Which is generally more important - facilities or location for primary school?

[sourep]

We have to apply for a junior school place by Wednesday. We have 3 options which differ mainly according to facilities and location. Which matters more do you think?

School A - 25 minute drive from home in traffic, 17 minutes without (may get in due to current infant school being a feeder). Round trip would realistically take us an hour and we'd have to do it twice per day. Great facilities (e.g., computer room; pottery room; STEAM lab; tennis/netball courts). High-quality after school care to 6 pm but can't book on an ad hoc basis.

School B - Up to 12 minute drive in traffic, 9 minutes without. Parking tricky so need to add in walking time. Again, good facilities (e.g., computer room; art room; cookery room). After school care to 6 pm, flexible on the day-booking available but not as good quality provision as school A.

School C - 6 minute drive. Very few facilities. They don't have a computer room, or an art room, or anything much other than the classrooms and hall. Whilst there is a swimming pool they don't use it very much and it is mainly rented out to swim schools as a source of income. There is a field and they are hoping to restart forest school, but that is about it. After school care available to 6 pm each day, but need to book set days. Knows one or two children and it's reasonably local to home which could be good for friendships.

Thoughts very welcome as we are stuck!

B
As drive will become a complete pain

Not A.

I’d go with travel time. Sounds like the option C you could walk to if off work which is valuable. I don’t see the “rooms” and facilities you have described as important for children of primary school age

B or C

I’d definitely go for C and walk to school, it’s a good way for your child to meet local friends. Facilities are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, their home life is more important.

What is more important to you and your child? Do you need extended day care, are they specifically interested in IT, pottery, netball etc? It is not much use having facilities if the school rarely use them for curriculum lessons or to run clubs and teams which appeal to your dc.

Location and journey time so would be C for me. Close enough to walk. Can supplement school with extracurricular activities if needed.

B or C. Location is important so that would sway me to C but the flexibility of the ASC for B is a real positive. I wouldn't worry too much about facilities - my son's school doesn't have art room or computer room but it's still a wonderful school and quite high performing.

I would not assume that a school with an ad hoc after school offering will necessarily keep that for the whole of your time there. You may find that actually it is booked ahead by most so that the ad hoc spaces are limited.

School C

Local is king.

By year 6 your child can walk on his own which is fantastic prep for secondary and good steps to learn to be independent and responsible

What matters is the teaching, the friends and your support in the home.

Facilities can come through out of school clubs - acting, sport, scouts etc

Thanks for sorting many helpful replies. It's been useful to get a perspective on the relative importance of home life versus facilities.

School C, despite being a 6 minute drive is a 26 minute walk so realistically we'd drive it. By year 6, it is true they could walk home by themselves.

Sports important to son, so that's a consideration. After school care will be needed and flexibility of some value right now. I think I'm leaning school B or C, just hard to give up A when infants feeds into it.

Looking ahead, how far away is the secondary school you are most likely to send him to? Is it far from C? Will he be able to walk there?

Walkability to school is a huge asset, as friends will also be a short walk away and as he gets old enough he can call on them on weekends. Local friendships at primary then can help smooth the transition to secondary, enabling a better social life in teen years (and with parents you’re more likely to know which is an asset!)

C - as I read your post, I thought that describes DDs junior school, essentially just a block of classrooms and hall in a concrete playground, not even any field/grass! However it's a great school and they work with what they have e.g. making salad in DT in the classroom and a trolley of iPads. The thought of doing 60 mins twice a day by car feels huge to me, even though drop off and collection takes me 45mins because I have to pick up from 2 schools with different finish times. I also would find the parking at B stressful.

Although where do all the kids go? Will yours be one of a minority starting school B or C not knowing anyone? At our juniors, 29/30 moved up from the nearby infants.

Yes, at either B and C he will be in a minority (others all move up from the respective linked infant school). School A - Kids come from three different infant schools including his.

School C makes a lot of sense but feels a bit lacking somehow and perhaps that's not just the facilities. School B seems to have more going on (as does school A).

It's very tricky.

I would avoid A with its difficult drive/parking - it will become a total pain as the years go by.

There is a lot to be said for being as local as possible - being part of the community with friends around is good - and as they get older they can walk home together etc.

