How do I choose a primary school for DS1 when I can't visit?! (thanks COVID)

[MumTumGum]

Hallo, new mumsnetter here looking for a bit of advice from the community.

DS1 (3yrs old) will be starting reception Sept 2021. We're lucky that he is very likely to get in to our two most local schools (and we want to go somewhere we can walk to). But they are VERY different from one another. We managed to visit one in person, the other is only doing a virtual tour. Meaning I can't really get a feel for it.

School 1 is an ex-failing school before it reopened as an academy in 2019, highly motivated ambitious new staff team, poor SATs results, low numbers of pupils, high level of deprivation, excellent spacious site and new facilities. V poor reputation - but suspect much of this is snobbery/from when it was failing - schools can turn around fast, right(?). Reception was beautiful!

School 2 (the one we can't visit - slightly poor virtual tour on their website) has a good reputation, high SATs results, is a faith school (which we like), seems to be pretty academic and very middle class, relatively cramped and less good site and facilities, think it's oversubscribed and has high numbers (30 kids per class).

Really like the ethos of school 1, but am I a fool to be considering it? Any clever suggestions as to how I can decide given I can't visit school 2?? Have scoured websites and social media already.

Thanks in advance! x

Could you not see anything on the virtual tour? Maybe ring them up and ask for a video call with someone or ask if it's possible to arrange an appointment where you can go and maybe it just be you on your own and wear a mask? Also do you know any parents who send their child to school number 2 you could allways ask them?

@babybumpxox The virtual tour was just 45 seconds of panning around the reception room, and a separate document outlining a few things about starting at the school as if we'd already chosen it - not very helpful!

Good point about asking. I have had brief chats with a couple of ppl with kids at the school who've been v complimentary. Unfortunately don't know anyone well enough to have a proper chat about what it's like.

Yea I would definitely phone up and try and arrange something good luck

Other questions I'd have about school 1:

• class size (if undersubscribed, may be pleasantly small)
• if your child is bright, do they have a full range of ability, even if there are more of the weaker pupils than at other schools - what do they do to ensure they are challenged if they are ahead of their peers
• how have they turned things around - reponse to that might be interesting

Always interesting to know about staff turnover, and age distribution. Obviously there's been a fair amount of churn at school 1, but do they have plenty of experienced teachers or a lot of newly-qualifieds? What about school 2?

If all else fails, if one school is oversubscribed and the other undersubscribed, go for the oversubscribed one. If things ease later in the year, you might be able to visit then, and if you decide you've made the wrong choice, you won't be able to get a move to an oversubscribed school until someone leaves, but you'd be able to get a move to one with spaces.

New facilities are nice, but a strong cohesive teaching team is better.

I'm in the same position OP but with the added stress of having one in a different school that the younger one won't be able to go to, so having to choose one that will work somehow around having two school runs to do, AND being in the middle of buying a house and probably missing the deadline for change of address. So I have more than 2 to narrow down.

I can't decide whether to put successful, very middle class, bland but highly sought after COE, oversubscribed school down first which we'd probably get a space at from new address but not current. Or more innovative, even better chance of getting in because of large intake, middle class, much further away from home school. Or very deprived area, innovative, outstanding Ofsted, much closer to new house but further from siblings school, or blander curriculum, mixed intake, closer to home so better chance of getting in but further from siblings school option, or lastly, school that is opposite direction far away from siblings school but is next door to childminder that can collect them for me, middle class intake nice area school but below average results and easier to get in from further away.

I can't narrow it down to three and I cant decide which I'd want if I could have any. I think like you I'm leaning towards the most deprived, innovative one.

I think visiting would really help me. I went to just one last year. I've been taking it in turns to walk the routes from new house to each school and I'm trying to focus more on the logistics than the actual schools.

In your position though, you might be best putting the oversubscribed one first, because if you did get it and change your mind, it should be easier to decline it and choose the other school but you can't do that in reverse.

Some of the things I've been doing is following the schools on Twitter, some of them are very active which is giving me a good insight.

Thanks so much all - really useful thoughts. Feeling much better about how I'm going to go about making this choice. x