Would you change primary school for a year or two?

[karpouzi]

Hello mums,

I need your advice on the choice of reception school from your experience as I stuck! We have two options:

Option 1
The school that my DS currently goes to nursery.
Pros
Ofsted Outstanding
Very settled - He has been there more than a year now attending the nursery
Friends - He has many but not a best friend
Location - About 10 min walk and in the same direction for drop off /pick up of the rest of the kids

Cons
Not any other than maybe more mixed demographics
Above national in the school results but worse than our option 2

Option 2
We bought our place and paid a premium to be in the catchment area as it’s very prestigious with a tiny catchment zone

Pros
Ofsted Outstanding
Everything really
One of his good friends will also join that school
Top 1% best results in the UK (state school)

Negative
Closer to home but completely opposite direction from the drop off of the rest of the kids and the tube station
Unsettle my son with a change

He will most likely go to either for a year or two as we will outgrow our house and we cannot afford a bigger place in the same area. Would you change or keep him in the same?

I asked him and he said he wants to stay where he is but i guess he is only 4. I shouldn’t do as he says

Thank you!!

You say that your son is 4, so is this to start in September 2025? The application deadline has passed, so you may not have a choice!

Seems like something you should have considered before you moved?

Haven’t you missed the application deadline for this year? But that notwithstanding I’d go for the better and closer school. Friendships change every 5 minutes at this age and school nurseries usually close for the summer so he’ll be at home for 6 weeks and get completely out of routine anyway, so I wouldn’t put much sway in current friendships or having attended the school nursery. ^^

This was my first thought. Deadlines closed last week.

We have already submitted a preference but I am still not 100% sure. I have chatted to the admissions team in my council and they actually allow me to change it. So I have a very very limited time to change it!

We have more kids than we planned! I guess life happens!

Yes, we have submitted a preference but chatted to the admissions team and they still allow me to amend the order if i want. They’ve super nice!

True! That’s a very good point. He will obviously remember the school as he has been there for two years but I guess (hope) he won’t care about classmates and teachers.

I would stick with school 1 I'm guessing that's what you've put first. If he's not going to be there long term then it makes sense to make the drop offs as simple as possible. I would also be cautious about them changing the order of your preferences, if you only have it verbally I'd be worried about it being counted as a late application.

Sorry that sounded rude.

I meant if you've moved because of nursery then it seems like you've made your mind up?

Thank you! Yes that was my thinking but I was wondering if i m too selfish choosing my convenience over better school. It will not actually count as a late submission but they ll amend it in the system they said and confirm over email. At least this is what they said

We moved him to that school nursery as it’s a school nursery accepting from 2yo and we tried to avoid private nursery fees as we are already paying crazy amounts for our younger kids. We always had it as a short term convenient free solution but I guess it now feels unfair to move him if he has been settles well!

I agree with this, most LAs treat changes to preference as a late application. It probably would be fine but perhaps not worth the risk. I’d stick with whatever your initial choice was, which sounds like it was option 1? You can always ask to be put on the other school's waiting list later on.

Are you saying, he will move to School 2 and then you’ll have to change school AGAIN when you outgrow the house you’re in and move?

I would go for the best school unless it would seriously inconvenience you.
I wouldn’t worry about leaving nursery friends behind.

Top 1% sounds good - but what is the school culture really like - have you spoken to lots of parents with kids at the school?

By the way I don’t place much faith in Ofsted outstanding usually - my dd was in one; it meant they really drilled the kids to be able to pass the SATS but aside from that, the school was not so great; her non-core education (science, IT, art, history, geography) was barely taught in Y6.

My ds goes to a recently-rated Good school. It’s fabulous. My ds loves it, and has improved in leaps and bounds.

Ofsted doesn’t always tell the whole story, beware.

I think if you're planning to move away from the area and change schools in a year or two anyway, I'd go for option 1. More familiar to him, easier drop off with your other children. It sounds like it's still a very good school even if not as high achieving as option 2.

But ultimately if he'll only be at the school for a year or two perhaps it doesn't really matter! You're lucky that you have two outstanding schools as options. How did you feel about both schools when you went to the open day?

Yes, we will eventually need to move as we ll outgrow our place that’s why I am confused. Otherwise it will be for me a no brainer to go with option 2. Thanks for your view on ofsted, good to know!

If I change, I will triple check so thanks for raising it. Option 2’s waiting list is usually 70-80 kids so very unlikely to get in if you don’t get in the first time around

To be honest, I loved option 2 but I don’t know if it’s everything in my mind. I built a picture in my head that he will go to that school, he will friends that they ll go in the local park every weekend and we ll get to know our community better. Option 1 zone is very big so kids are all over the place. But again is it worth the disruption for a year or two?

Would you move far away, or could you stay at school 2 and get the other kids in via siblings links?

I'd ignore the nursery links, it's starting school and so many will be new. If you moved specifically for school 2, and you genuinely like it and not just what's on paper then I'd stick with that.

What is currently your first choice?

We will unfortunately move further out no we won’t be anywhere close to either. My logic says option 1, my heart says option 2. We already know option 1 as he is there is the nursery and it’s good but we haven’t fall in love with it. To be fair to them, they have done an excellent job building my son’s confidence and preparing him for reception. Maybe option 2 has been idolised in my mind as it’s so so popular and everyone wants to get in in the area so I have the fear of missing out.

I would go option 2 as you don’t have firm plans to move yet. Things change and you may not end up moving / may stay closer?

If it were beneficial, as you never know what situation may be in two years' time.

That’s true. You never know what happens!

I’d stay where you are - have you looked around both?
You already like the school the nursery is attached to. Plus more friends will go there/he’s already comfortable.
It’s difficult judging on ofstead - we looked about so many but went with the ‘good’ rated and - now in Yr6 - so happy with our choice. You can more later if needed

I went to 3 different infant schools due to various circumstances - did not do me any harm!