How do you decide what’s a good school?
We’re starting the process of trying to find a new house, which means trying to find an area with a good school for Monkey (once he goes to school in four years!)
The trouble is, how do you define what’s a good school?
Do you go by the OFSTED inspection reports, which seems to be more concerned with rating schools as to how they help kids to achieve a minimum standard?
Do you go by the “Key Stage 6” results, which seem to be presented with minimal contextual information?
How did you decide which school to send your kid to?
Heidi Rempel, 
Jill, 
deedeeramona, and 1 other are discussing.
deedeeramona 12:54 pm on May 9, 2011 Permalink |
The first thing you have to realise is that there is an awful lot of middle class hysteria about what constitutes a "good school". For me, a good school is any school that your kid can first of all learn something in – where the classrooms are not warzones, the kids pay attention to what the teacher is saying, and homework is by and large done. Secondly, it's one that has a robust anti-bullying policy and does not stand around explaining that it's your kid's own fault they are having the shit kicked out of them daily for being smart/black/white/gay/geeky. An extension of this is that it's a good idea to send your kid somewhere that is not physically dangerous (stabbings, drug dealing on the grounds etc). This describes pretty much every school in Edinburgh or even Glasgow (with a few exceptions), but I am aware London has a lot of schools where nothing is learned and there is a lot of violence. You want to avoid those.
After that, it's really up to you. I personally would follow the advice of a friend who is the chief education officer for her borough – look for a school that does its best to develop all the children, not just train them for exams or results. A school that will notice if your kid is good at something and encourage him, and that won't give him a hard time endlessly for, for example, never getting more than a C in a subject he's not great at. This is NOT the same as the schools that get the best results, although they can be – many of those are sausage factories.
When talking to others, a lot of people have other priorities. Many will seek to send their kids to a school with as few south Asian or black students as possible (but not having a "problem" with you or others of SE Asian extraction because of the stereotypes about Chinese kids). Others want their kids to get the best possible results in their exams and so kill one another trying to get into the most competitive grammar school with the highest A level results possible, because they are convinced this must mean the teaching is better. Still more will lie about being religious to get into a Catholic school (paid for with your taxes). Others seek to have their kids sit beside the children of the richest they can manage, and so may select a 100% middle class school over one with better results with a more working class intake.
As I think you can guess, the UK school obsession really pisses me off, especially in Scotland where all the schools are decent and quite frankly the way people carry on is ridiculous. Just remember, your kid's safety, happiness and ability to learn are what count. Worry about A levels closer to the time.
HyperHam 1:05 pm on May 9, 2011 Permalink |
It is ridiculous! I'm from the States, where we don't really think about such things. If you are in such and such an area, you either go to the public (free) school, or you pay to go to private. You don't have a choice, you don't really plan on cachement areas, etc to the extent that they do here. Insane.
deedeeramona 7:00 pm on May 9, 2011 Permalink |
They do in New England – the prices of the homes in the various satelite towns of Springfield, MA for example are strongly based on the school catchment areas. As soon as you cross the City Limits, the prices drop or skyrocket. Maybe because there are so many UK and Irish ex-pats there?
Heidi Rempel 6:39 pm on May 10, 2011 Permalink |
I would say that it's more obsessive in the UK but, in the end, it certainly happens in the US, particularly in urban areas, where schools in the suburbs may well be considered better than in the city and parents lie about their addresses, etc. to get their kids into "better" schools. It certainly was an issue in California, where I grew up, and I know that parents here in Seattle absolutely push to get their kids into the better public school options within their districts at the very least.
Jill 9:13 pm on May 9, 2011 Permalink |
We visited a few schools in our neighbourhood to get a feel for them – quite a few do some kind of parents night or open house. I think first you have to figure out where you stand on the parochial school issue – ie do you mind if your kids go to CofE school, etc. I know in maida vale we had a decent Coe school and an excellent catholic school but the local state schools weren't great.
While philosophically I'm with hyper ham and deedeeramona, the reality is that there are some pretty dire schools and inner city schools with inner city problems in London. I think the reports do help you figure out if they are meeting kids basic educational needs. A lot of state schools in "good" neighbourhoods aren't much good at all because loads of the kids can afford to go independent and so the schools are mostly council. A lot of people do wind up moving to the burbs where the state schools re more dependable.
There are all kinds of rankings in the papers and you can google those to see where your local schools fall, though the rankings alone aren't the full story. We wound up in the French system because we wanted public schools (ie state) and plenty of diversity, but with good academics and alsonbc they don't do all the testing cycles that the uk system does. Truth is I never totally got my head around the uk system.
Best is probably to talk to some parents with older kids in your neighbourhood to at least get a feel for the reputations of the local offerings…