Poll: What was your top priority in choosing your child's school?

[Bold Seagull]

What was the main decisive factor that made you choose a school.

Poll to follow

 

[Milano]

Which age bracket? That makes a difference.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I didn't get a choice when mine went to school, apart from choosing where you lived carefully.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Which age bracket? That makes a difference.

I'm going to leave it as Primary or Secondary. Please post what made it a different priority for the different school type.

 

[Bozza]

In both cases it was how we felt about the school when visiting ourselves. This meant that "better" schools, as assessed by OFSTED, were not our first choice.

So, I voted "Atmosphere you experienced during visits".

 

[Bold Seagull]

I didn't get a choice when mine went to school, apart from choosing where you lived carefully.

This is a key factor Ofsted seems to fail to deal with. A school in an affluent location will no doubt have better grades than one that isn't - but that doesn't make it a better learning establishment. It means it's intake will have far more parental involvement in pushing for success.

 

[Bold Seagull]

In both cases it was how we felt about the school when visiting ourselves. This meant that "better" schools, as assessed by OFSTED, were not our first choice.

So, I voted "Atmosphere you experienced during visits".

That and variety of curriculum are probably close choices in that regard. It was during visits I was always keen to see how creative the learning was, what was on the walls, how expressive and joyful it all was. similar to the overall atmosphere in real terms I guess.

 

[Insel affe]

We visited our three choices and based our final selections ultimately on the experience during the visit. All of your selections do matter and have to be taken into account, but for us on the day the headmasters enthusiasm was infectious. We knew then which school would most serve our daughter well, taking into account her personality.

Visit 1: The headmaster came across as overly strict and the school kinda reminded me of my grammar school.... Nope.

Visit 2: They brought some kids into the assembly hall, they sang a song, told us how great the school was... Some parents were sold right then during the little ones singing. They then let older children takes on a trip around the school, which was kinda rubbish as you could not really ask a 9 or 10 year old what the school was like, we were it felt left to our own out on a limb. This probably had something to do with the fact this was and still is the most popular and over subscribed school in our area..... I was not impressed.

Visit 3: This was the school out of the three with the worst reputation in the area if you listen to some people within the media type stay at home mums around our area. However on the visit the school was neat, tidy, great art work, happy, diverse children and the headmaster was so enthusiastic it was infectious, we both walked out of the school and knew. Very, Very happy.

 

[Norman Potting]

Primary - nearest.
Secondary - only one in town

Not regretted either choice

 

[Bold Seagull]

We visited our three choices and based our final selections ultimately on the experience during the visit. All of your selections do matter and have to be taken into account, but for us on the day the headmasters enthusiasm was infectious. We knew then which school would most serve our daughter well, taking into account her personality.

Yeah, I appreciate for most it will be all those things, but interested to focus on the main one. In retrospect 'quality of the head' could have been a good option to add.

 

[Stat Brother]

If you moved the OFSTED option to just above 'child's preference' my answer would be:-

All 6 in that order, with very little differentiating first to last.

 

[Bold Seagull]

If you moved the OFSTED option to just above 'child's preference' my answer would be:-

All 6 in that order, with very little differentiating first to last.

The child's preference is obviously much more relevant to secondary choice than primary. My daughter started secondary this year and to be fair moving with her peer group was quite important for her and has proved a settling influence.

 

[Insel affe]

Yeah, I appreciate for most it will be all those things, but interested to focus on the main one. In retrospect 'quality of the head' could have been a good option to add.

I have just added a bit more fella.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I have just added a bit more fella.

Completely agree with you, and mirrors our choice to be honest.

 

[Bozza]

That and variety of curriculum are probably close choices in that regard. It was during visits I was always keen to see how creative the learning was, what was on the walls, how expressive and joyful it all was. similar to the overall atmosphere in real terms I guess.

I remarked at the time that I found the experience remarkably similar to buying a house. We looked at nicer houses than the one we bought (and that you visited) but they didn't quite feel right.

It might be difficult to precisely place your finger on what the 'thing' is that makes you think "this is the one" but you know it when it happens.

 

[scooter1]

We were lucky, in as much as there are 2 decent primary schools in our area. One where a lot of friends have sent their kids, and all said it was good. Another where a few friends have sent their kids, but all said it was excellent. The good school was a little nearer, so we opted for the excellent school in the knowledge that we'd get the good school(it's in our road) if we didn't get our first choice. We did get our first choice, and our son seems very happy. When it comes to secondary school, he will get a say on where he would like to go

 

[big nuts]

Fit teachers

 

[Maldini]

My decision was based on a number of factors.Ofsted,reputation and feel for the school when visiting.

Religion came into also and I'm surprised the poll doesn't include this.I'm a non religious Catholic and I would have preferred a non church school however the school my son is at is CofE which I don't particularly like but it's not a huge problem.I didn't like the fact I had to attend Church in order to give my son a better chance of being accepted.

Education isn't just at school but at home also so however bad or good a school is you can make a difference too.

 

[Stat Brother]

The child's preference is obviously much more relevant to secondary choice than primary. My daughter started secondary this year and to be fair moving with her peer group was quite important for her and has proved a settling influence.

Jnr starts in Sept and to be honest that didn't come into it for one second.
At that age their peer groups will change with the weather.
He's going to a local school there will be plenty of familiar faces.

In a couple of years time we're looking at moving Lil Miss Stat onto a school further afield, but even then I'll still not be rating 'child preference' higher than the other options.

 

[midnight_rendezvous]

I wouldn't read too much into Ofsted reports. Apart from 'need improving' all an Ofsted report tells you is which schools can play the game. More often than not, a 'good' school is just as good as an 'outstanding' one. Plus 'outstanding' schools often tend to be more perscriptive and have less freedom because Ofsted's definition of what makes a school outstanding is very, very narrow. I don't have kids so it's hard for me to judge, but as a teacher I'd say to send your kids somewhere they want to be. Take them round and see which school they gravitate to. After all they're the ones who'll spend the majority of their time there.