Advice when looking at new schools? Relocating

[Farrings]

Hello staff room, I hope this is ok to post here

I’m a parent, specifically looking for teacher’s & TA’s advice on what to look for when finding a new primary school for our 5 and 8 year olds, hopefully starting spring term if we can.

We’re re locating 150 miles away and it’s so hard as we don’t know anything about the area. There are several ofsted ‘good’ schools to choose from. What else should I be looking at?

Hopefully we can meet the head of each prospective school (do they give time for that?) and their personality will say a lot (I do believe culture generally comes from the top)

But reading another thread here about the ridiculous ‘Paul Dix’ method of behaviour management got me thinking - wow, I would NOT like my kid in a school with such wrong-headed approaches to behaviour! As I see it, teachers should be able to teach above all things; they are not surrogate parents. Therefore it seems to me like behaviour is key for us.

We’re immensely lucky at the current school, behaviour is generally great, the Head is warm, kind and yet authoritative. We’ll be so sad to leave.

I guess what I’m asking is, from a staff perspective, can you help me ask the right questions/look in the right places to find out about the culture of a school? Beyond what the ‘stats’ say?

From a distance, I would look at the website and Facebook page rather than the Ofsted report. Read the letters sent home to parents and you’ll quickly get an idea of the school's priorities, the way it “speaks” to parents and the current, recurring issues that they are frequently mentioning. The website will tell you what you need to know and you can eliminate real deal-breakers like lack of wrap-around care or an ethos clearly incompatible with your family values.

When you get to the area, have a walk around, arrange a visit to the school, pop into the local shop at home time and go with your gut. You are unlikely to be wrong.

Just check the waiting list procedures, as they can be different in different local area. If the new area has any kind of 3-tier system, also check that you don’t need to be applying for a junior or middle school for your 8-year-old this year.

All Brilliant advice, thank you 🙏

I hadn’t considered ‘middle’ schools, as they’re not a thing where we are, good point!

If you want to avoid the Dix bollocks beware of phrases like ‘we are a restorative school or nurturing school’ Not saying these terms are wrong in any way but they tend to be code for ‘kids can behave as they want and we’ll do nothing about it!’

Thank you, that’s exactly the kind of code words I was hoping to watch out for!