Choosing a state primary school

daisiegg

Janepig wrote: »

I wouldn't disregard the Ofsted report but I wouldn't use that as the only criteria on which to judge a school. Schools usually get many months notice (or certainly they do in Wales) so they can spruce up the school and get things ship shape ready for the inspectors. We've had a request in work from a school for some of our offenders to go in and paint/decorate sometime in the next few months as they have an Estyn (Welsh version of Ofsted) inspection next March!!! IMO inspections should be done without warning but that's another argument!!


Jx

Er, they are in England! Phone call at lunchtime to give notice of inspectors arriving the next morning!

daveyjp

Our daughter's school had quite a poor ofsted, but it was a new school and 4 years ago finding its feet.

Despite this everything felt right, it had a small role of just over 200 (other local schools are all over 400) and importantly for us breakfast club and after school provision.

We also asked about extra curricular activities and the school has plenty of options which change over the year. Our daughter has an activity every day and has done, sport, gym, ICT, chess, drama, glee club, cookery, film club, animation club.

This shows commitment from staff to go that extra mile and teaches children there is more to life than school lessons.

4 years on the school now has a very good Ofsted and had a light touch visit in February which found further improvement. The downside is it is growing to almost 400 as it is now a two class entry school.

Janepig

daisiegg wrote: »

Er, they are in England! Phone call at lunchtime to give notice of inspectors arriving the next morning!

Really? Wow, I didn't know that (not living in England!). I think that's definitely the way forward!! I know so many teachers who stress out so much for weeks and months before an inspection so at least it would stop that I guess. And only drawing on my school experience, which was awful, I'd have loved an Inspector to come around unannounced to see how bad it was!

Jx

Janepig

daveyjp wrote: »

4 years on the school now has a very good Ofsted and had a light touch visit in February which found further improvement. The downside is it is growing to almost 400 as it is now a two class entry school.

Up side of a two form entry, depending how the school organise the classes, is that they could be split according to age, so rather than having August borns being taught alongside September borns, you could have no more than a six month spread of ages in each class. Even in year 6 you can see the difference in maturity in the children in DD's class and the "older" class.

Jx

atolaas

It can be a daunting process. I've just finished going through this for my son. He starts primary school in September. I read Ofsted reports, visited loads of school websites & the schools themselves and spoke to parents of children who were already at the school. Doing all these things helped me to build up a picture of the schools and helped me to whittle down my choices. We were offered a place at my 2nd choice of school. A few years ago it had a bad reputation, poor results & Ofsted reports. A new head teacher and cash injection has helped to turn the school around. I was told by one of the other parents that every school's reputation is around 7 years out of date. What I'm trying to say is don't discount a school because it appears to have a bad reputation...a little research will give you a better picture.

Hope that helps..ato xx

Spendless

susancs wrote: »

For primary schools, it is usually best to look at ones nearest your home and look at their admissions policy criteria to see if you have a chance of getting a place, rather than view schools you may have little chance of your child getting into. For example some schools may have a faith criteria as the top criteria, so if an oversubscribed school unless you have completed a supplementary form signed by a church minister you will probably not get a place. If you are some distance from an oversubscribed school then you will probably not get a place there.

Yes, agree with this. I live in catchment to a sought after Secondary and people out of catchment will put the school down thinking they can choose, when really all they are doing is filling up the remaining few places when everyone above them in the criteria stakes has been allocated theirs and since the school is sought after, very few people who are high on the admission criteria are going to miss the school off their own application.

Mrs_Soup

daisiegg wrote: »

Which is why the OP is talking about open days in autumn this year...

Applications for school are made between November and January for the following september so open days will likely be held in October/November this year for entry Sept 15. My sisters school often has their first open day THIS term so over a year before the children start. With a summer born child you can find yourself looking at schools when your child is not even 3.

I would try and find at least one school you like to put on the list that isn't likely to be oversubscribed as they will work through your list first to find a space in one of them if they can..
I wouldn't ignore Ofsted but don't make it the only or main determinant, gut instinct is useful.

Make-it-3

Wow, thanks for so much feedback everyone.

My DD is nearly 3.5 – so will start in Sept 2015 with applications starting Autumn this year. I’m partly thinking now as we’ll need to book in time off work etc to visit schools.

Is it a good idea to take your child with you for visits or not?

London generally and our borough in particular has been warning for several years regarding not having enough places to serve growing population, which makes me nervous. Over 20% of people didn’t get their first choice this year. I think all state schools in the borough have a two class intake some have three! So no chance of her going to a small place where everyone knows everyone.

We’re completely ignoring all faith schools, so just the bog standard community schools – which all seem to work on special needs first, then siblings, then by distance. So I’m googlemapping distances to get a rough idea.

Honeypop, what a lottery – this is exactly why I want to cover my bases – not just the schools I like but might not get into, but the ones I don’t but might be offered.

Janepig, are two and three class intakes generally segregated by age – if not by what other criteria?

Some great advice for things to look out for when visiting schools, I’ll probably have a list of questions a mile long by then. It’s not just finding a school that is right for your 5 year old but the following 5 years too.

The responsibility of parenthood weighs heavy!

Janepig

Make-it-3 wrote: »

Wow, thanks for so much feedback everyone.

My DD is nearly 3.5 – so will start in Sept 2015 with applications starting Autumn this year. I’m partly thinking now as we’ll need to book in time off work etc to visit schools.

Is it a good idea to take your child with you for visits or not?

London generally and our borough in particular has been warning for several years regarding not having enough places to serve growing population, which makes me nervous. Over 20% of people didn’t get their first choice this year. I think all state schools in the borough have a two class intake some have three! So no chance of her going to a small place where everyone knows everyone.

We’re completely ignoring all faith schools, so just the bog standard community schools – which all seem to work on special needs first, then siblings, then by distance. So I’m googlemapping distances to get a rough idea.

Honeypop, what a lottery – this is exactly why I want to cover my bases – not just the schools I like but might not get into, but the ones I don’t but might be offered.

Janepig, are two and three class intakes generally segregated by age – if not by what other criteria?

Some great advice for things to look out for when visiting schools, I’ll probably have a list of questions a mile long by then. It’s not just finding a school that is right for your 5 year old but the following 5 years too.

The responsibility of parenthood weighs heavy!

I'm not sure whether all schools structure their two form entries in the same way, but in my experience doing it by age seems to work - I'm reading alot lately about whether or not summer born children somehow lose out, and I think grouping children by age in primary school seems to me to be one good way of trying to combat this.

I know some smaller schools have mixed classes where two year groups are taught together by one teacher. I've not heard too many complaints but I don't think I'd like that particularly. Hopefully some other parents will be able to better explain and also tell you how their classes are structured.

Locally, criteria for admission is looked after children first, then statemented children, then catchment with siblings, catchment, out of catchment with siblings, and finally out of catchment. I think that's pretty much standard across England and Wales, particularly if you've discounted faith schools. Also, within catchment, if the school is oversubscribed they will generally start from the closest child to the school and work outwards, so even in catchment you may not be guaranteed a place, particularly if there's a year where there may be alot of younger siblings applying.

Jx

Make-it-3

Thanks JP, I was trying to simplify, the first few categories really only apply to a few children, the biggie is siblings. They can take up a lot (and sometimes all of the places) in some instances.

I will ask each school how they organise 2-3 form entries. Not that its hugely relevant to me with a January born child.