dilemma over two schools - one big , one small.

[mynewme]

Hi ladies,

I wonder if any of you could give me advice on my dilemma about schools for ds who will be 4.5 when he starts. We are in Scotland.

We have been successful in our placing request for a good, small primary school with two P1 classes of 15 in each class.

However we are now considering requesting a place in a school a little bit nearer (but not much), which has good outdoor facilities, and is equally a good school but it is much bigger, with three P1 classes of 20 - 22 pupils. The roll call here is about 800 pupils v 320 for the smaller school. Most of ds's friends from pre school are going to this bigger school and he now says he wants to go to this school to be with his friends. There is a very good chance he would get in to this school as they are accepting all requests so far.

Both schools have good reputations though I know the smaller one has a good anti bullying policy and is generally "strict" but encouraging iyswim. Though that's not to say the bigger school is not the same - I just don't know and would make sure and ask.

The bigger one joins onto the secondary school which I think would ease transition when the time comes but dh not keen about this aspect.

My dilemma is that ds doesn't cope that well with large numbers, he hangs back and doesn't interact- this is how he is at nursery and he complains that nursery is too big and busy (30 kids there) and he did take months to settle there.

My feeling is to send him to the smaller school but possibly I'm being too PFB and not giving him a chance, but the bigger school just seems to big and busy for such a young boy!

But at same time I feel bad for taking him away from his friends, though he may not end up in the same class anyway...

I'm not sure how much class size matters, or if it does matter for the clingy ones who would probably prefer a class of one anyway!

It would be good to hear your thoughts on what you would do - and we need to make a decision this week! Thanks for any wise words.

[LynetteScavo]

I would choose the smaller school every time.

[mungogerry]

I would choose the smaller school too. He will make new friends within the week and will, by the sounds of it, settle more quickly in the smaller class size, and less overwhelming environment.

[Furball]

just one pointer on smaller class sizes = less choice of friends. My ds who we moved to a class of then 12 only had 3 other boys in. They were an established group and even 5 years on my ds does not fit in with them. Luckily others have joined who he does get on with

[eatyourveg]

the smaller one definitely.

There will be plenty of children starting school who won't have established friendship groups. There may be no guarantee at the larger school that the children won't be split up across the 3 classes

Another advantage is that if you keep in touch with the nursery children then you get two sets of friends and personally I think it is good for children to have friends from outside school as well as in school

[mynewme]

Hi, thanks for your messages and they seem to be agreeing with my gut feeling, as you say mungo he may settle make friends a bit easier in the smaller class.

[Kevinia]

smaller one every time.

[2BoysTooLoud]

My ds goes to a large primary with 2x forms each year group.
One good thing is that if there is a 'disruptive friendship' kids can be put in different classes and just meet up at playtime.

[mynewme]

I seem to be x posting with you all, sorry. Furball - that was something I was thinking about, would a bigger class actually provide more options re friendships. Wish I could fast forward a few years to see what the best choice would have been!

[Furball]

mynewme - it's just something I never thought would be an issue really and obviously very important.

In one year there were only 2 boys.

I'm not saying don't go for the smaller school, but just thought I'd make you aware of problems associated with it.

[Plonkerr]

I would (and did!) choose the smaller school.

[southofthethames]

smaller school - your post suggests that you, your DH and your DS seem quite happy with it already. Nothing PFB about a child going to a small class size. He can be rough and tumble when he's 12!

[foxinsocks]

Difficult isn't it

Mine go to a 3 classes a year with some bulge years 4 classes primary school. They have really thrived there. Despite its size, the school champions the individual. The headmaster knows them all by name and even the ofsted commented on how good it was for valuing each and every child.

Don't rule the larger school out till you have seen it. In fact, I would say you can't make an informed choice till you have seem both.

[lazydog]

Hmmm... My instinct immediately says to go with the smaller school. My DCs started at a tiny village school, much further away than the still small but considerably larger local school. It was a wonderful school and the community spirit was amazing. Sadly it was closed last year and they had to move to the bigger school in September. The upheaval and adjustment was quite considerable. They've settled in now, but are still prone to occasionally negatively comparing with how their old school did things, and that's never going to help them fit in, but is totally understandable because it was better (they were in a school with a total pupil count that's less than their class count now, so they got more one-on-one teacher time.)

I'm not actually sure where I'm going with this, LOL, but I guess I'm thinking that if there are any rumours that long term future of the little school is in jeopardy, I'd take that into consideration, too...

[jugglingjo]

I think you should definitely visit them both, then go with what you all feel.
I think you should consider how strong your son's attachments are to his friends from nursery. Then again smaller school may have better community spirit. As someone who's worked as a teacher I'd say ratio's are pretty important too - the smaller the group of children the better the work you can do, and the better the relationship you can have.
Lots to juggle in your mind, but sounds as though you're fortunate to have two good options to choose between.
Hope your DS enjoys his new school, whichever one you go for

[mynewme]

Thanks for your early morning replies .
Lots to think about. My instinct says the smaller school but for no other reason than because its small with small classes. Agree I should probably visit the bigger school to see what it would be making up for iyswim.
Thanks for your thoughts, I shall be mulling over them all today!

[Furball]

Another thing about small schools is they merge the years so in our school R is a single class, but 1 and 2, 3 and 4 and then 5 and 6 are all merged. So the class size overall on average is about 26.

[MigratingCoconuts]

go and visit!

there's pros and cons with both.

eg a bigger school has better chances of fileding sports teams against other schools. You would get a broader range of teacher skills too.

I would, however, rcommend the one your gut feeling tells you is right for DC

[atthecarwash]

I was in a similar situation....visited both and ended up choosing the larger one. Best choice I could have made!

A larger school meant better resources, more extracurricular activities, large pool of excellent staff with a healthy turnover, not staff that's been there for years and is stagnant. My kids have thrived in the larger school

[skybluepearl]

visit both twice if need be just to clarify what you think would suit best.

[skybluepearl]

mine have blossomed in a smaller school. creative, academic, sporty, family orientated and the parents support each other/help out lots.

[crazycarol]

800 is huge for a primary school. 15 in a class for p1 sounds fantastic. at that age new friendships are formed very quickly. DD started p1 knowning only 1 gorl in her class and soon made lots of new friends. A 2 form school is not a small school by any means, go with the school that feels right for your ds, you say he doesn't do well in large numbers well I think you already know what is best.