Can’t decide whether to move DS schools for Ks2

[SunnyUpNorth]

I know that only we can make this decision but thought starting a thread might help me order my thoughts and get some other perspectives.

I have a dd going into Y5 and ds due to go into y3. They go to a lovely local primary school and have been very happy there. The teaching isn’t brilliant but also isn’t terrible and is balanced out with being such a warm, caring environment. It’s a small school, single year entry and I think only 24 in his class. My dd is in a great class, they’re quite an old group, lots of autumn birthdays, seem quite smart and as a class they seem to do really well.

We always said if things didn’t work out that we would try private schools. But my dd is very diligent and has been doing just fine.

My son is bright but not as diligent. He has a sweet class but they are a very young group, lots of summer kids. He always seems so much older than everyone in his class, he’s a winter baby. He is a sociable boy and gets on well with everyone but doesn’t seem to have that really good core group that my dd has.

All this is fine and he is happy and doing well day to day. We can walk to school which we do around half the time. I love them being part of a local community, seeing people from school around etc.

School has not been great over lockdown. I’ve been quite surprised at how little effort has been made, just lots of bbc bite size and oak academy links. No zoom classes, not much interaction etc.

The two strongest teachers by far in the school are Y2 and Y3. He has missed out on the best part of Y2 and we have just found out yesterday that they are switching the teachers around for next year. They are putting the Y2 and Y3 teachers into Y1 and Y2 respectively, probably to get the current reception and Y1 kids up to speed for SATs. The current Y1 teacher is being moved to Y3. She is fine, but she is young and inexperienced, it’s her first teaching job. The Y3 teacher is also very young but is brilliant. This one isn’t quite as dynamic. My son did fine with her but she certainly didn’t push them, or seek out their strengths etc. I’m worried that after missing out this year he is then going to miss out next year.

One negative I’ve heard before about our school is that if kids are bright but not necessarily ambitious they just tend to be left to coast along as long as they’re doing fine. I don’t want him to not end up doing well because he hasn’t been pushed to fulfil his potential. I should add we are not remotely pushy parents, but do want them to work hard and do well.

We live in an area where they could go to grammar school. There is a prep school that is part of the grammar we would like him to go to and they have a space for him. We are going to see it next week.

They have brilliant sports facilities and my son is very sporty. Our school stopped all outside Pe provision a year ago and Pe is now done by the teacher, when they can fit it in and as far as I can tell is often a YouTube video in the Hall.

As he is sociable but doesn’t have a really tight friendship group in school I think he would be happy enough moving and would settle in well.

The main negative is the commute and how to handle two school runs in different places. The prep school is about a half an hour drive away. I think it would have to be managed by alternating after school sports and link clubs. My parents also live on the same road as the prep school so could help with some pick ups.

My dh should in theory be working from home a lot more post lockdown but I don’t know how reliable that would be. I think in another year when dd is in Y6 she could walk home quite often by herself as several of her friends live nearby so they could walk together.

The logistics is definitely the biggest factor. Another consideration would be if he didn’t get into the grammar would they be a bigger blow coming from the prep rather than an unassociated primary a few miles away.

Any thoughts or advice? Worth a year or two of pain juggling the school runs? The grammar dd would hopefully go to is v near the prep school so they would be in the same area then at least.

Their current school is obviously mixed, the prep and grammars are single sex. For background dh went to mixed state schools and I always went to private girls schools so we are also approaching it from different views.

I don’t think whether they get into grammar school or not should necessarily be a blow either way; it sounds like there may be some expectation there and that he might be disappointed? If that pressure exists (from his point of view), I’d avoid going to the Prep.

I don’t think single sex environments are conducive atmospheres for the development of emotional intelligence. Given he has struggled to find a tight group of friends at his current school, it may be that the boys only environment doesn’t help him later in life. There is also no guarantee he will find friends there either, and then he’s lost the warm environment of his primary school for more limited gain. Same goes for when the children were born in the year, could quite possibly be the same.

I think the logistics are manageable given your son likes sports and will (I assume) happily do after school sports.

What does your son want to do?

Thanks for replying, it’s a bit slow on this board!

We live slightly outside the grammar school catchment area. We are able to apply and I’d say around 5-10 kids from the class go to one of the local grammars each year, so it’s a realistic option but we are removed enough from it that it’s not necessarily expected. At the moment they know grammar is an option but one concern would be that if we moved him it would seem more expected and be more of a disappointment if he didn’t get in than if he didn’t get in from his current school.

We haven’t discussed moving schools with him. We want to see it ourselves and then if we like it and think it’s logistically possible we would discuss it with him and see what he thinks. He’s really disappointed about the teacher change and has mentioned it a few times, told his granny when he saw her etc. We haven’t made a big deal just agreed it’s a shame he won’t have the teacher he was looking forward to.

I agree that moving won’t guarantee boys he has more in common with, but I guess that’s always a risk. He is really into football but unusually not many of the boys in his class are. So there is a small group of them that play at lunchtime with boys from other years but not many from his own class. That’s one of the big appeals of the prep school as they are renowned for their sports facilities and sports are very much encouraged which I think would suit him.

I’m swinging totally back and forwards. Today I think I’m leaning more towards leaving him where he is but perhaps getting a tutor to assist with any gaps in his progress.

But then if he is totally up to speed for Y3 level and other kids aren’t (especially with it being a v young class) will he just be bored be left to drift a bit.

Another consideration is if there are ongoing Covid interruptions. The prep school have been fully back since Mid June as they have small classes and lots of space so could organise it.

So hard!!