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Questions to ask when visiting primary schools?

Cloo

Cloo

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Got my first 'potential primary school for my daughter' visit tomorrow and the first questions that come to my mind are along the lines of:
- What secondary schools do kids go onto, also perhaps, specifically, which/any selective ones?
- Before/after school activities - what and how much?
- Music making - is there a choir/music ensemble (if there isn't a choir, I might be up for stepping up and doing one if I could find a way!)
- How much homework (not hugely bothered either way, but helpful to know)?

Be interested in any parents'/teachers' views of good questions. And maybe bad ones ;)
 
I think I'd want to know what the policy on homework is, if they have breakfast/after-school/holiday clubs and whether they police lunchboxes/what the school dinners are like.
 
Er. Mine have always just gone to the catchment school so no questions were necessary. If I had I think Thora's ones would be the first I'd think of too. Maybe how much PE time they get too.
 
Oh yeah, I'd be interested in PE as this does vary. I may ask about lunchbox policy, mainly as the policy of policing them pisses me off.

Visiting 4 schools so far, maybe will add another one or two while we can.
 
I know someone who asks what proportion of kids qualify for free school meals and how many have special educational needs. Personally I think both of these are irrelevant.

But discipline is I think important. I went to look at one school where they worked on a system of carrot rather than stick and was most impressed, they also held a top ofsted rating, sadly we did not go to that one in the end.

But I would definately know their latest ofsted rating and ask them about any shortfallings.
 
I've seen the local school ofsteds, though it was a few months ago and one or two of them may have had an inspection since. Our nearest school, for example, had its last one I saw in 2008, I think, but it's been through quite a few changes since (all positive, and it had a pretty positive Ofsted back then).

Of the four I'm looking at, two are 'good' by Ofsted (our probably first choice school and our nearest one which is probably our insurance) and the other two excellent (a bit further a way, though not far, and definitely oversubscribed). So not a huge amount to worry about.
 
Class size? Any plans for the size of the classes to increase?

Asking what proportion of kids have special educational needs may be a very pertinent question to ask. There are schools that have a high number of special needs pupils and that are very good at dealing with special needs but they are not necessarily the best schools for kids without special needs as their speciality lies in concentrating to a large degree ont he special needs.
 
Also, try going along at the end of school one day and talk to parents waiting for their kids, you can get a feel for a school by looking at the kids when they come out and seeing what interaction there is between parents and staff.

First school, exciting times... I envy you!
 
zaphod22 said:
Class size? Any plans for the size of the classes to increase?
Click to expand...
I'm not really bothered by this, in fact... AFAIK it doesn't ultimately affect much within the boundaries of class sizes one gets in the UK.

Andrew - thanks for suggestion about end of day, that sounds like an interesting way of getting a feel for a school.
 
Yes, I was wondering about that one. It's interesting that our nearest school and one next to it both have a very mixed intake, lots of EAL and high student mobility, but our nearest one is well rated and the one next to it has skated very close to special measures in recent years, and it's all down to management issues, as far as I can tell. The second school appears not to have had consistent management for some time.

We managed to get to the summer fete of the near school - parents there were very enthusiastic about it and it really uses the diversity of its pupils as a strength.
 
I'll be honest about my big mistakes choosing a school. I sent my eldest to a good state primary a fair way away. Big mistake. She didn't know any of the local kids unless I knew their parents and as a result was never really part of the local kids group and was an outsider. This really mattered, living on a council estate. The two youngest went to the local not brilliant primary but were much happier and made good friends in the area whereas my eldest never made her own local friends iyswim. My eldest couldn't wait to leave Brixton, my two younger ones have lifelong local friends and love it here. Maybe that's not an issue where you live but it is for my kids and I think I let my eldest down, socially speaking. Bright kids will do well in most schools. In the end it's down to walking in and gauging the atmosphere. Is it a happy friendly school?
 
Sadly, the only question worth asking round here is how massively oversubscribed are you and what are the chances of my kid getting in?
 
souljacker said:
Sadly, the only question worth asking round here is how massively oversubscribed are you and what are the chances of my kid getting in?
Click to expand...
Everything is, but I think one has to be careful listening to the parent grapevine, where you hear things like 'Oh, they only have about 5 places left every year after siblings' or 'Only people from the adjoining streets get in', because it's not necessarily true and even in London, you're actually more likely than not to get your first choice primary. Apparently a lot of parents don't put the school they really want because they're sure they'd never get it, when it's likely they would as long as it's local.

We could have four schools within 0.5 miles that are good or excellent, so I'm confident that she'd get into one of 'em and we've no need to put down anything further afield. Our nearest one will probably be our 'insurance' rather than first choice, but a very happy insurance.
 
You can find out what the catchment area was for the previous year for schools and other such information quite easily. Most boroughs produce a primary application information booklet. Lambeth's booklet, for example, includes a table for the previous year's admission with the catchment area for each school, number of places available, number of applications, how many went to siblings etc etc.. it's a v. useful document. No need to listen to the parent grapevine at all.

unfortunately we're in a similar position to souljacker and by the time our little girl goes to primary, we'll be lucky to get any place at all!
 
Yes, I gather this info's available... will try to track it down in Barnet soon. I think they don't have the most up to date version up yet.
 
Cloo said:
and even in London, you're actually more likely than not to get your first choice primary. Apparently a lot of parents don't put the school they really want because they're sure they'd never get it, when it's likely they would as long as it's local.
Click to expand...

I don't think this is true for Lambeth.
 
That's interesting. I suppose it was five years ago we were applying for Goneril, and they've upped their game since.
 
Interesting, I've just looked up how oversubscribed our nearest schools - our closest one (satisfactory Ofsted) had 165 applications for 60 places, and the furthest away child who got a place was 440m. Second closest (in special measures) was 79 for 45 places and 500m, and third (good Ofsted) was 245 applications for 90 places and 960m.

So the primary places situation in Bristol is so bad that even schools in special measures are oversubscribed!
 
Birmingham doesn't seem to have this info online (last years admissions) and I can't work out where to get it. I'm sure I've seen it before though. Am I being stupid?
 
You need to know about attainment and progression and that stuff, that's important educational stuff but what concerns me most is pastoral support. You may think that pastoral support in such young children is common sense but I was appalled at some attitudes from schools about this. You may also think that your child won't need additional support, will not be disruptive or very unhappy but the measure of a good school is how they deal with children who do need support.
So ask how many exclusions and managed transfers they had last year, what is the role of the SENCO in he school, do hey have mentoring/peer mentoring and proactive/preventative programmes.
Children do best at school when they feel they belong to it so find out if they do anything to really engage and involve children, after school activities and school councils are good indicators.
Also, ask them what challenges they face. Any teacher who says none is lying. Expect them to tell you how they are addressing them if they are open about it. Ask how many parent governors they have too.
Oh, and if you're against primary academies don't forget to ask the head teacher what discussions they've had about that.
 
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