Which primary school?

[Pohtayton]

So I live rurally, and there are three primaries in various villages that are each about a 5 minute drive from our house, and which are all 1 form entry, and all start at reception (none of them habe a nursery), and all have the same ethnic makeup. We are only considering primaries one and two, as Primary three has a reputation for bullying.

Primary 1 has a new (less than a year old) Ofsted outstanding rating, and since it received that the three schools have gone from all being equally slightly under subscribed, to Primary 1 being oversubscribed, taking a mix of local children and children commuting to the school from other areas, and the other two schools only having about 18-22 kids per year group.

Primary 1 has quite shabby facilities and very little green space, but is in an affluent area (only 3% of the kids are FSM), and has wraparound as well as an assortment of daily afterschool clubs. Parents who have kids there seem neutral/mildly positive about the school. However the school seem very rigid when it comes to the curriculum (I.e: they have an expectation that all kids read every book 3 times from their reading scheme), so there doesn't seem to be much differentiation. Sats are good, 70-80% are working at the expected standard, and 30-40% are working at the higher standard. If my child goes there, they will be one of 30 in their year.

Primary 2 is a cute little village primary in a more middle class area (14% FSM) with a "good" ofsted rating. It has wraparound, but no extracurricular clubs after school. They are part of a multi academy trust and get funding from a very active PTA. The school has lots of green space and the children garden and keep chickens and tortoises and do nice enrichment activities as part of the school day. The school seems very nurturing, the head knows every pupil by name, and parents are extremely positive about the school and the values the school instills in the children. SATs results are good, 90% reaching the expected standard, 20-30% reaching the higher standard. They seem quite flexible about helping children who struggle, or stretching children who are higher achieving. My child would be one of 22 at that school.

We are in a grammar school area, and Nursery have noted that my child is inexplicably very ahead of expectations for their age, so I am a bit torn about which school would be best for my child.

@Pohtayton just a comment about heads. I’ve been a governor of two primaries and DC attended 4 primaries. The heads made it their business to get to know the DC in all the schools. In many schools, heads do this as standard . I’d very much think about how well dc will fit in and choose a school to meet his needs, not necessarily one that meets the needs of others.

The less academic school is probably suffering from parental flight. Parents are going elsewhere. Dc who remain are probably local and don’t want to (or cannot) travel elsewhere or its attracting dc who are not as academic - this can be for a number of reasons. In my area, village schools are chosen by parents of Sen dc and they travel to these schools from towns and it skews results. This phenomenon can cause various issues within the schools.

Im in an 11 plus LA, and a good school is important but a school with lots of 11 plus passes will be. Parents would leave if it wasn’t.

Class sizes of 22 may not be sustainable going forward and so mixed year classes may need to be introduced at some point

It sounds as though you prefer 2.
However, you can only tell so much about a school on paper... you need to visit and get a feel for the school.
You will know when you go.

I feel like the last part of my post should be spoken in the voice of Morgan Freeman... I didn't mean it to sound so much like The Word Of God!

You make no mention of SEN provision, OP. Also think about how the two schools deal with SEN. Just because nothing is apparent at nursery age, doesn't mean issues won't arise later on and you will want to be in a school with a good handle on it. We happened to have a HV appointment for our youngest during the time we had been viewing schools for our eldest and mentioned one school to her which had recently received outstanding ofsted, results improving since an academy trust took it over. But she told us that that particular school has a reputation for not dealing with SEN well, taking a "wait and monitor" approach rather than early / proactive intervention and not being particularly supportive with getting EHCPs together. Our DD shows no sign of SEN yet but I'd much prefer her to be in a school that is proactive about identifying these things if needed. I'm not just talking about ASD / ADHD but also dyslexia / dyscalculia etc.

I have to say I didn’t consider Sen provision and never needed to. That is still the majority of parents. The biggest issue facing some “cosy” village schools is the huge influx of Sen pupils they see that alters the equilibrium in the classroom.

I would also consider which school you can see dc attending at age 10. What is the experience for older dc? Are there some decent sport opportunities? What about music and arts? What after school clubs? I also agree about schools with small class sizes. They might need to look at mixing age groups to reduce costs. 45 dc is 1.5 classes so they might need to rethink school organisation. It’s a rich school that can go forward spending this amount of money on staff.

@NewName2025 school 2 are known to be great at identifying and getting help for SEN kids. They have lower than average incidence of SEN, but higher than average rares of their SEN kids getting EHCPs. Neurodiversity runs in my family, so I won't be surprised if my DC turns out to have something

@Pohtayton That’s a Middle class trend. Parents who can wade through what’s needed and are articulate get more. It’s not just the school doing this. It’s who puts up the best fight and can fund it. Often there’s more dc with needs in other schools but parents don’t fight as hard and accept what dc get.

OP, if there is family history and/or other reason to think possibly higher chance of ND in the mix, I would also try to find out about the schools' experience with/attitudes towards supporting DME kids (ie v bright plus SEN).

Some schools that are otherwise fab at SEN support, aren't great at supporting the kids who can compensate sufficiently through their strengths so as not to fall behind age related expectations. (Which means their needs go unsupported in both the areas of strength, and they're paddling furiously below the waterline getting more and more exhausted and frustrated and miserable, until at some point it all implodes.)