It would appear that choosing a school is as easy as popping down to your local council or logging onto the internet and perusing one of the many sites offering up-to-date league tables, Ofsted reports and a search for schools within your local area.
Unfortunately, the reality is that high-grade averages and a convenient setting doesn't always equate to the ideal school for your child. Ofsted reports are few and far between years, and academic statistics from the previous year are of no use if half the personnel who helped to achieve those grades have now moved on to other schools. Likewise, a well-situated school in an affluent area offers no indication of the extent of assistance that a child with a learning disability such as dyslexia may expect to receive.
Like so many things in life, you don't get a true representation of a school until you've scratched the surface, cut through the statistics and spoken to a few people in the know. According to Greg Hadfield, ‘If you ask any parent how they chose their child's school or deal with issues such as bulling or dyslexia - they will tell you that the advice of other parents is their most trusted source.'
Greg has a good idea of what parents want as the former education correspondent for the Sunday Times. He has since created one of their supplementary magazines entitled Parent Power, and is also the man behind the launch of a new website for parents, schoolsnet.com.
Schoolsnet.com is indeed another web-based schools guide, but with one fundamental difference - reviews of schools all over the UK provided by parents of children who attend those schools. Schoolsnet recognises that parents across the nation share common concerns, regardless of where they live. When you're collecting your child from the primary school gates each day there is always ample opportunity to pick the brains of another mum or dad waiting for their young ones; but as the kids get older and move on to secondary school these types of informal support groups begin to disperse and some people find themselves totally isolated from other parents.
With links to over 26,000 state, independent, junior and secondary schools in the UK, what Schoolsnet is attempting to do is create a ‘virtual school-run' right across the nation, where parents from a wide range of backgrounds can share their views and experiences.
Reviews from parents are just the tip of iceberg. Schoolsnet users are now able to form groups with other parents interested in similar issues. These could be issues specific to their child, such as autism; issues related to their school, such as fundraising; or general issues such as the environment.
So when you reach that time in your life when your school-gate days are over, take solace in the fact that somewhere there is a potentially infinite set of virtual school gates, each one surrounded by a group of parents who are tailor made to suit all of your child-rearing needs - and the best part is you don't have to stand there in the freezing cold!
