Applying for schools - what to ask

[rolypoly836]

Hello - I have two dc, one due to start (state) school next sept so we're doing the rounds of local schools with visits over the coming months. What should we be asking?! I thought the main things should be about class sizes, how many TAs in each class and what their wraparound provision is - as we will need this most days. Are we missing anything vitally important?

Also - one local school has mixed classes - I.e y1/y2 then y3/y4. Is this good? Bad?

TIA x

What is your age gap? If you have younger child starting the next school year, avoid mixed year classes if you can, it can be problematic as they compare themselves.

Questions...
What distance do they admit children from... (no point only listing schools you can't get into!)
Extra curricular clubs

Thank you. They'll be 3 years apart so a good enough gap.

All within 1.5 miles. We're applying for our definitive catchment school and two others we think there's a fairly good chance of looking at the data on the council website and the schools our neighbours kids go to.

Don’t rely on how many TAs they have now. Budgets are being slashed. Also the TAs may be linked to pupils with EHCPs.

Is the behaviour good as you walk round the school, is there a happy buzz?

You can find the PAN online, and wrap around isn't necessarily provided by the school so I'd Google for providers - and find out if they have spaces. Both my kids went to primaries with mixed year groups - nice small school but definitely less facilities than the larger 3 class intake school (which only had an after school place got 1 day a week and a waiting list for 2 years for a slot on Mondays). TA numbers etc will also be google-able - note that many are leaving as their pitiful wages leave them no choice. It's more the feel of the place - and do you have in common with the other parents. I struggled at one school where working mums were the tiny minority - I felt like a failure and that I was being judged.

We found some schools self-eliminated…the one where the Head told me about the weekly Parent Assembly that ‘all the Mums come to’ and when told I works an hour away full time said ‘Well, a few children have a grandparent there instead’ (ours are both a couple of hours away). The one where we had 20 minutes on learning difficulties and when asked ‘how do you stretch brighter children’ replied ‘we find they do fine’. The one where the head sighed and said ‘I never wanted the children from the new development here, we haven’t the space’ he had my sympathy but guess where we live!

My eldest started reception this September, we asked about number of siblings in year (two of our choices were hugely oversubscribed), wrap around care, music lessons when they're older, IT facilities, outdoor learning provision, meals and staff turnover

We looked round three and tbh they were all very similar and the heads all did a very good rundown of the main areas you'd want to know about. We asked friends with children already at schools for their feedback too.

What's important to you about a school?
Uniforms - strict logos or basics from Asda?
Are SATS made a big deal of or are they relaxed?
Homework - yes or no?
Outdoor space - is Reception free-flow indoors and outside or do they have little outdoor space and are mostly indoors?
After school clubs (not childcare) - do they cheap activities like Lego Club or Board Game Club or is it expensive stuff like drama groups provided by outside companies?
Do they do things like Christmas/Summer Fairs - is this important to you or would you not bother going?
Is there an active PTA?
What is considered a good school to one parent will be totally different to another.
You need to decide what you think is important and what isn't.

I would ask about staff retention. How many of their teachers have been there for 4 years or more? How many staff left last year?

If class numbers are less than 30, ask about the trend in that over time, and also look for evidence of the lower budget that comes with.

Ask about who covers the classes during a teacher's non-contact time and for absence - is that person a teacher or a teaching assistant? Equally, if any classes are job shares, ask whether both parts of the share are teachers (increasingly common for schools to use a teaching assistant to cover, including for multiple days a week).

Enquire about their provision during Covid lockdowns, not because that is likely to arise again but because it will give you a really good idea about the ethos of the school - did they focus on education, on pastoral care, on supporting the vulnerable? Ask what gaps they have found post-Covid and how they are dealing with them.

In mixed-year classes in particular, ask for examples of how they challenge the most able, and also how they support those who find things more difficult - the spread of ability and curriculum in mixed year classes is higher than in single year classes, and while e.g. an able child in the lower year will tend to be extended through the presence of the older year, the next year when they are the older year can be one of some stagnation.

Overall, observe the children and the interaction between them and the adults. Are the children cheerful, engaged, respectful of adults but smiley in their presence? Are classrooms busy but orderly, or very silent, or a bit frantic?

Take your child(ren) on school visits and see how the teachers and other school staff relate to them.

Were doing primary applications (and high school) ATM.

We've found we've walked into schools we've just know which was right with a gut feeling.

But things we've looked for is wrap around care.
Results from parent surveys (they have to publish them and they are very telling). School direction, what are they aiming to achieve in the next couple of years.
Learning opportunities away from the classroom . IE forest school, trips, visitors they have in, opportunity to learn an instrument.

Then it was just stuff we noticed. Calm happy classrooms, work on display boards, free flow continuous provision in nursery.

@rolypoly836
Look at the government stats for attainment and progress. Are they average, above average etc. What about fsm snd SEN numbers? Look at class sizes and expect the school to be nearly full or it’s not fully funded.

Do not just look at YR. I know you have an older DC, but look at music, sport, art, trips snd clubs. Is the school actively offering a broad education? Is the school showing work of DC and is it aiming high? Look at the children. Are they engaged and working. Never accept chaos. Are they doing purposeful tasks in YR? How do they teach reading.

Lastly, look at everything on the web sites. Especially newsletters! They tell
you what’s going on. Look at every policy. Definitely look at staff turnover but that’s difficult to check and staff do get promoted elsewhere! Check if both Dc can get into the same school.

It depends what is important to you, for us it would be about how they approach the curriculum. We have 3 very different schools in our catchment area, the one our kids are at does a lot more outside of the classroom learning (drama, forest school, outdoor learning etc all scheduled weekly) and they do curriculum based activities within these but the other schools are more classroom based. Also key to ask about for us would be enrichment clubs and after school provision etc.

Good luck with your search.

@ZebraKid71
Lots of people have one catchment school!