Move my yr 4 daughter?

[sweets4u]

I've already moved my lo at year 2 as we moved. The school she is at is ok but lo loves it.

We couldn't get into the one I wanted which is closer to home but now they have an opening.

I have a visit this morning but I just don't know if I should ?

She's getting behind where she is and they are doing a senso assessment as her concentration levels are very low they've said. Behind in her years. She is behind in maths too. I don't think the school are that great as they've only just picked it up now.

Reasons for possible move this new school is outstanding her current one is good
The new one has a class of 15 per class her current 30!

So my thoughts are is that she would thrive hopefully at new school but I feel so upset at the thought of telling and discussion with her

My plan is to see how I feel after the visit

But can anyone help? I've looked for advice on line and read up on if a child moves because of moving area but it's not relevant
We don't have to move and lo won't understand my reasons at this age ?
She has friends and settled which I know she settled before but she was younger

She is starting to get anxious when she can't concentrate so we are working with the school on this but as I've said I don't rate them that much.

Any advice would be appreciated

X

Yes, definitely see how you feel after the visit

15 per class has pros and cons - smaller class sizes can be better for individual attention etc but look carefully at the gender balance. My twins were originally at a small school and in their class of 18 there were only 4 girls (mine are boys) - this did not work well for the girls as not a wide enough ‘pool’ for friendships

Given that school think she may have some SEN, I would also question new school closely on this. Smaller schools sometimes have fewer resources for SEN children (eg part time rather than full time SENCO), less experience of different types of SEN etc.

Ignore OFSTED outstanding vs good - doesn’t really mean very much and could be way out of date anyway. Focus on whether it feels like the right school for your child

Also think about secondary - do both schools feed into the same one or is it different? Are there any considerations here? It’s only 2 years away so need to think about it now

If you do decide to move her, I would not give her too much notice as that will cause more anxiety. But enough so that she can say goodbye to friends etc. Reassure her she can keep in touch with friends if she wants to - presumably they are all local enough for that. Tell her she’s moving because new school will be better for her - you can highlight whatever positives are relevant (when I moved my boys I focused on bigger playground, better play equipment and sports stuff and more lunch choices as I knew they’d be keen on those!)

If she’s super happy where she is though, and has good set of friends etc, then maybe it’s better to focus your energies on working with current school to improve her academic performance? Having a happy child who likes going to school is a big positive and if you think current school can address your issues and concerns then no need to move

Only you will know what feels right for you and your daughter

Good luck!

Why would you move her again , now that they are onto her issues? Often these take a while to be identified as development is variable.

Don't pick a school based on Ofsted ratings.
Base on it on the reality of your visit.

I'm extremely surprised that a state school can exist with classes of 15 - I would be seriously concerned about how it was funding basics, never mind potential SEN support.

So the visit was really positive.

The head was lovely and so is the school.
Don't take too much notice of ofsted???surely I would ? To some degree?

Because I don't think the current school coped well with her issues at all and I think she's getting lost. The school I visited has year groups which teach 1&2 3&4 and 5&6 together and they are split depending on resources and subjects. So potentially there are then full capacity some days. Ie 30 to a class at one time. Another school locally has this set up so at times they do have 15 to a class and sometimes 30. I witnessed just that today. 3 and 4 were split but 5&6 weren't. She said they focus on every single child understanding what is being learnt
Lo isn't getting that where she is in my opinion.

Yes they are doing something but even today they've now said they will with my permission let all the teachers know ?

Today she has come home upset after an incident in relation to a new teacher coming in who summer didn't know and made a comment about her not listening? She said she was rude. I was fuming. I went into the office and they've apologised and said they really should have let that teacher know about her sen assessment / what's going on at the moment and it's an error on their part ?! Seems to be a lot of them over the last few months. Her last teacher kept saying she was disruptive and silly and now she has a new teacher she admitted that they didn't deal with it the correct way ? So it's just made me feel a bit disappointed.

Anyway I've booked a visit with lo for Friday to take it from there. The head was very informative and said to bring her along and we can see how we all feel which I feel is the right step.

The school is closer and the secondary school she will most likely go to is closer too but not a lot in it, just a positive for me as the school run is 25 mins for us and it will take it down to 15mins ( I work in the town where her school is currently so it works ) but I'll still have the journey onwards
For her she doesn't mind the journey
Takes it in her stride

Thanks for your advice
Some interesting points

Well they had a senco teacher there today,
I met her. So I will ask more on Friday
Her current school I had to wait a long time for an assessment and it seemed slow moving but probably very similar x

What do you mean only just picked up having a problem.

Be grateful they are doing something

In reality my Ds never got assessed until college and Dd was assessed in year 9.

If you do move schools then you will have to start again to assess the problems so she won’t be being assessed for another year.
A new school won’t take the word of a parent or even another schools reports they will want to assess her work for themselves.

Suppose you do move her and she is unhappy.
By year 4 children will have their friends and your dd could struggle to fit in especially in such a small class

That will just knock her confidence and put her even further behind.

Is there a reason why the classes are so small

Well questions to ask the head when I go back on Friday. Her current school have done one assessment so I feel now is the time to do something - either move her or see if her current school can help but as I say I have other issues with them.

Don't know why only 15, just the way they work ? And another school I know does the same - both outstanding actually and have fantastic results and the wording on the ofsted is really astonishing compared to her current school. It's not just ofsted I'm going by and like pp said the feel for it and the reasons why I want to move her - wanting to do what's best for her but guess I shall see Friday.

From my experience with that size of school there will be very few times where the group of 15 will be taught separately. School funding levels just cannot sustain it. Look at the many threads on the pros and cons of small primary schools and mixed classes. I think the SEN support should be your primary concern

Yeah I agree. I just thought the smaller classes may be a bonus for my lo. She says it's very loud in her class and there happen to be 2 people with severe learning difficulties. One who screams and shouts so my lo has ear defenders when this occurs and another who has outbursts and throw lo things around the classroom so sometimes the teacher makes them leave so he can calm down. This isn't the only reason it's just a factor. And I appreciate all children need to be mixing with others. She's really good friends with one of them but he gets a bit heavy handed and sometimes he hurts her but she understands he has learning difficulties.
It's just also got the reputation of being a lovely school so have gone by that as well.
I don't think the one she is is bad it's just over the 2 yrs I feel things should have been picked up a while ago.
Ie they punish her for ' not listening ' ( we have the traffic light system green for good behaviour, amber and red for bad ) when now we've realise it isn't the case but yet the 2 boys have no red or ambers when they have their meltdowns. One boy threw sand in los eye and she had to go to walk in centre to get it all flushed out, he didn't get any amber / red we were told ' he's just learning what's right or wrong '
I didn't agree with that. My lo was upset and had sore eyes but if she misses some Information she gets amber for ' not listening ' when they've said they realise it's not that
Just feel a bit deflated coz thinking back where things have happened which I spoke to the school sooner x

But I have so much more info then I did yesterday from talking here and doing my own research online
I will go for the visit Friday and take it from there
Just feel a bit unsettled but hopefully I'll have a better feeling come the weekend and see how lo feels x