What do you base your decision on when deciding on a school for your child.
I've found myself in a really disspointing situation. I chose a school ages ago for DD based on it's reputation and the fact that my niece was attending. I phoned them before she even turned 4 explaining that we were out of zone, but that she attended a kindy nearby the school and we had family attending. They told me that as far as they were concerned she was going to be going to that school and I didn't need to do anything further until the parent evening. WELL, after hearing of a few parents that were disapointed that their child missed out I thought I'd phone and check in and also prepare for the upcoming parent evening, I was then told that as of a couple of weeks ago the decision was made not to take any out of zoners. I am completely gutted, but now find myself needing to find another school. There's heaps of options but I don't know what to base my decision on.
So what do YOU base your decision on:
Locality (closest or not), reputation, friends attending, family attending, uniform (yes or no), size, word of mouth, others?????
Would it be worth pushing for the school of my choice? I'm considering sending the prinipal an e-mail because I've heard he's a persanable guy.

it is always worth a try.

as to choosibg a school, will find a link liljay posted

What about the school you're zoned for? Is it not good? Our school has been calling for out of zone ballots for ages so I imagine you need to make a decision fairly quickly as out of zone ballets will close soon (and if you don't have siblings at the school you will be well down the ballot list).

For me location is a major factor. I think I'd go mad if I had to drive for miles to get to school everyday. I also think it's important to visit the school and get a feel for it.

I have chosen the school Gee is going to as have very good friends children who attend same school and so have had some involvement in the school since they started so has given me a reasonable idea of what they are like and this school just fits with our family. The other thing that sold me on this school is the locality - it is much closer to us than our actual zoned school - which is a very good little primary school BUT for me to drive Gee there in the morning and then drive to work is like back tracking hugely and I already find the mornings stressful enough without having to drive further! Also because I work I have looked into what support I will have with regards to before and after school care at all the schools we considered and will have more at this school than our zoned for school or any of the others.
I still have moments of "OMG have I done the right thing?" which I won't know until Gee actually starts but I figure if it all turns to custard it won't be ideal but I can always look at moving her (would have to really turn to custard for me to consider this though)

Good luck with your decision

Off to read the other thread now...

Locality (closest or not)I did, but I think this is a personal thing. Its important to me that school was near home (walking distance)

Reputation probably not - because it can be based on wildly inaccurate assumptions. Depends where the info is coming from.

Friends attending Yes and no - we moved three months before ds1 started school, but he transferred into the adjacent kindy, so did make some friends before going to school.

family attending n/a in our case

uniform (yes or no) Wasn't fussed, but again, a personal preference, I think.

size Yes...our school is 1/3 of the size of the 'popular' school in the area.

word of mouth No, because we hadn't been in the area long enough. Did establish that people I knew in the area knew nothing about it - which was good - at least they hadn't heard anything *bad.* LOL.

Thanks so much for the replies, they have been really helpful
I have so many options it's confusing, I will go and have a look at that link when the kids aren't here so I can concentrate.
Basically there's (in no particular order):
#1 is quite a distance, no hope of walking, but 2 of her friends she is closest to at kindy will be going there, it's a 'normal' school (lots of student teachers??). Uniform
#2 not as far as #1, probably not really a contender but still considering as another of her friends from kindy will be going there. Uniform
#3 Local but not walking distance, a nice tidy small school, haven't seen it IRL, but LOVE the look of it on the website, just need to visit and meet the teachers, no uniform
#4 the local, walking distance, no uniform, small, low decile (not sure if that matters, all the others are higher), small.
#5 not within walking, but semi local, a friends sons will be going (kids have known each other from birth, not hugely close, but familiar), don't really know much more about it.
#6 cousin goes, don't really think it's in the running, but just an option if I decide family is a big factor.
There is another local, but doesn't really stand out to me, I don't know much about it at all, know no one who's been or kids have been, and talked to no one that knows about it.
I suppose she will make new friends, it's just hard because I'm still having settling problems at kindy and I guess I'm anticipating more so want to make the transition as smooth as possible. I'm gutted because if I had have known there was no hope of her getting into our #1 chosen school I would have sent her to a closer kindy where she would meet kids that would go to the same schools.

I don't have much advice, but I had a similar situation. We missed out on the school where DS's cousins go and I was gutted. I thought I could never find another school I liked! We have just started at another local school though and it's brilliant. I am so happy with it, and it's nice that it's his own school IYWIM.
I rated proximity highly as I wanted somewhere that we could walk to. I visited all the local schools and basically went with my gut.

TC, what does their enrolment policy actually say? They can't change it out of the blue, they have to have a ministry approved enrolment policy. (If they don't have one, they have to accept all eligible children, no matter where they live). So I would say the starting point is to ask for a copy of their enrolment policy.

Our local school of choice closed their role to out of zoners and I was really annoyed as they were still taking money and applications to go in the ballot- even though they secretly weren't taking anyone. What a waste of $ that was!

If schools are zoned then they will have a policy. It sounds like the first person you talked to was terribly misinformed. They don't tend to let people in based on cousins/kindergarten alone, everyone has to go in a ballot for leftover spaces unless an elder sibling is already attending.

Our school is all of those things, and its wonderful. Low decile is not an indicator of low quality.

