Would you chose a primary based on which secondary it feeds into?

[mollysmum82]

We're trying to decide which primary school to send dd to. Our local (secular) primary seems really nice but the feeding secondaries aren't great. There's another primary (catholic, which we are) though a little further away which is also nice and according to the current admissions criteria, attending guarantees you a place in a secondary which is now considered excellent. So I'm tempted to send dd to this primary instead, although I'm aware secondaries can and do change, and she has 8 years to go until she attends it!

I would go for the catholic but that's because I wanted my dcs to have a faith school. How important is that to you?

I did with eldest DS - never regretted it

But the primary school a child goes to does not influence the secondary school. Secondary schools select on the same (similar) criteria as primaries unless for some reason the school is a different system- eg. In a three tier system when all other schools in the locality are 2 tier in which case children in the middle schools are given slightly more weighting as they transfer at a different age. Feeder primaries are only such because the children in the schools are more likely to fulfil the criteria for entry into the secondary if that makes any sense at all.

Sorry just seen your comment about admissions, I'd double check this though.

Yes, I would (and have) chosen our primary school with thought toward secondary school and I'd be a tad wary about catholic schools at the moment because of their stance on homosexuality .

I really wouldn't. Schools can change so quickly - a new Head can make things better or worse in a short space of time. By the time your DD is going into Yr7 anything and everything could have changed.

Visit the primaries, get a feel for them, talk to other parents, and then make the decision in isolation from the secondaries issue.

Some LAs do have a formal feeder system. Mine does.

Abso-bloody-lutely
My kids from the age of 4 went to the feeder for ANYTHING BUT my catchment school
lucky really because it was DIRE 10 years ago and is UTTERLY DIRE now

I wouldn't base my whole decision on the feeder school issue, because she has seven whole years to spend in primary school, so it's got to be the right school for her now. The secondary may change in the next eight years. And even if it doesn't, what others consider "excellent" may not turn out to be what you consider excellent. And you don't have a hope of assessing that until your child has got at least a few years into the education system.

But if you actually like the Catholic primary, and are happy about the faith school dimension, then you probably don't have anything to lose.

You have to look at both schools carefully, I would even ask for a tour now of the fed into Catholic secondary. We have local schools where if you don't go to the right Catholic primary you have very little chance of getting into the secondary, and the secondaries are really very very good.
However if you don't like the Catholic primary then I wouldn't send a child there just to get them into the secondary, it is something you will have to weigh up.

Also bear in mind the admissions policy could change in that time. Round here there is no such thing as a feeder school and what bulby said applies. If that school feels right for her then go for it but as achicken says 7 years is a long time to ride out for the 'current' right secondary school.

You need to check with you LA what the deal is where you live. I'm sure it varies from place to place. Where I am for example, each secondary has a catchment and within that a number of primaries have their own catchments as subsets of the seconary's (if that makes sense). But if you don't live in the catchment, then you are no futher up the admissions list just because you went to a particular primary.

We have a feeder primary system around here. If you look at the admission criteria, it's behind catchment and sibling but it does put you higher on the list than someone who lives nextdoor who didn't go to a feeder. Lots of folks around here didn't worry about it when the kids were in Reception and the lower years but as they reached years 5 and 6 they started to panic and many moved their kids to feeders at that point. And it worked, these kids did get in or were right at the top of the waiting list. That said, many of the other kids did eventually get in but it was a longer wait. It's amazing how time flies - one minute your kid is in Yr 1 and the next, they are in Yr 5!

When DS joined his primary it was a listed feeder school to what was considered one of the best schools in the area. Within a year the school was removed from the list, mainly because it was anomaly that it was listed in the first place and by the time DS was in yr 6 that secondary school had gone downhill and had a few problems, which from what I can gather hasn't really improved that much with a succession of heads that only last a year or two.

Incidently the school my dcs ended up at were reporting only 21% getting 5 gcses and I thought thank goodness that school wasn't close by, but by year 6 it was one of the most improved schools in the country and my ds got in on an aptitude test and has positively thrived there as has dd who got a sibling place.

doesn't work that way in scotland - your primary and secondary are both based on where you live and you would need to apply for a space in any school outwith your catchment area.

personally i would think about which primary you like best - your child will be there a long time.

If your a catholic YES!
DDs friend moved schools to do just this

If your not a catholic or at least devote CofE , you and your DC may get pretty fed up of the ethos after 13 years.

Hi everyone, thanks so much for your replies. Yes I'm catholic so I'd be totally happy with the ethos, and the primary school seems really lovely when I've looked around. My dh has expressed some concern about the area it's in (it serves quite a deprived area whereas the secular school is a better area) however this doesn't worry me. The school definitely guaranteed admission to the secondary but as you say this could change in the next few years.