Choices

[DogCalledRudis]

1. CoE school, excellent academic ratings, top notch facilities, but very snooty and hideous uniforms.
2. Sports school -- sports distinction, pretty liberal, but has a reputation of 'rough'
3. very small and informal mixed ability school -- very pleasant, but still very new an in experimental stage.
4. Home ed -- in 2 years my DH retires and we'll go traveling long time, DC would need to be deregistered, so maybe start sooner?

3

You haven't said a thing about what your DD is like.
I would let her choose from that lot.

Wouldn't go for 4 purely on the basis of travelling later (really ? won't she be starting GCSE courses then?), is HE something you want to commit to otherwise? What does your dc enjoy ?

Is your child

Academic?
Sporty?
Happier being a big fish in a small pond?
Hating school and tantruming every morning?

You're really considering 4). Really? You can't put your own plans aside for long enough for your DC to take their GCSEs?

Doesn't matter what you choose then for the next two years in that case. It's just a stop gap.

Its DS, not DD. He's very into sports, but also academically very capable, just quite lazy. Likes school, but also gets very tired of it.
The nr.3 school at the moment feels nicest, but they focus more on vocational training than academics.

So is he y5 atm? And you're thinking about secondary schools? But in a couple of years you might travel - so, his y8/9? In which case I wouldn't worry that much about where he goes for a year, just let him pick the one he likes best when you visit them. I'd probably be thinking more about what happens when/if you return from your travelling.

Go for 3 then. If you take him out of school in year 8 to travel he won't be getting any academic quals so that probably isn't something you need think about.

I'd still let my DC choose.
What if your husband became ill? You'd have to put your travel plans on ice. So don't plan with that too much in mind.

How well do you fit the entry criteria of each? Are secondaries in your area generally oversubscribed?

I think you need to take the possibility of travelling out of the equation for this - it's still years away, and if for any reason it doesn't happen and you want your DC in school, then your choice now might have to stretch to the entire secondary years.

If you think your DS is likely to thrive in an academic rather than a vocationally oriented school then it's between 1 and 2. It's also likely that the range of extra curricular activities will be better at a typically sized school than a small one.

Is there any chance you can dig a bit into why schools 1 and 2 have reputations of 'snooty' and 'rough'? Such reputations linger, but might not always be well rooted.

Well, the travel plans are such that he can go, see the world and enjoy it, not being too old and frail, needing walkings sticks etc.

Of course, accidents and emergencies can happen, so quite open minded about that.

If you are a stable family and your DS has his head screwed on then he should be able to cope. How rough is rough and does 2 have a good reputation in terms of results and stuff.

Don't be put off by rough, as long as there is good teachers and a modicum of order then your DS will probably thrive.

1 and 2 are closest to home. 3 would be a bit further away. My DS is afraid of 1, very keen on 2, not sure about 3.

I think you should choose school in which you would be happy for him to do his GCSE's.
You are planning to travel but should plans change this may be your ds's school for the next 5 years.

since no-one else has aked - what does he think of option 4 ?

Might be a good way to keep him focussed. Very hard to coast when you don't have anyone to hide behind :)

If he is very sporty you would have to work a bit harder to enable that (but there are usually lots of clubs).

If he is Year 5-6 now then you have quite a few years before worrying about GCSEs and HE might be a good option.

In the neighbourhood 30% kids go to 1. They are "smartest, brightest, nicest", then 70% goes to 2 because its allright. Nobody goes to 3 as they don't even know it exists.

I know two successful HE kids. One has a serious illness, another's mother is an anarchist. I'm pretty much an anarchist myself, but my DS likes his school and friends. Taking him out now would make him sad

!!!! Don't you think taking him out in 2 years time will make him sad then?!

Traveling around the world shouldn't make him sad.

I would go for me if it were my choice. Good stable local school.

It shouldn't I agree - but you just said it would if you did it now! What's going to change in two years time?

Maybe you should send him to the school he'd like least then he'll be desperate to leave to go travelling!

3is a dream school, it doesn't even look like a school. Its offices and workshops, so 'it feels like a workplace'. As for my DS, he's not sure as all of his friends would go elsewhere. But i think he can make new friends... (Or am i wrong)

Personally I would go for option 1.
But then I'm reasonably happy to conform, and have no issues around strict uniform policy etc.
However, if you/DH/DS will find that a problem, and wont support that culture, then it's definitely not the best choice for him.
No point going somewhere you will be unhappy, specially if there are other choices available.

Assuming you do go travelling (which sounds likely) I would stick with the options where he is most likely to have the stability of present friendships as otherwise he may have too short a time before you go to make really good friends who will remember him when he comes back. That's really important for teenagers.
That would probably mean option 1 or 2. Out of those two it depends whether you want him to have lots of sport in school and not worry about the academics or get him on a sound academic basis by being pushed before you go travelling but supplement sport outside school.

1. CoE school, excellent academic ratings, top notch facilities, but very snooty and hideous uniforms.
2. Sports school -- sports distinction, pretty liberal, but has a reputation of 'rough'
3. very small and informal mixed ability school -- very pleasant, but still very new an in experimental stage.
4. Home ed -- in 2 years my DH retires and we'll go traveling long time, DC would need to be deregistered, so maybe start sooner?

Take travelling out of the equation for now - it may or may not happen.

I'd personally choose 1 from your description of DS.

If he is 'lazy' then 3 is hit or miss - small classes might mean he has nowhere to hid or the mixed ability/experimental bit might mean he is enabled to slack off a bit. Ditto for 2 'liberal?', rough and sporty sounds like he'd be able to slack.

1 if academic, he will not be able to slack off as teachers will be on his case. Sports you can always add to the experience if they don't have the same range/facilities of 2.