How important is local in secondary state choice?

[roses2]

We have been lucky enough to have been given our first choice state school, a really great local school but limited GCSE options (they offer 9 subject and that's it); not great facilities, non existent extra curricular and run down equipment. But it's local where the friendship network will be and we're right in the middle of the catchment area.

DH is having a wobble and wondering if we should call our second choice. This is a similar academic standard but further away and we would be right on the outer border of the catchment. Great extra curricular, modern equipment, wide range of GCSE options.

His primary class are going to all different places - no one place in particular - and he is happy to make friends at whichever new school he starts at.

DS is very sociable. Right now DS loves going to his friends house or they come here after school and week ends.

Are further away schools an issue? Is it better to stay local? Both schools have very similar academic outcomes.

Have a look on each school's website and compare the subjects they offer at gcse level.

I'd not want my DD to go to a school that limits her options so drastically.

Drama, food tech, D&T, business studies, other MFL, film studies, photography, PE, computing, economics, graphic design .... etc.

But which school did you actually prefer? Your opening post makes it sound like you had a preference for school2.

I think it's unclear. Clearly School 1 is doing a lot right if it is so oversubscribed and has similar academic results to School 2. It sounds as if it has a very specific focused approach: strong discipline, focusing on doing a small range of key subjects very well. I think either you and your child like that approach or your don't and I think that should probably be the deciding factor rather than the local/non-local thing. The schools are a similar commute and public transport means it's not that hard to meet friends from further away. I don't think that offering fewer subjects is necessarily worse, provided there is no subject missing that your child is likely to particularly want to do (I realise that is hard to say at this stage). In London I imagine it is easy to access lots of activities outside school if they are not offered in school.

Ten minutes is neither here nor there. I wouldn’t call 40 mins on the tube that local.

We are a 5 min walk from DS old secondary, a very mediocre school but we knew we could tutor him in all subjects ourselves if needed.

I am friends with a couple of teachers and discipline is an issue, one has just handed her notice in at a school where discipline is really difficult and going to a school with a stronger management team and more no nonsense attitude. The other one moved around a year ago. Both went from inner city comps to schools in a small and medium size towns.

Looking at your update it would be 1 for me. We can do so much as parents but their peers have a big influence.

Do you know the progress 8 scores for both schools? It's helpful to understand the context for GCSE results.

I'd go for schools that are above average/well above average. If these are similar, then i probably would consider the wider curriculum.

OTOH If school 2 does worse on P8 I would lock in school 1 and look at other enrichment opportunities. For most DC doing well in a narrow curriculum will be a better foundation than doing badly at lots of interesting things.

Both have good progress 8 scores compared to average although school 1 is a clear winner:

School 1:
Progress 8 - 2.37
Grade 5 or above in English & maths GCSEs - 93%

School 2:
This school has a grammar stream which I would expect DS to get into based on current school performance. If he does then I would expect the progress and grade 5 scores to be similar to school 1
Progress 8 - 0.81
Grade 5 or above in English & maths GCSEs - 74%

Well you obviously got Michaela as your first choice. Whatever the second option is will be very very different. You know how marmite Michaela is on here so I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve by your post tbh. You would've known the restricted GCSEs and the very very specific nature of the school when you applied.

Blimey that P8 for school 1 is high! what school is this?

OP the three subjects of "science" are not sub-subjects, they are separate subjects. Though lots of DC will take double science, covering all three subjects (bio, chem, physics) but gaining two GCSEs. Similarly English language and English literature are two different subjects.

Is there really no tech provision (that's design and technology, food tech, textiles, graphics) in the school at all, so at KS3 either? Or is it just not offered at GCSE? Similarly for computing, drama, PE (PE must be part of the school day but I guess not always offered for GCSE)? Sadly only one MFL is not unusual now.

That list is odd because it is so limiting. Most DC will not play an instrument so cannot take music GCSE; many DC will not love art enough to take it (it is a notorious thief of time so you need a passion for it) which leaves very few choices.

BTW I was surprised that in London, you only had two schools within a four-mile radius apart from one you are not keen on. I live in a small city and have at least eight secondaries within three or four miles, including two a short walk away and two more a 10-min bus ride.

Ah I thought maybe it was Michaela, that explains it. Yeh that's not a school I would want my child to attend.

Yes it's MCS! Hence I didn't post the name as I know it's marmite. But I applied because both DS and I really liked it when we visited. School 2 follows a similar approach in terms of discipline but not quite as strict as MCS.

My original question still stands - it is local friendship group vs breadth of subjects and facilities causing me to be torn between the two schools. MCS are wider spread due to the random allocation within 5 miles admissions criteria whereas School 2 is based on as the crow flies distance where the majority of the kids are a short bus ride away vs us 5 tube stops away.