More important than facilities is the whole ethos and approach of the school - what are their values? - are they eco-minded? - what is their pastoral care like? - are they up for anything and grab any opportunities that come their way? Often a small school with little in the way of plush facilities still provides lots of activities due to their imagination and drive.

I disagree with the majority. For Y3-6 facilities do matter a bit. I’d be interested in how school C facilitates music/art/computing without dedicated facilitators. Also sport and PE for this age group is important. As you’re going to have to drive to any school I’d go for A to stay with friends or B for better facilities.

What stands out to me is that they're nothing in your post about the schools' ethos, pastoral care etc. How do they compare? That will make the biggest difference to your child.

Facilities don't really matter. There are schools with amazing facilities that make poor use of them, and ones with rubbish facilities that work around that and offer a great experience.

No way would I go for A. The logistics will be a right pain.

The school I worked at had a music room, and a science lab, which were available for staff to book, were dedicated to each year group over the school terms. That meant about 6 lessons in the lab. The rest of the time we'd bring equipment from the lab and deliver the lessons in class. We had a computer room too but the computers were quite outdated so most teachers just either booked the laptop trolley or ipads to deliver the computer lessons.
In a nutshell, speak to the teachers or existing parents and see how much they actually use the facilities available, and to what standard those lessons are taught.

I don’t understand the MN obsession with primary schools having to be incredibly close to home.

DD’s prep school was a 30 min commute away from us - in reality it’s not that difficult and you just get used to the drive. Worth it to have all of the amazing facilities and high quality teaching. Most of her classmates had a similar commute and they were all perfectly happy kids!

School A is large, 120 per year group and built as a secondary. Seems driven and ambitious but perhaps a bit impersonal given it's size and, for us, distance from home. But very impressive in what it offers to the kids. Nicest grounds. Son will know many there (estimate 50 places will be filled from those at his infants), but it may also be good for him to have a fresh start for year 3.

School B also built as a secondary and has 90 per year group. New headteacher in place for a year and people seem pleased with him. Appeal for us is it's closer than A, has facilities which C doesn't, has flexible after school and generally seems to offer more.

School C has 90 per year group and was always intended as a junior. Built in the 60's and showing it's age. It is reported not to be as good as the infants that feeds it. Main appeal to us is it's closest of the 3 to home for friendships and parking not too bad.

Thank you for all your comments.

I’d probably go for B. Or C if it has a nice vibe, good results, and good recommendations from parents you know.

is it 26mins walk at adult pace or kid pace?

My dd had a 20min walk to school (1.2miles) and it was fine (we went by scooter or bike if it was fine. Car if weather was bad or she felt unwell).

I would not pick school A in a million years due to the distance.

I would ignore “not knowing anyone” at school b or c. Dc will make new friends.

I am lucky that my dc2 got into a local school with great facilities and yes, I’m very happy he has a forest school and an art room and a cookery room and a computer room and a big library. But honestly it’s whether you think school culture will suit your kid, and will he have some friends nearby, for me that’s the most important thing.

It's not just the commute to school, it's the logistics of playdates and events (evening plays, evening discos, Saturday fairs etc).

How often do primary school age kids do cookery to warrant the use of a cookery room? Maybe if they have one they use it a bit more often, but if that sort of thing is used for an hour once a term it's not the be all and end all. And an art room - how is that different from a classroom that has paints and pastels and craft stuff in it? Do kids these days use "computer rooms" like we had in the 90s, isn't it all ipads and laptops in a regular classroom as part of wider lessons?

I'd say for primary the important facilities are more what is the outside space like. Is the playground a big empty concrete area with no equipment except a football goal. What kids of extra curricular opportunities are there, what sort of visits does the school arrange in the local area, do they do dance and music and drama performances. What is the SEN support like, how does their behaviour management operate, how long have the teachers been there - is there a large amount of staff churn and reliance on newly qualified staff.

17 mins isn't particularly long. I'd go for A.

I think it comes from lots of working parents finding it much easier to juggle quite with a shorter school run. That was certainly the case for us.

Our chosen primary is a 10 minute walk each way. So 40 mins a day. Our slightly preferred primary would have been 30 lots each way, so two hours a day. Far far easier for us to fit 40 minutes into our life than two hours. Thankfully the closest primary has turned out to be lovely, so I'm very happy we prioritised a shorter journey.

it becomes so much harder as a working parent once your kids are at school, so I think it's totally.understandable people want to make it as simple as they can.