Choosing the outstanding school over our village school and his friends

[tclj2000]

My son has been accepted into a local school which is outstanding, this school is not our village school where all his pre school friends and cousins will be attending.
He has a group of 4-5 really close friends that he has made in pre school and we happen to be friends with a few of the parents too so it is a nice social circle.
We applied for the other school because our village school had a poor Ofsted reputation (although they are making good improvements), we weren’t impressed with how rundown it appeared at the open evening and they use tablets more than the school we got accepted into. The other school was just better! Forest schools, more extra curricular activities etc.
I can’t help but second guess our choice to separate him from his friends, he is really confident at pre school where he is with his friendship group but when he attends his other nursery setting he is a quieter and has struggled to make friends. I am worried splitting him up from his friends will make him go into himself again, he really liked the school he’s been selected for and doesn’t seem phased that his friends aren’t going there, but I don’t know if he fully grasps the situation.

Id love some opinions on this please!

Nursery friends is of no consequence. But you have many years of the school run ahead and it helps to have a circle of friends around to share the load

I wouldn’t pay the slightest bit of attention to Ofsted. That Outstanding school is only one inspection away from a bad one. I know of several amazing school locally who have been Outstanding for years and are now being deemed ‘failing’ and being forced into a MAT. I am a big fan of sending your child to the local school.

He will make lots of friends at the new school and it is the perfect time to move him away from current friends as they are highly adaptable at that age and he wont't overthink it.
My son went to school with some familiar faces from his local preschool and didn't stay close friends with any of them.

You are absolutely right! It is a fail as it is so central to everything.

@Shinyandnew1It’s not easy to remain outstanding if the inspection was 10 years ago. Some schools like the Reading one did get into problems but very few have gone from outstanding to inadequate. Plus a recent outstanding can be trusted as a reasonable guide to the quality of the school. A change of head can bring about change as can other adverse issues, but outstanding or good from a fairly recent report is still preferable to inadequate! As I said, yoyo schools clearly are problematic as you might start on a high point and in a few years it’s failing again. I can show you some schools that have been run by several mats over the years and they are still poor!

I wouldn't worry about friendships as those are likely to change, but don't underestimate the value of being able to walk to school, especially when they get old enough to do it themselves. I also found DC going to the local school was a good way to meet other local mum's, but if you already have friends in the village that's less of a concern.

@Justploddingonandon My DDs could not walk to school as it was an unsafe walking route. Rural dc often have to get in a car to go to school. I’m not sure they really miss out and many parents won’t let dc walk to school either. They don’t trust them. Certainly in rural areas with no pavements!