Which school should we choose for reception?

[MissLiss]

DS1 has been offered a place at a good school which is a short drive away, which we have accepted. He is quite a sensitive soul and I have been becoming increasingly concerned that he won't know anybody in his Reception class there with the exception of one other boy. He has settled well at his pre-school which has close links with our village primary school, although this school is not technically as "good" - it had a satisfactory OFSTED rating, which I know isn't the be all and end all but which did guide our decision. None of his friends will be going to DS' school, most of them will move to the village school.

Because I was worried about DS settling, I made enquiries of our village school last week and today they called me to say that a place would be available for DS if we wanted it.

Now I have to choose between the two. I realise that this is a GOOD position to be in but I am torn and undecided. I love the idea of being able to walk to this village school, and DS will know children there which I think will help him enormously. But he is a bright child and obviously we want to give him the best possible chance academically, which we had decided would be achieved by getting him a place at the school which he is currently due to attend. I am concerned about letting this place go .

I would really like any views as to which is more important - is he likely to settle in a class of children he doesn't know? Does that matter? Does it outweigh the other factors?

I just want to do what is right for him, and I'm not quite sure what that is.

Thanks for any help.

I would send him to the village school

You haven't said whether school 1 is independent but I suspect it might be. We had a choice between a small village infants, and an excellent and quite inexpensive prep school 15 mins drive away. I was utterly convinced that we would go for the latter (both DH and I were educated privately from the word go), but we both changed our minds spontaneously when we attended the church mothering Sunday service at the village church, attended by lots of very sweet well behaved children from the village school. I realised then that we would actually be doing a disservice to DS1 by removing the opportunity for him to attend the village school. At that point we didn't really know anyone who was sending their child there.

We walk to school, and have become so much more involved in the local community in the year that he's been there. I'm so pleased with our decision. The demographic is quite mixed, but I have met some really nice mums. Academically, my DS1 is the furthest on in his class w.r.t literacy, numeracy and science (both DH and I are quite academic), but he's learning lots socially, and he is still pushing himself academically and in art, sports, music etc. We have just been OFSTEDed again, and my feelings about the school were reflected in the report (from Good to Outstanding); I feel as chuffed as if I were a teacher there myself.

I do still have minor niggles about the academic side, but as time goes on I am more comfortable about sending my children to the state school for primary, and then do a wee bit of coaching to get them through entrance exams for a good independent secondary. The other advantage is that saving all this cash meant we had an easier decision about DC3 who will arrive in October.

Good luck with your decision.

Thank you for your views both. The school he is currently enrolled in isn't independent, but it is a traditional C of E primary school with a really good reputation. Tbh, that's the reason we went for it. I just am starting to think that that is not enough. We are walking to pre school at the moment, and I've met lots of mums whose DCs will be going to our village school. I think I feel like you do, iloveasylumseekers, in that I am starting to think I would be doing DS a disservice to deny him this opportunity.

Hmmm - thanks for your thoughts.

Go local. Walking to school and living near school friends is pretty important if you live in a small community.

ask way the village school got "satisfactory", did it have good features or even outstanding features as well.

Some small schools are hampered by not having a large hall for PE or their own sports field , but use the village hall and rec ground, or had very poor yr 6 results after a family moved in/ out at " wrong " time.

I expect that he would make friends easily if you send him to the first school.

Though there are massive advantages to going to a school that you can walk to. The sense of community in going to a 'local' school is amazing.

With regard to the academic side of things, if you think that the school will be able to challnge your DS adequately then IMO that is enough, and that being the absolute most academic school in the area is more than is necessary, IYSWIM.