This sounds daft, as DD is currently in Y8, but when I chose secondary schools for her, it was purely based on how good the SEN department was, and how much help the school would give a child on SA+. The school has been excellent for her.
My problem is, that I am starting to ponder about schools for DS1. He's currently in Y4. He is very swotty academic, is working at a much higher level than his primary cohort, and SenCo (who did bog all for DD) has assessed his IQ as being 132 at 8yo. He enjoys Maths and science above all else, but is good at English and spanish (they teach it from reception at the primary) as well.
What should I be looking for, as I live in a medium sized town with a few schools, but not all are accessible by public transport (which IS an issue as neither DP or I can drive). Realistically, there is the grammar school (highly competitive, 600 applicants per year for 120 places, from all over the county), my local, well regarded secondary that DD attends (but have no idea what they have for more able/academic students), or the next closest secondary sink school with a 29% A-C grade at GCSE (including maths and english), without their pass rate is 34%. That school was meant to be knocked down and rebuilt under the BFS thingy, but now isn't, and is in an unsuitable building with ever-increasing catchment due to house building, and DD's school being unable to expand past current size.
What should I look for? Value added seems a bit of a con to me, don't know how to go about finding out what each school offers in the way of options (DD will chose her options at the end of Y9, and she will be in a different 'pathway' to the one I would assume DS1 would be, so her 'options' will not reflect what I'm looking for for DS1). HELP!
Please or to access all these features
Please
or
to access all these features
Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.
Secondary education
How to chose a secondary school?
13 replies
CardyMow · 25/09/2010 23:08
OP posts:
cat64 ·
26/09/2010 00:41
This reply has been deleted
Message withdrawn
cat64 ·
26/09/2010 18:50
This reply has been deleted
Message withdrawn
Please create an account
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.