Help me feel better about this

[AutumnPumpkinPicking]

My DD is due to go to secondary school in September next year. Her brother went to a local private school, he’s in yr11 now & I’ve been really impressed with the school throughout.

My DD will be the only child from her primary school not going to the local comp (live rurally so there literally no other school).

DD wants to go to the same school as all her friends, I want her to go to the private one for a miriad of reasons, mostly because she is a very emotional child & the private school centers their whole ethos on pastoral care.

I’ve said I won’t force her to go to the private school (as we’ve already had some school refusal at primary due to anxiety) but I am entirely convinced that she’ll do better in every way at the private one.

Maybe try the state school for Key Stage 3 (years 7/8/9) and if needed change school for Year 10.
At lot of children seem to switch schools for Year 10 these days.

I would tell her everyone makes new friends at secondary, including the kids she thinks of as 'her' friends. They wiil be someone else's friends by half term! Does she want to be the sort of person who makes compromises with huge life decisions just so she can trail round after some friends? I would insist she try the independent school first, with the promise that if she hates it after a year, she can move.