undecided about whats the most important for a primary school - help

[shoptilidrop]

I need to get my dds name down in a school.
I really dont know what to do about it.
We are in catchment area for two schools
school a, is about a 5 min walk from the house, has an ok ofstead report, lots of green space but feeds into a not so good highschool.
school b, would have to drive, but is nearer to my work, parking for picking up/dropping off would be a problem. Better ofstead report but no green outdoors spaces a looks onto a railway line. Feeds into 2nd best high school in the town.

or do i think out of the box and try and apply for a school that feeds into the best school... would have to drive, but again would be near my work.. or even think further afield and try and get her into a small village school, again would have to drive and likely any friends she made would not be local.

i really dont know what is the best to go for.. or doesnt it really matter as ill pretty much be given a slot in the nearest one..

any advice?

school a)

you have years to worry about secondary school
walking everyday and being near to friends is more important at this stage imo

School A because of green space, closeness to friends, walking distance. You need to visit both before you decide. Different schools can feel very different.

The schools don't operate their own lists anymore, you have to apply via the council. It depends largely on how over or undersubscribed the schools are, if the one that feeds into the better high school is oversubscdibed then you stand little chance of getting your DD in if you live far away. You get to put down 3 options on the form anyway.
You might feel better if you go and have a look round all the schools and get a feel for them. The head is likely to be able to tell you how likely you would be to gain a place .

You don't need to get her name down in a school as that doesn't make any difference to admissions.

(says me who put ds1's name down at a school at 6 weeks old

You apply during the autumn before she is due to start school, get your applications from one of the schools or the town hall, fill it in with your first and second choice, send it off by the closing date and wait till March or April the following year for their decision.

I went to view the 2 nearest schools in the summer holidays, took everything into account but mainly went of gut feeling, applied last Oct and got our letter a couple of weeks ago.

We went for the nearest school 5 mins walk we take turns taking them to school with other local mums and dads, then on our day for walking them one of us will take ds2 to nursery same time as they go now, the other will take 5 kids to school then run home and jump in car.

You can always choose a different high school in a different area as they are not tied to take pupils from just the local schools (though obviously distance is taken into account if over subscribed).

How old is your dd and when will she be starting school?

The school I chose for DSs (and DD) feeds into no high schools. It is a f-ing nightmare because pupils who live much further away than my children will get priority when applying to the halfway-decent high school nearby. Do not discount this lightly.

You go to look at the schools and choose the one that feels right.

You don't 'put name down' if state school - application via LEA (check your LEA's website)

School A for all reasons you say, but you do need to visit to get a 'feel'

Secondary applics - again check LEA website for admission rules as where you live is usually far more important than which primary you go to.

DD is only just over 3 so i have a while as yet.
I probably wont be living in the same place 5 years from now in any case as im in a rented house.
So school a is prob the best. It has got quite a good reputation, is on the same road, local shops nearby and we will have to walk right past a lovely country park to get to it.. which is really nice.
I was wondering if , at her age the education or the walking to school/local friends/independence when she is older were more important.

thanks

Agree - you have 7 yrs before secondary schools. They could have swapped around by then and the not so good one will be better.

I would visit them both and see how you like the feel. All the facts and figures are relevant and have their place but if you don't like the head and the feel of the place, it could have the best Ofsted in the world but it still might not be the best school for your DC.

Whether you can make a real choice depends on a lot of things like the number of DC applying this year, the catchment areas, relative SATs for this year and last year. Difficult to say really.

Don't blight your DC's childhood with stressing about 'good' schools. Send them to whichever of the nearest primaries feel the happiest and most enthusiastic, and remember that a child with good home back up will be OK whatever school s/he goes to as long as the home back up is sensible enough to understand that not everyone is academically inclined, and if a child's skills lie in other directions, those should be encouraged.
Honestly, a lot of so-called 'good' schools are hell on earth for the non-adacemic or nonconformist child anyway.

You will apply this autumn for a place next september given your DDs age.

We had several good options available to us and we chose the one with the best feel and atmosphere. Now I'm really glad we live less than 2 minutes' walk from school and opposite the local park that all the children head to after school on a nice day. All that is more important than Ofsted and league tables if there's not a big difference between your options.

Visit them. Go with your gut reaction. Try not to worry about the future - things (and schools) change).

But in the same situation, I went for School A.

Huge benefits from walking to school, local friends, pleasant environment etc. DD's school is not pushy, but still sufficiently stimulating to keep her engaged, despite scoring above average for her age in every report so far. So it seems to be working for us.

And don't worry about secondary schools. Application to secondary school is usually bey sibling, special needs and catchment. The Primary school attended is never a criterion.

Visit them both and see what your gut reaction is. Which feels like the best school for your child and also for you.

We went with gut instinct and so far (now Y2) it is definitely the right decision by far.

Of course, it may be that if either one of them is over-subscribed, you won't get any real choice anyway.