Choosing a school - if you could go back in time..

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If you now have children who have been to secondary school, or At secondary:
If you could go back in time to when you were applying/choosing - what advice would you give to yourselves?

And yes, I totally disregarded Ofsted too. The catchment school that Ofsted said was good, I thought it was chaotic. Ofsted changed their mind 6 months after DS would have joined, said pupils weren't safe, staff had no idea who was on-site. They wound up the trust, changed the school name etc.

Go and see a school yourself. Look at how their pupils behave on the days they aren't on show. Talk to local parents. Drive past it a few times at end of school. Go back through the archive of the local newspaper.

Great post! About to do this for the third time. I’d say ignore the parent gossip or other parent opinions in year 6. Parents lie. Go with your heart and think about your own child. My three (like all kids) are all very different. Choose the right school for the child. Dont choose based on friends - what is right for them may not be right for your child and new friendships form easily. Don’t choose based on the headteacher. They change. Don’t worry about your journey - if it’s the right school you make it work. Don’t listen to any
school that says they don’t have bullying or ban all mobile phones - instead think about how they manage these when they arise (which they always will). Don’t judge based on results - there is very little in it between schools and a kid will do pretty much the same anywhere - but do look at value add scores - far more important. Do look at the way the kids speak about teachers, and each other. Do think about the culture - do you want that for your child? Is the subject offer good at gcse? It comes around so quickly! We’ve been amazingly
lucky with our choices, because I was warned by a very wise person to avoid the hype/reputation/gossip or ‘prestige’ and go with my gut feeling and my own kids needs.

Very honest post @Neveragainamidoingthat
I'd make the same choice as I ignored the hype about selective schools & the new glossy trust one with draconian policies. We chose the solidly good mixed bag comp ten min walk away. Kids happy. Life pretty stress free. Kids have loads free time with mates