Dd- moving school dilemma.

[footphobic]

Dd3 is coming to the end of year 2. The primary she attends has gone down in performance the last couple of years. A new head has recently taken over, I understand changes are planned which should hopefully mean improvements follow in due course.

They have reshuffled dd's class for the last few weeks of term. In her class of 26 there were already some boys with difficult to manage behaviour, two in particular who are extremely disruptive. They have now added seven more children to the class, mostly boys and again some with disruptive behaviour. The added impact if this means the class is now barely manageable for the teachers.

Dd is a very keen learner, very well behaved in school and quietly gets on. She has frequently mentioned she now finds it very difficult to concentrate, she's trying to adjust but we feel it's affecting her progress and enjoyment of school.

Some of the parents I know who help with reading and spend time in class have mentioned their worry about the behaviour and noise level. Seeing it regularly first hand they feel it's frankly awful. Two lovely families are moving their children for Sept including dd's best friend.

I have spoken to dd's teacher who is lovely, and clearly not happy but hands are tied. The head has been approached by several parents but the class is set to remain the same for next year.

There are some other school good/outstanding schools locally, though out of catchment there's a good chance of a place at one of these, however we are about to put our house on the market and move about 30 minutes drive away near the town where my older dcs go to high school.

I had expected to keep dd at her present school until we move but things have got so bad I'm now not sure. The house could take months to sell and I really don't want to keep her there.

The area we are moving to has lots of good little village schools but I can't make a decision on a school for her until we find the right house. The town where my teens go to high school has a good primary too.

I don't know whether I should bite the bullet and just move her now near to where we plan to move , i.e., the town school (near other dc's HS) though this would be difficult in terms of getting her there and back daily until we move.

Or leave her where she is and pray the house sells quickly, or possibly consider moving her to a much better local school for the meantime but obviously this would probably then lead to two moves within a year. Though dd is easy going I obviously feel this would be difficult and also potentially detrimental so not seeing this as a realistic option but honestly I begin to think leaving her where she us for x months would be worse.

I would really appreciate some thoughts to help me with perspective. Hope it makes sense. Sorry for length.

[Justtoobad]

I would move move move :)

[footphobic]

Bump! Anyone else?

[Monopolice]

Move.

[yomellamoHelly]

Move

[Smartiepants79]

Move if you're unhappy but just remember disruptive children are in all schools and all classes. She will be to learn to tune them out as much as possible.

[Iggly]

Move! Also let the governors know why you are moving. Tell the HT won't be enough.

[footphobic]

Thanks for replies. I had just posted in chat for a bit more traffic.

I agree she needs to be moved, I'm assuming the general view would be that's it would be better to get her in near where we plan to move and try to manage the drive each day?

Would it be too detrimental to move her to a better school local to our current house while we wait to move, then move her again? I have no experience to know if children can cope well with this or it will set them back?

She's not an anxious child, it would be so much better if she could stay local for the time being.

[footphobic]

Thanks. Smartie, agree with the tuning out, but this is so extreme.

She's youngest of 5 and not really had an issue like this before.

[Saracen]

Could you home ed for a while until the move goes through?

The only risk with that is that if the move doesn't happen and you don't want to HE long-term, you might not get your dd back into her current school and might have to send her to an even worse local school. Or are other local schools not so badly oversubscribed as hers?

[littlejohnnydory]

I was going to say Home Ed until you move. We did this (although ended up continuing HE for a year after we moved for various reasons) - but even for someone who doesn't want to HE long term, it has to be preferable to two changes of school in a year, or keeping her in an unsatisfactory school?

[hockeymama]

my 2 kids were in terrible classes through out primary - I decided that's life! They learnt to cope with all sorts of kids, what to avoid, how to help others worse off than themselves, how to lead when others can't and how to organise for teachers. It put them in good stead for high school and helped them to be resilient and "people persons". A matter of months won't make a difference but does any kid want to spend an hour a day in a car?