How to assess a good primary/secondary school?

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As I am searching for properties, when it comes to location, I am also trying to take into account the schools and their quality.
I am now finding myself confused more than ever because there seems to be a general view that schools in south of Manchester are better than those in North of Manchester.
News and other reporting avenues usually rank those schools in the top 10 list.
The ranking seems to be based on inspections and their outcome.
However, as I dug deeper, I found that most of these inspections are outdated, even for schools that are ranked in the top 10.
I'd like to purchase a house in the north of Manchester but not sure what's the best way to access these schools now.
Some of the website I've used are as follow
https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/
https://snobe.co.uk/
https://www.locrating.com/
If anyone has some experience on how to search for good schools effectively, please do advise.
Thank you
I am now finding myself confused more than ever because there seems to be a general view that schools in south of Manchester are better than those in North of Manchester.
News and other reporting avenues usually rank those schools in the top 10 list.
The ranking seems to be based on inspections and their outcome.
However, as I dug deeper, I found that most of these inspections are outdated, even for schools that are ranked in the top 10.
I'd like to purchase a house in the north of Manchester but not sure what's the best way to access these schools now.
Some of the website I've used are as follow
https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/
https://snobe.co.uk/
https://www.locrating.com/
If anyone has some experience on how to search for good schools effectively, please do advise.
Thank you
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The only way to assess the school is to go and visit it.
OFSTED reports are a very outdated way of assessing schools. "inadequate" ratings can be given for the most ridiculous things. My kids went to what I would consider an amazing nursery, but their ofsted report gave them a grade 4 (inadequate) because they had a 14' trampoline and let more than one child bounce at a time, and there were some stinging nettles on the (huge) grounds.
Would've = Would HAVE (not 'of')
No, I am not perfect, but yes I do judge people on their use of basic English language. If you didn't know the above, then learn it! (If English is your second language, then you are forgiven!)
I twice sent my boys to schools with a poor reputation, raising eyebrows among my friends. I never regretted it. On visits, I found the heads responsive to what was going on in their schools, and happy to show us round.
My friend sent hers to 'better' schools, and some of what went on made my hair curl.
My conclusion at the time was that a school with a good reputation will keep it long after it should have lost it, and a school with a poor reputation will struggle to lose it.
Ignore Ofsted reports especially if they're old. It's nearly 10 years since my kids school was inspected. Visit but also if you can talk to parents of pupils there and not just those that hav e kids that glide happily through school. You want to know how the school deals with any problems too.
Visiting schools sounds like a good idea but I wonder this can be done effectively.
I should have pointed that it's going to be a couple of years before my child will be attending school so by then, a school that is currently good, could end up getting worse.
However, if we put aside the hypothetical situation above. If I was to choose an area, I will need to visit multiple schools so that I can then decide to buy a property close to the school I deem as good, can I do this even if I don't a child currently?
visit the schools.
As others have said, good school is also subdjective.
Even if you think it's great as a parent, there is no guarantee that your child will. Different things are important to different people, and different children have different needs.
I would encourage you to think carefully about what you consider makes a school 'good' - because your opinion will not necessarily be the same as what OFSTED are looking for when they say somewhere is good.
For example - a school might get great test results by putting a lot of pressure on children and teaching to the test. Another school might have a broader curriculum with a lot of wonderful music, arts, enrichment, but a bit less time practicing maths. The test scores might be lower, but a child may do better in one or another depending on their strengths and character. Those tests also don't measure distance travelled, so a child may have made brilliant progress over a year, but still not met a target and therefore 'failed'.
OFSTED regularly change the goalposts as to what they consider to be 'good', so a school with a 'good' rating 10 years ago might come out with a lower rating - but still be doing substantially the same things. They are just not doing enough of whatever is currently considered 'good'.
Words, words, they're all we have to go by!.
(Pity they are mangled by this autocorrect!)
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