How to decided which choice

[mumoftwogirls2017]

So we have looked at 4 secondary schools and now have to decided. One school is definitely a no. But how do we decide. My husband wants our daughter to go to a certain one but I don’t like the way the school is run.
any advice would be good please as have no one else to talk to about it

In this situation I would do a table with all the criteria and add a comment for each school.

Criteria might include ethos, stability of staff, Ofsted comments, results/value added, subject options, word on the street, discipline, uniform, policies, distance/travel, social side, clubs.

What is your objection to the school your DH likes?

One thing I will say is if a school is basically good, the choice becomes so marginal as to not be worth worrying about unduly, IMO.

If you are happy with all three have you asked your child's opinion?

You and dh both need to agree which one would suit your dd best. It may not be either of your first choice, and tbh you may not even get it, but that should be the aim.

If, out of the 4, there is one definite No, then make sure you put all three of the other schools down on the form. Order:- (1) one that best suits dd (2) back up which would be fine, all things considered (3) the one that is least best but still better than School4.

You may not get any of them!

You MUST include a school that your DD will get into (you can base this on historical data). Even if you don’t much like it. Otherwise she could be sent anywhere that has a space.

There's no such thing as a perfect school.

There's also no such thing as parental choice - only preference. In many locations you'll end up with the same offer no matter what order you put the schools in because realistically there's only one school you meet thr admissions criteria for and whether it's 1st 2nd or 3rd on your list is irrelevant. If that's not your situation then obviously it matters a bit, but still don't get your heart set on any one school.

Figure out 2 or 3 features of a school that are the most important to you and DH, and order the schools in order of how well they do those. His priorities may not be the same as yours and both are important.

Make sure that at least one school on the list is a "banker" that you will definitely get into if it's on your list. If the 4 schools you viewed were 3 that you only have a small chance of getting and one that you can rely on being admitted to, and the 4th seemed terrible so you don't put it on your list at all, you will most likely fail to get a place at any of the 3 you name and be assigned a 5th school which is just as terrible as the 4th, if not more so, and also very far away and a nightmare to get to. This happens a lot

Assuming you are talking about state schools, it's likely that the choice will be made for you.

You need to be really sure about which ones you might have a chance of getting and put at least one on your list that you KNOW you will get.

If it's private then it's more about personal preference and what they offer.

Bear in mind by the time your child starts the school may have a different head or different staff anyway. I’d also let your child have an opinion — and I’d look at which school is easiest to get to, and how likely you are to be given a place. And then make a matrix with all that info. That’s what we did, anyway.

I agree that 'which school can we actually get into' is the very top consideration - I assumed this was already covered!!

Write a table.

Put the criteria that are most important to you down in the first column and the schools in the others.
Rate / comment against each criteria.
Then decide.

But then, @mumoftwogirls2017 , please, in another column or two, list under which oversubscription criterion the application would fall, plus the last offer at that school in the previous year (or more, if you can find it)

By all means, if your DD wouldn't have got a place in any of them in recent years, put them down as e.g. prefs 1 - 3 anyway, because there can be demographic differences between year groups and application patterns, plus you will be on the waiting list from the off, and you have the right of appeal and you might get lucky there - but then it is really, really important to have a 'banker' tucked away at the bottom of the list.

If you dont have an indie option, and think at the moment that it's got to be School 1, 2 or 3 or nothing, just take a deep breath and have a bit of a think about how you would set up providing a full-time education for your DD by choosing the home education route.

Look at the admission criteria for the schools you’re interested in. They usually start with criteria such as Looked After Children, SEND, siblings, catchment area and/ or distance from school.

Visit the schools and see what you like or don't like about them.

Rank them in order of preference and include a school you think you’re certain to get into.

Look at the number of preferences you can submit in your area and fill them.

Which school does your child want to go to?

I had a chat with DD about which one she likes and she likes the one I like. We have spoken about the others. But she prefers that one.
There is only a few secondary schools in our town. One of the ones we looked at is in the next town but my DD isn’t keen so it’s just the 3 in our area.

Then put that one as your first preference.
But put others as later preferences too, so that if the first one is over subscribed, you’ll be offered another of your preferences. If you only put one and there isn’t a lace, you’ll be offered any school with space and it may not be what you want.