Choosing a state primary school

building_with_lego

See if you can go along to the target schools' summer fairs.
It's an excellent way to get an idea of the school community, and the general atmosphere when everyone is off duty, and not putting on a show for Open Day.

Spendless

Mine attend/ed schools where there were 2-3 classes in each year group. It wasn't mixed by birth month. I once asked the school sec how it was decided and she told me they had a mix of genders, mix of where their birthdays fell and a mix of abilities.

DigForVictory

Lapsed parent governor, but I picked our primary as the staff were friendly, the children noisily happy & they had large spaces to play. Had we not moved I might have tried to keep the eldest with his nursery buddies, but observing messy play (from a safe distance) I reckon friends still get made pretty easily.

Ofsted has its place but if it's over a year old it may have dated. Eyeballing the school gate is slower but more informative. Ask if anyone there is a Parent Governor - it's a different slant on the school to the official tour & likely there will be examples of the schools work wanting parental attention.

Talk to to nursery staff - they've up to date opinions & may be able to suggest where you are more likely to get in. Should save you at good 10 schools wondering! They may also be able to comment on where getting one in is complex (& worth it), but siblings slot in easily. (Which may or may not be planned for/applicable, but things happen.)

Oh yes, eyeball the dress code. If the uniform is custom & expensive, put a big question mark beside it. Children grow, and the more you have to spend on replacing uniform, the tougher your domestic budget. Tie & hat? On someone who may still be struggling with shoelaces?! If however it's a badged top over the default polo & trous/skirt, life becomes abruptly more affordable!

Finally, ask where pupils usually move onto from the primary. Your little one will eventually grow into a bigger one & Big School can be easy or harder depending on which primary you went to.

(Yes, parenting is the devil's own fruitbasket. The hugs and surprises make up for an awful lot of it though.)

JimmyTheWig

Janepig wrote: »

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.

Generally in London boroughs, I believe, there are no catchment areas - it's just a question of the shortest safe walking distance (after looked after, relevant special needs and siblings, of course).

maman

Make-it-3 wrote: »

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.

Obviously that's your choice but I hope you're not being influenced by the current issues in Birmingham. That sort of thing is extremely unusual in my experience and in some Anglican schools you'd never guess they were faith schools. Of course, it may be difficult to get a place if faith criteria are prioritised in the admissions policy but I wouldn't discount them unless you feel strongly that they shouldn't exist. But that's another discussion for another day!;)

Make-it-3

Nothing to do with Birmingham. I have no faith and not about to hyprocritically acquire one for the benefit of bagging a school place.

NicolaB_2

Make-it-3 wrote: »

Nothing to do with Birmingham. I have no faith and not about to hyprocritically acquire one for the benefit of bagging a school place.

Just to say that you don't need to acquire a faith to send your child to a faith school, many have non-religious places set aside too. My sons both attended a CofE primary. My eldest got a non-church-goer place and my youngest as a sibling. While the school obviously has a CofE slant to it, there are also children there of other faiths, and some of no faith.

honeypop

Janepig wrote: »

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.

Re the bit I've bolded, ours is: looked after, statemented, siblings, catchment, out of catchment.

My closest school, 300 metres away (actually is closer but officially they measure to the main school gate) allocated 21 sibling spaces out of the class of 30, even though a lot of those lived out of area. So only 9 'free' spaces to catchment area. I was 10m out of catchment this time, boooo!

Janepig

honeypop wrote: »

Re the bit I've bolded, ours is: looked after, statemented, siblings, catchment, out of catchment.

My closest school, 300 metres away (actually is closer but officially they measure to the main school gate) allocated 21 sibling spaces out of the class of 30, even though a lot of those lived out of area. So only 9 'free' spaces to catchment area. I was 10m out of catchment this time, boooo!

So they prioritise out of catchment siblings over catchment alone (no siblings at the school?). I know that's not the case here as a friend was refused a place for her youngest daughter even though the three older siblings were there.

Jx

Spendless

Always worth doing your homework within your local area and also at individual schools as to what admission criteria is. It's mentioned on here a lot about sibling criteria being high and for a lot of areas that's true, but not where I am, where catchment is above it and there's no distinction between catchment with or without a sibling.

At son's Secondary that can set its own admission criteria, they've moved siblings further down the criteria list below feeder Primarys but I know that 'feeder Primary schools' doesn't even exist in another area of England due to previous posts on mse.