Guardian today- great article about choosing schools....

[Hakluyt]

Frustratingly it won't let me "share" it. But it contains this paragraph- which I think sums up much of the Mumsnet debate on the subject.

"The irony is that we probably have greater levels of angst than ever, yet by most reasonable measures, our schools have higher academic and behavioural standards than ever. Nearly all schools report very high levels of parental satisfaction, yet many parents are convinced that while their own school is fine, all the others are chaotic nests of feral illiterates."

OK massa

Thank you for posting this - I am driving myself crazy trying to weigh up the pros and cons of the eight (!) schools we can choose from. I'm actually a little reassured to have some perspective now.

Thank you for posting this article.

It should be required reading for all parents about to enter the secondary transfer process.

To offer some suggestions in answer to happygardening's questions:
The opportunity to express 'preferences' seems to automatically bring a sprit of both competition.
It also brings anxiety - that a second or third choice would be 'bad'.
Anxiety at the school gate is catching, as is competition. People who make one choice feel the need to justify it to everyone else as he 'best' choice.

People believe myths about comps, and have not been in one since their own school days. People have no idea how to interpret statistics and seem to imagine that if 6% of all pupils in a school achieve 5 GCSEs then it is mot likely that their top-achieving child will achieve the same as the overall average.

We see a high level of posts about appeals because posters who happily get on wth preparing for their allocated school don't post!

Parent are more involved and anxiety-ridden about everything. Would our mothers ever have posted worries about lunch box menus or looked to provide a varied and gourmet menu through the week? Half the concerns and questions raised on the primary and secondary boards would never have been posted by our parents generation!

This attention to detail is great and is probably behind some of the improving stats in exam results, but it also creates a level of hysteria around the 'perfect' school experience.