School A has good grades & is 20mins walk or School B, worse grades & 2mins away

[truffaut]

Tha't s my dilemma. I have just looked at the grades for School A and for level 4 they are between 90 and 100%, and an average of 80% for level 5. School A is 20/25 mins walking briskly from my house.

School B's grades are a bit worse: between 80 and 90% for level 4 and an average of 30 & 40% for level 5. But the school is on my doorstep.

On paper school A is better, more socially diverse, better facilities and a very good Ofsted report.

School B's Ofsted report is good.
What do you think? Does it matter? Should I go for the school on my doorstep?

Do remember that church schools, particularly Catholic ones, do a LOT of quite heavy-duty religious education (30 mins a day, ie. 2.5 hours per week). This is fine if you're happy with that, but it does take up time that other schools can spend on art, music etc.

starrystarry are you in Stoky by any chance?

Yes, with Frogs on that one. There are prayers to learn, things to practice for assembly, Harvest Festival to practice for, parents have to come to beginning of term mass, Harvest Festival, and there is a lot of fundraising. This inevitably means a lot of baking (or trips to your local farm shop or waitrose), other things your children will have to make after school to bring in to show for Christmas Faires (which you inevitably have to buy back).

By christmas I was exhausted after my son started Reception. I said to my husband, "being the mum of a child in a Catholic school is a full time job" This year I know what to expect, and I am planning my workload accordingly. I am already stressing.

Truffaut, no I am in Putney.

Whereabouts are you, truffaut?

BAKING?????
It may have to be School B then.....

Bethnal green way.

School B if it has a nice atmos. Home life is much more important in determining academic outcome than school.

I live 3 mins from my dd's school and it's great, low stress mornings, all friends within 5 mins walk.

Faith schools are voluntary aided, this means that they dont get the same funding as state schools. They only get around 80%, so it is part of what makes the school a good school that parents are very involved, both volunteering to sell uniform, tidy the library, class room assistants, come in to help with reading, and raise funds.

We raised a staggering 8,000 for our summer fair, this goes to new playground. State of the art, fab playground, but the money will have to be raised. Cue the parents. Bake sales, arranging christmas fairs, summer fairs, and other events for the children to take part in.

60% L5 in Bethnal Green is v. v. good. Is this St E's by any chance? I know a couple of people who are governors there, it is meant to be a good school. Catholic schools also tend to be quite friendly, which is great if you are plugged into the network, but may feel a bit left out if you are a non-churchgoer or attend a different parish.

If you dont mind me asking, are you active in the church? Most faith schools will require 3 years of coming to church nearly every sunday prior to application, a catholic baptizm and a reference from Father. Many are heavily oversubscribed, first on the list of priorities are siblings of children alreeady in the school, thereafter children of parents who are doing voluntary work in the church, such as cleaning, etc, and thereafter those who are regular church goers, and finally those who live nearby, etc.

Yes, we go to church and we like it too. The baking worries me.

Frogs, you guessed right.

Hi there, SSN! I detect the weary tones of a fellow reluctant baker/committee attender...

SSN speaks the truth, tho it depends on how over-subscribed the individual schools are, but based on your description and the school's location, some serious sucking up is probably in order.

And as for the entry requirements for desirable RC secondary schools...

Truffaut, dont let it worry you. You may find you have hidden talents. I have become a Nigella since my son started reception. Now I whip out chocolate brownies like I was born to do so.

I had not baked a cake in over ten years. Then, I was told "bring a cake on monday, Reception has a bake sale". Oups! I agonized, until I remembered my favourite chocolate cake as a child. Now there are always hundreds and thousands and cocoa powder in my cupboard ....

Ok. realization dawns. I may have descended into middleclassicism after all.

Baking and sucking????? This gets worse and worse.

oh frogs, dont get me started on that, I have my heart set out on a veeeery popular all boys school

Truffaut, my dc used to go to the primary of the next parish along.

Frankly, I don't think most people in your position would find this a dilemma tbh. If you could get in, you should prob. go for it -- admittedly I don't know which non-church school you're comparing with, but doubt it's much of a contest as long as you're prepared to go support the religious side of things.

I too have a boy, SSN. Waiting to see how the new admissions code pans out, but hoping for O school.

as frogs said. but include willingnes to bake. (or go to waitrose, buy a loaf, and ice it yourself, and let the kids put smarties on)

in H' smith?

Yeah, Fulham, Hammersmith whatever. Inconveniently located, in any case. Everyone here having heebies about the implication of the new code, boys from my dc primary have generally got into the O school in the past, as long as parents have played by the rules, but not clear how new rules will affect it.

Eeek. Hard to think of any alternatives that don't come with a £12K+ price tag.

Thank you all for making me think through different options.

Frogs: this is good

My children go to a non-faith school and I still end up doing loads of baking!