Which secondary school

[Monvelo]

DD is generally hard working for school, reluctant at home, dyslexic, needing a bit of maths intervention currently, loves writing.

School A. School in our town, so many friends will go there, walking distance. 1700 pupils. Ofsted requires improvement for reading progress and SEN. New ish head. New into a large MAT. Numbers of teachers left in last 2yrs, assume don't like MAT terms, so some issues with staff numbers, recruitment, teacher continuity. Kids taught in form groups. Taking a 'no messing' approach, uniform, talking in corridors etc. Supposedly aiming to become a dyslexia friendly school but at the start of this road. Good range GCSE options and has a sixth form. Many kids go there happily and do just fine.

School B. Half hour bus ride. Very small, 600 pupils. Fewer GCSE options, no sixth form. In a small local MAT with best schools in wider area. Ofsted good. Good reputation for dyslexia, treated as business as usual. I've heard rumours the Sen teacher isn't great. Good teacher CPD. Better teacher continuity, I believe. Because it's smaller they can be chilled about talking in corridors, toilet use etc. Taught in groups that mix across different classes, eg different class in English to maths. More mixing across age groups across school.

We have grammar schools here which will cream the very top.

B. It sounds like a happier place all together and worth the extra time travelling.

I always ask this but does half hour bus ride mean (say) 10 min walk, 5 min wait for bus, 10 min bus ride, 5 min walk? Or does it actually mean half an hour on the bus – with a walk each end and a wait for the bus factored in – so maybe a 50-min commute? If the latter then that's not ideal.

A 600-pupil school is very small; what sort of limit does this mean to GCSE options – which ones are usually excluded? Would you even get in if it’s that far away?

What were the schools like when you visited? I have to say for me local is always a winner unless there are major negatives. That might be coloured by my personal experience tho I can’t deny.

Thanks for the replies!

For school B the bus stop is 5 minutes walk from home and takes them into school.

Both seemed 'fine' at visit, and both scored the same on my tally but for different reasons!

GCSE choices, school A offers single sciences but only 1 language. School B does double science only but does 2 languages. The missing GCSEs were extras like photography. The school trips for the humanity subjects sounded better at school B.

Yes we would get in to B.

For your child i think B. The dyslexia support could be key to success. He can move for 6th form either to A or elsewhere.

It's a shame A hasn't got a few more years to see how it proves with the changes.

Do you meet the admission criteria for both?

Yes

Bumping as I would really like a few more opinions.

More opinions from me…
30 mins is a long bus ride - how far away is it? Could be like 15 miles but also I guess 6-7 miles if it stopped a lot.

Where would other pupils at that school come from? Your area? 10 miles the other way? Could make socialising a challenge. I would also consider the smaller friendship pool - basically 60 other girls or boys. Does your DC make friends easily? If so then that’s less of a worry imo.

MFL is my subject; where two are offered do students actually study two? My dcs’ school offers three MFL but you really only study one, from yr 7. Some schools locally have students pick up a second in yr 8 - does school B do this?

It's poor imho that a school of 1700 students offers only one MFL so that’s a negative.

Double science is fine and ok for A levels but if you have to switch schools for sixth form, others taking science A level may have done triple.

i wouldn’t bother either way about missing out on photography GCSE - I thought you were going to say DT or CS.

Overall I would still lean to the closer school but depending on answers to my questions!

It sounds like you prefer B - what does your daughter want?

Also, are there easy options for getting back if she wants to do an after-school activity? When I did GCSEs there were some after school classes until 4.30 as they couldn't fit everything into the standard school day, my best friend lived in a hamlet 5 miles away from the school and ended up coming home with me (I lived 10 mins walk) on two evenings a week so that she could study the subjects that she wanted to do. Her mum didn't finish work for another hour so collected her from mine, and the school bus that she used to get to/from school only went at the normal school end time. Obviously it was fine as that's 2-3 years down the line and our parents knew each other well by then, but there could be options in year 7 that she might miss out on if she can't get home.

