Which school would you choose as first preference?

[disappointed101]

We will need to make our choices in October. I am so confused what to do. DS is academic and part of me thinks he will do well whatever. Choice one is the local comp. It opened in 2011 so only has had its first set of GCSE results. About half of Ds primary school are moving there from year 6. Ds can walk. It takes about 20% from the local council estate too. I like the ethnic and social mix. Results weren't great for the first year but there were children getting outstanding results.
School 2 is further developed than school 1 and more established. It gets great results but we would have to sell and move. The intake is very white middle class because of the geographical area.
Option 3 try and get in some of the further afield schools but this is a lottery and means a bus ride every day.
Option 4 private. There are some great private schools around but it would mean sacrifice and a change of lifestyle. However would it ensure good results?
We also have DS 2 to think about as well, he is v likely on the autistic spectrum though no diagnosis as yet. Please help, my head is going round in circles!
Ps have viewed school 1 and 2 and preferred school 1.

I think gut feeling has a lot to do with these decisions. Which school has the ethos best suited to your DS and how he learns?

You say he is academic, and would probably do well anywhere. Does the school have provision for brighter kids which would enable him to fulfil his potential? eg one school I looked round said they provided for the more able, but when I questioned the head of science about triple science he said that most kids did single, only a few did double. triple science was just for those with pushy parents!

What about extra curricular provision - is there anything that your DC would particularly want/enjoy?

favourite subjects or areas he excels in - are there the facilities required to provide a full curriculum in those areas eg properly equipped labs, drama studio, DT facilities, IT, music - whatever rocks his boat.

I wouldn't worry too much about a single bus ride - loads of secondary kids do that and more. Similarly, I wouldn't worry about where other kids from his primary are going. Concentrate on the needs of your DS, he will soon make new fiends.

Going private - doesn't necessarily mean a better chance of good results, it will depend on the individual school, and whether it is good 'fit' for your DS. Also, can you afford it for two? I wouldn't want to send one private and not the other, although I appreciate a future diagnosis may influence this decision anyway.

School 1.
If it doesn't work out put his name on waiting lists for other schools.
Save your money for top up tutoring in specific subjects if it appears to be necessary.

I feel for you OP, we were in the same boat a couple of years back. We visited the schools in question, looked at websites, talked to other parents, read the Ofsted reports, compared results and still managed to make the wrong choice!
Lessons learnt from our experience:
Results reflect how advantaged or disadvantaged the intake is, Progress 8 is a better indicator imo. It measures progress from all levels and that mattered to us.
Ofsted reports are rigorous checks but don't give you a full picture.
ParentView tells you how happy parents are with a school, I dismissed the fact our 'wrong' choice had a lower score which was a mistake.
GCSE's choices, are there any subjects your DS is particularly interested in? Where would your DS like to go? I think it's important to include him in the conversation.
And finally, your local Mumsnet board could have some old threads about schools in your area, mine did and they were very informative.
Best of luck!

School 1. There are so many intangible benefits in going to a school that is close by and enables you to be part of the local community.

Thank you all. Lots of food for thought there. Will check out parent view.

Have you considered trying for scholarship or bursary for private school? You could in the mean time keep options open and still apply to state schools pending outcome of scholarship application?

Private schools do not ensure great results. They should offer a much broader education and have better facilities to enable this to happen such as sports fields, sport coaching, theatres, dance studios, music practice rooms, concert halls, chapels etc. Therefore they tend to have much more sport, art, drama, music and religion. It depends if you value these aspects of school life and whether it is worth scrimping for. They are often traditional in ethos too. Do you pile the money into DS1 but DS2 goes to a state school when it is his turn? Bursaries are hard to get and parents can be expected to have a very limited income to qualify. I know of schools where it is less than £35,000 per household so check the details carefully.

Regarding the other schools, definitely the one he can walk to. The results appear to show they can teach bright children but whether he will have sufficient bright peers this may be a problem. Parent View tends to have limited comments if it has not been inspected recently. Do you not know any parents who have children there? When my children went to primary school, nearly every parent had a view on the local school, even if they didn't have children there! They were astute comments though.

Have you been to open evenings for these schools. If not, I think some may do them in September (from memory). This really helped us, especially as one school was totally unprepared for the evening (they'd literally just opened the doors, the kids had no idea what they were meant to be showing us, they hadn't been prepped on being polite, making the right impression or didn't care enough themselves to be bothered) . Also, the teachers we did speak to kept banging on about this is what we do with the kids who are struggling in class and the fact they had a large classroom for kids that didn't suit. No one seemed to be able to tell us how they help the more academic ones (like DD).

You'll learn a lot from the open evenings. Not so much from what they say, but more about what you observe. Don't concentrate on the superficial stuff like whether it's a shiny new building or a dark old one.

Concentrate on how the teachers interact with you and your child. When we went through it, we couldn't believe the difference in attitude. In some schools, the teachers were stood around talking to each-other in huddles and made no attempt to engage with us or our son. We felt that we were intruding when we asked them questions etc. In a couple, the head teachers just did their presentation in the hall and then disappeared again, with no opportunity for people to talk to them. There was definitely an "us and them" attitude and if that is so apparent at an open evening when it should be about friendliness etc., it's not a good sign!

It couldn't have been more different in other schools. In one, in particular, a guy who we later discovered was the head-teacher was stood at the entrance shaking hands with everyone as we arrived, pointing out where tours started and where refreshments were available, and again as we left. Teachers spread themselves out and would come over to talk to us, unprompted. A couple of teachers virtually "stole" our son as soon as we walked into the classroom and took him off onto a desk to play a board game or a computer activity (we later found out it was the head of maths who took him and spent 10 minutes playing a maths board game on a 1-2-1 basis). The place was just so friendly, our son really loved it, despite it being an old, dark austere building!

4 years on and we know we made the right decision to go for the friendly school. DS is happy and thriving there. In the first year, they went on a camping trip, and my son found himself sharing a canoe with the head-teacher who had gone along to show that he was human and approachable! What's more, DS he knows that he can talk freely to most of the teachers, so the few problems he's had have been nipped in the bud. They make a massive effort to improve the teacher/pupil relationship - latest initiative is for parents to bring their child to the parent's evenings which is a roaring success as it gives the teacher a chance to talk to the child outside the classroom so brilliant for giving praise or suggestions for improvement on a 1-2-1 basis.