Which primary school would you pick?

[thelittlestbird]

In a real pickle trying to decide which order of preference to apply for our two local rural primary schools in. DD1 is in catchment / fulfils criteria for both, so getting a place isn’t a concern.

Can you help me to see the wood for the trees please? Are there any important factors I’ve missed?

For context, DD1 is extremely bright. Her pre school teacher (qualified, not nursery practitioner) suggested she would have been able to start Reception in the September just gone and not struggled. She will turn 4 later this month.

School 1:
~ less than a minute’s walk from our house (I’ve timed it!)
~ 15 pupils per year, mixed year groups (so years 1&2, 3&4 and 5&6 are taught together)
~ DD is very familiar with it having attended playgroups etc there
~ new headteacher (current deputy) takes over from January - we won’t have chance to meet them before application deadline
~ feedback from parents with children there is very mixed - people seem to either rave about it or have said ‘definitely don’t send DD’
~ people familiar with the school have said it’s pretty lax on encouraging parents engage with their kids’ homework / reading etc - I worry this represents a poor attitude to education
~ results show 0% of 2024 SATS cohort worked at greater depth (I think that’s the right terminology - and this REALLY concerns me)

School 2:
~ situated in the next village to us - a five minute car drive, likely more during rush hour, and in the opposite direction to DD2’s nursery
~ outstanding results - more than two thirds of 2024 cohort working at greater depth - and excellent reputation locally
~ 30 pupils per class, no mixed year teaching
~ unanimous great feedback from parents we know with children there

Both have great outdoor spaces and suitable wraparound care options.

We have toured school 2 and were reasonably impressed, not blown away but we have no points of comparison! We are having a 1-2-1 tour of school 1 in a few weeks.

It feels ridiculous to not choose the smaller-class option on our doorstep, since the SATs results of the latest cohort don’t really paint a picture of how well DD1 will do in seven years!

Please help me.

Having said that I would be very nervous about a very able child in a year group of 15. That is tiny. There could be a massive gap between her and the next most able child.

How big is the other school? You mentioned classes of 30 but is it a Uear group of 30? Or 60? Or 90?

My kids are both very able and were in a year group of 90. Which was excellent as there were 4 or 5 of them who all got 120 on their SATs in maths and so happily worked together. The school mixed the classes for maths in Year 6 so there was a “greater depth” class as well.

I have bright kids and I would go for school 2. School 1 sounds too small.

Hmm tricky - id usually say to go with the closest one as it’s nice to not have to drive, and nice to be really close to friends, have friends back after school etc. Nobody working in greater depth surely must be a clerical error, so weird! Mixed year is a negative for me too.

And the other school is only a 5 min drive so not too bad. And has better reviews. I’d probably go for that ones.

Hi OP, ex reception teacher here who has taught in several schools of different sizes, but most latterly small, rural primaries.

I’d be less concerned about stats (particularly when it comes to GD - GD writing is the hardest to achieve generally) than about how they organise the teaching in school 1. With mixed year groups it’s easy enough to stretch the higher attainers in the younger year group by grouping them with the year above, but what happens when they are in the older year group? In my school our policy was ‘teach each child what they need’ regardless of age and stage so that no child was feeling unchallenged or unsupported but it’s really hard work for the teacher so some schools don’t do this. There’s also more of a trend these days for whole class teaching, (low threshold, high ceiling) but again it needs constant attention on making sure that everyone is getting the right level
of challenge.

As others have said, stats are only a part of the picture, and if you have a particularly small cohort one year, that can skew the stats one way or another. Having no pupils from a cohort of 15 (or fewer - you need to check this) getting GD in writing wouldn’t necessarily that strange. What matters is that if your child were capable of that, the teaching would enable them to do so.

I have to admit, I’m biased in that I love the small, rural schools - all those I taught in had a lovely, family atmosphere where all children and families are known. I had very good relationships with all the parents of children in my class, and we worked in partnership for the wellbeing of the children. It’s not all about stats, children who are happy and settled learn well. That’s not to say that your child won’t thrive at school 2 btw, I’m just saying that you probably need to ask a few more questions before you make your decision.

If you have a great option on your doorstep which is walkable, you'd be mad not to go for it. However, in your circumstances it doesn't sound that great and the other option isn't that far away, so I'd be tempted to go for option 2. Granted it's not walkable, but lots of people can't walk to school in rural areas anyway and I'm guessing she won't be able to do so at Secondary age anyway, so I don't see the problem with a short drive to the next village.

Personally I wouldn't read much into no children at GD last year as 15 kids isn't a big cohort at all. Many small village schools have odd years with no GD children, not necessarily because they're underperforming but because those 15 (or less) children simply aren't GD ability. They may have several SEN pupils one year, which will greatly skew the results. I'd value progress over overall grades. If they had children with GD potential who weren't reaching it I'd be concerned, but you don't know that based on GD stats alone. It's quite possible out of a tiny cohort of 15 or less that none of them had GD potential last year. Another year they could potentially get 50% GD in some subjects if they had a particularly bright cohort which would sound amazing, when in reality it may only be 6 out of 12 kids (as many rural schools are not full, meaning it's unlikely there will be 15 in every year group anyway).

However, parental feedback would concern me. I wouldn't listen to the odd one or two gripes, as everyone has different opinions based on their own personal experience, but when lots of people share a negative view of a school there is usually something in it. However, the new headteacher could work wonders in turning it around. It definitely sounds like a change is needed.

The small cohorts would concern me too. Mixed classes are ok, but a standard one form entry is far preferable in terms of friendship potential.

You're right to tour both schools, but personally I'd lean towards school 2.