How do I know if a primary school is right for my child?
That has to focus on your judgment of your child and the environment that they need to fit into. When my older children were growing up, we had the choice between a large state primary and a small state primary. My son was much better suited to the big one, and my daughter better suited to the small one, and that was really just a question of what sort of environment they flourish best in. You will have been around the school, you'll have an idea of how they are different and the way that they are looking at things, and you'll just have to think, will my child work there? If you've got a son who misbehaves a bit and plays up in class, will the school tolerate it or will they just make his life hell? If you've got a child who is academic, is the ethos of the school that they're going to be allowed to express that, to run on beyond what the other children are capable of, and will that be enjoyed and appreciated? Or is it a school that likes to keep children in their little boxes and not to let children develop as they happened to do. There's a lot of difference out there at that level, and you just have to be sensitive to what you think your child will react best to. Don't be afraid to move, or try to move, if it turns out to be a wrong judgment. It can often be a lot easier to move to a hard-to-get-into school two or three years later, when gaps are happening to appear at that school.
