WWYD? Should we move schools or not?

[sheep73]

I have been having sleepness nights over this and need to resolve it one way or another before next term.. sorry if this is long..

We have 2 DCs. DS1 who will go into Yr3 and DS2 who will start reception at the village school (200m up the road) in Sept. Both are happy there (DS2 has been in pre-school there).

We are not totally aligned with the school's ethos which seems to be very laid back but have decided to go with it til the end of Yr 3 and then move DS1 to independent school which will be a 1 hr mini bus ride away. However now we are not sure we can wait that long or that we want DS2 to go to the school at all..

1. The infants teacher has been made redundant so now DS2 will be taught (mixed reception and nursery) by part-time head (reality is 20%) so mostly experienced nursery nurse and a parent who has been employed as a TA (no early years experience and her own child will also be in the reception class at the same time - very small school so mixed classes).

2. KS1 teacher was ok but TBH we were not that delighted and the final straw you will see in 3).

3. At the end of term I flicked through DS1's exercise book. He did a project on jungle animals and at school had cut and pasted pictures from the internet and printed them out and stuck them in his book. one of the pictures is accompanied by text from the internet (all cut and pasted as one IYSWIM). Anyhow the text includes words that are wholly inappropriate for 6/7 year olds. My partner traced the website and its totally not appropriate for children with lots of the use of the 'F' word. Now the text under the image my child would not have understood so that is ok but the upsetting bit was on the first page of this mini 'project' the teacher wrote a note indicating she had read it and it was good work. WTF!!. So we went to see the head and she was shocked. However she seems clueless about IT and internet the the solution of the internet filter provider was to block this specific website for the school!

4. My partner went to see the teacher at the end of term and said we are not really confident with what is going on at the school and she came out with a load of crap about our child (that they are anxious and struggle to make friends) which has never been mentioned at 3 years of parents evening.

I now have no confidence in the school and their ability to teach (or mark work), keep my kids safe on the internet.

The snag is the alternatives are not great:

• Private school 1 hour minibus ride (DS2 aged 4 is too young for this).
• Outstanding state primary which is a 30min each way drive away. The burden of this commute will lie with my partner as I am working.

what should we do? Do we continue and hope there are no more screwups and things improve? Should we complain to the governors about the IT thing? Do we believe the school that they know what they are doing? Should we cut our losses before DS2 starts? DS1 will be sad to move but what if our relationship with the school has broken down can we continue?

Are you sure that the independent , if it had spaces, is really worth the 2 hour round trip. What about playdates, parents evenings, concerts etc. Unless you could expect to move nearer I'd stick more local. There must be another school in between. Btw I thought nursery nurses were qualified to teach up to 7 yo.

Move house nearer the other schools you mention.

LIZS - nursery nurses don't have a teaching qualification, they are equivalent to TAs. Nursery and Reception classes (and Year 1&2) in state schools must be taught by a qualified teacher.

Thanks ElizabethShaw I was wondering if it was correct that we only have a qualified teacher about 20% of the time? My friends with children in bigger schools all have a 100% teacher for reception..

The old NNEB did but that has been superseded now.

So no votes for staying at the existing school?

As a short term measure.

NNEBs don't count as qualified teachers either - you need a degree and QTS.

I am lost in my own mind ... what is the worst thing; the internet issue and ineffective response, the teacher talking crap about our child or the lack of reception teacher?

Is 30 mins each way too far to travel to outstanding primary?

Is it a state school or an academy? Academies and free schools have more freedom to have unqualified teachers. In a state school there needs to be 1 person with QTS per 30 Reception children or 13 Nursery children.

Its a state school. Mixed group of nursery and reception.

All of it would be unacceptable to me.

30 mins is too far for primary school (or secondary). You'd spend half your life in the car, driving to parties, football etc etc

I agree 30 mins is a long time each way but then do you suck up the shit school?

It just feels like they cant find their way out of the paper bag at the moment and I'm not sure I want to go through it all again with DS2 if we already know its crap.

I'm not desperate to move house. The state primary 30 mins away seemed a good compromise? We live in a rural location so nothing is 'close' e.g. nearest 6th form is 60 mins.

Do you know if the other state primary will have places for both of your children?

Would you get a place at the other state school?

It does sound as if you must be pretty rural, if there aren't many schools around. Have you enquirer if they have a vacancy?

I went to prep school which was a 45 mins each way journey - we lived fairly rurally and there were very few options. It was fine - if you live in that sort of area, then everyone will be travelling for school and so playdates/after school stuff is less of an issue because people will make an effort to car share, or drive longer distances to see friends.

I would move your children - we put off and put off making a decision and I wish we'd moved them as soon as we thought it wasn't right.

Yes the other state school has space for them both.

TBH my partner (who I largely ignore ;-) has been grumbling about the school for a couple of years and I have been giving them the 'benefit' of the doubt given DS1 is so happy there however as Miaowthecat says the bells are now clanging so loud I cannot sleep at night..

Then it sounds as though you have the decision you need. Move them! they are young enough to make new friends - I moved DS1 at the end of Reception - by the end of the first term he could barely remember his old school. (In my post above, I'm talking about my subsequent children.....!)

If you are 100% sure you are moving your oldest child at the end of year three to an independent school then I'd do it now instead and start the other one at the 30 minutes away state school. I wouldn't move the oldest one now and then again later if I could avoid it.

Definitely make the move! A 30 minute drive is definitely worthwhile if it means it will benefit your child's education. DH and I both went to private schools from the age of 3 (Scotland) and both lived between 45 minutes and an hour away from our schools and our 3 year old son is set to start at the nursery of one about 40 minutes away from our home at the start of the new term later this month (eek so soon! ). I don't remember having any issues with play dates as my parents decided that weeknights were for homework, clubs and family and at the weekend we could visit friends. Also, it's very possible to have local friends that don't go to school with and he could still be friends with the children at his current school. Hope this helps!

Sorry for punctuation mistakes, trying to type with three screaming newborns!

Normally I'd say 30min is a long way however I would be horrified by what you say is going on at current school and would thus move