How to choose a secondary school in 12 hours?

[Ooopsies]

We have lived abroad in a foreign country for several years. 5 days ago we landed back ‘home’ in the UK. Enrolled the DC in the closest school this afternoon after a lot of ringing around. DS has gone into Y6 and I was informed by the school I need to complete a secondary school application form by tomorrow. School have provided the information booklets and the form but I have no clue how to choose a school so quickly. The primary I can cope with, DS won’t be moving but I am going to be looking around and getting DD on some waiting lists for other schools (assuming I want to move her after I’ve thoroughly checked this one out as well as the others).

Before anyone says anything, I miscalculated and we though DS would be in Y5.

What am I after?

• How to assess a school without looking at a school?
• What are the most important things to look at?
• What areas of a website should I focus attention on?
• What should I look out for that signals a good school?
• What should I look out for that would be a big no?
• Anything else?

Im also going to thank in advance as I am very stressed right now. I will definitely be taking any and all advice on board and acting upon it immediately. I will try my best to provide details if they are asked for.

The most obvious question, if you’re willing to answer, is where you are? Is it an area with catchments (if you know that)? Is there a local Facebook group you could join and see what the chat about schools is?

Does your child have any additional needs? What are they like socially, confident? What are their stronger and weaker subjects? Do you think they need an academic place or not so much?

Go and talk to the school office.
Find out which school kids go to from their primary.
Ask for any informal feedback they have.

Find out which is your closest school, make sure that goes on the list somewhere.

Do you know anyone locally with similar age kids to ask? Even if they’re just an acquaintance, I’m sure people would be happy to give you a steer.

Or yes, as PP said, just ask here with URGENT in the title!

Firstly, take a deep breath. Things could be considerably worse (you've noticed a day before, not a day after the deadline)

Is it half term for you this week? If not, then see if you can get hold of DS's teacher (OK, usually a bad idea, but as this is unusually pressing and as a new arrival you have few others to turn to) and ask which schools pupils usually move on to, and if they have any thoughts they can share on where might suit him (answer to that might be "no", but I'd hope they can tell you leavers' destinations even if unwilling to make a personal recommendation)

Look at the schools website and social media.

read the ofsted reports.

post on any local Facebook sites to ask for opinions on the schools.

if you can phone the schools tomorrow morning and explain and ask if you can look around tomorrow

I don’t know about catchments. Distance is mentioned a lot in the booklet.
I don’t know about Facebook groups - will look.
At the minute I know no one locally, I will be standing outside the primary school gates tomorrow asking questions though if needs be.
No additional needs.
He’s confident and outgoing.
He is probably weak in English having not been taught in English since he was 5 although English is the home language and he speaks like a native.
Stronger in science and maths subjects.
Academically, where we were, he was average. I don’t know how this translates to the UK.

Also, no, it’s not half term that was last week.
We are in the north west - Cumberland is the LA.

@meditrina thanks, I will try and breath. I know it will be fine. I’m just panicking.

You can get a certain amount from websites but word of mouth will be more useful if you can access it. If distances are mentioned a lot, it sounds like you don’t have a catchment school but have a look on the local authority’s website to make sure.

Have a look at their Ofsted reports but also look at the date of them - some will be very old by now and not hugely reliable, which is where local reputation comes in. Have a look at the curriculum in each option if there are things you think your child would particularly like to do at GCSE - specific language maybe? - and also the extra curricular offerings.

This evening, look at your local authority's schools admission pages (and those of neighbouring borough, if you're close to a boundary) and make a list of all the schools with a reasonable journey for your DS.

Then look at the entrance criteria - there will be a priority list. You should be able to work out which category your DS would fall in to (ask again here if not sure, remember they can vary between schools).

Then you need to drill down a bit. If the school is over subscribed, you need to find out in which category was the cut off, and (assuming distance is the tie-breaker) what the greatest distance offered was (this should be published on school or LA website)

This is so you can see what schools your DS might qualify for. Distances can vary between years, though. So you need to fill all the slots on the form, in genuine order of preference.

Fine to put a long-shot school first, then a maybe second, but in the last slot you need a school that's as near-as-dammit a certainty. Because even if you don't like the look of it much, better that than to get none of your preferences and be allocated a school that is just as iffy and not even convenient.

Do ask any other parents about where the primary pupils go, and why they chose it (does DS have any friends with older siblings?) People are usually helpful

Most applicants will list their closest, higher performing schools. There should be league tables available with stats for gcse like % at 8/9, achieving minimum of 5 above including grade 4 in English and Maths

Welcome to the UK 🙃

Tonight, go on locrating.com and set the filter to find secondary schools near you.

Google the name of each school plus “Ofsted report” and read each Ofsted report. I find them very accurate. Put schools in rough order of preference then tomorrow call each school to ask if a child at your address is likely to get in.

Join as many local facebook groups as you can find, explain the situation and ask people to send you messages with their frank opinions of local secondary schools.

(I have noticed on my local fb that when someone posts “Which local schools do you recommend” parents at the worst school pile on to say their school is wonderful, and this can five new omers a real false impression. But all you need is one honest message from someone who knows the area well.)

Also beg your school office receptionist for their personal opinion.

In many areas you don’t have as many choices as you think, which may actually help with the stress!

If you have to decide in nothing except the Ofsted reports that will still be enough information to help you work out which schools are best.

Op you can look at and compare school results at GCSE on a gov.uk page. Progress 8 should ideally be a positive figure - it details progrsss made by dc so factors in if they arrive at school with good attainment. +1 would be excellent, +0.3 is still good.

