Choosing a school...

[andrea_h]

HI - I've already posted this in Parenting' but I know some of you have kids so may be able to help....

My son is due to start 'proper' nursery in September but I need to decide which one. There are 2 really good schools in my area who have both accepted him for admission - they both have fantastic Ofsted reports, only 1 point between them in league tables - one is Catholic (we're not) and one is non-denominational. They're both about the same distance away (neither within walking distance). We've arranged a visit to both of them on Wednesday, but as he's our first child, I could really do with some help....



What do we look for?........What questions should we ask?........etc,etc,etc



He currently goes to playgroup 3x per week and has cried every time for about 8 months and is generally a bit clingy......how can I start to prepare him for 'big school'?



He's 3yrs 4mths now - 3yrs 9mths when he'll start.



Thanks in advance

A xXx

[Octavius]

Are you certain that your child would be accepted by the catholic school? - I am not sure what the rules are these days but if neither of you are catholic then this may be a no-goer. I imagine that you and your child will be expected to attend Catholic mass throughout schooling and partake in events such as 1st Holy Communions etc.

There is some uselful help on this site. Good luck.

http://www.parents.org.uk/index.html?choose.html&2

[andrea_h]

Thanks for the link - that was exactly the kind of thing I was looking for.

As far as I've been told - he could go to the catholic school (if we choose it) as they have to take a certain percentage of non-catholic pupils - also, we wouldn't stop our son from taking part in the catholic activities, as this would only alienate him from his friends - he would take part in evrything and then make his own decisions about his religion when he is ready/old enough.

A xXx

[Lou Knee]

above all I think you should ask questions regarding safety measures........eg.....the gate on the outside playground..is it always locked and the lock is much too high for a child to reach....hope this helps!

[roverkim]

hi my son goes to a catholic school they it is alot better then normal schools my son is not yet a catholic but as till he goes into yr3 so he can take his 1st holly communion. I have found it is much stricter and my son comes home with work of a friday he is in yr1. I wud ask perants at both schools on how they feel about it...

good luck..