Did you look around primary schools before making a choice?

[LaDY]

Just wondering did all of you look around different primary schools before making a choice? And if so did you call up to make a appointment? is that what you are supposed to do? xx

 

[smelly07]

No because you are only meant to apply for your catchment school, if you have more than one school in your catchment area then it is definitely best to ring up and arrange a visit and do your homework on the schools before deciding.
we only have 1 infant and junior school in our catchment area thankfully my local school is absolutely fantastic and i cant fault it at all, it has outstanding ofstead reports year after year and my daughter has thrived.

If my local school wasnt so great i would of definitely tried my luck with a better school out of catchment x

 

[RachA]

Yes we did.

We looked at three different ones, two in catchment and one out of catchment. Basically if you call the school they will tell you when their days are when you can visit. I can't remember exactly but i think they do the visits around the end of Sept and Oct.

Its definitely worth doing.

Also - you will need to put down your catchment school somewhere in your list of three but not necessary first.

One thing to watch for - if you decide to put down a school that is out of catchment and you get your child in, when they go from infant to junior you WILL have to reapply and you probably wouldn't get your child into the junior part even though they have been going to the infants

 

[sabby52]

We did, each school that we wanted to apply for had a open day were parents could go have a look around and talk with some teachers Dec will start primary school next year, so in Dec time we will go look around the school we have choosen for him to see which we prefer.

 

[smelly07]

Yes we did.

We looked at three different ones, two in catchment and one out of catchment. Basically if you call the school they will tell you when their days are when you can visit. I can't remember exactly but i think they do the visits around the end of Sept and Oct.

Its definitely worth doing.

Also - you will need to put down your catchment school somewhere in your list of three but not necessary first.

One thing to watch for - if you decide to put down a school that is out of catchment and you get your child in, when they go from infant to junior you WILL have to reapply and you probably wouldn't get your child into the junior part even though they have been going to the infants

agreed.....this is one thing i dont think is worth risking x

 

[Lightworker]

I didn't look around our school as it was attached to my DD1s nursery so had already seen what it was like. For the time being she will be there, but hoping to move her to a different school for Year 1, and for that, yes I will look around.

If you have more than one school in your catchment area I would definitely ring up to look around. Also, check their Ofsted report online as well, as it will let you know what their performance, academically and otherwise is like. It might also be a good idea to check if there are any league tables to see how they rate.

I also like to check that they have wide range of extra-curricular and activities that link them to other communities and that your child will have a wide range of activities and opportunities to discover talents etc. x

 

[LaDY]

Thanks ladies for your replies...their is one in our catchment area which has a very good ofsted report and one of of our catchment area too with even better ofsted reports! I shall give them all a call. Thanks for your help! xx