Given the school name, I've done some reading.
No GCSE geography which I missed on first reading, plus limited other choices. It reads like Triple science vs art is an option choice, but everything else is fixed.
Might suit a certain type of child, but my son chose Geography, computing and triple science. It wouldn't have suited him.
So, from what you know of your son currently, is humanities and arts likely to be his thing? In which case go for it 8f it liked it on visiting.
If STEM or practical subjects are likely to be his thing, try and get into school 2.

Tricky one but you have got given your first choice, I would have thought the authority is unlikely to offer a place now at school 2 unless there are spaces.
but the “local” factor makes no difference if it’s 40m vs 50m. I know London is different but I wouldn’t consider anything that is not walking distance “local”. So in terms of these two schools the difference is negligible. I would be worried about the narrow curriculum in school 1.

@SpringOfContentment they do offer GCSE geography. But no CS and no GCSE PE and no tech and no drama. The choices of music and art are so odd in a way as they will not appeal to a lot of students, whereas tech and drama are much more generally interesting IME.

DS1 took food tech and it inspired his career choice; DD loved drama GCSE best of all; and DS2 took computing and PE, then PE for A level. It wouldn;t have been the school for them - but it may suit your DS OP. I think the "local" aspect is a red herring as you are clearly not local to either school.

Having just done GCSE choices with DD I would never choose a school with such limited choices. She hates Art, French and Geography with a passion but is very happy to do design and technology, Spanish and PE. She wants to go into design,, which needs an art subject but would have been a nightmare if she got art.
We did not know this in year 7!

Ignoring the merits or otherwise of the two schools and sticking to the "localness" issue, one thing to consider is the make up of the rest of the school.
My DC's secondary school is about 20 miles away but we are in a rural area and it is not at all unusual for children to travel that far or further to school. So there is nothing odd about my DC and they aren't excluded in any way from friendship groups meeting outside of school or anything as the majority are in the same boat. And a high percentage of pupils come from very small village primary schools so only know a handful of others when they start so there was never any issue of trying to join in with big friendship groups already established from primary school.
However, I'd probably feel differently about a school where everyone else lived very close by and have come from the same few primaries. I think that it could be difficult socially to be one of very few non locals. Obviously the academic provision is the top priority but I do think children thrive in environments where they are happy so social factors do matter. I think there's a big difference to travelling a long way to a school with a very mixed population of pupils to one where the child will be the odd one out, especially if all their old primary school friends are going elsewhere - that does risk social isolation as they might not quite fit in at school,and could become a bit of an outsider in their home environment too.

Neither are especially local, and school 1 with its random allocation doesn’t necessarily mean your dc will be any nearer friends than school 2. If you don’t mind the options offered I’d stick with school 1.

I didn't know Micheala restricted choices so much. That's not in all the marketing or documentaries. Our school offers over 30 options to choose from

Really interesting looking at the school web site. No gcse music. No gcse PE no mention of any vocational stuff or things like food tech. It's a very narrow curriculum which is probably why they get good results. Lots of the same on repeat

The headmistress has actually spoken about this a few times. They really struggled to get any borough to allow them to open a school and when Brent did, they refused to give them anything but a shitty old office block. They don't have the space for anything else. The other Michaela school they're opening (if that's still happening) was meant to have lots more options.

I think you’ve misunderstood the gcse choices. There are 10 subjects on your list as science is 3 GCSEs (or 2 if combined) plus Eng Lang and Eng Lit makes 12.

They will probably do
maths
chemistry
biology
physics
english lang
english lit

and 3 from history, geography, art, music, RE, french

So no choice of languages (tbf, some schools actually teach several but individual dc get allocated one in y7 and that’s the one they can do at gcse), no drama, no DT or food tech, no computer science, no BTEC subjects (engineering, ICT), no PE.
Whether this is an issue depends very much on the child. I like the Michaela ethos, broadly speaking, but it’s certainly not for everyone. I think all of those subjects are perfectly good at ks4 but it’s a bit odd that there isn’t a broader curriculum at ks3. No ICT or comp sci is surprising.

@Zwicky just to add to my pp, Michaelas GCSE options are quite similar to most inner city private schools. I was very shocked at how narrow their curriculum was, esp the girls independent schools.

Watch the documentary "Britain's strictest Headteacher" about the school. I must say I actually liked the school after watching it, although my own daughter would absolutely hate the draconian strict discipline. I think try school 1 and if he hates it, you can always switch to school 2.

I've seen lots about the school. Im a school governor so like to educate myself on different models. I had just assumed normal curriculum & loads options. Eye opener

I get that. All about high grades. Similar to grammars near us. Few options. No options like PE m, sociology or psychology or foot tech.
They aren't catering for the middle bands who might want to pursue careers in sports or catering or beauty. Why teach business B tech when all your students are aiming for oxbridge.

But but but
and I am not saying you agree - but surely even a candidate for Oxford might want to take DT GCSE or business GCSE or drama or food tech. It's very snobbish of someone if they actually think that smart students only want to or should be allowed to take traditional subjects. My younger DC are both bright and both took subjects not offered at this school (PE, drama, computing). In fact DS2 took PE A level and his mate who is at Cambridge took business GCSE.