){kind=logo}
){kind=logo}
Start with your child
Before drawing up a shortlist, think about the environments in which your child feels most confident. Do they enjoy a busy social setting or take time to find their feet? Do they thrive with clear structure? What interests draw them in, and where do they need encouragement?
For a child aged three to seven, this might mean considering how they cope with separation, whether they can ask an adult for help or how they respond to unfamiliar activities. For an older child, it might involve their appetite for academic challenge, growing interests or need for greater independence.
Their current teacher or nursery practitioner can offer a useful perspective on how they learn, manage friendships and respond to challenges.
Keep an open mind, too. A school should support your child’s present needs while creating opportunities for them to surprise you.
When they’re eleven, their heads can be turned - oh my God, they had a hamster club. Well, the hamster club might have stopped by the time your child gets there. You are the grown-up. You are making the decision. If it goes great, brilliant, you get the credit. If it doesn’t, they can blame you and that’s important, rather than them blaming themselves. They’re only children.
)
Look closely at the teaching
Results tell you something about a school, but they cannot show you exactly how your child will be taught. Whilst exercise books offer one view of progress, conversation, confidence and growing independence offer others.
Early learning should offer opportunities to talk, listen, move, imagine, make things and investigate, alongside building foundations in reading, writing and mathematics. When you visit the school look for children who are engaged with what they are doing. Can they explain their ideas? Are there books they can reach, materials they can explore?
As children move into Reception and the early primary years, enquire how teaching becomes more structured whilst still offering time for play and discovery. Find out how teachers respond when pupils need more explanation, learn quickly or lose confidence. Ask about specific examples. How would the school support a reluctant reader? What happens when a pupil understands the work well ahead of their classmates?
Across every age group, the question is the same: how does this school help each pupil move forward?
Find out what pastoral care looks like in practice
Warm relationships matter throughout a child’s education. For a four-year-old, this could mean a familiar adult greeting them at the classroom door. For a seven-year-old, it might be sensitive help joining playground games. For a teenager, it could be a trusted tutor who notices that they have become withdrawn.
Establishing who will know your child well and be aware of changes in their behaviour and knowing that you have a point of contact who will keep in touch, is reassuring.
Consider the Practicalities
Imagine an ordinary Tuesday…. Then think about the journey to school, the length of the day, homework expectations, meals, activities and make sure that there is time left for family life.
For children aged three to seven, it is important to keep a balance between structured activities, outdoor play and time to unwind. An extensive programme make seem attractive and convenient but it is only useful if it suits your child’s energy and stage of development.
If you are considering a fee-paying setting, understand the full cost, including meals, transport, clubs and holiday provision. A choice needs to work for the whole family over time.
What matters is not objectively finding the best school, which never exists. It is finding the best school for your child. And that's a lot about where your child will be happy.
