Some advice please regarding school admissions

[Cappuccino17]

Hi I have a primary school that is local to me thar has low ofsted rating- Good but its a walk away. There are another 2 surrounding my area a 5 minute drive with outstanding ofsted ratings.
The local school is convenient in terms of I can walk down to it. How important is it at this stage to choose a good school? I know if ot was a secondary school I'd go for the outstanding one but can anyone advice me please?

Have you visited the different schools? Ideally during a normal working day, not on a day where it is full of tours. Also do you know parents with older children at these schools?

My children have all attended a school that required driving to, but was our closest religious school.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a good school (infact I'd rate my kids "good" primary above their previous "outstanding" primary).
Walking distance is also a benifit - we are now Y6 and he can walk home without us if DH and I are caught in meetings.

Go and look at all 3 and see how you feel then.

On paper, I was 100% I knew which primary school I wanted. However, when we looked around, the reality didn't measure up to my expectation. We went with another school that just felt right. For primary, I would be looking for the best fit for your child. Things can change a lot in the 7 years.

You need to look at the schools. You also need to check which you are likely to get into.

'Good' is not a low rating. I would happily send ny child to a good school. You need to consider:

• when were the inspections? An outstanding rating from 10 years ago doesn't mean much. Also if they are recent, read the report in detail and see if you are happy with it. For example a school with outstanding features in EY and making progress on attainment in KS2 might be a good option for a child just starting.
• other factors such as their progress scores plus obviously your thoughts on visiting

I'd be inclined to pick the good school in walking distance provided other factors were OK.

Assuming after you've looked at all the schools you would happily send your child to any of them then I would take walking distance good over driving distance outstanding every single time.

Have you checked how old these ratings are? Outstanding ones can be 10 years old, with complete turn over of staff and ethos.

Also realistically... most children will be allocated a nearby school over ones further away.

Good is not a low rating - indeed today is a very good one. Outstanding is difficult to get nowadays

Read the reports check when they were made and be pleased you have the choice

FOr Primary I would say walking is a bigger plus than a school that was probably outstanding 10+ years ago you have to drive too

Look at the date of the inspection for the outstanding school. Schools that got an outstanding verdict in the past have been free from further inspections for several years. Some are now being inspected for the first time in 15 years, and many of those are now no longer 'outstanding' - one near me has gone from outstanding to needs improvement. I'd far rather have a recent good rating, than a ten-year old outstanding one.

Walking distance over driving is a huge advantage at primary level, for friendships and for the school run (fewer cars on the road, parking issues, easier to make alternative arrangements if you can't make it.)

We have just moved our child from an "outstanding" school (which was anything but outstanding) to a "good" school and the good school is absolutely amazing.

Outstanding schools are brilliant at paperwork and proving stuff. Good schools in my opinion put more effort into the children and staff and are better schools.

Good is good - for primary a good school in walking distance is great!
Easier for playdates, independence, being part of a community. Easier on the environment-short car journeys cause lots of pollution .

Its easier if you need help with drop-offs for any reason...and also when u get to the gate and realise you've forgotten its bake a cake/wear blue socks day

Good is fine. What do locals say about it? Have you visited? Ours was "requires improvement" for a while, but it was still fine (and not noticeably any different to the previous year - and of course they then put lots of effort into the areas of concern). Yes, there were a few things I'd have liked them to do better on, but there's always going to be something. And walking distance is always best - convenience (both for the school run and play dates), exercise, and the option of them taking themselves to school when older.

Personally I wouldn’t look at ofsted rating per say. It’s a snap shot of a day in time often years earlier and no way reflects the school as it is today.

Our primary school which I liked the feel of (and now regret) was rated at the time outstanding. It’s now in requires improvement.

The things I’d look at is the government website to compare results over time - see if it’s steady / improving/ worsening

Persistent absence rates - those with high persistent absence likely to spend more time catching up.

