The school is terrible - WWYD?

[SleepForTheWeak]

I have two DDs, one of which is due to start Secondary school in August 2026, and one who will go there from August 2029.

We live quite rurally. There is only one secondary school in the area. The next one is 45 mins away but it's a small school at capacity.

Unfortunately, the school in our area is terrible. They have really struggled to get a head teacher since lock down, and teachers in general in fact. The exam results are below average and the options are limited. Teachers are off sick long term. Children are having to do most of their work on google classroom supervised by a sub teacher. There's a lot of behavioural problems in the school.

I'm worried about our DDs going there. They are both bright children who under normal circumstances would no doubt do very well at secondary school. I'm worried though that the lack of teachers, guidance and options will have a detrimental impact on their future.

I just don't know what our options are though. Both DH and I have good careers that we love which aren't transferable. DH is on track to becoming the MD of the company he works for and we have both worked for our companies for 15-20 years. Our DDs are happy here, it's a quiet and safe community, and they have strong roots here. It's a lovely town, and the kids have good opportunities and activities outwith school.

We could supplement with tutors if necessary, but even they are few and far between.

The next town/city which has an option of schools is 3 hours away.

I think we will have to bite the bullet and see how DD1 gets on before considering uprooting our whole life - but it's something that I find myself worrying about a lot. I have a lot of friends with children in the secondary school and I have never heard any positive feedback regarding it.

But I'm interested - WWYD?

We are based in Scotland, should have mentioned

Online school?

Something like Minerva?

Sometimes you just have to see how things go and support at home where you can. DD2 is doing A levels at a fairly sub-standard college because the next closest option is an hour and a half away. Some people make that choice, but we've decided to stay local and convenient, and put the time saved into supporting her with her college work.

Is there no chance at all of getting into the one 45 mins away? Any private options?

I would see how it goes but budget for tutors throughout. If it's awful/they're unhappy, move them to the school that's 45 mins away - it will be easier to transfer in year.

I would look at whether the groups are largely mixed ability or grouped by attainment (set).

If they are set then top sets tend to avoid the worst of the bad behaviour.

Teachers missing is more of a problem. I'd keep a very close eye on maths and English which are needed to go onto the next stage. Beyond that, what are you/your children looking towards? S
Do they have a specific interest already and are you looking at uni?

The school 45 mins away is already at full capacity and because we aren't in the catchment area it's unlikely we will get on the list. I don't even know how that would work for us all being at school/work for 9am? It's definitely a better school in terms of achievement however they have also just had a change of head and I've heard it's not doing as well this year.

Private school isn't really an option. It's too much out of our budget (for 2) and the closest one is 3 hours away. I'm worried that doing something like that would damage their mental health. They are both home birds, and I can't imagine they would like that kind of environment.

It's hard to say what their chosen path will be - however they are both ambitious and capable of university (if that's what they choose). They are both working a year ahead of their school year so academically they are doing really well (at the moment) in their small, nurturing primary school

We were in that exact same situation and chose to go independent secondary. It is tough finding the fees but worth it.

They will be split up into abilities by their 3rd year definitely- not sure about the first two years though.

No one passed their higher maths prelim this year.

Have a look at State boarding schools. Mostly excellent and a lot more affordable than independent. They can usually do flexible or weekly rather than full boarding too.

There are no state funded boarding schools in Scotland to the best of my knowledge

If you can't afford independent then I would go for state school + tutoring for main subjects eg maths, English, Sciences + a humanity

We're in a similar situation. We came out of school and are using correspondence courses now. There are a lot of really good schools that are entirely online or correspondence courses now, as so many kids have had to stop going to school.

You could look into king's interhigh, wolsey hall, pembrokeshire college online.
You'd need to do GCSEs but that's okay because the exams can be done from home, with webcam invigilation if you pay the fee. To do that you need to do Pearson Edexel iGCSEs.

You can DM me if you would like to know more. I'm home schooling GCSEs right now. It is doable.

I wouldn't go to a school where they are all failing higher prelims. That's really not good.

I'm also Scottish but living down south.

Can you move house to be in catchment for the school 45 minutes away? Would that be doable for you and your husband to commute a bit further but still get to keep your jobs?

State boarding? There's a few options in Scotland though island and children living over an hour from nearest school are prioritised

This is the obvious solution

This is something we can look into. Would have to see if there is a bus that would be able to take DD1 to school by 9. Other thing is - it's only tiny villages between here and there so we would be properly in the sticks which means their extra curricular activities in the town we are in will be difficult. Definitely something we can discuss and look into though

State boarding might be an option - there is one near us - interestingly there is another post about them on this board

Depending where you are, some Scottish councils are amenable to a hybrid approach with pupils attending part time, and home edding the rest. So maybe some subjects aren’t so bad but online for English, maths etc.

Not sure if home ed is an option with both DH and I working full time.

Where would I find out about state boarding schools? The only ones I know of are 3 hours + away and private

I just did a bit of research and there are only two state boarding schools in Scotland. One is Oban High School and I believe you would need to be in their (admittedly, very large) catchment area and the other is only for the children of servicemen and women.

I guess if either of those apply you'd already know?

Use the school but gear up for a programme of extra online learning on top. There are on line tutors etc

Unfortunately I think it's the terrible school, or move, or boarding school maybe? I'm not sure there are other options.

many tutors do online through various online only platforms.
Friends D niece went to very underperforming, badly reputable school near us, the sort that everyone says “ohhhh X” every time mentioned. Awful head and awful issues with behaviour and staff turnover and apparently she didn’t have a teacher for many gcse subjects but she taught herself most the content and came out with exceptional grades as did many of her peers. If you kids have decent primary schools and try then they should arguably be fine😀

I would send them to the local school where they will meet friends close to them which is important. As they are bright they'll be in top sets and might be fine without tutoring, 2029 is five years away a lot could change since then. If they needed it, I'd get tutors.