I wish I knew .... about my local secondary schools before I applied.

[WFMum]

I am interested in what other parents have found out about their child's secondary school which they wish they knew before the child started. My friends son is unhappy that they have to pray three times a day at his catholic school. We did not know that before.

That your child could only do one language, and that they would be put in either French or German and would then only be able to do that one up to GCSE. I did 3 languages at O level and it never occurred to me to ask this. All the talk at the time was about 3 sciences.

Well before I filled in the form last year I would have liked to have known that the Head was retiring from our first choice (even worse that we would personally know the new Head - but to be fair they didn't know that he would be it then). Fortunately we got our second choice, which also had changed how it was doing MFL, so we got to choose our preferred one after all.

I havent applied yet. But the all girls school at the end of my road is filled by random selection. All other schools in the borough are filled by distance....

I'm surprised that there is only prayer 3 times a day in a Catholic school. I attended a Catholic school and there was prayers at the start of each lesson (9 per day), registration, lunch and at the end of the last lesson at home time.

Unbelievable!! Random selection?!! What happened to parental choice?

It was never a choice, just a preference. Frankly, round here, you have the one-the-bus-goes-to, and there has to be a damn good reason for any other choice.

The things that seem to differ and are important but may not be obvious:

• MFL language selection
• streaming, setting, or mixed ability
• who gets to do triple science
• level of homework

GCSE options - what's on offer, what combinations, rules about having to take a language, etc

purpleroses - those kinds of things can change between year 7 and year 9. At DCs school most years they have had to do a MFL, but at least one year it was optional. They used to do Latin from year 7, and be randomly assigned German or French. That has changed. They bring in extra options when there is demand/they can. Some years get offered more overseas trips than others (depends on the economy/funding).
When DS did his options there were lots of trips with them, DD1 doing almost the same ones has hardly any - even the Geography residential is a day trip now.
Every year but DD's also got to go to a local Theme Park, both above and below - but a parent in their year stopped it for them.

Triple Science depends on how bright/hard working the year is - DD is borderline but happy only to do double.

Of course the ideal equipment would be a crystal ball, as who can predict what will be really important beyond the basics when a student reaches 14 or 16 or 18?

Random selection?!! What happened to parental choice?

Random selection does not mean they randomly select pupils without regard to parental preference. It simply means that they take those who have applied for places, allocate places to those who get priority for whatever reason then select randomly from the rest. It replaces using distance as a tie breaker. This stops people moving close to the school (or pretending they have done so) to get a place but it also means you have no way of telling how likely you are to get a place.

Just before I filled in the form I spoke to a parent with a child in year 9. She was desperate to pull her child out and couldn't get a place at another school.
I had liked the school when we visited, but what she told me about the slide over the previous few years in terms of behaviour really put me off.
She was sensible and not prone to over reaction.

The grammar was our fist choice, this school was our second, secure back up. At the last minute we went to visit another school, and put that down as second choice.

That they would not be given a choice at to what language they would like to study at GCSE.

Prayers three times a day in a Catholic school. My son us in a Catholic secondary and they only say prayers of there is an assembly....Once a week on average.

Then again there are children of other faiths there as well.

"- MFL language selection

• streaming, setting, or mixed ability
• who gets to do triple science"

Great questions, except the policies on all these things changes every year. The answers to the questions in Y7 were not what happened when the DDs got to that stage.

DD1 could choose her MFL in Y8/9
DD2 has to do two, is furious and gets good marks in one and detention in the other.

Settings been totally rearranged.

Rules for triple/double science are pulled out of a hat too late in Y9 to fight.

Ah Elephants you are right, stuff does change.

Triple science changed the year below DD.
Dd now y11 has just had her ICT course changed mid-stream from iGCSE to ECDL (for a very good sensible reason that I support, but still).

And of course with the changes to GCSEs, what schools do now may well be different than for the current y6s.

Two of our local schools stream into 6 forms for every subject based solely on the results of a verbal reasoning test at the beginning of Y7. So if a child ends up in the middle form, that's where they stay for the next three years, even if they are (for example) gifted at French and really struggling with Maths. Many of the parents did not realise this until their children started at the school.

I would also want to know about any unofficial, behind-the-scenes culling that is done between Y11 and Y12. If the school has a sixth form, the entry requirements for internal candidates should be open and transparent.

At DD2's school, we were asked to choose an MFL from French, Spanish and German. The second language is then allocated to you. However, I found out from other parents that because of staffing, all students learn French, so you really have to choose between Spanish and German.

This was not information provided by the school. I'm not really sure why. Maybe they think it gives the illusion of more choice?

...that they don't set for maths - it never occurred to me to ask, as it just seems such an obvious thing to do

.... that communication between school and home is so poor (at SMT level - some individual teachers are lovely)

Agree with Elephants though, many things you might choose a school on will change during their time there, or even after you've chosen and before you get there. You have to always take a list of things on balance not choose a school on one narrow path or you will almost certainly be disappointed.

For DD, in the end, we went for the school whose current Year 7s were an enthusiastic part of the Open Evening, rather than just the upper school prefects.

Oh, and it sent the deputy head round with us on a second tour when we were struggling to decide. I asked about upcoming changes, and he grinned and said something along the lines of 'Who knows, but this school has been around a long time and we seem to manage to educate the kids, no matter what the current government throws at us.'

Things I do wish I'd known: that two of the most amazing teachers were 59 that year, and would be retiring at 60 (sob!) -- but the only way round that one would have been to procreate earlier, which is kind of taking school planning to an unnecessary extreme.

That DS1 wasn't going to be happy there. I didn't realise that some schools just don't suit some children.

What the homework load is really like (don't just findout the policy about what they set; if you get a pupil tour guide ask them about what really happens).

Whether they are planning to change their entire PE kit imminently!

Ditto, Sparkling!

Or to put it another way, I wish I'd known that the not so convenient school would be so much better for him, and that, yes, 5 miles each way was a price well worth paying for that.

Ditto Kitties. DS1 now does 12 miles each way on the bus and is happy.

That said DS2 has just started at the original school and is very happy. It just wasn't for DS1.

Don't have any dc at secondary level but got to say if you don't want your child to pray don't send them to a religious school... It's not exactly surprising they include prayer is it?