Also numbers achieving GCSE passes - this is a blunter tool imho as it doesn’t account for brighter dc but again, gives an idea of how well kids do.

How many slots do you have? It’s vital to put your local school on there somewhere, even if you are not keen, or you may be allocated somewhere miles away. Remember you are expressing a preference. Still put your fave at number 1 tho.

I second the idea of asking your child’s teacher or head - could you go in tomorrow and have a chat, where do dc usually go?

So you go on the Ofsted website and check out your nearest schools and look at the data of the schools. Things such as results, diversity, how many get X GCSE passes etc. - ideally you go for a school rated by Ofsted as Good or Outstanding. Most importantly though is that your DC can get to the school quite easily be it walk, bus or train etc. Most comprehensive school places are allocated on distance. If he likes Science chose a school that offers triple Science GCSE which means each Science taken as a separate GCSE and the additional maths GCSE for the best performers. Schools really vary on what foreign languages they offer too, how many GCSEs kids are encouraged to take etc If he has any extra curricular talents too check out if those are offered/encouraged. Sometimes if you have eg an Academy football player you want them to get the bus to training directly from school or to the pool etc

This might help as a starting point but remember most or at least many dc go to a relatively local school. It’s unusual to travel a long way unless in a rural area. (By a long way I mean 10 miles plus).

https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/schools-by-type?step=default&table=schools&region=942&geographic=la&for=secondary

I would be systematic:

1. work out which schools you have a chance of getting in to. Ask local parents, school, ring the council or see if you can work it out from the booklet. Distance is generally important if the school is oversubscribed.
2. Work out which schools he could realistically get to. Generally the council will have a lot of information about school transport on their website.
3. This will give you a fairly short list I imagine. Look at results (progress 8 is particularly helpful - look at P8 by prior attainment for an indication of how the school does for kids like your son. Look at curriculum on school website- what subjects are offered, what is the curriculum like (ambitious? well-thought out?). Look at the head’s intro and other marketing materials- this will give you a sense of ethos. You can supplement this by looking at the Ofsted report and asking around. Ofsted is also helpful for understanding quality of teaching. Website is also helpful for considering particular things that might be important to your kid: sports facilities, drama etc. If you have time, go tomorrow and observe the kids entering or leaving school - are they rowdy with uniform policy not properly followed or is behaviour ok?

Cumberland is largely rural. Choose your nearest secondary schools. Put down as many choices as there are on the form.
You could look at progress 8, but there is no point putting a school down that is the opposite side of the county that will be a nightmare to get to.
Look at school websites to work out if school buses go there from your location.

You've had the practical advice so I won't add to it so some reassurance...

Two years ago we had to apply for DD1s school based purely on websites due to Covid. This year I actually got my first proper look round of it with DD2! And in reality... a lot of the stuff on the websites is more useful than the advertising at open days etc.

The bits I found useful...
-SEN policy. One school we discounted as the policy made it clear they wanted everyone to confirm to the preferred learning style. The one we chose had a support unit plus supports anyone who needs it.

• extracurricular. Not necessarily the exact clubs (they can change) but the culture of offering a variety.

• Assessment data. I was particularly interested in the Progress Data.

• Ofsted... a recent report (discounted any more than 2-3 years old) but more what they say rather than the overall grading.

For you I would also look at EAL numbers to see if the schools have experience of supporting that as your DS transitions to the English system.

Local info will likely be most useful. Are you in a road/small area WhatsApp group, many places set these up these during the pandemic. If not , try knocking on your neighbour’s door now and asking to be put on, then ask about where local kids usually go and any differences between schools. This way of phrasing probably gets more useful info than what is best. I taught in a north London school where c60 Y6 children went to about 20 different schools, whereas almost all the children from DCs’ primary school (c58/60) went to the one local state school that they could walk to. So it might not be too difficult a decision if there is an obvious choice, and going with friends from primary might be one of the most important things if your DC is new to the area/country.

Ive spent the last hour making a list of schools from the nearest ones outwards and searching local FB for opinions etc. I have a list of 8 schools. I’ve also included the top P8 schools which seem to be schools people can get to. I need more details on this but this is something someone local is going to have to help me with tomorrow. I’ve also found the OFSTED reports for all of these schools and have a quick look over their results and websites.

Im going to start narrowing it down to 3 using lots of the advice given above which so far has been really helpful in pointing me towards the things to have a look at and consider as well as pointers on how to list schools on the form.

@clary thank you for the link. What does the progress 8 and attainment 8 mean? Is negative bad? There seems to be a lot of negative scores.

Whereabouts in Cumberland? I’m local and happy to help

Progrsss 8 basically means the progress made by students between them starting and leaving - so it’s not just about student A getting great results - which they might have anyway - it’s about how much they improved.

It's not the be-all and end-all but it is a marker. P8 is low at my dcs’ school and one reason is that kids come in at a high level. But obvs they should still improve.

So a school with high P8 might have low-attaining dc on entry that really improve.

Also look at maths and Eng at grade 5 (= a good pass) - this might be lower than average at a higher p8 school.

It’s all a bit if a game tho - just checked a school on that list and it has p8 of -0.11 but GCSE m and E above average and Ofsted outstanding…

Cockermouth and Keswick have been the top schools in the area for nearly 40 years (Cockermouth was formed 38 years ago), the others have varied over time. Buses run from Workington to Keswick daily, Cockermouth is slightly harder to get into if out of catchment.