What Do I Look For In A Bad/Good School?

[Highlander]

There are 3 schools locally. 2 are deffo walkable, 1 I would probably have to take the car so not so interested.

Both have excellent reputations from mums - but how do I really know? What do I look for? Or does it not really matter if the word on the street is that they're all good?

Look for happy children, when you visit.

It's good to talk to parents - we were considering one very good school near us, but I came across one parent who had been in to discuss a bullying incident and didn't feel she was taken seriously. That rang alarm bells for me.

Schools within walking distance are fab for the kids and for the planet.

Ask parents who are happy if they have had encounters with the head or the governors, and what that was like.

Some parents never criticise their DC's school, so don't be too trusting of the glazed-eyed, "Oh, it's the best" brigade. Ask probing questions.

Do you like headteacher? S/he is crucial to morale, atmosphere, etc.

Don't overlook little negative comments, especially if several people make them independently. They could add up to a big problem.

I don't think you can beat a visit to the school. We went to two. One, I felt was a good school, and would have been perfectly happy for my dd to go there. When I left the other, I felt excited about the fact that my dd might go there, and I really wanted her to go to that school. That was the key difference.

The Head had a lot to do with our decision too, and her general enthusiasm for learning and children's development.

I didn't take much notice of other parents views because they were all positive about the school their child went to. Nothing negative at all.

I wouldn't take any notice of parents-it can be very misleading.
Go to the school on a normal working day and look around. If children are picked to show you round that is a good thing, especially if they sound really proud of things. If the Head shows you round do they know every child's name? Does he/she interact with them? Classrooms should be purposeful, look especially at children who are working on their own-are they getting on with the work/ interested in the work? Are the classrooms well cared for with lots of children's work on the wall? Are there photographs of activities, trips out, school plays etc. Ask questions about the things that interest you, e.g how much sport, opportunities for learning a musical instrument. Above all,imagine your DC in the classroom-would they fit in and be happy?

I would go and look round.

What are the pupils like - polite? Do they seem interested in their lessons?

Are classrooms busy and bright with lots of work displayed?

What do you think of the head - approachable? (this is useful). Does she or he seem to care eg know names of kids?

What is discipline like - are kids running wild or opening doors for you?

Ask about out of school clubs if that's important to you; also check out state of building but to me caring atmospeher is more important.

I see others say same as Me! Agree walking distance is a winner.

sorry not sure why I capped up Me... I'm not that important

I look for comfortable, confident, focused children. Are they engaged in their work by the teacher, whether aged 5 or 15?

Do the staff know the children's names? Are the children respectful and thoughtful? (ie helping each other and being polite to adults).

Is the school cheerful and relaxed or are children anxious looking?

Facilities are important (children should be safe and comfortable in their environment) but people/staff even more so - I look for the interactions between staff and children, not just teachers but playground staff, teaching assistants, cleaners, dinner ladies etc. I also like an open door policy (obviously within reason) - how do the staff behave if you just drop by? Are they comfortable with that or do they seem uncomfortable and as if they have something to hide?

I see that we all agree on what to look for!

I agree with others who have said its important to like the Head.

Also look for pupils who are happy, polite and open doors!

Other things will depend on ones personal preferences I think. Eg. Having an energetic son good outside space was an important factor for us.

If you are finding it hard to choose between a few good schools maybe you could look at the religious orientation of the school and choose the school that you feel most comfortable with. eg.if you are c of e maybe c of e school will be more appealing..

cheers laydeez! I think I'll visit next term.

I agree with the above, I would also add that I look carefully at very popular schools to see how long they have been at the top of their game as sometimes they can become a bit complacent. Is the head still really keen to "sell" their school or do they have the "it's so popular we don't bother" approach? One school refused to even let me look around when I couldn't make the one advertised tour - the reason given was "we're oversubscribed anyway"!