What did your child's primary school of choice have that others didn't?

[Salome61]

Hello, my daughter has a choice of 5 primary schools within reasonable distance of where she lives. All of them got a 'Good' Ofsted report. The nearest is a Catholic school.

How did you choose your child's primary school please? Do you do a comparison of the facilities?

Location

Closest school. All local schools are good, but I regret not going with my gut and putting a different school first.

We were equidistant between two, and liked the ethos and the head. It’s got a reputation for being nurturing and hot on pastoral (and that has been our experience too). Lots I didn’t like over the years but would still make the same choice again.

Close enough to walk to

For us it was a combination of the head teacher and the small size (single form entry , quite high student mobility ) non faith .
I also liked the fact that my kids would be with such a diverse range of children .
Good Ofsted (outstanding for behaviour) but below average in league tables .

Boh kids developed excellent learning behaviours but more importantly have tolerance and humility .

The head has now retired and the school is 3 form entry . Unsure I would choose it now !

Before and after school club.

Where we lived there wasn’t really any ‘choice’ exactly. The local village primary was a good choice with nearly all the things you’d want. Next nearest was a 15 minute drive.
If i was choosing it would involve - size of school, the feeling I got from the staff when I visited, outside space, the Ofsted report taken with a big inch of salt.
You have to go and visit and see how each one feels

Outdoor space, single form entry, lots of emphasis on sport and we preferred a church school, although not bothered whether CofE or Catholic as we’re a mixed family.

Also walking distance from home (4-5 minutes)

The atmosphere/staff/gut feeling to be honest. We looked at schools with better facilities, a lot more space and better Oftsted ratings but were left a bit cold. When we looked at the school we eventually opted for, the Head opened the door for us when we went to visit and she just radiated enthusiasm and warmth. The children seemed genuinely happy and the staff were very keen to talk to us about the school and to find out about us whereas at some of the others we'd visited it really felt like the staff thought they were doing us a favour by even letting us look round. And the biggest difference was that at every other school we'd visited DS had clung to my legs and cried whereas this time he took the Reception TA's hand and happily joined in with what the children were doing whilst DH and I looked at the rest of the school. When we were finished he didn't want to come home. There are a lot of well regarded primary schools in our area and plenty that are on paper "better" than the one we chose. Objectively it wasn't the best choice but we knew instantly that it was the right place for our children and never regretted our decision for a moment. I'd say gather as much information as you can but don't ignore your gut feelings.

A headmaster who spoke to the pupils in the classes we passed through, (and they responded naturally )and who talked about the ethos of the school . As opposed to the head in another school who ignored our son, spoke to none of his pupils and talked to us about the new buildings rather than the teaching.

The right feeling, lots of music and sporting facilities and opportunities, a forest school, a swimming pool and children that looker happy and were polite when we spoke to them.

DD is in year 2 so it's only a couple of years since we did this. For us it was a mix of things. We knew we needed wraparound care for example.

We had 4 local schools that all looked good on paper - good OFSTED reports, positive comments from local parents etc. so we looked round all 4.

Before we went we expected our preferences to be:

1: Catchment school, very well regarded locally, always oversubscribed, 2 form entry, with wraparound (but a waiting list so no guarantees in yr R)
2: C of E school, 1 form entry, people attend the local church just to get priority, over subscribed etc.
3: Tiny local C of E school, mixed classes (Yr R, Yr 1/2, Yr 3/4, Yr 5/6) but very well regarded
4: Small village primary in the next village out (we're in a suburb), 1 form entry but most classes 20-25 kids, wraparound available

After looking round:

1: the only school to give us a hard sell on SATS results, expanded so fast the communal facilities meant the year groups had lunch together but didn't mix with other year groups, very proud of being oversubscribed, focus seemed to be on the wrong things for me. To be fair they had amazing extra-curricular stuff going on though and staff were friendly.

2: we crossed off all together - very cramped school, kids working in corridors, old and dated, but to be fair very welcoming head.

3: very welcoming, seemed to punch above their weight in terms of what they offered for their size etc.

