Help please choosing which primary school

[mondler]

Hi,

Sorry another one of these threads but we're really struggling to pick which order to put our choices and would love some opinions.

We're in an area with 3 potential schools in walking distance. Every school around here is usually oversubscribed but we have a small chance of getting into each our 3 schools.

School 1) we know will be our first choice but for context its 10 min walk, next to nursery, PAN 45 and we know lots of people there. Has great a great SEN secrion. We're about 30 meters outside of catchment.

School 2) 5 min walk. PAN of 18 but mixes classes so more than 18 per class. Its CoE but we're happy with that. Its linked to local high school and shares facilities and mini buses etc. Head teacher seems friendly and has been there since it reopened as a primary school a few years ago. It's been filling up per year group and year 3 will be starting in september so it would be a full school. We got good vibes from it.

School 3) is our catchment school but about 25mins walk including railway barriers with no bridge so potentially would have to add on 10 mins or so as they seem to stay down for a fair while but not the end of the world. Plus theres some narrow pavements/busy roads which flood easily. The area isn't the nicest and we've had vocal abuse from teens in that area previously (theres a large park/green) you have to cross to get to the school but I doubt there would be much trouble at school times. It has PAN 45 and we had good vibes on it but I've heard a few people mention that it doesnt deal well with bullying. Has mixed year groups.

My son is fairly quiet and a bit shy. Hes having speech therapy but also is a bit delayed with gross motor skills and has hypermobility and doesn't keep up easily. He goes to a busy preschool but prefers it when it is quieter. He is possibly on the spectrum but it's too early to tell.

I can't decide if the potential additional people to make friends with in school 3 should be more important than the travelling/limited friendship group. Or as he seems to prefer smaller environments if we should list number 2 as second and hope he doesnt outgrow it.

It would be hard to move him as most school have waiting lists forn in year transfers.

I know it's not our choice but I feel theres a small chance of getting school 2 over school 3 but we just can't decide.

Sorry for the long post but any thoughts much appreciated 🙂

How is your catchment school so far? I'd go for school 2 purely on the distance, that's a long way to walk and you'll end up regretting it ( or giving in and driving which has it's own issues).

Thanks for replying. I know it's stupid the way they have changed the catchment area here. School 2 would have been our catchment but they changed a few years ago to a non catchment area school and they divided the old school 2 between schools 1 and 3. We are right on the edge so sadly just outside school 1s catchment but only just in school 3.

It is a low birth year so worth considering that. I would use Locrating to review admissions numbers for this year's intake and whether you have a reasonable chance of getting in to the one you prefer.

The chance of getting in shouldn't affect the OP's order though- there is no 'gamble' involved and you should always list schools in your genuine order of preference (including at least one school somewhere on your list that you can be fairly sure of gaining a place at, usually your nearest or catchment school). The equal preference system is law and schools cannot and do not prioritise people who put them first.