What was your experience of primary education and has it influenced you?

[Cortina]

Curious to know whether others feel strongly about the early years at school due to good/bad experiences they've had themselves?

Certainly I am much more involved than my parents and will watch children's progress/happiness at school very closely.

Mine wasn't a good experience and one of the things I always swore I'd do was try to get it as 'right' as possible for my DCs.

Most I've come across are fairly relaxed about the whole thing .

I had a good time at primary school. I lived in a new town so the schools were all brand new, and very well equipped - in fact when we recently toured a private school to see what it was like, their facilities were nowhere near as good as the ones at my school. But DH does say my experience was pretty rare, and not to be used as a guide!

My Dad really didn't bother, mum had five children and worked full time so had almost no time for reading, homework etc. but she did her best and she did instill a belief that we had to work hard at school.

So, now we're torn with the DCs. Our local school is good, but vastly over-subscribed so class sizes are huge. DH is very keen to shift DS to a private school, I think we should leave DS where he is but be willing to put in lots of time to helping him outside school.

I was happy and bloomed academically (hugely) at an inner city primary for Infants in a deprived area. Then I moved to (all white) Junior school with great reputation in desirable middle class neighbourhood. Where I was teased and miserable for years, and my academic work was very lackluster. My parents did their best, but they very much had their own lives and were unsympathetic to my social problems.

So stuff like League Table results or 'Outstanding' Ofsted ratings don't rate much in my mind. Getting DC settled and socially happy at school is my foremost concern. I'm very interested in their day-to-day experiences. I will choose High School for each DC on the basis of potential to be socially happy, too.

I wasn't allowed to go to the local state school - apparently when my mum explained I was profoundly deaf, they said "we can't be having with that" - she explained I could read and everything age 4, "we REALLY can't be having with that!"
Luckily instead of sending 5-year-old me to weekly boarding, I ended up at the local private school and loved it, except a couple teachers.

I did then get moved school with no explanation from my parents, and was determined to be unhappy at the new one, and was for a whole year - I was a stubborn kid. Luckily the enxt teacher was wonderful and I was then very happy. I'd been moved up a year age 5, which worked really well for me as I was then on roughly the same achievement level in many things with the others - and I'd have still been bad at PE in my own year.

But then we moved abroad and at an expat school I was 3-4 years younger than the others. Bullying ensued especially as I was still top of the class. But the teacher was the worst bully, and the worst bit was my parents were convinced that a teacher wouldn't bully and wouldn't lie to them. They firmly believe people in authority are always right... and that there was no point in going to school plays/concerts because a bunch of 7-year-olds are bound to be crap

Apart from attending some concerts, I hope A will be happy at the local primary - they're supposed to be quite good round here. And I want to ensure I talk to the teachers and other parents regularly and have a clue about the in things kids want - I may well say 'no I'm not buying you X' but I don't want to tell them they're silly for wanting them.

Don't know about secondary, but DNs have gone to inner city state schools and done well - their parents said "the question isn't how many %A-C grades the school gets, but how likely your kid is to get what you think they should in that school". And their experience has convinced me that Ofsted needs to be taken with a pile of salt - eg a uniform was introduced against parents wishes plus 'culture clubs' - Black Club, Asian Club and White Club. Black Club gets funding to take the kids on cool trips to boost their esteem. White Club is four kids and no money - DNs mixed race friend isn't allowed to join and has to go to Black Club instead. Result - school goes from pretty happily racially mixed to having more tension than previously! But apparently this and the uniform will 'improve our Ofsted rating' - and indeed when the report came through, Ofsted were most impressed by both...

I went to a inner city standard state school. When I think back now I remember having no idea what was going on in Maths lessons when I got to secondary school but I do have fantastic memories of my second year teacher and the topics we studied that year. There was some bullying but overall a good experience. I went to secondary school excited about learning new things and that has never left me.

DS1 is starting Primary school in Spet 2010 and have been reading some of the threads on here and am most worried about bullying... or just being left out.

I think that the whole is he happy/socialising and progressing as most of you have said is most important and I can only hope that the school we pick (which unfort in our area isnt that much choice and all oversubscribed, even the bad ones) will suit him and he will enjoy it.

I hope to get as involved as possible with the school, helping out wherever I can.

I hadn't realised it until I read this thread but yes primary did affect me. Due to family issues I went to 6 different primary schools. I hated being the new girl and I know it has left me feeling quite insecure in big friendship groups (I just don't do groups) and I remember always feeling left out. However, as I get older I have put a positive spin on it and see how I am adaptable to change (unlike DH who went to the same primary from start to finish). We are applying for primary school for DD right now and I wouldnt want her to have so much change going on.

As far as education goes I suppose it would have been quite fractured with all the moving but on the whole I think I went to good schools.

Interesting thread. I went to two state primaries and loved both, especially the second (my first teacher at the second was Jeremy Strong, now an author - a wonderful teacher). Later on at that school we were allowed/encouraged to do all sorts of stuff, including writing, rehearsing and producing full-length plays with barely any visible adult support (there was probably more than I remember!) There was also a wonderful choir that was compulsory for all children. I was alternately bored and mystified in a lot of lessons but I think this would have been my experience in virtually any school, I have very uneven skills.

So my ds goes to his local state primary and I hope he loves it as much as I loved mine - I am about the standard of singing technique there and sometimes hark longingly for a choir school. But dh, having gone to a very driven prep school, is determined that ds shall have a less pressured childhood and I agree.

I went to three different primary school due to parents moving areas. They were all completely different and I feel that it has given me some ability to observe our local primary schools.

One was a standard school in a middle-England town. The next was a very fun and interesting Cambridge school full of academic's children. The third was a school in a fishing village. All were state schools but all very different. (This was, of course, in the days before Ofsted and National Curriculum)

I struggled in the final school - I think it was a move too many - and even at the age of 9 could tell it wasn't very good. We didn't do anything! I was used to an exciting, creative, Cambridge type experience.

However, when it came to looking at our local schools for our children, it seems that most primary schools now are like the Cambridge one; interesting and exciting, with lots of things on offer. (There are probably exceptions, with a few appearing to be sats factories). However, I was keen for my dd to go one with a mix of children; I didn't want the ultra-middle class Yummy Mummy type school - they can seem a bit narrow.

The biggest impact that my schooling made was probably a desire not to move around a lot in my adult life. I like my home - though modest - and have no desire to lave it. However, I quite enjoyed experiencing different schools and wonder whether my dds will get rather bored being schooled with the same people from the age of 4 until 16.