There's some useful stuff here:
http://www.schoolzones.co.nz/enrolmentzones/FAQ.aspx

And this one
http://www.youthlaw.co.nz/page/What+is+an+enrolment+scheme%3F

Note that it says they have to tell you why they won't accept your enrolment, and it has to tally with a government approved enrolment scheme.

dont base it on where her kindy friends are going..seriously THEY MAKE NEW ONES anyway. DS went to kindy with quite a few of his classmates..but isnt really friends with any of them, even though he was at kindy. the real friendships seem to happen at school where they sort of discover and assert themselves a bit more independantly, and ofcourse everyone is kind of new anyway so all in the same boat.
uniform - i LOVE having a uniform it is so so so easy (expensive initally in the outlay, but it has more than paid for itself) no kids getting hassled or any girls hanging out in the we're so cool look ar out label jeans corner etc (which i did kind of see at a few schools i visited) everyones on an even foot.
locality is important- i wish i could walk to school (we could when he first started, but then we moved) we're too far away now...but its still only a 10/15min drive so its not too bad.
decile rating- i wouldn't base tooo much on-but it is worth a thought or two aswell, it is a good indication basically of the type of socio-economic families your child will be at school with (decile 1 being the lowest and 10 the highest) the lower the decile rating the more funding the school gets from the government..so in one way a really high decile rating can work against you - with the school having a high reliability from extra funding from parents and local community, personally i have found most school in the 6,7,8 sort of range all much of a muchness in that sort of respect..and all fine schools, with average funding.
again ERO report is worth a look in, it might identify any issues at the school i.e espec with academic achievement or reporting etc, but wouldnt base too much off of it (you can get them online)
I went off of the feel of the school a lot, pencil in an appointment with all the principals of the prospective schools and have a visit/be shown around the school, you can generally get a really good feel of the school if you are out in the playground over lunchtime etc. I love DS's school, its small but not tooo small, it has about 190 children, they alll seem to know each others names, and out in the playground I can find DS playing with a group of children aged anywhere from 5-10yrs old. they have a VERY strong anti-bullying program with peer mediators that the kids can go to etc etc, his school adheres to the 'happy school' model and keeping happy plan..which is basically all based around positive reinforcement rather than punishment etc.
reputation and word of mouth -yes and no, some people have some funny ideas about other schools-or think there's is faaar faar superior so like to downtalk others etc..i heard soem REALLY negative things and some REALLY positive things about DS's school all from diff ppl b4 he went and it was really hard to judge. best ppl to talk to are those that ARE at each of the schools.

though if it is in an area where there are higher decile schools around, it can be an indicator of soughts (not necessarily of low quality-and please excuse the gross generalisation im about to make) but it could be a sign that the parents that are invested in their childrens schooling/education (which generally goes hand in hand with better educated parents/better jobs/better incomes) have chosen to send their children to the OTHER schools in the area - higher decile rating = families of the school have higher socio-economic rating etc.
so while thats a gross generalisation and definately not always the case it is something to think about too in that situation.

I sent my DS1 to a specific kindy to get to know other kids and when he started school he knew one other kid in the class He's quiet but he did manage to make friends.

My DS2 had a checkered past with regard to settling into daycare etc. But I was surprised at how easily he settled at school.

It can be quite stressful when you anticipate that there will be settling issues but trust me, it's nothing the teachers haven't seen or dealt with before. The NE teacher nearly always has a crying child on her lap for the first term at our school. And peers in the class always help to set an example and support the child also.

I would definitely go into your first choice school and talk with the reception staff personally. They should be best placed to advise you about the enrollment policy and whether you have a chance to get in... then visit the other schools. It also sounds like you've got too much choice - you should work on whittling those choices down to just a couple.

Its really good to hear this as was something I really worried about as there is only 1 other girl going to Gee's school and she starts in October whereas Gee not till next Feb so I was worried about her making friends and not sending her where her kindy friends are going!
Although I suppose if I look even now sometimes they are friends and sometimes not and some that she was friends with at afternoon kindy she isn't friends with now so not sure why I worried so much but is good to hear this from other mums

All the above also applies to our school...but people do send their kids to other schools based on erroneous info and assumptions (I have been told these assumptions to my face...)

Trinity Clair, just go and see the schools you have in mind - you will know if they 'feel' right to you.

I live in your area TC ... and I have to say - your local local one, is one I would NOT send my kids to in a million Years ... the Ero reads bad, reports from those who have attended (and left) are bad ... Everything about it (apart from its sat music centre) makes me go

However - you do have alot of choices in our area ... personally I would visit those you are most keen on. And get a feel that way. Id love to know which school has closed its rolls to out of zoners ?? (is it manuka/chelsea - sorry just thinking of those with uniform ??) If you have to drive (which you prob will given your closest school) - then it doesnt really matter if its 5 min, or 10 min away I dont think ?? As your driving anyway.
I personally wouldnt pick on friends choices ... Kal started with a friend from kindy (birhday a day a part) - and they are no longer friends, as both have moved on to other friends ... yet they were inseparable at kindy ??

I agree with peoples remarks about friends - they make LOTS of new friends (and I think its important to foster that ability to form new relationships) and often kindy friends are dropped anyway for various reasons.

I think there is a lot to be said for the "gut feeling" you get when you visit the school.