CHOOSING A SECONDARY SCHOOL
WHEN choosing a secondary school for your child your first port of call to get information should be your local authority. Details of schools can be found on the
Directgov website and the achievement and attainment tables (often called ‘league’ tables) produced by the DCSF are available at www.
dfes.gov.uk/performancetables. Many schools have their own website. You can also telephone any school that you’re interested in and ask them to send you a prospectus. You can see OFSTED reports at www.
ofsted.gov.uk but you do need to combine these with visits to the school and other research. There is a great deal that the reports can’t tell you that might be relevant to your child. Some local authorities hold a schools’ fair where you can meet staff and pupils from each state school in the area and pick up prospectuses. Your child’s teacher may have suggestions
about which secondary schools would suit him/her best and it might be worth talking to the teacher at an early stage, particularly if you have built up a good working relationship. The school might organise a secondary school transfer meeting to give you information about open days, how the admission process works and to allow you to meet parents and students who have previously gone through the process. Other parents, especially those with older
children, may have valuable information such as what kinds of scholarships are available,
which schools specialise in a particular subject and will take students based on their abilities in that area, which tutors are best at preparing children for which exams, etc. Getting an idea of where other parents are hoping to send their children might also give you valuable insights into local schools. Your child may also want to go to the same school as his/her friends from primary school. It’s useful to network as much as you can. Find
out what other parents and local newspapers are saying about local schools. Do you and your child want a single-sex school? How important is your faith to you both?
You can see how children from a particular
school behave at the beginning or end of the school day by being there and watching. You can learn a great deal. Your child will want to go to and from
school alone at some stage. What transport is available? Will your child have friends living nearby? His/her social life will change in secondary school and you might want to invite his/her friends (and their parents)
home.
Will that be possible? You may also feel better if your child can travel to school with a friend.
You might also want to find out whether
the school encourages parents to get involved. Is there an active Parent Teacher Association (PTA)? Perhaps you could talk to members or maybe there’s information on the school’s website. The school’s OFSTED report will also have a section that gives the views of parents. This may be more detailed in some reports than in others.
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