Choosing high schools

[Purple147]

Hi i just wanted to see what people think we are in the process of choosing high schools for my son and there is a choice of 2. The 1st school has better resultsand the school is a bit newer and its a nice school my child would have to get 2 buses there. The 2nd one has worse results but over the last 2 years has improved a lot its a 20 min walk from where we live. Both schools have the same facilities my son prefers the 2nd one the one nearer to home we cant decide to go with the school my son wants or tge one witg better results?

Hi OP

We're just going to move your thread over to the correct topic for you.

2 buses (unless they are very frequent and connect sensibly) would probably rule out School 1 for me.

Have you visited these schools? Seeing them for yourself and asking pertinent questions is more important than what they look like on paper.

With respect to results - you need the context of the school intake. If school 1 has a more able intake, then it's no great surprise it gets better results! What are the schools' progress 8 values? How do their results split by high/medium/low achievers? How do you see your child "fitting" in the school?

Other than better results, what does the 1st school have to recommend it?

Yeah we looked around both school and my son said he preffered the school near us they have got the same number roughly for intake. The school near me had a bad headteacher a few years ago that let the school go really bad but the new head seems really good and gas got good results over the last 2 years with nxt years expected to be good aswell.

I don't think the pp meant the number of children going to the school but the intake by prior attainment. Do you know what the Progress 8 figures are for both schools? Is your son academic?

Ah right ive just checked the progress 8 on both schools and the first one is 0.43 and the 2nd one is 0.3 ive never heard of these progress 8 scores before so slightly unsure. My son is academic yes but also loves sports but both schools have the same facilities.

Well those are both good progress 8 scores. A P8 of 0.3 means the children get roughly a third of a grade higher in each subject at GCSE than might be expected based on their starting points at 11. If you look on the education.gov site you can find this (and also attainment) split by high/medium/low achievers so you can look specifically at how high achievers fair, if you think that's the category your DS will fit into.

Is there much difference in Attainment 8 or % getting 5 GCSEs incl English and Maths?

Based on the info so far, I'd be definitely leaning towards the closer school. Less time commuting will mean he gets more time do sports outside school or study or have fun.

Yes thats what we were thinking if he prefers it at the closer school he will be able to do a lot more sports i think and will have friends who also live in the area aswell