Which school would you choose?

[polexiaaphrodesia]

Hoping for some perspective on which school to choose now we've seen a couple and would really appreciate some input based on your experience as I am totally clueless about what to choose and DH is not being very helpful!
School A
-10 mins walk
-Ofsted Good rating
-Headteacher will be going on maternity leave from February 2020.
-School becoming an academy in April 2020
-School is in a slightly less desirable area of the town and traditionally hasn't had a brilliant reputation but this may change based on the Ofsted rating. KS2 results similar to other schools in the area.

School B
-7 minute drive and not really walkable in winter.
-Fab headteacher, staff and children seemed really happy and clearly adored her as every class we went into they wanted to show her their work, tell her about their day etc.
-Ofsted Outstanding rating

I guess I'm really weighing up convenience over atmosphere. The children in School A seemed happy enough but were so engaged in School B and you could really tell that they were enjoying their lessons, concentrating but also had the opportunity to have a lot of fun along the way. Argh! So difficult!

Honestly all this angst over a couple of miles!

Some of us like to minimise our car usage as much as possible.
Why have 2 unnecessary car journeys every day for what might be a marginally better school?

In a similar position here and need to choose order of preference between primary school A which is walking distance, very popular, good results, good reputation but huge - 6 form entry

Or school B which is a just under 2 miles away and not walkable, new, still building it’s reputation but increasingly popular, good results, good parent feedback and only 3 form entry

B. I would go for better school any day. I live very close to our current school (2 mins walk) so I understand the benefits of living close. But I wouldn't let that sway my decision. I wouldn't even consider option A based on what you said.

Kids having local friends is important. As is independence. I'd be torn, too. I certainly wouldn't write off A.

The one you can walk to!

Schools change very quickly. Heads move, but your needs to get child to school easily and without the drama of parking are important.

A. The school run is a social event in itself for our dc. When they’re older they will have friends to walk with and to play out/meet up with. Going back to a friends house or having friends to ours is an easy and regular occurrence.

Headteacher can change. They may leave next year. Plus school b may not have had an ousted visit for a while. They may not hold on to their outstanding rating, not that I would judge a school by that anyway.

School b sounds lovely but school a sounds good too and I think you’d be making yours and your dc’s lives much easier in the long term by choosing that one.

A. For the last few years of primary they will want to walk by themselves, ease with afterschool clubs 3 or 4 nights a week , local friends, network with other mums for playdates,parties and favours.

Really helps when they're older...

Thank you everyone for your feedback! It looks like a pretty even 50:50 split of opinions from Mumsnet but all the comments have really given me some really good things to think about.

I'm going to go back to school A with some questions for the headteacher around the academisation and am going to see if I can find some local mums (probably by lurking around the local park after school with my toddler!) to get some feedback on what they think of the schools as I don't know anyone with children at either school.