going to visit 2 schools - what questions do i ask them then??

[beautifuldays]

going to visit my rather large catchment school (100 kids per year) and the school in the next village (15 kids per year!) i am torn - the one in the next village is so lovely and feels like a big family, strong emphasis on creativity and learning through play etc, catchment school has an outstanding ofsted, but a reputaion for being an "all work no play" kinda place iykwim, but is literally at the end of the road so v.handy etc
so going to visit both what kind of questions should i be asking them? am new to all this schools malarky!

just go and see which one feels right to you - I think it'll be quite obvious when you go

Ask the village school what percentage of each year's intake is made up of out-of-catchment children! And try not to set your heart on it until you know what your chances are...

If it's any comfort, my ds goes to -for want of a better word - an academic school (he's in Reception) and seems to be doing more learning through play than he was at pre-school. Sandpit, home corner, water play, toy cupboard all present and correct. So just have a good nose round the classrooms and see what's in there for everyday use.

Ask the village school if the classes are taught in mixed year groups (e.g. Reception with year 1s)

Also ask the large catch ment school how they manage large classes (I'm assuming they are probably 25-30 kids) in terms of different abilities e.g. streaming in Year 1/2, extra help for 'strugglers' etc

But, as everyone else says, nose around the classroom and use your eyes, ears and gut feel !

afaik the small village school has around 30% of kids come from out of catchment, so i think we stand a good chance of getting him in if we wanted too. everyone here raves about the local school saying how great it is but it just seems so BIG!
(and is one of those mums at the gates in their 4 by 4's, my kids better than your kid kinda places!)
however the ofsted report is really fantastic... am finding it very hard to decide, and am also trying to think of not only where ds will do best but also dd as wherever he goes she will have to go too in a couple of years time, why is it all so complicated!

the little school has mixed classes - reception/yr1, yr1/2, yr3/4 and yr5/6, larger school obviously doesn't

ask about how the mixed classes works

we have one in our town and although it looks lovely i was not convinced that this would work for my young in the year dd - you could ask if work is repeated/how they sit the children etc?

Fantastic ofstead doesn't automatically mean the right school for your child. I visited many schools and the one I was least impressed with was the one with a 'fantastic' ofstead - kids didn't look lively, head was a snob and many parents frighteningly competative.
I think you will get a feel when you visit-IMHO the most important things are happy lively children, lots of exciting looking and interesting work up on the walls and teachers that seem proud of the school and their pupils.

See if the kids look happy!
Also take a look at whats on the walls. Some places it looks more like the teacher's work... just not authentically kid stuff.

kammy you don't live in north worcestershire do you?! sounds just like our local school...very snobby!