I feel quite detatched from my DD's primary school because it is not our catchment school and we have to drive in everyday. Is it normal to feel this way?

[CanvasBags]

Through no choice of my own, my DD attends a school a few miles away. We moved house when she was going into Year 1, so we had to select the best school that had a place for her.

It's a fairly good school and we are all very happy with it. But I live right on the doorstep of a very similar school, which was full up when we moved. I can't help feeling like it would have been easier to break into a new community if my DD was attending that very local school.

Whilst I now know enough mums at DD's school - one year later - to have a chat to, I feel detatched from that school and community due to it's location. I live in a very large urban area so there are probably a dozen schools within a 2 mile radius of our house, so that means catchment areas are relatively small and close-knit. The school DD is at is in an area where people have grown up and remained - it's not an incomer-type area at all. I am somewhat an oddity!

DD is far too senstivie to consider moving her to a different school and I certainly would not consider it just to please me (though I do dislike having to travel by car every day)! But I wonder if I feel this way because we don't live close to the school or whether this is still a by-product of starting at a school in Year 1 instead of the beginning of Reception.

[Millimat]

I say don't move her! DD is now in Y1 and very happy at school, but she ended up in a school in a neighbouring authority to where we live due the all schools by us being oversubscribed. I knew it was a possibility and so luckily applied to the other authority. As we go to church we got a place at a church school. It is definitely a fab school, but I was concerned as DD is also very anxious about new situations and started school knowing nobody, unlike all the other children - most of them went to pre-school together.
However, she is very happy and there is no way I would move her as I know the upheaval would be truly awful for us all. It really grieves me though to pass an equally good school to get there every morning .
What I do find is that she now is going to Rainbows, ballet etc and I felt it was important that she could mix with school friends, so I also have to drive at the weekends and evenings to go to clubs.
The worst thing is that I feel very conscious of inviting other children for tea - which we do - but feel sorry for their parents traipsing out as far as our house to collect them later.
But I would not move a happy child from school if she was as anxious as my DD!