School decision

Message me in private, I am more than happy to help/offer advice regarding which is the better school. I carry out lots of research at primary schools and so I have a very good idea of making judgements of schools 💕 (have completed a PhD in social policy and Education)

I’m a deputy head teacher. And honestly, there is no one way to decide. And nobody can do it for you as you will have your own set of priorities for your child’s primary education, and that’s how you should decide. Ofsted can be helpful, more so the content of the report rather than the gradings themselves, but don’t let that be the biggest influence on your decision. The system is completely flawed, and soon updating, yet again! The day to day logistics have an impact, but only you know what that means in real terms. We personally took a pros and cons kind of approach, and gut feeling - what it was like to be there, what the atmosphere was like, what we observed etc. We basically directly compared on a variety of objective factors, then the more subjective matters came into play. On paper, what could be deemed the ‘best school’ for many factors isn’t the one we’ve ended up choosing.

@Chloe Interesting points. I had a meeting with one of the head teachers at a school and honestly that was the best way to get a good feel of the school. The head teacher walked me around the school and it was very interesting to see how he interacted with the children (and how the children behaved around him). Other factors include: the behaviour of pupils, how passionate the head teacher is about the school, displays, cleanliness of the school etc. I carried out a broad search on each school which consisted of exploring the school’s website, the curriculum, OFSTED reports and information available on social media. One of the school’s I visited was an outstanding school however, they were just so obsessed with showing off their work and the kids didn’t seem too happy to be there.

@Sophie I always tell every family that I show around our school that the school will talk for itself in what they see and hear, what they notice - what I say is secondary to what it feels like to be in our school. For us, as well as some of what you have mentioned, we cared about their approach to transition (to school and between year groups and key stages), phonics and early reading scheme, their approach to child initiated time in eyfs, extra curricular and opportunities used to build cultural capital, environmental factors, unstructured times, their approach to inclusion and SEND support. Wraparound care. My husband was also interested to dig deeper into their finances- including per pupil spending, spending on resources/staffing etc. And, particularly motivated by our local areas secondary school provision, statutory outcomes for KS2. The questions that we asked the senior leadership team and teaching staff were particularly revealing!

And, I work in a school recently judged good and outstanding, and it would be a terrible fit for my own child! 😊

@Chloe Yes, the financial aspect is a key thing! Since so many schools are struggling with their finances. I am not too fond of OFSTED’s introduction of cultural capital within the curriculum since it favours middle class pupils. However, yes it is important to explore SEND provision and how many TA’s there are within the school. I don’t go for schools that try to marketise themselves by basically trying to just meet OFSTED’s expectations. The school’s that focus on individual needs of students are the way to go. For e.g many schools focus on pupil premium (economically disadvantaged pupils) and SEND pupils. However, will do very little to support the learning of EAL pupils just simply because they don’t receive additional funds for these groups of pupils.

@Sophie Moreso to see actually that some of the underperforming schools were not utilising their funding, especially in key priority areas, or that didn’t align with what we had been spoken to about on the tours! And I suppose you’ve highlighted exactly why it’s so personal, re the comment about cultural capital- we absolutely want a school that delivers a curriculum that fully embeds cultural capital and has carefully thought out opportunities- by doing so, if anything, has the potential to better serve disadvantaged children. And again, we weren’t interested in the number of TAs employed, one of the schools we saw didn’t have a TA per class for example but had fantastic provision for providing bespoke interventions and were funding forest school, private SALT, play therapy etc. OP, all of this to say, there is no right or wrong. What matters to YOU may not matter to me, what’s right for my child may not be the same for yours. Good luck!!

I believe OFSTED’s concept of cultural capital doesn’t actually do much to support disadvantaged pupils in practice. OFSTED defines cultural capital as the ‘essential knowledge’ pupils need to become ‘educated citizens,’ drawing on the idea that exposure to arts, literature, and broader cultural experiences will help level the playing field. But the problem is that this definition assumes all children start from the same place, when in reality, disadvantaged pupils especially those from low-income or minority ethnic backgrounds often lack the foundational support that makes these cultural experiences meaningful. For example, simply taking pupils on a trip to a museum or introducing them to classical literature doesn’t address the deeper structural barriers they face. If a child lacks the language skills, background knowledge, or social capital to fully engage with these experiences, they don’t gain the same benefits as their more privileged peers.

Going a bit too deep into it, I am doing a talk in June. OFSTED will be attending the talk and I’m sure they won’t be happy with what I have to say 🤣 however, educationalists are interested in my research and therefore, have asked me to share my research.

@Chloe why do you believe it isn’t a good fit for your child? Sorry I’m just intrigued

@Sophie But I’m not talking about Ofsted’s definifion of it though, and as per your example, I wouldn’t count a trip to a museum as the ‘carefully thought out opportunities’ that I referred to above in my previous comment. What you’re describing is as you said before, where you’re likely seeing a school that’s using Ofsted handbook as a tick box exercise and throwing around buzz words and key phrases, but that shouldn’t be blanketed as the standard of practice in every school. I work in a very deprived area and our curriculum is built around our unique local community and its history, it’s specific to our children’s context. I see the benefits that our approach has to giving children purposeful opportunities, where we are striving for equity. Is it alone going to address deeply ingrained societal issues? No. Obviously. But social policy isn’t what is on most peoples radar when they’re trying to choose a primary school.

@Chloe That’s great to know, can you please tell me the reason why you wouldn’t send your child to your school?

@Sophie It’s not the right school for him for many reasons. His dad and I have also had to compromise when discussing our vision and values for his education, and the school I work in obviously closely aligns with my own personal beliefs about education, but not necessarily with what his dad believes. Some reasons are very straightforward and superficial - like the fact my school doesn’t have a forest school or the space or facilities for as many outdoor learning opportunities, and others are more complex. And even if my school was the perfect school for him, I would have to find another job- I think there’s a strong possibility that it would be detrimental to him to be at the same school I work at!