I wouldn't worry too much about having to change for sixth form, particularly if everyone is doing it. It will likely mean that the school is more embracing of different options than schools who just want everyone to go to their own sixth form. Is the immediate area of the school somewhere that kids want to hang out? As in, if her friends all lived in the opposite direction to you and they wanted to meet up at the weekend/school holidays would meeting around the school area be viable and again, could she get there without a specific school bus?

All of those things are just points to consider but I suspect there will be more of an expectation that you'll be a taxi service (at least whilst she's younger) than there would be if she went to the other school, but that's not a reason not to pick the school if you and her think it's the best option. Obviously if there's also public transport (even an hourly bus service) between the two then my points are redundant.

I feel like Goldilocks, too hot, too cold, but no just right!

Definitely B.

Choice for the sake of choice is not necessary. Focus on your child. If she needs maths intervention now, she'd be better taking double science than triple science, and 2 individual sciences never struck me as sensible. Does school B offer a set of GCSEs that you think could work for your DD?

Have you talked to the SENCO in both about how they’d support your DD. Are there interventions they’ll offer around Dyslexia? If she needs extra support what does she miss to do that.

You could be describing the exact two schools we were stuck between and school B was top of my list - happy to trade in the longer journey time for small more nurturing environment. However attitude of their SENCO rang alarm bells and we chose a school that sounds more like A. It’s pulling itself up in terms of previous problems highlighted by Ofsted and has a SEN department (as opposed to one overworked negative SENCO). I’m glad we chose A as our DS can walk to school, make local friends and etc.

Given staff turnover and challenges of a bigger school I question and push for support - getting to speak to the right people in a bigger school is harder, but there’s more scope for support in my opinion.

Schools A does single sciences, business and economics options, ICT (both do computer science) sociology, photography. Dd currently loves RE, history, anything about world cultures type of thing, and writing. I can't imagine she'd suddenly be into business but then who knows?! Sociology might be an option for her.

School B has a good reputation for how dyslexia and sen handled across the school, but, strangely, bad for the actual SENCo

I guess it depends on your child’s personality. Two of my DDs would prefer B, one of them would prefer A.
My preference would be for B, sounds more nurturing.

I don't think any of those GCSE options (or rather, the lack of) is a deal breaker. Apart from maybe the triple science. Economics is not often offered at GCSE and can be perfectly well taken at A level; ICT – rarely offered as the GCSE no longer exists except under WJEC spec I think, so that can be missed; sociology and photography again, rarely offered, pick-up-able at A level. Business is really the only one that is commonly take at GCSE IME.

Another consideration is the ability to socialise independently. If school B is somewhere with good transport links, she can see her friends without you needing to be taxi.

The behaviour on the bus would decide it for me. Is it a public bus or a school bus? If a school bus do you know anyone whose kids go who could tell you what it's like on the bus? My brother used to drive a school bus to a well thought of school and he said the behaviour of the kids was atrocious. It was a double decker and they would regularly rip up the seats and totally trash the top deck. Plus lots of bullying incidents.

But then, if it's a public bus, how busy does it get? Would your child be happy sharing a double seat with a stranger? Or having to stand for most of the journey? A neighbour of ours went to college a half hour bus journey away but hated the journey and her mum used to end up driving her instead.

Depending on how my child would cope with the journey I might be tempted to go with the closer one just for ease of getting there.

All I can add here is that we chose a school (B) a 30 min walk away instead of the one (A) on our doorstep. Reasons to do with faith, better reputation, 2 languages, good creative arts.
DD is Y10 now and is happy, as are we, but she will beg for a lift on any given day, I have to leave earlier now and drop her off half way.
I've been up at the school myself for 3 after school meetings this week (various events) so factor that in too.
She's going to the sixth form at school A. Convenience wins.