At what point do parents normally start focussing on Secondary, please?

[Elibean]

17:13:07

I don't mean those who've had to put kids' names down at birth, or plot pre- and primary school education with a sole aim to getting child into specific secondary.

I mean parents of happy, reasonably bright kids at state primaries.

dd1 is only in Y3, but parents are starting to talk about it already...whether the local secondary will be 'good enough' (it was dire, is now an Academy, and apparently on the way up) by the time they are in Y7, whether tutoring between now and then is a good idea in order to keep options open/improve sats for streaming purposes (again, whatever that means), whether more Free schools will open in the area....whether the Indies in the area are good/achievable/desirable...and on and on.

Personally, I feel just like I did when dd was 3 and I was asked about Primaries. In other words, woefully clueless - should I quit worrying for another year? Go visit schools in the Autumn? Sit on dd till she does some Mathletics?!? Help!

I know how you must be feeling. It is a stressful time and there are so many choices and options.

I started keeping an eye on secondary schools (state, private, free and academies) when my DS was in Year 3, looking at Ofsted reports, listening to what other parents were saying and reading what was being written in the local papers. Each year I would check how they had performed in the league tables. My friend is a bus driver and he was very good for updating me on what schools had kids who were badly behaved on the bus.

I would not bother with tutoring unless you are planning on putting your dd1 through the 11+. I was worried about tutoring for streaming but at the parent induction for my DS last week, they said that they do put the kids into groups dependent on their SATS results, but then test them themselves before half term and move them around then, so I would not worry too much about how the SATS go as they get another chance in year 7.

Thats really helpful, thank you - especially re streaming (I will pass that on to other worried parents I know!).

I've posted in the Primary section as well, and am getting clearer.

No grammars afaik very close to here, and we're not moving, and I'm not sure they'd suit a laid back boho creative anyway!

One secondary, which I am keeping an eye on, and several Indies - which may or may not require tutoring to get into. I should go and look at those, really, I suppose. I need a clearer idea of ethos, atmosphere, etc...

did my first open day when ds 1 was in Y4 - I visited every single one in my area so I knew what was available and on the outcome of those visits narrowed teh possible options down from 6 to 4. I went alone in Y4 so I could ask all the questions I wanted without ds getting embarrassed and also because I figured it was too early for ds1 to have to think about any of it

I took ds with me for the y5 open days to those 4 schools having told him I was happy to go back to the other 2 if he wanted to look at them.

By the time Y6 one came there were only a couple of weeks before the forms had to be in so the Y5 visits were basically the most important for making any sort of decision. He only liked one of the schools and fortunately got a place so we were lucky.

Dcs school wasn't even an option until September of yr 6 for Ds.
School had been a sink school a few years ago, but it had completely turned around and then discovered there was an aptitude test which Ds took and.passed.

We didn't look at any schools until yr 6 as it was.

Thanks!

Eatyourveg, good to hear what you did as that's pretty much what I was thinking too - Y4 for me/dh to narrow down, Y5 for dd to visit, Y6 to decide.

And I'm really hoping our former sink school will be a good option by Y6....though if dd felt happier or more at ease on a local Indie, I'd consider that too.

DH and I looked at the possible private schools at the start of yr4. We have one more private school to look at this October in yr5 and will also look at the 3 state options we plan to apply to. Our current thinking is that we are not going to go down the private route so will take DS to see the state schools at the end of Yr5 and he can choose which order he wants to put them in. We are already fairly sure which will go first and he can have the final say on secnd and third. If you are going non selective state there is no reason to look before year 5. If you plan on going selective then I would sugget early year 4 especially if you need to factor tutoring in. I really thought I had my heart set on a top selective boys school and when we saw it, it just left me cold and it is a school which is hero worshipped on this board. So you just never know.

I agree, we had a 2 superselectives on our list. One of the best in the country is on our doorstep but I hated it and thankfully ds did too. I told him even if he was the cleverest boy the country I wouldn't want him in such a cold environment where a B grade is just not good enough. I did however like the other superselective whose pastoral care was one of the best around but ds hated it. The school he chose didn't stand out in any league tables but he said he felt at home there and that it was like being in a family. Thankfully he got a scholarship and a bursary (couldn't have done it otherwise) and we've never looked back since!

