Agonising over secondary school choice

[Curlewwoohoo]

Just after some outside perspectives. We live in a market town with only one comprehensive. School 1. Most kids go here, they all cycle/walk. The only other option is a 30/40 min bus to a very small school in a village. School 2. DD wants school 2! DH and I are worried about the social impact of that decision.

Some details...

School 1 c3yrs ago joined a large MAT, got a new head, and has improved from RI to Good. Unfortunately we had a bad viewing, saw 1 group kids skipping class and got sworn at by another. We know there are a minority of kids who behave badly and concerned they could have a disproportionate impact if you're in contact with them. The kids are taught in form groups and not in sets. But we also know there are a majority of decent kids and actually it should be a fairly academic intake as many locals failed the 11+. 240/yr, 1108 at the school. We have plenty of friends in this situation and they'd all go to school together.

School 2 is very small, 528. 120/yr. No sixth form. Its in a 2 school MAT with an excellent school. Arguably it has better SEND provision although school 1 is improving in this regard. There is more pupil mixing between classes and across the school.

Results and other stats wise they are similar.

DD is dyslexic. She can find friendship groups slightly tricky. She loves school. I think she prefers school 2 because it's smaller, less intimidating looking around aged 10, there aren't the sixth formers who seem big and grown up, we didn't see the behavioural issues of school 1 but not naive to this. DH and I are concerned she might miss out on local friends, all walking to school together, able to go to clubs. If the schools were near each other we'd pick 2.

Pick up or lift share. This is a definite downside.

I would research the school bus carefully as I assume you aren't in catchment for school 2.
My ds goes to a 6th form in a village that lots of kids from our village go to but because our village isn't in catchment the school doesn't provide the bus, it's privately run. There has been a lot of chopping and changing of bus providers overthe past few years at one point we thought there wouldn't be a bus and a group of parents had to organise a new of. It's expensive at £1500 per year for a 20 min journey. No public transport either and not cyclable.

My daughter commuted over an hour to the school of her choice for seven years and it really wasn’t a problem 95% of the time. She ended up with a group of friends from the bus and later the train, who were separate from her main friends in school. The vast majority of her friends didn’t live locally, but we felt it was important for her to have the main say in her secondary school and made the commitment to drive her to and from friends’ houses etc. I don’t think the distance from school made any impact on my daughter’s friendships and if anything it strengthened them because they were more prone to having sleepovers because of the distance.

I’d say school 2. It’s not that small and she’ll only be there 5 years. Dd1 travels on the bus for a similar time and enjoys listening to music. Very normal round here. I think that unless there’s a significant issue with a school, go with where they feel most at home. Dd1 has always just known from her visits and at 17 it’s worked well. None of our nearby schools have 6th forms so that doesn’t bother me anymore (it was an adjustment).

Does she meet the distance criteria for school 2?

There is no set catchment. Last year she was right on the edge of where she'd have got a place at school 2. All other years she'd have got in. It just depends on applicant numbers.

School 1. Teens thrive on local mates and meet ups. School 2 is only a 1/4 size of ours so to me is too small. Options ad yr10 will be more limited. Small schools often mean very limited GCSE options & no more vocational options etc

We had the same conundrum. We chose school 2 but didn't get in (until 3 weeks after school started when we moved up the wait list). We stuck with school 1 which was ok and meant DC moved with their cohort and friendships/clubs etc maintained easily.

The transport issues of those travelling the 30 minutes to school 2 has been tricky and expensive as it's out of catchment for free transport. There seems to be yearly if not termly angst about the whole transport thing and the cost goes up frequently and you aren't always guaranteed a place on the bus.

Staff personalities and leadership make a huge difference, but a change can have huge ramifications.

Outcomes for school 1 and 2 were largely similar . My gut said school 2 as I'd been to school 1 and didn't have a great time. ( Largely I think because I should have gone to a secondary 20 miles away with the rest of my junior year - religious school - but didn't and went to secular secondary alone, and was like a fish out of water. I was an incomer whilst been local at the same time).

What we should have done was move DC for 6th form as it was very restrictive at school 1, low numbers and often inadequate teachers. Sending DC to either the large standalone 6th forms 20 miles away (bus) or 30 miles away (bus and train) where considered but ultimately not chosen but I think we should have tried to persuade DC.

It's not an easy decision and I don't envy you. I thought choosing infant school was difficult !

I am a bit late to this I’m going against the grain and saying school 2. If school 2 are better with dyslexia and there is a school bus as well as the fact she wants to go there this would be a no brainer for me. She will need more support as the academics become more challenging.
the size of school - my DD goes to a tiny school year group 18 whole school 90 !
with a focus of SPLD being very high but also a very academic school.
most people travel from afar - we don’t which means most her friends live further away.
this did worry me a little regards to social life but honestly it’s been amazing having less children means they have all become very tight knit and have formed very close relationships and they are all getting on so well. She has been invited to more birthdays / social meets etc in the short time than she ever did in her large primary state school.
Weekends and meeting up have never been an issue either. She is super happy and more content with the classes.
if your DD wasn’t dyslexic I maybe would say school 1 but I think the priority is that’s are supported and understood in the environment.

How do you know one school is better with dyslexia than another?