I’m in the middle of completing DC3’s secondary admissions form and cannot decide between two schools - any opinions appreciated! Both state schools. Sorry for the length!
School A is where DC1 and 2 went - DC2 will be in last year of sixth form when DC3 is year 7, so not much of an overlap. It’s a really good school, really multicultural, we know and like it, and DC1 and 2 have done/are doing really well. Also a faith school (not everyone’s preference but is a plus for me) which DC3 ticks all the boxes for so she’s guaranteed a place. Her friends will be going there, she knows it and some of the teachers. However it is a 25 min drive away - we can’t commit to this due to work. Older DC used school bus but the fares have more than doubled this year so (a) it’s really expensive and (b) I’m not sure it will remain viable as so many families now can’t afford it.
The journey by public bus is much cheaper but is 2-3 buses depending on which service you get. DC2 is doing it at the minute but she’s older and in all honesty is absolutely exhausted. She leaves the house at 7 as the later bus is too crowded, and says the pile on to buses after school is absolute carnage. She regularly can’t get on the first or sometimes second service. They are also unreliable/don’t turn up, on occasion it’s taking her 2 hours to do a journey home that was 45 mins on the school bus. So this is a major downside.
School B is our local comprehensive, also very good (similar exam results) but I just don’t know it and it feels a risk to change. I would miss the faith aspects and the more traditional feel of School A. However it is 10 minute walk away which is a huge plus.
Catchment area is very small but we should be ok, DC would have to make new friends and she is quite shy but then any new friends would live within half a mile of us which would be great socially (particularly when DC2 heads off to uni and DC3 has 6 years as an only child - she will struggle with this).
DC3 is very bright but sometimes struggles with focus - it might help to be at School A where they know her siblings and will have high expectations of her. On the other hand it’s not always easy to follow in the shadow of two high achievers!
We went to both open evenings and liked both but my gut instinct was to stick with school A - however seeing the effects of the commuting on DC2 I’m not sure I can sign another one up to that 🙁 on the other hand I don’t want to risk her not doing as well as the others and blaming our school choice!
Any thoughts appreciated 😊