High staff turnover - poor head / likely to have bullying low morale of staff

And most importantly get a feel for the school. What’s best for your DC might be the one ofsted says requires improvement compared to the one that’s outstanding and awful

Good is good! My DC's primary is rated good...I'm very happy with it. Walking distance is important imo.

There is awful lot to be said for a walkable school!

And as others have said, Good isn't a poor rating at all.

Also, would you realistically get into a school a 5min drive away? Have you looked at the admissions criteria, and last distance offered (assuming that is the main driver, and the category you would fall into)

Good is not bad. The question is when did the other schools that are outstanding get rated. What is the student composition at the schools? What are the reading, writing and maths scores at the schools? Have you had a chance to speak to any of the parents and get a perspective on what actually goes on in the schools? In hindsight, I should have checked ALL of these things when my DS went to his first school.

Our two sons were let down badly by an outstanding state school. They insisted that DS1 wasn’t autistic and that I was lying and paranoid (he is severely autistic enough that he now attends a special school and will never live independently ). They also thought DS2 was ‘naughty’ when in fact he was bored witless because he’s summer born so they plonked him in the lower ability group for everything and refused to move him up (he transformed his behaviour when we moved schools and they immediately put him on an accelerated learning programme, and is now predicted all 8s and 9s at GCSE).

Whilst the info about my boys is irrelevant to you, I wanted to share how deeply disappointed we were in this so-called outstanding school. A school rated good will almost certainly have been inspected fairly recently and will hopefully actually be good!

Outstanding according to Ofsted does not mean it is the right school for your child (also check when it was last inspected). I have friends with children in (different) "outstanding" schools who ended up moving schools due to bad experiences there.

I think there are huge benefits to having a school in walking distance, but I agree with everyone else that you should go and visit the schools and decide based on more than an Ofsted rating!

My son is at an “outstanding” school, last full inspection 17 years ago….. we basically discounted the Ofsted ratings of schools near us when deciding (3 had very aged “outstanding” and the other a recent “good”).

We looked at results, talked to friends and most importantly visited the schools. Out of the 4, we would have been very happy with 3 and this included the “good” school.

Ethos is important, primary school to me should be much more about lifelong skills and formative experiences rather than an exam factory (although I would have been put off by bad results).

Visit and then decide, but as others have said look at the likelihood of actually getting a space in each school before setting your heart on one.

Oh please stop placing so much on Ofsted ratings! I'm a teacher and have a doctorate in Education. We recently moved AWAY from school rated 'outstanding' because I didn't think it was a good enough school, TO a catchment area for a school rated 'good' (actually, currently 'requires improvement' since then!) which I consider a much better school. Look at the data talk to parents, meet the teachers. I knew a teacher who had worked at the 'outstanding' school and she said she'd never in a million years send her daughters there, plus the data showed that a h8gh percentage of children were achieving at below national average despite an affluent intake - wasn't keen on that! Ofsted gradings are fine as a starting point, but you really must dig deeper to find out what a school is actually like!

Sorry, not even 'requires improvement' but 'inadequate! But I am still VERY keen for my sons to go there! We have a big discount at a local independent school which I work at, which we could afford (and my husband is a teacher too and gets a big discount at his as well - an extremely reputable one) but I am still choosing to send my sons to this apparently 'inadequate' school!

There is an outstanding primary school opposite me & a good school 20 minutes walk - we chose the good school (people always surprised as they assumed we moved for the school - we didn’t)

You need to visit the school to get the right feeling and what’s suitable for your child. Then make a descion.

Lots of the outstanding schools near us are being inspected for the first time in years and being graded good or requires improvement. Go see the schools and see which ones the best fir for your child.

Thanks everyone, I have decided to stay with the local primary school. The outstanding one with the highest exam scores in the city is very hard to get into. I drove down and it was based right next door to another primary school! And the traffic was crazy. Couldn't get out for ages. Very congested.
The other outstanding one I checked the exam results and the local school had higher results than it so I didn't bother much with that one. So iv just decided local is better and with all your input and advice it's helped me make a decision too..thank you everyone.