4: so welcoming. Deputy head showed us round and the school just felt like a natural next step from her nursery. Big focus on community, the year 6 children helping the little ones serve their lunch, buddying up for reading and walking to the local church, just a real community feel. Long standing staff who really seemed to care (one kid came up to the Deputy Head while she was showing us round cos she was upset and she gave her a quick hug and redirected back to the class teacher very gently)

Our LA wanted us to list 4 schools so we ended up with a list that went:

4
1
3
completely different school

All that is a very long winded way of saying go look round and trust your instincts. DD is very happy at her school and I'm pleased we chose what we did.

Once I knew my foster children were staying with me long term I started to look at the local schools. We were between two geographically. I looked at the websites of both and one of them had a really good website with lots of info, lots photos, newsletters that told of their trips, a list of what special things were happening that term etc. The other barely had anything on.

I had also started taking the children to a local club and the majority of children went to the school with the good website. So I asked their parents and they were all happy with the school so we went with that one.

Walking distance
Three form entry (bigger friendship pool)
Fantastic outdoor spaces and a commitment to using them - forest school, garden, large sports fields, multiple play areas

Sentimental- I went to the same one.

Not the closest one.

Her cousins went to the same one- it would help with drop offs/ pick ups and any emergencies.

We didn’t go for the nearest primary as it had an awful reputation especially re SLT, rapid turnover in staff and was perpetually undersubscribed. (It has since closed due to low pupil numbers). The one we went for wasn’t as convenient, but had a much better feel and was worth the short journey.

We visited every school in the area.

Turns out the one closest was the winner. Not just because we can walk there in seven minutes, which is NOT to be underestimated.

But because it had wraparound care that was available every day, affordable and open from 7.30am and until 6pm.

The number of primary heads who shrugged and said they didn't offer wraparound was baffling.

The atmosphere and welcome when we looked around the two options. Almost everything else was equal on paper - same distance from home, single form entry, same level of diversity. Only real difference was that one had wrap around care on site but the other didn’t.

School A we were shown around by a member of admin staff, and literally shown up and down the corridors, didn’t see any teaching or interactions with children, very much felt like an inconvenience and weird for having wanted to look around.

School B, we were met and shown around by the head, who introduced us to staff as we went around, the children came up to her to chat and show what they had been doing, and we saw lots of inclusion of additional needs without it seeming like it was a big deal.

We went for school B, and while there were definite ups and downs, overall DS had a happy and successful primary experience, and our first impressions of the inclusive, family atmosphere endured throughout.

We chose a school primarily because there were hardly any local catchment area children. This meant that nearly all parents who use the school had made an active choice to turn down their own catchment school in favour of one in a less convenient location.

The end result is that the school has a remarkable number of significantly engaged parents which makes a huge difference.

Behaviour and attainment within the school are far higher than at most state schools. There is a really active PTA raising £10,000’s every year which also helps.

We feel very lucky to have gained a place there for our DS.

I talked with the head teacher and he struck me as a thoughtful person who really cared about all the children in his school. And the school did turn out to be vary caring

“One big happy family” ethos, put into practice by visionary head
Good educational results
Uniform free
All staff addressed by first names
Easy walking distance, friends all close by

Thank you very much. I've only time to look at two of the schools so far and neither of them have any green space at all. My daughter and her boyfriend will be visiting them all and I'll make them a list from your comments, thank you for all your advice.

Guaranteed entry to my preferred high school, as it's a religious one. Non religious feeder would have left us in a lottery for a truly awful school and a fantastic one, my nerves couldn't cope with 7 years of panicking over which one we'd get.

A headmaster and an ethos I found really inspiring.

We were exactly half way between two schools and both were good schools. Both similar size. Both had wraparound care. One had better facilities but that was actually not the one we went with.

Location mattered: although both same distance away from home, one was a much easier drive as in less traffic, usually going that way to work, etc.

Also because we were on the border of two areas like that, the two primary schools fed into different secondary schools, and it was already clear which secondary school we would pick, so wanted the primary which fed into it so that DD would stay with her friends.

We also had a Catholic school close by which I did consider because we are Catholic, but I didn’t feel that it would be a good fit for our family and I knew we definitely wouldn’t be going on to the Catholic secondary, so it wasn’t really a contender.