How far would you travel to school? 1 hour??

[nat73]

We are in a dilemma. Our village school is all things lovely but academic results (KS2) are woeful. We have no farm so our kids will need to find their own ways in the world.
I have spoken to the school about my concerns and they ultimately said this is what we offer, if you want something else you need to go elsewhere.
Village school is 200m walk = 15 mins dawdling.
The alternative is another village primary 20 mins away which is more academically focused or an independent school which is a 1 hour bus ride away. (We cannot afford the prep school which is 35 mins away)

DD is in Year 2 so we were thinking of moving her for September. DS is 3 years old so we will keep him in nice but dim village school for KS1.

Is 1 hour (each way) too far? My heart says yes but having seen the school and how great the facilities and teachers are I have confess I am tempted!

In our school we have kids who travel for an hour at Primary age. The mothers are SAHM. it's not unheard of! I would say though that school days are long enough that nobody does play dates during the week and as the parents are geographically spread out there aren't many at weekends either. I think if your daughter can use the bus so you don't have to drive 4hrs a day then it sounds perfectly doable.

Can you tell us just how bad the results are at the current school?

If you're not convinced about a 1hr journey, what is the Primary 20 mins away like? Seems like it could be a good compromise, depending on how hard the Independent school will be to get in to at 11+? How selective is it?

Nat- I must be being dim. I don't understand your figures.

And did the OFSTED really say "poor" for maths but good overall?

'We have no farm so our kids will need to find their own way in the world'? Don't understand - is this a typo?

Sorry, I did RTFT but just started writing my reply before I saw your message with the statistics.

To clarify, are you saying only 38% pass KS2 at this specific school or is that an average pass rate of all the 10 Primaries in the area?

What's the pass rate at the school 20 mins away?

I think the most worrying thing about the current school is the parents not giving a stuff about education and the Head being in denial! I would absolutely not continue at that school!!

What's the 11+ independent school entrance like? How selective / competitive is it?

I'm reading this as a somewhat sparsely populated rural area where if you don't literally 'own the farm' or similar, your career prospects are very limited if you haven't got decent qualifications.

I would move mine based on what you've said.

Go for the local school. Your children will be a real part of their community and you cannot put a price on that. If you are concerned about their results, then get yourself in as a parent governor; if not that then definitely the PSA.

Two other things - schools are being chased up all the time about their academic data and none are allowed to "coast." And the SATs are a poor indicator of the real nature of the school and its work.

When you go round the local school do you get a good vibe? Do the children seem relaxed/happy/respectful of each other and the adults? These are the heart of a school and the learning flows from that. They may learn at a different pace and in a different way from larger more academic schools but that does not make them worse schools.

Go private at secondary stage if your need to, but primary school is about learning the basics, some of which is about kindness and respect and enjoying childhood.

I would move mine based on what you've said

As, I imagine, plenty of other families with high academic aspirations, an excessive reliance on league tables data when making choices for their children, and the finances to support private schooling/heavy daily travel will already have done. Thus skewing the "KS2 results" even further.

I suspect the head is not so much 'in denial' as 'fucked', poor woman.

PS If OfSted rates the school as "good" you may rest assured that it is absolutely fine. They do not dole out even that rating without a serious amount of scrutiny.

If you are concerned about the maths in KS2, ask to take a look at the data lower down the school for progress in maths. With small cohorts you can get a very skewed result - if a cohort of say 8 children in the top class has 2 pupils with SEN the results will look lower than expectations.

If you really do want your children "pushed" (which is in itself a debatable issue at this age) then you can use tutors later on up the school for the purpose of 11+ entrance.

It concerns me that you are scathing of the other parents and do not feel that they support their children's education. Education at this age is broader than narrow academic subjects. I am sure that you will read to your children at home so that they learn a joy in reading and you will encourage them with their homework. In the meantime they are at the local school, mixing with local children, learning valuable life lessons about tolerance etc.

Time enough for the narrow academic tunnel, down which they will be dragged for the rest of their lives. This is the chance for them to blossom as people and as personalities. Academic achievement does not necessarily equate with happiness/kindness etc.

