Schools!

[Beau]

Hi,

 

I need to get information on schools in a really broad area of the south east since we are planning on moving. Is there an easy way of getting lists of schools in any given area with links to inspection reports? We haven't narrowed our search down to any town/village as we are quite fussy about the type of house we would like to buy, coupled with other difficult criteria and know that we'll have to look far and wide to get something that fits the bill. However, I am wasting so much time trying to find information about schools.

 

Also, should I pay any attention whatsoever to those league tables? I want my children to go to a school where they will be challenged, excited and happy - good grades are not the be all and end all for us!

[JacquieL]

If you go onto the OFSTED site and look for reports you can choose an area of the country and pull up the OFSTED reports for that. That would be a start. Otherwise you could go into the LA sites covering the area you are thinking of. These sites are all slightly different but will have a list of schools, Children's Centres etc. Each school sometimes has a link to their OFSTED reports and/or school websites. Hope that helps.

[Guest]

Do you know what county your moving to yet?

 

I personally vouch for Kent, The Garden of England, but then again I would, wouldn't I.

 

I do believe the LA sites have links to schools which then have links to their Ofsted report.

 

Peggy

[Rea]

When I started supply I used to read Ofsted reports, until I found little comparison in reality. I now sometimes read them to get the gist and I'd do the same for league tables. My sons primary school used to give extra help a few weeks before SATS so they would get a good result, shame the help wasnt there for the duration.

Their secondary school has just been given a notice to improve, and I have to say I was really surprised, its always been a fab place for my lads, I'm really happy with their progress and their involvement in the school, they're happy so I'm happy.

If you do use the league tables remember to look at what the absences were, how many SEN children there are and how things have improved or not over the years, i dont think they can be compared against other schools unless the other schools all have the same puils, resources etc and are in a comparable area.

 

Happy hunting Beau, glad I'm not having to do it.

[dublinbay]

Some great advice already Beau. Hope the move is as unstressful as possible. Good luck in your hunt!

[Guest]

having children that went to one school where we used to live that i was told not to send them too as it had a bad reputation, when i visited a few schhols in the area found that it was the most welcoming with an honest outlook and a drive to give the children the best education they could and even though the tables showed it to be lower in the scale this was partly due to it being a small school and had big special needs facility, my children thrived there and we were sad to have to move them due to moving from the area. what i am trying to say but waffling on a bit is that don't always judge schools by tables and ofsted reports and gut instinct can play an important part in finding the right school in the area!

[Guest]

having children that went to one school where we used to live that i was told not to send them too as it had a bad reputation, when i visited a few schhols in the area found that it was the most welcoming

 

I have to agree.I looked around both of our village schools and choose the less popular one as the children seemed happier and the buzz was better.I had many sympathic looks when she went there "oh dear didn't she get in the C of E?"

 

You can't beat looking around and going by gut

[HappyMaz]

what i am trying to say but waffling on a bit is that don't always judge schools by tables and ofsted reports and gut instinct can play an important part in finding the right school in the area!

Sounds like you're in my area, debatwrittle!

 

League tables aren't the be all and end all - it is all about whether your child is or will be comfortable in the learning environment on offer. I've (or rather my son has) chosen a school that sounds much like the one you describe and I'm still getting the "oh really?" response when people ask where he is going in September. Its as if they can't quite believe I'd actually choose to send my son there rather than to the boys' school.

 

Maz

[Guest]

i have been thinking about this overnight and isn't it strange that we are in an enviroment that we strive to get the highest ofsted and make sure all areas are covered and try our best to make sure the paperwork is up to date etc etc but most parents aren't worried about planning, paperwork and profiles first and foremost they will go on gut instinct when they walk into the setting and how they are treated and how the child responds, i suppose what i'm trying to say is that i'm going to think next time a parent and child comes to visit how i felt and what i wanted to see and hear ( i know there are some parents out there that are more concerned about the paperwork side of things so it's best to do the all singing all dancing for them!!!!)

[Beau]

Thanks for all your advice. I think I have found a way of doing now using the OFSTED site and postcodes of train stations, combined with Google Earth! It is still onerous but unless someone can come up with something better it's the best I can do.

 

The whole schools issue and moving is a bit of a nightmare, since we live so far away. It is unlikely that we'll be able to visit before schools break up for the summer and we were hoping to get the girls a place somewhere starting back in the new school year. Also, we will be renting initially to enable us to house hunt in the area, so the likelihood is that whatever school we get the girls into initially will not be near where we end up living. I have considered not even bothering with a school until we know precisely where we will be living, but the girls are very sociable and I think they would miss not having other children of their age around them.

 

The whole Sats system and school tables fills me with horror too - to be honest I have looked at a few tables and don't really know what they are telling me! As Rea says, you need much more information to be able to form a balanced judgement on whether the results are good or not. On their own they seem to be pretty meaningless.

[Rea]

If you type in Rate my school and Rate my teachers you might find the schools you are interested in, it depends if anyone has bothered to include them. It can give an idea of what the pupils think of the teachers, but I think parents and teachers can comment too about stuff.

Might be worth a look to get a feel of it

[Guest]

The only other suggestion I can give is to find a parent site, I think there is one called mumsnet or something like that. Then you could ask parents who live in the area you are planning to move to what their views are on local schools. Again not ideal as we, as parents all have different values when deciding if a school is good or not, and all our children are unique of course, so a school one child thrives in another child may dislike.

 

I chose, for my foster children a local school which was actually bottom of the sats table, not in the county but in the coutry

I chose it because it is very small (86 children) and on my visit was very much as debatwrittle describes. I wanted a small place where I knew the childrens social/emotional needs would be met and because, due to life circumstances they are behind academically, they wouldn't be seen to be too far behind with their peers.

The school has proved really supportive, especially with my foster son who has learning difficulties.

 

Peggy