Its so reassuring to read your posts - thank you!

dd1 would definitely not thrive anywhere high pressured, cold, uptight or wildly competitive, regardless of her grades or SATS or anything else.

And as I grew up in Oxford amongst academics, did very well at school then spent years disentangling myself from the side effects of high pressure and others' expectations, I am right behind her on that one

dd2 is more naturally competitive, more robust, and would probably cope well in a super selective (a nice one) - but dd1 is a wise, creative soul, quite quirky: I can't picture her in a serious academic setting.

We had a (genuine) choice of 3 secondary schools and visited DD did visits in the summer of Y5 and then we went as a family to open evenings in early Y6. She decided which school she wanted to go to and we were pleased with her choice (it was our favourite too). It's worked out really well. I wouldn't worry about any streaming or tutoring. So much end of unit testing goes on in secondary that the children are soon at the right level.

My DS is starting our first choice highly over subscribed state secondary school in September. Getting a place there along with our 2nd and third choice schools which were also highly oversubscribed, is like getting into fort Knox, and bearing in mind also that there is the likelihood that we could've ended up with nothing on our list, we had a large number of back-up options too. I think one ought to view it that you have six preferences, not six choices as there are a lot of disappointments. Moreover, because of our back up plan, which included grammars and indies, we certainly started giving schools some thought in year three and four, asking questions about requirements etc and viewing in year 5, (yet still didn't get round to all of them:). Please note, if indies are one of your options, the cohort for these schools is a lot more academic now than it was several years ago. One school where my son was on the waiting list for said last year he would have been offered a place straight away. I think to spare yourself any mad panics in year 5 and and the exuberant costs of tutors if you decide to go that route, there would be no harm in gently starting your dd on the bonds books, taking it from book one (even if she is older than the age on the book) and doing a page a day/week - whatever suits. Knowledge is never wasted so even if you got into your chosen state at least she'd be more guaranteed a level 5 in her sats and if the school does re-test in year 7, at least she won't be moved down a group, if that is of importance to you.

I was speaking with two people on Sunday who was quite upset that their nephew and grandson didn't get any of the schools on his list and was offered a shambolic school. They said his Mum was going through the appeals. I asked them what they would do if the appeal was unsuccessful to which they replied, they'd go private, but going to the failing school was not an option. I couldn't bring myself to tell them that, they would have missed the boat for that also as spaces for those have already been allocated.

I think it depends on what part of the country you are in. Where we are there are no grammars / selectives. It's strictly postcode with some but not all secondaries oversubscribed. It's not even excessively selective if you go private.

Parents have just started discussing in yr3 because the secondary our primary feeds has just been given notice to improve by OFSTED.

Yep I started looking in year 4, the local school was just not up to the job at all!! Took me a total of 18 months to complete the search process but it was worth it - got the choice I wanted and mine have never looked back. Good luck with the choices.

Thanks.

SW London, so nothing relaxed about the process around here

I'll definitely go and see the Indies next term, I've earmarked at least two that are possibles - and we're also on the furthest reaches of catchment for a Free School. I'd still rather the State Secondary, but time will tell...

I think secondary is more worrying than primary as your dc will have definite ideas as to where they want to go. I looked in year 5 at our two top choices and then in year 6 about 6 schools. Parents do talk to each other but it's also quite supportive.

Also SW London. Y5, made a short list, will visit some more in Y6 and decide then. Also our local state secondary just came out of special measures and is now an academy, but not very well reputed. Few secondary options around here, unless CofE, or independent. No grammars. Tough choices.

Quint, if we are in same area and therefore have same state secondary (and same difficult choices), sympathy.

I suppose I have more hope for the state school option in that dd is still in Y3, so there is time for things to change - and I do hear (from many different sources) that they are changing. A lot of local kids from local primaries are going to go there in September, which may help snowball things along.

The secondary has just recently changed its name to a nearby "geographical feature"? There is a new head, so things may change.

Um, yes, sounds right! Not very recently, but less than two years ago.

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I think there are quite a few of us around here!