Would you change your children's school even if they were happy?

[Breezycheesetrees]

Things at my children's (y1 and 3) school seem to be really deteriorating since the new head came in post in January. Enrichment is dwindling away to nothing, scarcely any art or music, there's nothing up on the walls except numeracy and literacy stuff and this seems to be the exclusive focus of everything now. The recent Ofsted remained "good" with a very slight decline in L&N noted (as per many schools post Covid!) So presumably this is why, but it's become such a depressing place.

Several long-term (but not retirement age) staff have left, and there apparently is a gagging order on remaining and departing staff. Head is sending out stroppy, passive aggressive communications. It's not a church school, but since she joined there seems to be a big increase in Christianity being rammed down our throats at every opportunity. Meanwhile, we are surrounded by apparently cheerful, thriving schools with tons of outdoor curriculum/enrichment going on and I can't help feeling my children would get a much better, more rounded experience elsewhere.

But, they're happy. They like their friends, they're doing fine. My eldest I think would flourish in a bigger, busier school but my youngest is quite quiet and shy and would probably find the move hard.

Would you stick it out, or jump now? (many parents are talking about moving, and other local schools have limited free places so we might miss the opportunity if we don't do it this term). I'm obsessing a bit about it at the moment - DH thinks we should wait and see if things improve.

Good to get some different perspectives - thank you. I'm not sure what pp above is implying - I haven't misrepresented anything; my direct experience of the last 4 months is that almost half the staff have left (very small school so 5/12), atmosphere has changed dramatically, new head is sending angry-sounding emails to parents and staff who have left say they aren't allowed to talk about what's going on. I don't imagine there are court orders in place but for whatever reason they say they aren't allowed to talk about the school. And yes of course there will be a lot going on behind the scene that I don't understand or know about, which is why I'm anxious about rushing into making the wrong decision.

I think you're being pretty wise about this to be honest. You're acknowledging that maybe waiting things out is not your strong suit and that's a sign you're humble enough and have learnt from past experience.
Is it possible for you to approach the school and offer some of your sessional work? You may find that's a good way to suss out what's actually happening behind closed doors and that actually the local school may be really simialr. You could offer it with the acknowledgement that you know things have been hard and this may be nice for the kids.
Change of leadership is never easy, let alone in a tiny village school that'll no doubt have it's own social hierarchy. You may not have realised that the academic standards were slipping and this may end up being really good for your kids.

This thread has taken a weirdly hostile turn so I'm going to bow out now - thanks to everyone who has shared their experiences.

If you no longer believe in the ethos of the school and are negative about the way it is run then your children are likely to pick up on that at some point. If your eldest is positive about moving then I would definitely visit some of the other local schools together. Younger children are really adaptable to changing schools and mostly just seem to slot straight in. The older they get, the harder they find it so if it was me I'd want to go for it sooner rather than later. If the other schools are lovely then you won't look back, even if the Head changes again,.

Thanks for this. Your suggestion is a good one - actually I was doing sessional work with a class (not my children's) which has been stopped at the behest of the head (communicated via class teacher so not sure exactly why). I'm not a freelancer, I work for a well-known local organisation and am working in several local schools. I didn't mention this as I'm trying not to give out too much personal info. So obviously that's concerning, as most schools are falling over themselves to take advantage of free curriculum-linked, nationally accredited enrichment (which this is) but the new head has decided it's not for her school. But that's just one of many factors which are causing concern.

@Breezycheesetrees Hm I can see what you mean. In your position I think I would have a meeting with the head and go in with a list of questions you want to talk about, namely the vision she has for the school and your concerns. You have a good position from which to request one, having provided sessions that have been abruptly stopped, and giving them 2 bums on seats. There is likely something you don't know, and it's best to go in with a positive outlook. She's probably been attacked by the village mob, and being overly friendly will get you further than being hostile. I guess the response to a meeting request will tell you a lot too.

Yes this is going to be my next step I think. There really isn't a "village mob" though - this head came in all guns blazing with some very bizarre introductory emails to parents, which were highly critical of existing staff, so set a really confrontational tone from the start. I'm sure there have been several difficult conversations with parents, but we're really a nice community, loads of us are incomers anyway, it's not the nasty small-minded clique some posters are assuming. There's been so much disruption in our children's school experience so far, I really don't think anyone is looking for more drama.

PP suggestion of poor budget management might not be a bad call. School funding is under such pressure, even more so in small schools.

I would move them. A small village school with mixed classes already will really struggle for funding over the coming years, and it’s done per capita so if pupil numbers fall then funding shrinks too. I would hazard a guess that these long standing departed teachers will be replaced with ECTs - not necessarily a bad thing though!

I'm sorry OP. It does sound tricky. Not surprised you're worried. It sounds like you're being very wise about it though.its hard to stay level headed when it's your kids education on the line. I'd request a meeting and go from there. The response to that request will probably tell you a lot in itself. It's also budget time, and heads are extremely stressed. You may not be aware of what this head has inherited too.

Yes I moved my son last year even though he was happy, the school just wasn't meeting his needs educationally, the teacher was so dismissive of my concerns and wrote him off. I moved him to a smaller school and he has thrived since and finally getting the support he needs.

I suppose slightly different in that I was unhappy with the school on an individual level and not just what I could see broadly, the school itself was performing well but with a very challenging cohort that caused him to be overlooked.

No regrets, he was young enough to adapt and loved it immediately.

Thanks for sharing your experience. If you don't mind me asking, how did you present the move to your child?

@Breezycheesetrees it happened very hastily, literally went in to speak to the teacher the day before the last day of term, was livid at how she spoke to me, rang the primary school I had viewed a few weeks previously to ask if they could place him in the school (all the while walking back to my car with my son stood next to me) and he started after half term. He knew that I was worried about the school and the little time spent on him and my concerns, and we had previously been on a walk around the new school when I was considering moving him, so I just said to him " sorry X, but we need to move you, this school isn't giving you what you need"

So it was very much dictated to him (with the help of the new school having excellent clubs he was excited about) so we just spoke about it very positively, that it would be a much better school for him, and he just went along with it happily. Few nerves of course, but he loves the school and fitted in from day one.

You do what's right for your children. My DC goes to a wonderful school. Strong leadership, active engaged parents, low turnover. My DC is extremely happy there, doing well with plenty of friends.
Moving them out next year for the independent sector.

Moved mine - DD1 was generally happy enough there with a few friends, but that was destined to head into chaos as we knew the really close friend she'd bonded with was due to move away and believed DD would flounder at that point as the class bully had moved in to isolate her from her other class friends - so it was a tentative "happy".

DD2 was having a horrendous time - terrible bullying and a teacher who didn't believe in SEN and just thought kids needed to try harder... so after a couple of assaults on DD1 by a lad in her class who was actually lovely but with occasional outbreaks of plonker - and the schools' response to this being completely shit... we moved both of them.

Took them a while to settle - but it was a good decision - old school is sliding in standards rapidly with parents leaving, new school repaired lots of the damage with DD2 and put in time to get DD1 to settle and recover confidence.