Should the child choose sec school or should the parents and the child?

[Dutchbird73]

My ex husband and i have been looking at a few sec schools, one of them stands out a mile, is an outstanding school, and is around the corner from me. My daughter is drawn more towards another school thats not very good, is having major building work done over the next few years etc...i feel we need to push her a bit in the direction of the great school, but my ex says our daughter should make the decision..i dont agree as she is only just 10 and i feel we need to make this decision together...any opinions??

If it just around the corner is it her catchment school?

I think you should listen to your daughter's reasons for preferring one school over another and then consider what weight to give to those reasons. However, ultimately you are the adult and if you think it is clear that one school would be better for your daughter than another, you should make the decision. If the decision is finely balanced in your own mind, I think it is reasonable to let your daughter have the casting vote.

We looked at two schools. One we were really impressed with and the other was the total opposite. Our daughter said at the time, she would be happy to move to either school. We choose the one we felt totally comfortable with, which for us just happened to be the closest all her friends went to. A year on, she is really happy there, the teachers are approachable to check things over, there are lots of clubs - it just feels as right as we could have got it. She doesn't have any major problems to worry about with the school and for her the icing on the cake is that she is still friends with 3 close friends from primary, has got to know two others who were previously in the same class and has 4 other girls who join the group.

Obviously do take into account what your daughters says, but ultimately I feel the decision will be yours. If you are choosing the other school, come up with a list of the all the positives you see in it over the other school, even if it's to do with travelling or certain friends may be going there.