We are thinking of moving to an area that has 3 tier education ie First, Middle and Upper Schools, First school being R-Yr4, Middle Yr5-8, Upper Yr9 onwards.
We've hit on this location partly because the schools look really good - obviously Ofsted not the be all and end all but the Upper school is rated Outstanding and the Middle/Lower schools all rated Good. I really like the feel of the schools from what I have seen on the websites - obviously we would plan to visit them to see for ourselves. The Middle school especially looks like it has a carefully planned progression from Year 5 (mixed ability classes, mostly taught by class teacher with specialist provision for PE, Music, French) to a more secondary style of teaching by Year 8 - it was also praised very highly for its pastoral care by Ofsted. It also says most children leave having achieved levels expected at the end of KS3, which is quite impressive.
I am a bit wary of the three tier system though, possibly at least partly because it's totally unfamiliar to both dh and I. I can see there are potential issues with school changes not coinciding with ends of Key Stages. But if the schools are all really good does it matter so much?
I can also see it might be a bit of an advantage for dc1, who will be going into Year 6 next September - I've always thought this is not a great time to move for the last year of primary but perhaps better that (a) dc1 doesn't have to make 2 schools moves in consecutive Septembers and (b) isn't going into a primary where everyone has known each other since they were 3 (the middle school has a few feeder schools)
Thoughts?
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What do we think about 3 tier education?
24 replies
RelocatorRelocator · 26/02/2014 20:41
OP posts:
SuffolkNWhat ·
27/02/2014 18:50
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SuffolkNWhat ·
28/02/2014 08:42
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