Warning : This post contains a serious amount of question marks!
I have a decision to make soon.
Although actually I think I’ve already made the decision, I’m just not sure if it’s the right one.
Miss Frugal is going up in to Year 6 when she goes back to school in September and yesterday, I got the forms for choosing a secondary school for her to go to. We have two choices really – the Academy less than five minutes walk from our house with the not so great Ofsted report or the Catholic school that’s a bit further away with the excellent Ofsted report.
On paper the decision should be easy – clearly you would send your child to the best school that you can because you want to give them the best possible start to life.
But…. All of her friends will be going to the Academy and as they’ve been together in the same class since Reception class, I know that it’ll be hard for her to start over again knowing no one. She’s very confident and outgoing at the moment – what if putting her in an environment where everyone knows everyone other than her is bad for her? What if she finds it difficult to make friends and loses some of that confidence?
And then there’s the fact that although the Academy has a poor Ofsted report and a not great reputation, they do have plans in place to improve and she’s very bright, so surely she would do well wherever she went to school???
Should I let her go to the Academy and trust that she will work hard and hope that with our support she will thrive as she would at the other school? Clearly this is the easiest option as we’re right in the catchment area and all of her friends are going there.
Or should I apply for the Catholic school, knowing that we may not get her in as we’re not religious and we’re only just in the catchment area?
What would you do?
If I told you that I had decided that I was going to apply for the Catholic school knowing that I would split her up from all her friends if she gets in, would you think I was a bad parent?
Because that’s kind of how I feel at the moment.
