Well-presented work on the walls is one marker of a good school. © Sally and Richard Greenhill

Choosing a school for your child is like trying to hit a flying duck with a water pistol. Schools are always changing – some improving, some getting worse, some becoming stricter, some losing their teachers or heads. And your child is changing fast too.

The best you can do is prepare thoroughly and well in advance.

Competition for places at secondary schools can be even more fierce than for primary schools, so it's important to plan well ahead. For example, there are some secondary schools that accept pupils from a wide area, using entrance exams or criteria such as music scholarships.

Time to start thinking
When your child gets towards four years old, it's time to think about where they will go to primary school. Some schools take children at four, but when they turn five they have a right to attend school.

Then you can relax for a few years. But when your child starts their final year of primary school you should prepare to apply for a secondary school. Most secondary schools will need to have an application form sent in by Christmas of the year before the child will start.

What are my options?
Find out what schools are in your area. The main options will be:

• Schools run by the local education authority where you live



• Schools run by a church or religious denomination, known as 'voluntary aided' schools



• Private, fee-paying schools (run by a board of governors)

Are there good out-of-school activities your child can get involved in? © Sally and Richard Greenhill

How to get in
Applications are handled either by the school itself or by the local education authority. So it's important to find out how to apply to your school of choice. Look at information on local education authorities to see how to apply in your area.

In most cases, schools and local education authorities set deadlines for receiving applications. So make sure you send back your form in good time, along with any other information they have asked for. Church schools, for example, may need a letter from your local priest or minister.

Hopefully, you will receive an offer of a place from your favourite school. But there is often competition for schools, so they use various criteria to decide which children should be offered places:

• Whether your child has a brother or sister in the school already



• How close to the school your home is



• Whether your child is in a 'feeder' school, such as a nursery or infant school linked to the primary school, or a primary school linked to the secondary school



• Whether your family goes to church (for voluntary aided church schools)



• Whether there are medical or social reasons for your child to attend the school (schools can make places available for children with special education needs)

Beware! Not all schools use all of these criteria. For example, some do not count how close you live to them. So make sure you find out the specific criteria used by the school you're interested in.

Doing your homework
Find out as much as you can about the schools your child may go to:

• Visit the school and (if possible) meet the head



• Talk to other parents who have children at the school



• Look at the local education authority and Ofsted reports, and other performance tables:
• LEA Gateway provides information and services available to local education authorities
• Ofsted, where you can find information about schools in your area
• School and college performance tables

Remember that the admissions procedures are handled very strictly these days. So if it's clear you won't be offered a place, don't lose sleep over it. Find a school where your child is more likely to get a place.

What to look for
A school's atmosphere is a good guide to the quality of the education it provides. For example:

• Are pupils running and shouting in the corridors? Or are they well behaved and polite to you when you visit?



• Is there well-presented and thoughtful schoolwork on the walls?



• Does the head appear to be in control of the school, or are they distracted and irritable? Especially in inner-city areas, this can be a very stressful job. An alarming number of primary heads leave the job because of stress



• Do parents get involved in school life?



• Is it a happy school?

When you look at league tables, take into account the proportion of children who have English as a second language. This may mean that the school scores low marks against other schools, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the teaching is poor. It's also worth taking into account the educational background of the pupils. Even if the school's grades are average, the quality of teaching may be high, meaning that disadvantaged pupils have achieved excellent results.

Questions for other parents and the school head
Getting an idea of a school from other parents can be very valuable. They will tell you whether discipline is good or bad – something that can make a huge difference to how much your child learns. They can also tell you whether the head is struggling or a charismatic leader.

Here are some questions to ask:

• How do parents and teachers get on at the school? Is there an active parent-teacher association?



• What happens when a child is disruptive in class?



• Does the school have good resources – for example, for sport and music?



• What activities or trips are held outside school hours? (Having plenty of things going on is a good sign)



• What are the school's strong subjects?



• If a primary school, what secondary schools do pupils generally go on to?



• If a secondary school, where do pupils commonly go when they leave the school – for example, to colleges or universities?

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