, what if your child isn't 'academically minded' but as I said, just average or have an SPLD and is in an environment which only caters to and values a narrow range of intellectual abilities?
I'm not sure what you mean by 'virtue signalling' but I am very happy that my children grew up valuing people for who they are regardless of labels and keen to make a difference in the world- this is in part due to the schools they went to - comprehensive/grammar/church. They also have, you know, degrees and stuff but they don;t think that makes them any better than anyone else.

OP
I think if you want to do the 11+ route then you need to be looking for a Prep which does 11+!!

I don't see the point in considering a state school since government policy dictates they are not allowed to offer more than a couple of practice papers as prep, so your DD would be at a disadvantage compared to other DC at Prep schools and I don't see the point in considering the 'hippy school' as you'd need to do a potentially difficult move later.