Can't decide on primary school

[rhonda2]

We'rerapidly approaching the deadline for choosing a primary school for our DS but can't decide, so would appreciate any advice!

We have two schools that are equal distance to our house (about 0.5miles). Both ofsted 'good'.

We really liked the feel of school A and thought that was the one but since looking at it, it's SAT ks2 results are in bottom 10 if the county, which has put us of a bit. The school is also very big -400+ pupils and DS is quite shy, but his friend will be going to this school too which will help.

School B is on top 10 of SAT results for county and is a nice school. There's just something about it I wasn't keen on but can't put my finger on it - although it's a very popular school. DS will also know no children there and its quite a small school, as it's split into separate infant and junior schools.

Both schools have after school clubs, nice outdoor spaces etc. Just can't decide!!

I’d go for the smaller school with the good results. Your DS will make friends in no time. By the time you get further into school you will care if your child is not being taught to their potential.

Is there a big demographic difference between the two schools? What accounts for the bigger school’s poor performance?

School b for sure
Go and look round again. I found how I felt about a school was massively influenced by who was showing me round etc

I like a bigger school. More adults with different interests and skills. More children to make friends with and to escape from if you don't get on.

It may be that the school with better SATS results teaches to the test. My below average dd nailed her SATS but she was, along with the rest of year six, taught in the hall every day from January to May. Huge amounts of pressure. It's madness.

My other dd went to a school that placed no importance on tests. In fact, she ran a cross country the day before and the week before went on year six camp. I actually forgot she had tests until I picked her up.

What was the SAT results like for past 3 years you can't judge on one years result - In fact results can be misleading. Go with your gut. Smaller school may just teach to SATs and bigger school may have a more rounded curriculum. Bigger school more choice of friends. Look at everything NOT just the results.

Good position to be in op. Based on what you said, I would go for results tbo and put school b as first choice.

Also depends on school catchment, if schools are oversubscribed and if there is a difference in where they go for secondary.

Depends how small school b is. Less than 30 kids per year group wouldn't personally appeal.

Look at progress, not just results. I would also look at the trends in boys' writing. Should be on the website. Also check the school development plan which should also be published somewhere.

Thanks for all the advice and we're going to go back to both schools for another look around next week, which should help.

I looked at SATs results for the school with the poorer performance for the past 3 years and they were better than this year, so seems odd they have suddenly dropped. This year around 30% achieved expected standard in RWM combined which seems pretty poor, even though I was trying not to base my decision on test results. The other school with better results is around 75%.

Also the school with the better results is a C of E school - not sure if this makes a difference in performance?Also, even though the C of E school is a smaller school, it does have 2 classes in each year, so should have plenty of choice for friendship groups.

Have you drilled down to understand the results - eg higher than usual proportion of children with SEN? What are the progress scores like?

Look and see if there was a reason why the school's results were bad this year. Could be a higher level of SEN, teacher change part way through the year-and you do get good/bad cohorts. I would be more worried if they were steadily dropping.
Look also at the progress scores.

Also see if you can find the school's response. A response of "yes, they were bad, we're working on it" is a better response than "it wasn't fair the exams were so much harder and we're so angry with the system".

The former means that they're taking it seriously. The latter means they're planning on not changing anything and just blaming everyone else. That doesn't usually end well.