How important is distance?

[boymum9]

For ds1 next year we'll have the choice of two primary schools, one rated "good" by ofsted which would be easy walkable distance to our house and one "outstanding" which would not be walkable realistically, 2 ish miles. Have heard good things about both schools but haven't yet had the opportunity to look around them.

My heart says go with the outstanding school, my head says so with the good because it is walkable and have a younger ds and because we live in a city and parking is likely to be an issue at outstanding school.

Which would you go for?!
Thanks!

I wouldn't just look at ofsted to judge the quality of the school. I would look at SAT results as well and make appointments to visit both schools to have a look around and see which one feels best.

I walk my DD to school as I'm lucky hers is in walking distance but seeing the absolute carnage that is parking at drop off/pick up I would not want to be driving.

Are you likely to get a place at the outstanding school, is it not oversubscribed or are you in one of the higher criteria?

Until you’ve looked at the schools it’s hard to choose a preference just on location.
Look around the schools and then write up a list of Pros and cons
it might be nice to walk or scoot to the closer school.
How would you get to the further away school if you were without your car?

I moved mine from the local walkable school to one a couple of miles away and it was definitely for the best. Yes, relying on the car is a pain but the difference between the two schools is sufficient (not in terms of results or Ofsted but in terms of atmosphere and ethos) to justify it a million times over.

Had a run of therapy appointments this last week and all the professionals have commented on how good and supportive the school is when they've asked where the child they're working with goes (we shall ignore the SALT one who realised it was a good school who would do the therapy work and promptly started trying to talk about offloading dd2s batch of therapy sessions onto them!)

Ofsted can change, either could be outstanding or inadequate next inspection.

Walking to school, having local friends is top priority for me.

What you need to establish before anything else is that you have a reasonable chance of being offered a place at the outstanding school. You need to look up on the LA admission website what was the furthest distance offered. You can look up the figures for 2016-17 now in the 2017-18 admission booklet. The 2018-19 admission booklet will be available 1st September and that will have the 2017-18 figures in it.
The figure quoted will be about the last pupil offered a place on 16th April initial allocation, not what happened if any further places were subsequently offered.
Those 2 distance figures will give you a good idea whether you have a realistic chance of getting an offer of a place at the outstanding school.
The other thing that I would check out is what the schools do in the way of after school clubs or not. As transport manager for the outstanding school, you do need to factor in whether or not that fits with your day or not and whether different finishing times are feasible.

Thanks for the reply's!

Yes would be sure to get a place at the outstanding, it's a bigger school so within the last 4 years of catchment areas, if there was actually a large year of admissions we'd perhaps be less likely to get into the good school as we're just over 500m and a couple times over the last few years the furthest distance was 500m ish.

We will definitely arrange to see both in the new school year and try and get a feeling, for some reason the thought of it all is currently completely consuming me!!!

We've also been looking at private incase we ended up both getting either school but it worries me because would be a huge huge stretch for us at the moment, but other schools were in catchment for are very poorly rated!

When was it judged outstanding?

I would not just look at SATs either. You can look at progress in subjects on the DfE web site. That tells you a great deal. Also, where do you think you would fit in? Where would your child be happiest? Do go and have a look because until you do, it is difficult to say which shcool appeals most. Often having local friends can be a bonus, so do not rule out the local "good" schools. What is a catchment for the OUtstanding school? In a City, can you get in if you live 2 miles away?

Definitely go and look at both. Don't just look at reports. Think about what is improtant to you. Ask about music, art, PE, ICT, before and after school clubs if you need/want them.
As above, when was the school graded outstanding? They may not have been inspected for many years following that so a lot can change.

Well for us it was important because DH would be doing the school run on foot- I leave earlier and take the car. Our school is 0.6 miles away so perfectly manageable for DD during reception and will also be next year for DS as he starts nursery there.
Luckily it is good but it was a priority for us even if another school was better according to Ofsted.

If you can drive him then pick the better school, especially if this is the school you have a good feeling about.

The Ofsted rating would not be a deciding factor to me. By all means read the reports and see what the differences are but visit the schools and see which one works for your DC rather than for an inspector checking them.

I agree with SpottingtheZebras
I wouldn't put too much emphasis on an OFSTED inspection.
Do read the reports and find out what they say in the detail - not the overall current rating - but put a LOT of emphasis on being able to walk to the local school - it is invaluable. Remember this isn't just for a year - it is for 7 years, or more if you have more than one child.... you can be traipsing up and down there twice a day - sometimes more - for 15 years or so.
Obviously go and visit and get a 'feel' for the schools. Look at the whole school as well, not just SATS scores.

Distance is really important but lots of other things are really important too. You’ll have to look round, weigh everything up and make your own decision. I had a similar decision and it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do!

Compare the date of the two Ofsteds.

The criteria for all levels have changed, which means that the criteria for getting an old Outstanding (these can be VERY old, as a school doesn't tend to get inspected once it is outstanding - locally, schools still trading on their rating from 2007 are quite common) have more in common with a new Good than a new Outstanding.

So I would trust a recent 'Good' - though it does cover a hugely wide range - but treat any rating from more than 2-3 years ago with great caution. A school can have a whole cohort pass through, change head, change virtually all staff....

That is why the progress details are far more revealing! They are up to date.

Though remember the 'progress' data can be quite skewed if you are in an area where lots of parents tutor.

Walkable and local (walkable) friends. Unless the local school was utterly dire, I’d go with it. This is especially useful at 8.30 am when no one has brushed their hair, and there is a shoe missing.

Well yes, it can be skewed a tiny bit, but that does not make so much difference to low attainers and SEN for example where its more difficult to achieve good progress. Therefore a good look at all the stats is important. I think huge amounts of tutoring are more of a London MC thing. In my area, few tutor for SATS. They tutor for 11 plus. The schools with the best progress still represent the better schools! Parents also tend to know what schools the ambitious parents use. If there are high levels of ambition, I think parents use tutors more. They can also afford them if it a leafy lane area. Children in schools with catchments encompassing large council estates have fewer tutors! They have children who do not have breakfast and larger numbers on fsm. They just do not have the spare cash.

Exactly Bubbles, but the dc in the school where tutoring is rife, potentially being shown as making better progress, doesn't make that school a "better" school, is the point.

It is difficult to unpick, and is absolutely a good snippet of information to read the detail of, but I'm just making OP aware it is that - a statistic that can be flawed. (by other things such as over reporting from previous key stage when separate schools..... by an 'unusual' cohort one year...... by being a small school - in a one form entry school, each child is worth over 3% of those stats, but in a 5 form entry school, each child is worth less than 1% of those stats, makes a big difference if the school is supporting a traumatised family or several children with EHCP or newly arrived children without any English, etc,etc).

A useful factor but not the be all and end all.

Ofsted reports are useful for targeting your questions, but not beyond that. There are 'outstanding' schools I wouldn't touch while ds's was-satisfactory now is.
I wouldn't form an opinion until looking at them, and bear in mind local gossip is between 5 and 30 years out of date! Without looking, I'd go for the closer one every time - it's not just school run/commute but trying to find local childminders who collect from the school, collecting after clubs, etc.