Desperately need opinions - moving Reception child - sooner rather than later?

[ThisSharpNavyRaven]

(I posted at the beginning of the summer about moving house before reception starts, if anyone thinks this sounds familiar)
We are moving to a new area next week. We (maybe stupidly) decided to start him at the primary closest to our current house last week, as we didn't actually know the move would go through until yesterday, and he was so excited about going to school with his friends. It's gone well, he's been pretty chilled about it. Likes it but hasn't made loads of friends or anything and is obviously a little unsure about finding his footing there.

The school I was hoping to get him into near the new house has no places (we thought we'd have got a place by now but that hasn't transpired), we are 4th on the waiting list (120 cohort, inner London so quite transient). My second option in the new area does have places, and he could start in a week or so if we get on with enrolling him there. It's the second option because the facilities are a little run down and end of KS2 results were poor last year. But parents I spoke to love it, the children there seem lovely and the teachers I met were really nice. It's also about 5 minutes further walk from option 1.

We can commute him to current school (20min drive/cycle) but he'd have to do wrap around as my husband would do all drop offs and pick ups around work. If he goes to local school I can do it all and he won't have to do wrap around (have two younger children at home).

Do I -

1. Keep him at current school until place comes up at first choice school in new area (who knows how long this will take).
2. Start him at second option in new area, in which he could start in a couple of weeks.

Other factors - he obviously doesn't understand much of the decisions being made, but I've been speaking to him throughout about the fact that he won't be at his current school long, and he seems to understand and accept this. He talks about it himself and tells people etc.

• My husband is ok with the pick ups and drop offs, though obviously not long term (ie past a few months).

If you've read all this, I applaud you! As you can tell I'm in a bit of a tizz about it, so PLEASE no harsh words about what a terrible time to move house etc. It wasn't exactly the timing we'd planned but you know what buying and selling houses is like, and the move is definitely what's best for our family in the long run.
Thank you!

Yes, definitely due another Ofsted. Can you find out whether that poor result is typical for them? For instance, it’s possible that it was unusually bad and was due to a poor teacher who has now left. These things happen. But if it is typical I would be concerned too.

If it’s a Local Authority school, they will be the ones with responsibility for big building works.

@Miffylou no, definitely no SEN unit (his current school does have one which makes their excellent results even more impressive). Good questions to ask, and yes I will look up previous years results as well. Maybe they just had a dodgy year for some reason. Though I've heard on the parent grapevine that the option 1 school in new area put on weekend revision sessions for SATs this year, which I don't love the idea of.

Can you take it up now with a delay till a set date?

@Aria999 ooh I don't know, but I will ask on Monday. I hadn't thought of that, I guess I could apply for the place and get it, but then agree a later start date with them... Great thinking!

I'd go for your second choice. They have space now, you can walk him to school (there's a lot to be said for that) and parents love it. Four form entry would be far too big for me. Keeping where he is seems like prolonging the inevitable. It makes sense to move him soon before he settles.

I wouldn't read too much into one set of bad results, as long as it's not a historic issue. All sorts of things could have contributed. Just because they don't have an SEN unit doesn't mean they didn't have a lot of SEN children in the year group that year, whose needs aren't so profound they can't be taught in class but mean they're working below the government expected level. For me, progress is always more important than raw data as each cohort is different, no 2 years can be directly compared in terms of their overall grades (although the government and Ofsted always try to). If they're a smaller school, remember that each pupil will be worth a higher individual percentage than those at the 4 form entry school. The children at the 4 form entry school are worth less than 1% each! Plus it only takes 1 or 2 rebellious parents to withdraw their child from SATs, or a family to take an extended trip abroad for a family emergency around that time (not uncommon in London, where you have pupils with family all over the world) to totally skew the data. New children could have started very recently with no English etc. Data can be quite hard to compare when schools are of different size, in different areas etc.

Go with your gut. You liked the 2nd option, it's local and has space now. Besides, so much can change by the time your child gets to Year 6 in terms of teaching outcomes. They're overdue an Ofsted inspection and, given their recent data, I'm guessing that will trigger it to be some time this term. Even if the outcome isn't good it's not the end of the world as things will be put in place to help them improve (which is sometimes better in the long term than schools that remain stable and get complacent/set in their ways).

Just dropped in to say we moved ours after the first term of reception, having also moved between preschool and reception due to house buying drama. It was totally fine - no tears, no friendship issues - biggest change was getting used to a different uniform. I have no advice on deciding between the two schools, but I would take the worry about dc adjusting off your mental load - kids at that age are really flexible.

I'd wait for a bit. You have 3 children so a long time to be at the school. It's a fairly big school in a fairly transient area. At least wait a few weeks to see if anyone hasn't turned up. I don't think Reception have even started at my kids school!

As others have said, you don't need 4 people to drop out if the ones above choose not to move. If you can stick out the commute, I'd try to hang on through Reception. I think most kids move fine at that age as their friendships are often more about who likes the same games.

Before you make any decisions, two things to check with regard to school 1:

1. Are you fourth on the waiting list from your current address or the new address? The waiting list will be ordered by the admissions criteria, so moving will change your position on it. If you'll be moved up to first place, that's worth knowing.
2. (if you can get them to tell you) Has the school had any no-shows in the first week? Sometimes kids who are on their list don't turn up, perhaps because they've relocated over the summer. They will need to verify that before they can offer the space to anyone else (the family may just be visiting relatives), but it may offer more hope that there may be a space in a couple of weeks.

Thought I'd update this as I always want to hear how stories end. We talked to a lot of neighbours and local families and decided to send him to the school with poor results but places, because everyone seems to love it (and the commuting to his old school was pretty awful). He started 2 weeks ago and is loving it there, he's made lots of friends already and the parent community is lovely so we've had playdates already. Teachers are great and the head seems good. I'm not sure what's going on with their end of KS2 results, but I guess if we have to get him a tutor in Y6 we'll cross that bridge! A lot can change in 7 years anyway.
So, all's well that ends well I think! Thanks everyone for all your advice.

I too always like to hear how things have turned out. Not many do take the time to update so it's nice to hear you went for it and he's settling in well. It sounds like a very sensible decision to make the switch now.

Thanks for the update 😊

@ThisSharpNavyRaven I just wondered if lots of local dc go private and others get your first choice school. This leaves a different cohort in the school you have now got. If they get an ofsted and it’s RIGHT, you do have time to see improvements. What is their historic info like? Has the head changed since 2018? Iz if high fsm or sen? Government data might show you this was a blip. However a good school really will be wanting to do better so look for initiatives.

I do have to say lots of parents ignore results preferring dc to be happy. Many don’t notice dc are progressing slowly because they have no comparisons. They don’t have dc in other schools and don’t see that theirs has shortcomings. So keep checking that your dc is progressing as he should.