Primary Schools and Deciles

the simple answer is no. Decile rating has more to do with the wealth of the area around the school, it effects the funding a school gets.

i would forgot about the decile rating and look at the schools, are you happy with the teachers can you talk to parents with kids at the school?

you should have a look at the ERO reports - all schools, kindys and daycares have them.
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Good to know baout the decile ratings not reflected the quality of the teaching etc. Our choices are between decile 1-5.

I sorta look at decile ratings but my reasoning for it is that schools with a higher decile rating generally have more money at their disposal.. not from the govt but from parents.. the higher decile schools that I've looked at have more or better resources and cooler extras (like music stuff etc) because when they do fundraising they end up with a truckload more $ than the low decile ones.

For example at one of the high decile schools here they are building a massive performing arts centre.. there is no way that the really low decile schools could afford to have that type of thing.

Also FIL is working with a decile 1 school at the moment (hes a massey lecturer) and hes said sooo many of the year 1 kids can't even sit through a story, don't know their alphabet etc basically because the parents haven't taught them basic things like that so the teacher has to play catch up with them which takes time away from what they otherwise would be teaching if the kids entered school with those skills.

I think all schools have their pros and cons no matter what their decile. I went to a decile 4 primary school and a decile 3 or 4 high school and I turned out ok

In my opinion, people should understand what learning is from the very beginning. I didn't write anything at school and that I had many problems with writing. I had to get help from a dissertation service because I wasn't able to write worthy texts myself.