Would you choose an inspirational school in a deprived estate or a 'meh' school in a slightly more affluent neighbourhood??

[BotBotticelli]

We live in south east London - a leafy green suburb. Competition for primary places is quite high and you need to leave within about 0.4-0.8 miles of a school to stand a chance of getting in.

So there's really only two schools close to us that we stand a chance of getting in:

School A: a large 3 form intake job which had tired, messy looking facilities, drippy teachers and which basically seemed a bit "meh" when I looked round it (which is situated in a residential area surrounded by 30s 3-bed semis like ours)

OR

School B: literally half the size of school A, 2 form entry, an inspiring headteacher, really engaged switched on teachers, have transformed the school in last 6 years going from required improvement up to "good" with Ofsted, talking about being on a journey to outstanding, kids talk about school values and aspirations, great facilities, huge forest school, loads of space and clean, ordered classrooms. But it is situated in middle of quite a deprived estate and my friends have all been a bit 😱 When I mention it because apparently it's onownfor having sweary parents who do drop offs in their PJs 😫

A few qualifying factors:

• both are Ofsted good at the moment but School A due an inspection and the head is retiring.

• school B prides itself on a "no child left behind" philosophy and achieves above national average on all key performance indicators despite a large number of kids arriving st the school with lower than average abilities and many of them coming from vulnerable homes/family situations. They do a brilliantly job supporting these children to achieve their potential and have incredible facilities for kids with physical and learning disabilities.

My son who is currently 3 seems to be on the bright side (feels cringe writing that but it's true - his nursery tell me he has the vocal of a much older child and he is very curious about the world, choosing non fiction books from the library every week and chattering away about cavemen and the water cycle etc...!), both me and DH were straight A students, graduates, professional jobs etc so am slightly concerned that whilst school B does really great work with children that require extra support they might not be set up to support/stretch/challenge more able kids?

What would you do?

Wow a real mixed bag of responses. Pretty much reflects how I feel torn.

Ha yes will try not to let my "prejudices" sneak out in front of the kids....!

For the record I am not "well off myself. Totally average squeezed middle. Just want my son to go to school where he will do well - the fact that so many people have responded to this thread echoing my own thoughts shows I am not alone!

B. You may well find a lovely set of less well off parents who are keen to support the school and the teaching staff sound amazing.
I always think that you should look at schools as education for life so diversity is a very positive thing

We went for B in a similar situation and haven't looked back. DD has a wide circle of friends, no real cliques at the school gates and she has been identified as bright and she is flying, no issues with her going to parties, playdates with any of her friends - her school to quote Ofsted is very diverse. (Says she often gets different activities to do and is sometimes taken off by herself for extra maths which she loves.) Where do you think your DS will be happiest? Why don't you go for a walk at pick up/drop off time by the school and get that feel as well to make your own mind up rather than local gossip.

We had a similar choice, and chose school b. Dd loves it, and it is truly an amazing school. Despite the deprived and chaotic backgrounds of many of the dc, the school has excellent behaviour and results. By all accounts (ofsted, value added, sats, parental satisfaction etc) it is a much better school than the local oversubscribed school where all the middle class parents clamour for a place.

It sounds like you prefer school B anyway, but are just put off by the parent demographic. Don't worry about this, it really doesn't matter. London is so mixed anyway that school b is bound to have other middle class parents too.

DS old school was run down, had no funding, looked really crap but was an absolutely phenomenal school. Massively inspiring head teacher, a really lovely and welcoming place to learn and grow. It amalgamated with another local school this year and I hate it. It's lost everything that made it what it was, including the old head, deputy head and janitor. It's become a generic shiny new school with lots of facilities but it's lost the heart of what made it great. So I'd go school B. It sounds like the better school all round.

In hindsight, I would choose the school where your child will be most like their peers, won't be a minority or feel they stand out in a bad way, whichever school that is.

I think I would go for A.
If your dc is able, there's more chance in bigger school to find like minded/leveled child.
(But then, the small school maybe better for catering for individual needs.)
Also the HT, what if she/he left? And all the great talk/impressiveness true?
When I applied for my ds's school, I was so impressed by HT's talk how great everything was.
But it wasn't really reflected in ds's school life. And she left. And lots of experienced teacher did too. School is still good for some, but not so for my ds.
So, you never know. It's a gamble, either way.

I know it seems far off but look what the yr 6 are like and which secondaries are they heading too. Does one feed into a particular secondary? Also activities if your child will be going to activities in your 'semis' area area eg brownies, dancing will all the other children be from school A. We moved and my DD used to sometimes say she was only child at brownies not at w school.

We had exactly the same and chose b (although it was the bigger school). School had been in special measures and was now outstanding but was not the school of choice. We had some incredibly snobby responses to our decision almost all based on the previous reputation. I work in education and school A left me cold. They were coasting at best. They were so uninspirational and un progressive. But because in my bit of SE London their school was by the big houses they got the good intake. School B gave me goosebumps ( in a good way) they preached 'no child left behind' and they have delivered. My bright daughter has thrived and has done very well with individual attention because of the ethos. There are huge financial differences between me and most of the parents. This has not mattered at all and in many cases has meant that we offered her friends trips etc that they would never experienced. Go with gut

Sorry - should add- we are significantly in the minority ethically. It has never been a problrm

I would always have said school b, but I currently work with a school b and it's not looking good! They went from ir to good, great head, disadvantaged children that they work bloody hard for, talk the talk. BUT it's just not working for them. The children aren't reaching anywhere near their potential. Their attainment and progress isn't anywhere near good.

So for me, I would look at the actual results too. Are they getting the best from their pupils? I am against ofsted and the current government's approach to education, but it's a competitive world and I'd want my children to be happy AND achieving where possible.

I nearly moved one of my DC from school A to a school B on the other side of town (the commute was the only real reason I didn't).

We went for a B type school but ended up moving ds to a type A.

And don't forget, the teachers may also move on in either school as well as the head.

B - the funding schools like this can access means opportunities for all children can be second to none. They are often well staffed because of creative use of funding streams such as PP money - their website should tell you how much and how it's been spent previously and their current spending plan

I'd second the point on PP. I have friends with schools in 'deprived' areas and they have great use of the extra funding. Tons of free enhancement stuff. Our school gets some via funding but nothing like as much.

School A. I live by a couple of school Bs in South East London. One had their truly amazing results annulled (cheating). The other had a huge, still unexplained, drop in results 6 years into their journey to outstanding. I no longer believe in these incredible school turnarounds. I'd now rather go with a school with solid, consistent results.

We had similar although my school b was rated outstanding. I went for school B because it was more diverse and inclusive than school A which is pretty much an almost all white school in peckham . I didnt want that for our family, I wanted him to make friends that reflected the mulicultural part of London that we are in (SE).

Only in reception so far so cant tell you anything about results but so far I have only good things to say. Our choice was right for our family. Go with your gut