A guide to choosing your child’s primary school Samantha Scott, Headteacher of Heathcote Preparatory School, considers the most important factors It seems unbelievable to me, that over a decade ago my husband and I were starting to consider which primary school would be best for our daughter. As an experienced educator, I felt certain I would know the perfect school just by looking at its website and reading through their most recent inspection report. However, this did not prove to be the case and as we delved more deeply into the plethora of choices in our local area I started to become increasingly anxious. I wanted a school that would challenge my child academically of course but I also wanted it to be nurturing, kind and caring and provide creative and sporting opportunities to ensure my little girl grew to be an all-rounder. Of course, I did scrutinise the inspection reports and when looking at independent schools I considered if they had
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elements of the school that had won awards, such as our recent ISA ‘Junior School of the Year’ national award and our Science teacher being a finalist for Pearson ‘Outstanding New Teacher of the Year’. Not the only things to consider, however they show the recognition of school achievements, provision and talent alongside the fact that the school clearly strives exceptionally hard to be the best. No mean feat I can assure you! Primary school choices basically split into two categories: independent schools (fee paying) and state schools (maintained e.g. faith schools, free schools (nongovernment), academies and special educational needs schools). With independent schools, the parents are able to choose from a wider catchment usually as there isn’t a geographical restriction placed upon the school, the
