What would you do re: changing schools

[wangle99]

DD is currently in year 8 at a prep school. She has a music scholarship there, year 8 is the final year of the school.

After long hard discussion we have decided (DD included in this discussion) to move back into state education for Year 9. The school in question is local to us and DD knows a few people in the school (including our next door neighbour who DD has grown up with).

DD finishes the summer term on the 7th July.

I cannot decide whether to enrol DD in the local state school then (this would guarantee a place for September), let her finish the term there and hopefully make a friend or two who she could possibly meet up with during the Summer (she has never had school friends local to home before due to distance of prep school away from home) or leave till September to start her?

I have a couple of worries obviously the school might not guarantee a place in September and I worry she'll hate it in July and then dread the summer because she knows she'll have to go back there!

Any thoughts would be great, am going round in circles here!

Thanks

start in September when she's fresh

I would start her in September. going for a couple of weeks would be unsettling, and the toher girls would ask load of questions about why she was starting then, the teachers wouldn't be so interested in her, she wouldn't have already done most of the prjcets they would be finishing off,etc.

Are you sure the admission policy is such that she needs to be attending a certain school to be certain of a place? I thought they were usually done on where you lived not where you went to school.

Its not the admission policy is whether they will be full or not. Obviously is she starts in July (if they have a place) she will automatically have a place in September.

I am unsure how/when you can apply for a place in September as this is new to us!

Oh yes I see. Best to phone the school and see how full her year is and what their guess is at the probability of a space being available either at the end of July or in September is. They might be quite accomodating, they might have plenty of space whenever, or alternatively they might offer you a space right now or in May instead. I'm not really sure that a July space is really any more likely than a September one at a popular school to be honest, but it's best to ask & find out what the process is.

Educationally, a September start is supposed to work best, but if there is a space in July that is likely to be taken by someone else before September then doing a couple of weeks at the end of the term wouldn't be the end of the world. (She could even be 'ill' for some of it if you though it was in her best interest - obviously there are pros & cons to this strategy which might not be that adviable really).

What are the other state options if that school is full by the way?

DS1 attended his new school for one day in July, after previous school had broken up. He made some friends and felt much happier about starting the school in Sept.

There are two other state schools (one in each town either side of where we live), one is ok and one is over my dead body lol

Deputy headmaster was quite sarcastic in his ability to give me an idea whether there would be a place or not - actually all I asked him was whether he was currently full.

I guess we'll get to July and go see them and see what they suggest. Thank you for your opinions though!

Op try googling the name of your LEA and then school directory. This tells you how many pupils are on role, going back to the school website should give you the planned admissions number, so you can get an idea of how full the school is - nb is not foolproof but better than nothing

The reason Sept is supposed to be better is that everything is a bit new for everyone then (new teachers, new timetables, class sets etc) so it's allegedly easier for a real new person to fit in. If she makes a friend in July she could easily find herself in different classes to them in September, and if she takes longer to find a friend or falls out with someone straight away then she hasn't got all summer to worry about it.

If the school is being unhelpful call the LEA and ask them what the situation is - applying is usually done through them in any case, so they should be able to advise on process at least.

Good that there's one acceptable alternative.

We had two trial days during the October half term holidays and DD(8) would have quite happily gone for the whole week. That was in preparation for a January start, prep to state.

The end of term is usually quite a full on/fun time - she would most likely enjoy it.

If she ends up hating the school you will still have time to think about an alternative.

Good luck with it all. I don't like the sound of that Deputy Head BTW. However, it is probably best to discuss these sorts of things face to face and ask for their advice along the lines of 'do you think there would be any particular benefit in DD starting before the end of the Summer term?'

Thanks for all your comments.

I couldn't find the published number of children in the school (probably looked in the wrong place lol).

DD has said she would be quite happy to go in July if necessary, I think she is quite desperate to get the first few days over and done with. We will go to the school when she finishes in July and see what they suggest.

Its all a bit scary really for us, I think will be a culture shock for DD purely the amount of children in the class compared to what she is used to but there are so many positives am hoping it is the right decision for us all.