I live about 20 mins from where mine are at school in that it's just under 20 mins at 3pm on a good run but 30 mins in the morning and easily 40 mins plus at busier times. Mine are different ages and do different clubs and the driving is really starting to grind us down to the extent that we're seeing whether it's feasible to move nearer to the school. I'd need a lot of persuasion and dreadful alternatives to do an hour each way!

PS If OfSted rates the school as "good" you may rest assured that it is absolutely fine. They do not dole out even that rating without a serious amount of scrutiny.

Blosdomdeary, I've taught in 'outstanding' graded schools were I'd never in a million years send my children and others apparently 'requiring improvement' where I'd happily send them.

IMVHO, ofsted ratings mean jack shit. The reports themselves can be useful and highlight problems areas or draw attention to areas that are important to you as a parent such as pastoral care but the grading? No!

Blossomdeary - we are already at the school. The question is whether to move to another school which is further away.

I totally understand that in small cohorts each child is a significant 'chunk' of the results. But out of the 11 nearest schools to us only 1 made national average of 51% pass rate... What I dont understand is how can all of these schools have skewed results due to small cohort? Out of 120 kids at 11 schools where are the smart individuals who are skewing the results upwards?

I am with DoraDunn on OFSTED. From what I have seen it is a mostly tick box / paperwork exercise. There is a school which was in special measures which has a new headmaster and now is apparently a fab school. I'm afraid I don't get much comfort in our 'Good'.

Blossomdeary - you are right I am scathing about people who cannot find 10 mins a day to listen to their own child read. I used to listen to one of the classes read and one little girl I was the only person who listened to her read in a whole school year. Her parents were too busy (according to the little girl). I found it very depressing. Apologies if you don't find this 'tolerant'.

If children start at school at a lower than average level, it might well be that ther is a high level of illiteracy and disadvantage among their families. Not really fair to be "scathing" about them, surely?

BertrandRussell - this may be true for a minority but we have lower than average FSM so not financially disadvantaged (in the gov'ts eyes). KS1 does OK its KS2 where the rate of progress falls away (6 out of 8 of the local schools fell within the bottom 10% of schools for progress in writing between KS1 and KS2 and 4 out of 8 in bottom 10% for maths).

We have low % of graduate parents so I think its more a factor of low parental expectations than material/developmental/emotional issues.

One of the best readers we had did not have English as a first language and neither of her parents spoke english fluently but they made her read every night!!

"One of the best readers we had did not have English as a first language and neither of her parents spoke english fluently but they made her read every night!!"

The two parts of that statement have absolutely nothing to do with each other!

Out of 120 kids at 11 schools where are the smart individuals who are skewing the results upwards?

Erm, that really isn't how it works. Schools are judged on 'meeting expectations' or not - they don't just add all the results together and find the mean!

Oh, and don't forget, with a tiny cohort and lower than average FSM/EAL children - and being outside London in the first place - the school will be horrendously underfunded and getting more so (even without parents getting scared off by SATs results).

DoraDunn - with you all the way on the value of OfSted ratings. They are meaningless. They are not measuring the things that matter. I am a school governor and have watched this process twice - it is nonsense. I say that even though our rating was all anyone might wish for.

nat73 - but YOU will be encouraging your children's reading etc. Let others make their own decisions about such things. They may be doing other very valuable things with their children out of school time. Or not - who knows? - but that does not influence what you do.

I think what I am trying to say is that academic achievement is not the be-all-and-end-all. That is what we are being encouraged to believe, and it is certainly not true, especially at the primary stage.

Plus, of course, it's useless to try and assess 'progress' using last year's KS2 results - as even the government confirms.

If OfSted rates the school as "good" you may rest assured that it is absolutely fine.

Hahahaha! I've heard it all now!

As you have a very low % FSM, could it be like our area which is rural and affluent where a lot of parents can afford Private school and the kids who can't really get left behind by the state provision?

I did ask unthread, but could you tell us more about the school 20 mins away and how selective entrance to the Senior school is?