Choosing a school: comparison checklist
How to compare schools by what you can verify yourself: the journey, atmosphere, the teacher, workload, response to conflict, clubs, costs and your child's view.

[ ] Write your criteria before visiting schools
    Journey, atmosphere, workload, clubs, costs, response to conflict. Otherwise the choice follows the last tour's impression.
[ ] Travel the route at a real time of day
    At rush hour and in both directions. Forty minutes each way changes family life more than a difference in curriculum.
[ ] Visit in person and watch a break
    Not only the polished open day. Watch how adults speak to children and what happens in the corridors.
[ ] Meet the future class teacher
    In primary years the teacher defines everything. Ask how they work with children who fall behind and with conflict.
[ ] Talk to parents of current pupils
    They answer more honestly than the leadership, and their answers can be compared. Ask about workload, costs and atmosphere.
[ ] Ask directly about bullying and conflict
    What happens after a complaint, who deals with it, how parents are told. An evasive answer is also an answer.
[ ] Find out the real workload and homework volume
    How many lessons, how long homework takes, whether the whole class quietly relies on private tutors.
[ ] Ask about clubs and after-school care
    What is on site, when it ends, who runs it. It shapes your working day as much as the lesson timetable does.
[ ] Work out the costs for the school year
    Uniform, books, contributions, trips, meals, clubs. Count a full year: one-off sums add up quietly.
[ ] Take your child along and ask what they think
    They notice different things: where to eat, whether anyone they know is there, where it is quiet. Not a deciding vote, but real data.
[ ] Check the application process and deadlines
    What is required, when to apply, whether there are catchment limits and queues. Deadlines are what people miss.
[ ] Have a backup option
    A single option is not a choice but a hope. A second one removes the panic if the first does not work out.
[ ] Plan the transition if the school changes
    Ideally between terms, with an introduction beforehand and a plan for the first weeks if it gets hard.
[ ] Agree how to follow the first weeks
    What to ask besides \u201chow was it\u201d: who they sat with, what happened at break, what was hard. And when to contact the teacher.

Checklist from Unload: https://unloads.me/c/school-choice